From what you describe, your Thai student would need to learn English and has no previous knowledge of English. Not knowing (because you do not mention any details in this respect) whether the student has had any schooling in Thailand before and whether he is literate in his native tongue. These would be the first questions I would ask you before I would answer a question like this.

However, apart from that, I think the new student would be confronted with a situation where he needs to learn a new language from scratch up. Then, at this stage, focus is on developing basic speaking and listening comprehension skills with the development of written and reading skills in English to follow later. It won't be a good idea to give him any English book to read at this stage, though. Instead, I think your colleagues and your would need to concentrate on developing his oral skills first.

Good luck and a happy New Year!