About Us
Super English is a language school located in Mueang Surat Thani, Thailand, the capital city in the largest province in southern Thailand. We are a group of teachers passionate about providing fun, energetic, and rewarding ESL education to students at Thidamaepra School.
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A Brief History of Super English
by Peter C. Meltzer, Founder
Personal note: Super English has been operating for 18 years so it is difficult to condense or summarize that many exciting, challenging, and rewarding years and events into a small space. Hopefully, what I’ve written below somewhat captures the journey.
My wife and I opened Super English Language School on September 7, 2004. I still remember the first day clearly. We had done a small marketing campaign to let people know that we would be open and that kids could try free 10-15 minute lessons. I was the only teacher so we had to divide the kids into approximate age groups and keep things moving. The lobby was packed - it was reasonably chaotic and exhausting, but also very fun. Regular classes quickly filled up and we got started with those the very next day.
At the beginning, I was teaching four hours a day at Super English (16:30-20:30) and 12 hours on the weekend (6 hours Saturday, 6 hours Sunday). All classes were more or less full and I was getting a good reputation as a teacher. A month or two after we opened Super English, Thidamaepra School (Thida) called and asked me to come in to teach some 5th and 6th grade classes part-time. Those classes went well and 4th grade was added. Soon, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade were added. I was teaching around 40 hours a week, which was a lot, especially with the 100 mph teaching style that I used. Around this time, I started hiring other teachers to help with classes at Thida and Super English Language School.
While I brought in teachers to take over the classes I had begun, I worked with Thida to progressively open more and more classes. The conversation always went something like this:
“The students in (insert grade level) are too young. They can’t study English yet.”
“I think they can do it. Let’s give it a try and see.”
“They are too little. They are not ready.”
“Well, just let me go in and give it a try and we’ll see what happens.”
Eventually, I was able to expand the English classes at Thida from 5th and 6th grade to everything from Pre-Kindergarten (Anuban 1 in Thailand, which is 3-4 years old) up to Grade 9 (15-16 years old).
The next step came when I proposed that the students should have English every day and not just once a week. It took some convincing (and some time), but eventually we opened the Intensive English Program (IEP) at Thida. I would see the same class of 1st graders for one hour every day. It went very well. Starting about half-way through the school year, they would bus in teachers from all over the province to observe my class. We’d set up in the school courtyard so there would be enough space for all the people to watch. My 1st graders were always superstars and the IEP program had the start it needed. It eventually expanded to cover Kindergarten through Grade 8.
After a few years, Thida asked to start a more expansive English program which would also cover daily Math and Science lessons. I said yes and we started working on it. The Mini English Program (MEP) has since become our primary focus at Thida and the program in which all Super English teachers work. The language school itself was passed to my wife’s cousin when I opened my international school, but the Super English program at Thida is doing very well.
Throughout the years at Thida, Super English has been very fortunate to have many absolutely amazing teachers who helped lead, build, and contribute to the programs. They have consistently maintained the high quality of education expected from Super English teachers, as well as making sure their students were enjoying the lessons. To have seen so many teachers and students thrive and enjoy themselves has been the greatest reward. I look forward to Super English continuing its success with happy teachers and happy students!
