Busayaporn (Busa) and Sitthichon Pattarapotikul live in Bangkok,Thailand with their three-year-old daughter Prim, who is a Helen Doron student. Ms. Pattarapotikul works in an international trade company and her husband is an attorney. Both parents feel strongly that having an excellent command of English is just as important as knowing their native Thai tongue. “English will be a basic requirement when my girl grows up, not just core competency as it has been in the past. She has to speak, write, and read English as fluently as Thai.”
Busa relates that the Helen Doron methodology is different from other options in Bangkok as “children easily learn English through communication with teachers, games, songs, and art. Learning language through normal activities is natural and the teachers have a proper accent for them to learn from, so they learn to speak correctly (unlike competitors in Bangkok).”
The parents are delighted with their daughter’s progress. “My daughter started the class at Helen Doron when she was only 2 ½ years old, with absolutely no English at all. Within 4 months she started to speak some words and answered simple questions which she learned from Helen Doron. She loves to sing songs from the Helen Doron CD we listen to at home. After 6 months, she started to attend the class without me. It’s a good sign that she is comfortable enough to communicate with her teacher, Odie, without my help. She loves attending classes and I am happy that she enjoys speaking English.”
Prim enjoys using the Helen Doron apps including the ABC app, Fun with Flupe and especially the Dragon Tales series which she enjoys as bedtime stories, not even realizing she is learning English as she is just having fun!
