ASSIGNMENT 1: INTRODUCTION

[Gloria Arellano]

– Hi everyone! My name is Gloria, and I’m from Los Angeles, California. I recently defended my Master’s thesis in Biology (Ecology/Evolution), while working as a substitute teacher and small business owner on the side. I love animals, science, and food!
– I decided to take on this new teaching adventure in Thailand due to multiple recommendations from people and alumni that have had such an amazing experience themselves in this country.
– One obvious challenge I expect to face when visiting Asia is the language barrier. I hope to overcome this by passing the culture course and studying/practicing for many hours!
– I hope to gain new perspectives, friendships, shared passions, and a continued sense of fulfillment through this incredible, combined experience of traveling and education.

[Pallavi Jhunjhunwala]

Hi! I am Pallavi, a first year law student from Cambridge University. I am an international student from India having lived across five different cities and Malaysia. I am coming to Thailand in furtherance of my resolution for the next 5 years to take eery opportunity I can get to travel and meet as many new people as I can. I’m sure there are too many challenges ahead of me- the most important one being learning to be flexible and adapting to new situations. From this experience I strongly hope I come out as a more polished sensitive person, with many many stories to tell and having visited across Thailand and countries around. !!

[Gloria Arellano]

Hi Davina! I like that you brought up Thai cuisine being a challenge you may have to overcome because I felt the same way. I pretty much grew up on USA fast food, or dishes inspired from Mexico, Italy, and the South (soul food), and that’s about it! I started trying new cuisines in graduate school, expanding my palate to flavors from Greece, India, and eventually Thailand. Pho and Pad See Ew were the first Thai dishes I tried and I fell in love! I can’t wait for you to also try new foods for the first time, and hopefully enjoy the experience as much as I did :).

[Theo Adler-Williams]

Hey, my name is Theo and I am 19, having just completed my first year studying English literature and language at Oxford University. I have not had an opportunity to travel before, and with gotoco i saw a chance to travel, to learn, and also to hopefully give something back. The chance to go to Thailand and to get a qualification from it is a special opportunity that i am very excited for. I think it will be very challenging being in a completely new environment, with a lack of familiarity. However, this is not too dissimilar from moving to university, and i plan to apply the same practices i used there. From the experience in total, i am looking forward to making new friends, getting new experiences, and most importantly learning about new cultures, people, languages and more.

[Muhammad Hamza Waqas Awan]

Hi, my name is Hamza Waqas, and I am a second year student at the University of Oxford reading Economics and Management. I am an international student from Pakistan, and while I have not been able to do as much traveling as I would love to, I am fascinated with learning about different cultures and languages.
I joined this programme because it lies at the intersection of two of my greatest passions: Teaching and Traveling. I believe an on-ground experience in an unfamiliar place such as Thailand would help me cultivate skills relevant to teaching in international settings. In addition, I believe the experience would aid me in making an educated decision regarding pursuing a teaching career after my university. I also think it would be a fantastic opportunity to immerse myself in Thai culture and get started on learning the Thai language, as I aim to add it to my language portfolio in the future.
I feel the biggest challenges would be related to differences in culture and language, and being able to get my thoughts across in non-English settings. But that makes me feel equally excited because in overcoming this barrier, not only would I be helping young students learn a valuable language such as English, I would also be able to pick up their language and see the world from their lens simultaneously.
Overall, through this experience, I aim to understand my own strengths and weaknesses, both in terms of teaching and beyond. I hope to make lots of friends from different walks of life and learn more about Thai culture and language.

[Nydia Gay]

Greetings everyone!

My name is Nydia Symone Gay, and I am a citizen of the United States of America. I’m a recent graduate from Mercer University, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with additional certifications to teach students with special needs. I have prior teaching experience serving a variety of age groups and academic needs. I’ve previously studied abroad in Barranquilla, Colombia. In my spare time, I enjoy listening to music, reading, engaging in new experiences, and developing my love for Christ—constantly seeking more ways to be closer to him and to walk in his will for my life.

I firmly believe that my purpose in life is to make an impact in education on a large scale. When asked, “Why Thailand?” I respond with, “because God told me that I needed to experience something new, that I needed to be stretched, and that Thailand would be the country to further expose me to a new way of living, thinking, and being.”

On my journey, challenges are sure to come. I’ve learned to embrace challenges as learning opportunities. I’ve recently discovered the value of being patient with myself and with my walk in life. I rely heavily on my faith and the support network of people that God has placed in my path. I hope to come out of my time in Thailand a stronger advocate for myself and for those who I serve. I seek to build new interpersonal connections with those who I encounter and to learn new innovative ways to approach education!

[Gavin Ranahan]

Hi, my name is Gavin.
– I am Irish-born and also a Canadian citizen. My degree is in Electrical Engineering and I’ve worked in a variety of roles since leaving college. I had been planning to move back to BC from Ireland at the start of the year but decided to first travel around Thailand and Cambodia for a couple of months. While travelling, my plans began to change and I also met some EFL teachers who started me down this path.
– I decided to move to Thailand to get TEFL certified, which I just did last week, and then hopefully get a few years of practical teaching experience.
– As someone who doesn’t cook much I will be eating out every day so I am resigned to eventually getting food poisoning for the first time. Practically every person I’ve talked to who has lived in Thailand for an extended time has had it happen to them so there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done about it.
– I am hoping that this experience will not only be a great adventure in itself but also give me more options and flexibility to work and travel in the future.

[Aleyna Odabas]

Hey! My name is Aleyna, I’m 20 and in September I’ll be starting my second year studying English lit and Creative writing at York St John University. Before moving to York I lived in Todmorden, a magical little town in the valley. I moved around a lot growing up and spent a snippet of my childhood living in Turkey, where I hope to return to at some point. Travelling brings me so much joy, and I often embark on long solus journeys for weeks at a time to work on my independence and explore great things! Thailand has been described to me as one of the most enchanting places to visit, and I thought it would be the best experience to throw myself into something new and productive whilst exploring the country. I love learning and sharing what I’ve learned with others, and I believe that spreading knowledge is a wonderful thing. When I heard I’d be working with children I was thrilled, as with five younger siblings I have a soft spot for them. I hope to overcome the fear of changing my everyday routine and continue to challenge myself with new experiences like this one. I expect there will be language barriers, but the best part of teaching others is that you learn things too along the way. I look forward to ending the trip with a newfound love of a different place with an admirable culture, and returning home with confidence and a hunger for more experiences like this one.

[Abigail Bailey]

Hey! I’m Abbey, I’m 22 and from the South West of England. I graduated from the University of Bristol in Biomedical Science a year ago and have been on a ‘gap year’ since – I’ve interrailed, done a ski season, and worked at home to save money. My next step is to go further afield to a new continent!
Thailand intrigues me as offers such a different culture and the opportunity to jump into a diverse experience. I want to do something purposeful, so teaching English is really attractive to me. I love to always learn more, whilst also getting to see the world.
I expect to face challenges with navigating language – I really do want to attempt to get atleast a little grasp on Thai so I can show locals I’m interested in their language too! I can move past this by trying my best, using some little lessons before, and learning as I go in my interactions with people.
I hope to gain a whole lot of memories and life experience, relationships with people who become significant to me, and to gain both personal and professional skills.

[Lee Ong]

Hi everyone,
My name is Lee, I was born in Birmingham, England. I studied sports science at University of Brighton.

I’ve been an English teacher before working at a summer school for German children. It was one of my first jobs, I had no experience with children or teaching and this job made me fall in love with it. I loved it so much most of my career has involved working with children. I have been fortunate enough to travel and work at a summer camp in Canada, where I made lots of memories and worked hard. At the time of writing this, I’m a High Ropes and Climb Instructor at an Adventure Park. So I spend a lot of time helping or giving tips to kids. So that summer job helped shape my future into what it has become.

My Nan was born in a small fishing village in Thailand. I’ve always wanted to visit but not just for the sake of it, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to immerse myself, get to know a part of my heritage and grow as a human being.

I expect lots of challenges, I think everyday will be different. Last minute lessons planning and chaotic classrooms. I hope to have an open mind about teaching and travelling, cultivate my independence, get to know myself more, and grow as a person.

Looking forward to meeting everyone 🙂

See you in Thailand!

[Hafeez Merali]

Hi, I’m Hafeez, and I’m from San Diego California, studying Politics Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. I saw Gotoco’s opportunity to teach English abroad this summer and honestly thought it was too good to be true at first. I’m so excited to meet new people, have new experiences, and learn new things. Obviously there will be challenges–apart from language which is probably the biggest and most important one I imagine a lot of these are unknown unknowns— but I think perseverance and looking to new friends for support will help me overcome them. I hope to come out of the program with new perspectives, new friends, and good stories to tell 🙂

[Aaron Mcintyre]

Hi! My name is Aaron, I’m 19, and I’ve just finished my first year of university studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford. When I’m not at university I live in rural Suffolk where I work as a part-time cover supervisor during the university vacations. I’m looking forward to travelling to Thailand over the summer in order to bring my experiences of teaching to an entirely new set of challenges abroad, whilst having the opportunity to immerse myself in an entirely new language and culture. I’m definitely expecting the language barrier to be a problem, and especially in the early days when I’m still getting to grips with basic Thai customs and cultural expectations, however I’m sure that with a lot of patience, resilience, and a good team around me this won’t be a real problem. I’m hoping to bring back barrel-loads of experience from the trip; I’m sure there are a number of new teaching tricks and techniques I can pick up to help my work at home.

[Phoebe Stevenson]

Hello! My name is Phoebe and I’m a recent graduate and wanted to travel somewhere new after uni. I chose to teach in Thailand because it has always been on my bucket list and I have never travelled in Asia. I think it will be difficult adjusting to such a new culture and way of life, but hopefully learning more about it will make the transition easier.
I hope to travel a lot and reach a conversational level in Thai and meet many new people, all whilst learning how to be a good English teacher.

[Ellie Harbinson]

Hiya, my name is Ellie. I have just finished 4 years at university to become a PE teacher. Studying my PGCE at the number one university in the world for sport… Loughborough University.

I am ready to move onto my next adventure and teaching abroad has always been the one! I’m expecting the language barrier to cause some issues but I’m sure Google translate, teaching assistants, the way I explain things and images/videos can support me with doing so.
I hope to become the best teacher I can be!

[Aleyna Odabas]

Woah, you sure have been around. I love the range of places you’ve visited. Scotland to South Korea, you’re living my dream, Kassandra! Travelling to so many different places sounds like so much fun, I hope you have a great time in Thailand:)

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