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The school aims to provide a strong educational program based on American curriculum standards and three essential languages: Chinese, Thai, and American English.
Thai-Chinese International School (TCIS) is a kindergarten to 12th grade International school, situated in Samudh Prakarn, Thailand. Taiwanese founded the school in 1995 with an aim to provide education based on American curriculum as well as offering classes in English with language classes in Thai, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. This school celebrates diversity in the campus; the students from over dozens of nations attend the school each day for an extraordinary beginning of the career. It has separate buildings for high school, middle, and elementary schools with the facilities like, indoor pool, AstroTurf football pitch, indoor gyms, hi-tech computer lab, rich library with a 20,000+ (trilingual) book library, and rock climbing wall. The school provides a perfect learning environment with world-class learning experiences to their students. It has Google Certified Educators and multifaceted teachers that help students to enrich the knowledge beyond teaching.
An Adroit Leader Who Transformed the School
Dr. John McGrath has more than 38 years of rich experience in education including elementary, middle, and high school through graduate programs at the university level. He is a Canadian and has been a resident in Thailand since 2009. He was working as a System Principal for a district in Ottawa where he was responsible for 42,000 students across 85 locations. He taught the principal’s qualification course at Queen’s University and worked as a coordinator for the principal’s qualification program at the University of Ottawa.
TCIS has a strong leadership team which is under the able supervision of professionals like Dr. John. His dexterity, humbleness, and expertise helped the school to achieve great success. His major contribution at TCIS includes nurturing academic expectations, re-energizing the school’s mission, re-branding the school, creation of music zone, implementation of a Chrome book program, bringing Google summit for Education to TCIS and many such initiatives which aim at empowering the students by providing them immense exposures and hands-on learning.
Innovative Syllabi to Nurture a Creative Mindset
TCIS has dynamic, student-centered, and unique trilingual curriculum. This school encourages the students to collaborate, communicate, and be creative to enable critical thinking. It offers distinctive academic programs such as Coding, Graphic Design and Digital Arts, Rock Band, Environmental Science, Chinese and Thai language classes, STEM programs, Writer’s Workshop as well as After School Enrichment Program. It uses G Suite for Education, a Google suite of productivity tools that helps students and teachers interact seamlessly and securely.
TCIS offers Advanced Placement (AP) classes which provide college-level curricula and work to the students during high school period. Through Advanced Placement program, students can get the opportunity to earn college credit and placement. Students of TCIS outperformed in Advanced Placement exams, particularly in arts and language exams. In Chinese program, TCIS secured #1 among various international schools of Bangkok and students scored highest in Chinese test in Thailand. Moreover, this school follows Expected School wide Learning Results (ESLR) and prepares students to be Responsible Global participants, Effective Communicators, Collaborative Workers, Independent Life Long Learners, and Complex Thinkers.
Life at TCIS
TCIS embraces the diversity by celebrating Chinese New Year and Double Ten Day (National Day of the Republic of China) as well as Japanese Day and Korean Day. It also organizes Thai events such as Songkran, Wai Kru, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Loy Krathong. Thai department of the school arranges Thai Knowledge Bowl where students can demonstrate their knowledge of Thai language, history, and culture.
Moreover, events such as Spirit Week, Winter Carnival, and Sports Day are organized by the student body and their elected leaders. These events include cultural performances by students and experts from outside of TCIS and the celebrations extend to the areas like food, language, arts, and customs.
Students are encouraged to take participation in clubs, sports teams, volunteer, and community activities. These activities enhance the academic performance, diverse skills, and self-esteem of the students. TCIS has many student run clubs that celebrate personal diversity as well as instill a sense of service by helping the local, national, and even global community of citizens.
The students of TCIS have won silver medal at the Asian Science and Math Olympics and have competed against students from all over Thailand. One of its students has won the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Association Thailand (APJGA) at Kanchanaburi. Moreover, several students have secured 1st Place in the English Language Proficiency Test.
This school also emphasizes on boosting creativity as well as the talent of students and has created a class called Rock Band. This class demonstrates the student about the professional working musician. Also, students learn to play cover songs and then they perform it at the assemblies. Apart from this, exciting projects are allocated to them to learn more about writing, recording, producing, mixing, and releasing their own original songs. All these songs are made available for purchase and streaming on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and Tidal.
Financial Assistance and Scholarship
TCIS offers various forms of scholarships to the students who outperform in academics, athletics, and the arts. The scholarships are available for middle school and high school to recognize, celebrate, and reward the excellence inside and outside the classroom. The school offers discounts for alumni, diplomats, and employees of the same corporation.
Career Development Activities
TCIS offers several opportunities to the students to explore their future lives beyond high school. Career development programs include Mandarin camp in Taiwan, the Asian Student Exchange Program, study abroad programs in the U.S. and Canada, international robotics competitions, engineering camp in Taiwan, travel to Europe as musical performers, and the chance to work with patients and health care professionals via Operation Smile.
The school has a wide range of assessments such as interest inventories, skills assessments, emotional intelligence, learning style preferences, and uses MAP, PSAT, SAT, and AP tests scores to find out best career options that fits appropriate for students’ personality, strengths, and interests. TCIS carries modern, career-focused, and international perspective to high school education.
Notable Alumni
The school has numerous notable alumni who have attended top ranked universities around the globe. Joe Rummaneethorn, class of 2018, was one of the few, who admitted to the Princeton University in 2014. This year he will graduate Princeton with a degree in biological and chemical engineering with future plans to pursue his master’s degree.
One alumnus was inspired by Environmental Science class at TCIS and he is working to make Bangkok a better place. Bruce Chen, class of 2010, works as a community engagement coordinator for the Scholars of Sustenance Foundation in Thailand, which is a food rescue mission whose goal is to reduce food waste by directing surplus foods to needy people. Moreover, two young alumni were elected to the 10th Board foundation and are playing an important role in leading this school into the future.
Major Achievements
Most recent accomplishment of TCIS is that it has more Google Certified Educators than any other school in Thailand. Another recent accomplishment was introducing National Honor Society to TCIS where they celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments of the students both inside and outside the classroom. Its Chinese program was #1 among the international schools in Bangkok in Chinese competition and TCIS’s students have the highest AP Chinese test scores in Thailand.
