Sorry, I rarely come to this board. The Union method is the method used to teach missionaries devised by the Union Language School located in The Church of Christ in Thailand building in Ratchatewi. They used to be in Suriwong but moved to Ratchatewi a few years ago. UTL is a splinter school of Union started by Union teachers and they use the Union method. AAA in Chidlom is another splinter school of Union. The teaching methodology at all three schools is exactly the same and they use the same materials, most of which haven't been updated in thirty years (but still effective)! The original Union School is affiliated to The Church of Christ in Thailand but the other two schools are not. Yes, some of the teachers are intimidating and top-down in their approach. Also, these schools are popular with Japanese, Koreans and other Asians who are accustomed to the kind of learning discipline required by the curriculum.thaiworthy wrote:I wrote MauRICE, but the PM is still in my out box. Now that I have read your post, I understand this is not for the faint-hearted. What does he mean by "Union method used for teaching missionaries?"
By the time I move to Thailand, I will be 62. So that puts me out of the age range for a reasonable expectation of success, according to your report. Now I am faced with finding another way to learn Thai. I had planned to move to Bangkok just to attend this school. Now my hopes are dashed and it changes things considerably. I have never been a good student, and I will be even further intimidated if I have a teacher like the "Dragon Lady" you spoke of in our conversations together. You also mentioned some other members of this forum who went there, but they are all still in their 50s. This is discouraging news about UTL.
If you're not sure and are an absolute beginner, you might want to try their basic 60-hour conversation class and go from there. It used to be that you would have to pass one level before you could go on to the next but I don't know how strictly they enforce that now.