History
Established in 1997 by a small group of Thai teachers, the school's objective was to teach the Thai language to children in Geneva with a connection to Thailand.
The Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations encouraged the establishment of the school at the time. At the beginning, the lessons took place in the attic of a Thai restaurant.
The first course program came from a "brainstorming" of volunteer teachers. At that time, there were not many students, mainly the children of friends and acquaintances of the teachers.
In the beginning, there were many challenges to overcome. Thanks to the hard work and perseverance of the first teachers the number of students learning Thai gradually increased.
At the suggestion of some parents, the school requested classrooms at Collège Sismondi. Then during construction, the school moved temporarily for a year to Collège Voltaire.
Later Collège Sismondi proposed to transfer the Thai School to Collège de Sécheron, where the school is still located today.
As the Thai Language and Culture School of Geneva grew, it joined the Association of Thai Teachers of Switzerland.
Current.
Since the School joined the Association of Thai Teachers of Switzerland, this has allowed Thai teachers from Geneva to participate in training seminars and exchange experiences.
The Thai Language and Culture School also uses a teaching program of Thai as a Foreign Language, approved by the Thai Ministry of Education, so that our Thai language certificates are recognized by schools in Thailand.
Our lessons take place at Collège de Sécheron every Saturday from 10-12 o'clock during the school year in Geneva. In total, we now have around forty students aged four to fifteen.
The teaching is divided into seven levels and is taught by eight teachers. Last year, our school was cited as an exemplary institution of Thai language teaching in Switzerland by the Association of
Thai Teachers of Switzerland.
Our school has been able to stay active for over twenty years thanks to the support of families who send their children to our classes.
Our students generally come from mixed couples half of whom are Thai nationals, from families with adopted children who wish to stay in touch with their culture of origin
and also from families of employees of the Thai government, temporarily stationed in Geneva. Our school helps Thai children not only with their language skills, but also teaches them the culture of life in Thailand,
helping them to communicate with their families in Thailand and stay in touch with their cultural roots. Our school also provides a meeting place for the Thai community of Geneva and helps new arrivals from Thailand
to settle in the Geneva environment including helping with certain administrative processes.