United States
US
Dana Bartosova
Teach Enrich Empower
Chom Phra Prachasan School in Thailand
When I finished my online TEFL course (120 hours), I travelled to Thailand and decided to teach English there.
I knew that there were quite a few possibilities to teach English and as I checked the websites I found many available positions for English teachers. I chose a smaller town, Surin, also called “Elephant city”. Surin is located around 6 hours by train from the capital city, Bangkok. It is surrounded by beautiful nature and you can find many elephants near this town, which makes this place even more special.
Every morning I got up quite early because Chom Phra Prachasan School is around 30 kilometres from Surin. You have to go by motorbike or bus to get there. I was really lucky because one of the teachers offered to take me to school by car every day. It was so much easier for me to travel like this. She took me to school and then she drove me back home. I think this kind of transport was the best one for me – it was fast, safe and comfortable.
“Teaching abroad with TEFL certificate in the country of a thousand smiles…”
My first day at school was amazing! All teachers and students looked at me with a such interest! Just because of one thing – I was white. I was different. I must admit that I felt like a Hollywood star! It was a bit of a weird feeling, but it was nice. At the beginning of my first day I visited the morning ceremony and I introduced myself to all students and teachers. I used the microphone for that and I was standing on the stage. There were around 3 000 students and I was a little bit nervous to talk in front of such a huge audience. As I found out later, this morning ceremony was organised every morning at 7:30.
When the ceremony finished, everybody went back to school and prepared for the classes. The lessons started at 8:30 and lasted 50 minutes. The last class ended at 4:30. Teaching in Thailand was sometimes exhausting because of the hot weather. The temperature was around 40 degrees and you could feel the high humidity in the air. But Thai students were great! They were trying to cooperate with me and I can say that most of them were really interested in the English language.
I felt happy with my Thai students. Most of them were very good at English and I enjoyed teaching them. I did not have any serious problems during my teaching. In one class there was one student, a boy, who was much more talented than the rest of his class. So, I started creating more activities for him and when I saw he was getting bored, I wanted something from him – e.g.: I called him to the whiteboard to repeat the new vocabulary and write down the words.
I liked teaching at Chom Phra Prachasan School. It was a challenge for me. This kind of experience came true thanks to the TEFL course with The TEFL Academy and I appreciate it!
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