United States
US
Kelly Russell
Teach Enrich Empower
Having The Best THAIm In Thailand
My name is Kelly. I am 22 years old and I come from the beautiful country of South Africa. Travelling has always been one of my biggest passions in life. However it is unfortunately quite expensive and not always possible if you have just graduated and/or work full-time (or so I thought).
One day I happened to stumble across a blog that spoke about travelling while teaching English at the same time, which really grabbed my attention and made me think. This inspired me to put my dream into action and to make a big change in my life. So, in February of this year I signed up for the online Level 5 TEFL course through The TEFL Academy, and by the end of April I had finished and completed it. Before I knew it, I was on my way to Thailand in May, excited for my new adventure to begin.
Before arriving in Thailand, I did not know what to expect, besides the crystal clear blue ocean waters and pristine white sandy beaches scattered with palm trees, and of course the delicious Thai food. Little did I know that Thailand would turn out to be one of the most fascinating and wonderful countries that I had ever seen!
After a long flight to Bangkok and a 3-hour-long bus ride, I arrived in my new home town, Rayong, which is on the Eastern coast of Thailand. I was then taken to my new school, which I was unable to pronounce for the first few days, and introduced to all the teachers that I would be working with. I was overwhelmed by their incredible kindness. They made sure that I was exposed to the Thai way of living from the start, which was wonderful for me. Some of them took me to a food market and told me which foods were the best to try, others took me shopping to buy things that I would need for my little flat, and the rest would help me try and learn a few words of Thai in order to help me get around by myself.
“Before I knew it, I was on my way to Thailand for my new adventure.”
The people of Thailand are wonderfully warm and so proud of their culture, which is lovely to see. The students are super eager to learn English and are really respectful towards all of their teachers. I was lucky enough to have arrived in time to be a part of the annual “Wai Kru Day” in which the students pay their respect to their teachers by giving them beautiful flower arrangements and flower garlands. I felt incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful cultural event. I have also since been invited to watch some students perform traditional Thai dancing, and sing traditional Thai songs.
My students have also shown a fascination for my country, and they are so interested to learn about the different cultures and the way of life in South Africa, and I love sharing it with them. Although I have only been teaching for two months, I have already started to notice slight improvements in some of the English being spoken or used in class by the students, which makes me incredibly happy because it gives me an incentive to work even harder and create even better lessons for my students so that they can keep on improving. The TEFL course has helped me a great deal in this situation because it has provided me with the necessary tools to create and implement lesson plans suited to the different needs of my students.
So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience of being a TEFL-qualified English teacher and I look forward to the remainder of my time in Thailand!
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