International House Chiang Mai — Local services in Chiang Mai Province

I attended The Chiang Mai School Last year,

I was supposed to arrive a class before but I called ahead and was granted a Medical relocation into the next available class because of an major operation on my foot.

They were short a teacher so the first three class assessments were not done by my primary teacher in the beginning and I felt that had a major factor but they did not mention it.

I passed the first assessment and subsequently failed 2, and 3. By the time I returned to my normal teacher I was taking my 4th assessment and not in good hopes. A lot of the students were busy worrying about their own grades so I received minimal help from my class as well. The other 2 class rooms actually helped me more than my own classmates.

I completed all my assignments, I did not pass a single assessment besides the first that was given by a teacher who I did not see again. I was called in to fill out notification forms of my performance twice.

I continued my class assignments and tasks as best I could until a day before the final assessment when I was told before lunch that it would probably not make a difference and that I should consider withdrawing. This was a day before the Celta assessment QA inspector arrived from another location to the Center to review the course and teachers performance.

I was told I should probably consider withdrawing from the course ( no mention of medical) the presumption was that if I were to take a Celta class in the future they would not see that I had failed the course - However I'm hearing mixed stories that it was to protect the schools failure rate.

They also misspelled my name on forms even after I told them the correct spelling which was disheartening. After I was told I would not pass I tried to continue to attend class but it was too much. I had to request to stay in my room until the course was over, had I not I'm sure they would have just kept letting me show up to class miserably.

Finally, The graduation ceremony was coincidentally where students have lunch and dinner. So if you would like to eat or even leave the Campus you have to walk directly by the ceremony. I stayed in my room with closed doors and windows and could still hear the Graduation.

The whole situation was a poor experience, to fly to Thailand and pay 1700$ and another 1000$ to stay on site. I asked if I could retake the course and was told I would have to pay the full price, Thank You.

I was the only student to not graduate out of 30+ students, I am a Defense Language Institute Graduate of Korean Fluency with a 3.6 GPA and and a B.A in Accounting and I have never failed a subject my entire life besides...

I highly recommend the program, I recently completed it. The instructors are very professional and committed, and the program is probably the best in existence to prepare one for teaching. Some things to consider: this course will essentially be your life for 4 weeks. Time management is a key to success. Expect an hour to two hours of homework (Lesson planning, etc.) every night. Weekends are off, but you’ll put in probably 6-8 hours of preparation over the weekend. You must be disciplined and focused to complete the course. It’s not hard, but it’s rigorous and fairly intense work wise. Bottom line, if you have the time to commit for four weeks and are dedicated to the task, the instructors will guide you to success. If you want a teachers certificate, and dedicate the time, the CELTA Chiang Mai and its highly dedicated instructors and their superb program will...

Mixed feelings. I attended the CELTA course and found that there were some positives about this place. The fellow students, the teachers, facilities, the students and course content itself. The downside however was that on top of the fairly substantial fee they try to sell add-ons like an accommodation and food package which are both outrageously high for the city. Yes, the accommodation is nice but because the school is so far out of town and there are not many good alternatives around you almost feel pressured to stay there. There are other examples of why this school seems too money oriented. I also prepare anyone for a realistic expectation that it is going to be really hard work. I was not fully briefed on this beforehand and it was quite a shock to realise you will probably be working every day till late at night until...