ASSIGNMENT 1: INTRODUCTION

[Jasleen Kaur]

Hi everyone, my name is Jasleen Kaur, and I have recently completed PGCE in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. I decided to participate in the programme as I want to experience teaching abroad and couldn’t think of a better place than Thailand. Thailand has always been on my bucket list for many reasons, such as its rich history, ancient temples, vibrant traditions, bold flavours and many more. Communication will be the biggest challenge as I don’t know any Thai, and it can be very overwhelming with the overload of information thrown at you. Although I am very much looking forward to meeting new people, learning about a new culture and making endless memories.

[Olivia Fox]

Hi everyone, my name’s Liv, I’m 26 and from New Zealand, though I live in Australia now. I’ve been here for about 3 years and really love it. I work as a swimming teacher and am studying my master’s in primary teaching.
I wanted to join the program because I love travel and working with children so to do both would be a dream! I have visited Thailand once before and absolutely loved it so I jumped at the opportunity to experience it in such a beautiful way. I would love to able to contribute to the community that is so kindly hosting us for our stay.
An obstacle for me will be homesickness. I am super close with my family but the internet is a powerful thing and I know they will love to get a photo or hear a story about our newest adventures.
I hope to experience a new culture, exciting places and meet new amazing people! I can’t wait to meet all of you soon!!

[Michael Hawkey]

Hi everyone, my name is Michael, I’m 20, from the UK, and am studying French at Oxford, about to begin my year abroad. I will be teaching English for the majority of next year, and I thought joining the Gotoco programme in Thailand would be an amazing experience, that will provide me with perfect preparation for a whole year of teaching, alongside taking the TESOL course. My father, aunt, and uncle were born in Bangkok, but I sadly still don’t know much about the culture, and I would love the chance to explore the ancient temples, the incredible nature, and learn to cook a traditional dish when I get back! I think learning some Thai, and becoming accustomed to the cultural nuances will be difficult, but remaining receptive to everyone around me and over time, I hope to learn how to fit in and have a positive impact on the people I meet. I’m hoping to immerse myself as much as possible in a range of environments where I can learn about authentic Thai experiences and meet interesting local people, but I am also very excited to meet all of you!

[Haochen Wang]

Hi everyone,

My name is Haochen. I’m 19, and I’ve just finished my first year studying History at Oxford. I was born in Beijing, China and lived there for the first 8 years of my life, upon which I moved to New Zealand and stayed there for school until university began last year.
Being born into a family that works in tourism, I was immersed in a culture of travelling from a young age, and so when I learned of Gotoco, I was hooked. As to why Thailand, from the little history and culture of it that I know, it has always fascinated me, and I’d love to learn more through this opportunity.
I anticipate that acclimatising to the culture may be challenging, but I hope that being open-minded and embracing towards what is unfamiliar will quicken that process.
From my 7 weeks or so, I hope to gain not only experience in teaching English, but also a better understanding and appreciation of the rich Thai culture. And, of course, getting to meet all of you!

[Olivia Fox]

Hi Michael, how cool that you’re expanding your skills in English teaching. I love that you want to explore and experience Thai culture from the locals, can’t wait!

[Clerinda Ruby De Guzman]

Hello Everyone! My name is Clerinda Ruby. I hope everyone is well! I am from Las Vegas Nevada USA. I have a Bachelors Degree in Business and have worked in retail and hospitality industry. I love cruising, trying and eating different kinds of food from all parts of the world, and I love to see new places. So far I could say that I am in love in this country because of its culture, food, and the people.

I decided to take the TEFL class and permanently move and work here in Thailand because I feel like this is a good fit for me. I love the food, I am closer to beautiful beaches, and the cost of living is affordable.

Since I do not have experience in teaching I think that would be one of my challenges. However, I am determined to learn to be successful in my new career path. Another challenge is to communicate with others but I planned on learning the language.

I am very positive that my new life here in Thailand would be fun, comfortable, and amazing!

Clerinda Ruby

[Clerinda Ruby De Guzman]

Hi Eric! My fiancée and I did sell all our belongings too before coming to Thailand. We have never been to Thailand however from watching a lot of you tube from different people, and the love for the Thai food and t’s beaches here we are starting a new life.

I hope that we both could have a successful life here in Thailand and we could contribute knowledge to our students .

[Edward Stanbury]

Background information about yourself
Hi, I’m Edward, I’m 18 at Warwick Business School.
Why are you deciding to travel/move to Thailand?
Funded, never been, complete cultural immersion, developmental
What challenges do you expect to face along the way and how do you expect to overcome them?
I expect to struggle with language barrier and developing my teaching skills and I expect to overcome this by learning some Thai and being patient and resilient.
What do you hope to get out of your experience?
Personal/professional development and new friendships

[Mafuza Islam]

Hi my name is Mafuza Islam. I am a student of Greenwich University, studying Primary Education. I have always had a deep rooted-love for working with children. I give this credit to growing up in my mothers’ childminding setting, witnessing her accommodate to the individual additional needs of children. A stronger background in science led me to pursue Pharmacy, and was key in understanding, unfortunately, that this is not where my passions lie. Meanwhile I was working as a part-time nanny, as I do today, where I found all my joy to be concentrated. An extensive part of my role entails tutoring Maths and English, while overcoming speech difficulties. It has been deeply rewarding to find my personalised learning accommodations contribute to the child’s new-found confidence and ability to express themselves.I have obtained a wealth of skills since, finding myself delving and thinking more critically and philosophically. Specifically my interests lie in reducing the attainment gap for children with special education needs, and implementing such into my own practise by tailoring to support individuals.

My passions outside of teaching revolve around travelling. What I have found most invaluable from travelling to fourteen countries are the unplanned experiences. I hope this opportunity in Thailand will allow me finding myself immersed in conversations, enabling me to live through and internalise other’s teachings, and take these experiences home as I find myself doing so after my return. On this Teaching Fellowship in Thailand, I hope to make a global and impactful learning experience for the primary aged children I work with. For many of the the children in Thailand, learning English will act as a pre-requisite to accessing opportunities in a global English speaking world, and I hope to assist in this journey through my teaching. Six weeks allowed me time to establish relationships and incorporate this into teaching English to primary-aged children. In an effort to prepare, I also took a course with Culture Route prior which enabled me to learn key phrases and understand the history and diversity in Thailand, enabling me to integrate amongst locals for six weeks.

Taking the Culture Route course allowed me to identify my personal challenge that lies in learning Thai. In the time I have remaining, I hope to revise key phrases I have learnt to consolidate what I know. Thailand isn’t land of smiles without its people, which is reassuring as immerse myself in their warm and inviting nature. I anticipate to practise with locals and the children, which will enable to improve and develop my vocabulary and structure in sentence, as well as increase my confidence in the language. While I am no stranger to travel, this will be the longest distance and time I will spend away from home, alone. And it is likely I will will miss home cooked meals I am accustomed to being from a southeast Asian backgrounds. However, being an extreme “foodie” I am always open to explore new foods, and from Thai food experience in London I am aware similar spicy nature with rice based. Further research allows me to find that there is a Muslim population of 6%, concentrated particularly in Bangkok, which means a high likeliness in accessing Halal food, usually a concern when travelling. However if not, I understand Thai cuisine offers diverse vegetarian and seafood options, which I am most excited to try as alternative!

What I hope to get out of this experience is develop and adopt a high degree of key skills that would enable me to continue my Global Teaching journey, techniques to teach English but as a foreign language and compare to my own methods of teaching English according to the teachings of the National Curriculum. I would like to be able to draw comparisons, and take techniques I have learnt on ground in Thailand and incorporate them in my own future teaching. I hope to shadow more experienced individuals to eventually build the confidence to lead my own learning environment classroom without any assistance at all. Obtaining the TESOL qualification, will act as a gateway to teaching abroad without a PGCE immediately, after my university ends next year. I am undecided as to where I would like to teach, but this experience will provide me reasonable experience when considering Thailand. If I don’t teach primary education, as I currently anticipate to, I can teach English as a foreign language as this qualification will create the pathway to for such.

[Aoife Douglas]

Hi! My name’s Aoife, I’m 22 and from Scotland. I’ve just finished my undergraduate degree studying psychology in Dundee, and I’m ready for my next adventure. Travel is something I have always planned to do after university, to meet new people and experience new cultures. I decided to take part in this programme, as working with children is something I’ve always been interested in. I spent two summers volunteering in a Romanian orphanage, and that really sparked my desire to continue working with children. Thailand is somewhere I’ve always wanted to travel to, so to be able to travel and teach is an amazing opportunity.
I think one of my main challenges will be leaving my friends and family for a long period of time and adjusting to a new culture. Despite this, it is also something that very much excites me, and I really want to gain more confidence and push myself out my comfort zone.
I’m most excited about travelling and meeting new people as well as gaining new skills and experiences.

[William Sawtell]

Hello,

My name is William, I’m currently studying Computer Science at Cardiff University. Although my degree isn’t related to the programme, I decided to partake in it to develop my skills and give myself a chance at further personal improvement while gaining a qualification in the process and making an impact on the Thai community. Last year I did a lot of solo travel and really fell in love with exploring different cultures and interacting with the people from those cultures. I’ve never travelled to Asia before however I’ve heard a lot about various Asian cultures through talking to close friends which has made me heavily interested in experiencing it first hand. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to travel on this funded course and look forward to pushing myself out of my comfort zone while teaching.

I’m expecting to face a variety of challenges while in Thailand which I am looking forward to as I will be able to learn from them and become a stronger person because of it. The biggest challenge I’m expecting will be adapting to the culture. I have a nut allergy and have always been frightened of Thai food because of warnings my Mum instilled into me. I’m hoping this trip will help me overcome the fear of doing something against what my subconscious is telling me to do. I think the language barrier and general mannerisms will take getting used to as I’m aware of the vast differences between Asian cultures and Western culture and often without communication it is hard to adjust to those mannerisms. To combat this I’m planning on learning small bits of Thai such as greetings and simple sentences to show the local community that I am engaging with their culture and respecting them.

Coming out of this experience, I want to gain a deeper understanding of a culture very different to my own. I also want to have furthered my leadership, flexibility and public speaking skills

Overall I’m very thankful to have been accepted on this programme and really looking forward to joining in!

[Heidi Muca]

Hi! My name is Heidi. I’m 20 and I was born and raised in London, although I’m from Albania originally. I’ve just finished my second year studying law at Durham University.
I’ve decided to take part in the programme because I’m really excited to get the opportunity to do something fulfilling like teaching English at a school abroad, whilst also immersing myself in a brand new culture and experience.
I expect this experience will be outside of my comfort zone and I’ll have to adapt to a completely different lifestyle, however I’ll overcome any challenges with this through keeping an open mind and being excited for the opportunities.
I hope to be really fulfilled from this experience. Hopefully I will see lots of new places, meet great like-minded individuals, and make a real impact in the lives of some children.

[Lily Amos]

Hello everyone!
My name is Lily and I’ve just completed my first year of medicine at UEA, however have decided to change my path and pursue a degree in international management at the University of Manchester next year. I’ve been teaching international students online for 2 years and it’s such a rewarding role as I get to understand the way different students learn and adapt their education, so they thrive! I’ve helped some students gain amazing scholarships and I’m incredibly proud of them all.
I’ve decided to join Xplore Asia and teach in Thailand because it combines two things I love: travelling and teaching! This year studying medicine made me realise that I wasn’t doing what I love and that life is too short to not throw yourself into every opportunity and chase happiness. I’m so glad I am going to be able to help young people develop so they can adapt to such an internationalised world but most importantly I will strive to evoke passion in students for different topics/subjects. Learning English is so much easier when you can link it to things you love!
I feel I may be challenged in my organisational skills during this experience and will have to adapt my time-management skills to both lesson planning, teaching as well as being active and social! I am going to be writing a ton of lists and fighting against my mental and emotional blockages, but I am determined to succeed and develop as a person for my future education and career.
I’d love to continue teaching abroad in the future and already have my eye on some gotoco opportunities for 2024 (pls take me back).
Thank you!

[Kieron Moffat]

Hi, my name is Kieron, and I am from Edinburgh. I have just graduated from the University of Aberdeen where I studied Geography and Sociology. I have decided to take part in this programme because I have always wanted to travel, especially to South Asia as it has such a vibrant and unique culture unlike anything in the UK. This programme seemed like an excellent way to travel whilst also embracing and giving something back to the community I will be living in. After hearing about it from a friend and researching this opportunity it seemed too good to overlook.
Travelling on my own to meet new people will be a new experience for me and working with children that primarily speak another language will be challenging, but I am willing to give it a go with an open and positive mind.
As this is such a new experience I have no idea what to expect, but I hope to be able to come out of it with a new perspective on the Thai culture and to have grown as an individual. Experience of a wildly new culture and the chance to push myself outside of my comfort zone is what I’m expecting, and maybe to see some elephants.

[Scarlett Travers]

Hello everyone!
My name is Scarlett, I am 24 years old and born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2020, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies and French Language. After study, I worked in recruitment and New Zealand Government Procurement across different government agencies.
From a young age, I fell in love with travelling, different cultures and learning about the world. In 2010 I was lucky enough to travel to Thailand and I am very excited to come back. I’m very interested in Thailand’s culture including the fascinating history, diverse landscapes, and delicious food. The opportunity to teach English in Thailand would be an amazing way to experience a new community and have a positive impact on the people during my time there.
The biggest challenges I expect to face will be the language and communication with Thai people and missing my family and friends. I want to embrace my time in Thailand by meeting Thai people, stepping out of my comfort zone and of course learning Thai as often as I can. Missing friends and family back home is inevitable but I look forward to making new friends in the exact same boat as me. I also hope to learn lots about myself and Thai culture. I look forward to meeting you all!

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