Thai Beginners

This course puts the emphasis on establishing a good foundation in the language in the four key skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Tones are gradually introduced at the beginning of the course in order to get students to develop this crucial skill when leaning Thai. In the first four weeks, students learn how to greet, introduces themselves, ask and answer simple questions regarding name, nationality, occupation, place of residence.

Along with acquiring knowledge on Thai grammatical structure, students also gain knowledge on how to form sentences and use polite particles according to a different degree of politeness which is an important aspect of Thai culture. Even though transliteration is employed as a tool to facilitate access to Thai, Thai consonants and vowels are gradually introduced in order to get the learner to read and write. By doing so, students acquire skills in producing accurate sounds and tones according to the Thai script rather through Romanization, which does not represent all Thai sounds.

There is a midway revision and practice test, where students have an opportunity to hone their language skills and to practice what they have learned. By being able to produce the language through dialogues with a teacher and with classmates, students become more confident in the language. In the second half of the course, phrases and expressions for taxi transactions, restaurant transactions and shopping and bargaining are introduced, along with basic vocabulary necessary to daily life. Simultaneously, more commonly used consonant, vowels and tone mark symbols are introduced. By the end of the course, students are able to read and write short sentences in Thai.