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The Condensed Stickman's guide Stickman has had his own website regarding teaching in Bangkok for sometime. He has collected information about the major language schools in Bangkok which he has allowed me to post here. This information was updated in mid April ' 01. Check his site for updates, however, it’s rare for a school to turn around ( from bad to good or vice-versa ) quickly - something similar to altering the course of an oil tanker - it takes time. The best schools - e.g.British Council, IEG and ELCA; will always be the best in terms of the quality of teaching staff they attract and the salary they pay.
The large, franchised or multi branched schools - ECC, Siam Computer, Inlingua, British American, BCC and Berlitz will always be at the lower end of the language school foodchain. Mainly due to the need to provide relatively low cost courses and at the same time maximise profits.
The remaining schools will hold the middle ground - one or two possibly reaching the same levels as the best schools, and a few dropping into the lower category. Their rating often depending on the abilities of the headteacher / D.O.S. at a particular school. For a totally unbiased look at the current state, and future, of language schools in Thailand take a look at the recent U.S. State department report on the subject. As I agree with a lot of Stickman's comments, I'm posting a condensed version of his ratings here, it seems a waste of time for me to duplicate his work. ( However, having seen Nava's set up I'd disagree with Stickman's rating for this school and put it in the ' Mediocre+ ' bracket at least. Still need some work doing raising the salaries in order to get a 'Quality Establishment' rating but definitely heading in the right direction. Similarly, Siam Computer got a 'Mediocre' rating after languishing in 'sweatshop' status since time began. Stickman appears to have been under the influence of something stronger than cough medicine when he dished out that rating - certainly raised a few eyebrows. ) After I posted some info on Dave's ESL Cafe, I received several inquiries as to where people could find info on Bangkok's language schools, so I referred them to Stickman. The only negative comment I heard was that the original guide wasn't easy to navigate through and needed to be broken up into something easier to read. This is my attempt at doing just that. *** Having said that please don't take my opinions or Stickman's as the gospel truth. It has been brought to my attention, thanks Brian, that certain schools feel Stickman's comments are more akin to slander than independent, constructive criticism. For example, schools may advertise regularly because they have a lot of new contracts - advertising regularly doesn't have to mean a high turn over of staff. In addition, Yes, a lot of teachers do move to other jobs after their year contract is completed - a common reason for this is that now they have more experience they look for a higher paying job - rather than continuing in the same job for ( often ) the same salary. Half decent teachers can afford to be mercenary and particularly choosy in Bangkok. If you don't like something about your current job it's usually quite easy to walk out and find another.
O.K. lecture over, you're free to decide if what follows should be viewed as a load of bollocks or the Bible. Before you read the reviews I suggest you see how the schools are rated. The language schools that are reviewed are . .
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