Doug Horspool (USA) June 2013

To Whom it may Concern: This is a note of gratitude for all the help your teacher Jang has given me throughout the past year. Not only is she kind, patient, and funny, but she has the unique ability to recognize what we (teachers in the United States) call “teachable moments”. These are moments that come from the students themselves, when we realize that they are very engaged in a lesson, and, even though it wasn’t what we had planned for them, we took the lesson to wherever they were, and we taught what they needed to know. Jang was able to do that for me. I learned far more than I knew (about the Thai language), and far less than I could have learned, if I had more time to study properly. Jang did her best to maximize my learning potential, she corrected my faulty Thai easily and gracefully, and I never, ever felt like I was “wrong”, only that I was “learning”. I put together a transcript of our lessons, organizing it so that the phrases I used the most are in front, as well as the most important, e.g., How do you say this in Thai? I will be returning to Thailand in less than three weeks, so I can’t wait to begin Thai conversations that are far in advance of the basic Thai that I already know. I will find the Thai Language Hut in person, and I would love to meet all the teachers there, especially the one with whom I have been on Skype forty times now. Jang, I look forward to seeing you. Sincerely and most appreciatively, Doug Horspool (USA) June 2013