ASSIGNMENT 1: INTRODUCTION

[Harry Creber]

Hi everyone. My name is Harry. I started training to become an accountant but knew that it wasn’t my path. I went from A-Levels to degree to masters degree to training three years for my accounting. I felt like I had no real cultural experiences and felt too embedded in my comfort zone. That’s why I decided to come to Thailand and do something I would have never expected myself to do. I’m expecting to face a number of challenges such as learning to teach and lesson plan for the first time. This is something that I have no experience in. I will look to overcome this by learning from others and asking for others to look over my plans in order to make them better.

[Georgia Blyth]

Hello, my name is Georgia, I’m 22 and from Northumberland, England. I have just completed my second year of psychology at Leeds, but studied a year of social work before changing. In 2020 I took a gap year and travelled some of South East Asia (before Covid sent us home!) I absolutely loved my time away and experiencing new cultures, and have known since then that I would definitely come back. Thailand was not a country we visited, which is why I was so keen to do the TESOL course here. On finishing University I plan on teaching English abroad, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I think one challenge for me will be the fear that I am not teaching well enough, but the best way to overcome this is by remembering I’m not expected to be perfect, especially at the beginning. Aside from the TESOL l qualification, I hope to gain confidence and an appreciation and understanding of Thai culture.

[Uzmah Ali]

Hey everyone.My name is Uzmah and I’m from Birmingham. I am currently at Birmingham University studying Law, this September I will be following onto my final year of university. My idea for the past few years has always been to travel and learn more into all different cultures and how each country is different in their own ways. As well as this, gaining more knowledge due into teaching all around the world and how different It is. Applying to this course has allowed me now to understand and gain the experience into all this and will allow me to travel and teach all over the world and explore my knowledge into many countries. I think a barrier for me would mainly be adapting to others, so adapting to other cultures and adapting to the countries lifestyle. I really do hope to overcome this and learn more about the different ways of the way teaching is done in Thailand and learn much more Thai as we go along.
I cannot wait to meet a lot of people from all around the world on the course and meet lots of Thai children and just grow within them and make a difference.

[Loren Pepper]

Hello everyone, my name is Loren and I am a third-year Ancient History student at Cardiff University. I decided to travel to Thailand to really push myself out of my comfit zone, embrace a new culture and have an adventure. I love learning new skills, hobbies and philosophies. Therefore, I look forward to developing a greater understanding of Buddhism and hopefully learning Muay Thai. I’ve loved working with children in my previous jobs, so I am interested in experimenting with teaching as a potential career path.
As for challenges, time management has always been a slight hiccup for me, therefore I want to focus on this in addition to general confidence.
From this experience, I hope to make new friends, embrace an alternative way of life, gain a vital qualification, and create beautiful memories.
I look forward to sharing this experience with you.
Best
Loren

[Humzah Shaikh]

Hello, my name is Humzah Shaikh. I am from Birmingham but have been spending much of the last 12 months travelling around Europe and North Africa. I am currently in Thailand to not only improve my teaching skills but also to improve myself by immersing myself into a completely new environment in order to give myself new experiences and new challenges to help develop myself into the best version of me. I am aware that this is a great opportunity but it does come with challenges, i have trained myself to have a mindset where i take the positives in everything and take challenges in my stride and use it to showcase my own abilities. As the Thai people say ‘Sabai Sabai’ I like incorporating this into my life and trying to remain stress free

[Kian Shah]

Hi! My name’s Kian, I’m 19 and I’m from Stanmore in North London. I just finished my first year studying Financial Mathematics at the University of Nottingham. I decided to take part in the programme because I’ve always wanted to have the experience of teaching younger students and the opportunity of doing so abroad was very intriguing. I’ve also wanted to come back to Thailand for years now, so having the opportunity to do both simultaneously will be amazing.
I think that the main issues that I will encounter will be adapting to the culture change and way of life as well as navigating a language that is completely new to me. I hope to overcome this by being open and accepting I may feel as though this is a bit out of my depths, but I am here to grow my experiences alongside other like minded individuals.
I hope to be able to develop my teaching skills as well as be able to grow confidence and other personal skills along the way all whilst being 12 hours away from home.

[Krishni Satchithananthan]

Hi there,
My name is Krishni Satchithananthan, long surname crazy huh. I am Sri Lankan. I grew up immersed in the cultural adventures Sri Lanka had to offer, whether it be riding elephants or the simple acts of grabbing a mango from the fruit filled gardens for breakfast. Afterwards moving to Dubai for a year and then England, I have carried my career in London. I am currently 18, about to be 19 on 28th August *yipee*, and am going to second year in my integrated masters in engineering at qmul. I think the main aspect of my thrive to this degree is to keep questioning. To keep giving it your all, think outside the box and as cliche as it sounds remember diamonds are made under pressure. Because after each hurdle, looking back, the sense of achievement is unparalleled.
So now what intrigued me to go about joining GOTOCO? Well, I love teaching children, it’s the art of getting to know your students, to know their weakness and strengths and hence teaching myself how to cater each lesson to their advantage so they can learn to their full potential. I believe every student has the capability to achieve greatness, and with the right guidance and lessons can carve each students pathway to a future with many doors to opportunity. With past experience, I think this is putting my experience to a greater cause and so how can I turn this down?
The challenges I believe I may be faced is the obvious language barrier but in all honesty, instead of seeing this as a challenge I see it more of an opportunity. Challenge yes, in it’s difficulty to adapt, but the opportunity to learn a language and having the prospect to be immersed in the culture and language, learning the dialect first hand. All in all, no matter the challenges that may occur, it’s a great real word experience and learning opportunity to branch out and gain independence and a positive mindset over how to overcome obstacles.

[Amy Louise]

Hello, my name Amy. It is great to meet all of you. I am from the UK and live just outside of London and have been a teacher for 5 years.
In all my years traveling I have noticed that I struggle the most in the first three months I am in a new country, trying to get settled and understanding a new culture usually leads to a bit of homesickness. But I plan to combat this by getting out of my comfort zone and talking with friends wherever possible. Good food is always great medicine for homesickness as well!
I am hoping to meet new people, try new things, and explore a part of the world I have never seen before. I think you can learn a lot about yourself by moving to a new country and I hope to continue to grow and learn as I experience Thailand.

[Martha Wells]

My name is Martha, I’m currently a student at the University of Oxford, starting my third and final year studying Philosophy and Linguistics this October. This summer I am spending some time in Thailand to take part in an English Teaching programme at a school in Pattaya. I expect that I will encounter some culture shock and naturally will face a significant language barrier given that I do not speak any Thai which I will approach with an open mindset and a positive attitude as well as the intention to immerse myself in Thai culture as much as possible. I hope that I will be pushed out of my comfort zone in many different ways.

[Chantelle Strozykowski]

Hi my name is chantelle, I am a university student studying event management. I have previously taught dance at my school to the younger students. I really enjoyed it as you got to watch them learn and grown. I decided to travel to Thailand as I have always loved the culture and the look of travelling here. And I loved that this made it so we would get to be completely immersed into its culture. The challenges I know I will face is culture shock, the country is going to be completely different and I wont know the language so it will be a struggle but I will overcome. I will also struggle with the teaching as I have not done official lessons before but I like the challenge and I’m excited to learn, I will overcome by asking for help and doing the tesol.

[Carrie Cheung]

Hi! my name is Carrie, I am from Surrey, England and I am currently in my second year of studying Psychology at the University of Surrey. I decided to travel to Thailand complete my TESOL training course. This was an amazing opportunity for me as not only would I be able to improve my teaching skills and build my career to becoming a teacher, but to immerse myself in a new culture and environment is exciting and something I love doing when travelling. During my time here, I expect to face challenges with teaching with a language barrier as I have never had any personal experience in this. However, I am extremely excited to begin this journey and overcome these troubles by meeting the classes I will be teaching for the next month and adjusting lesson plans to their level of English proficiency! Out of this experience, I hope to meet new people and immerse myself in the Thai culture, language and food! For my teaching experience, I hope that I will gain confidence as a teacher and find enjoyment in this career path 🙂

[Ellie Harbinson]

Hi, my name is Ellie. I am 23 years old from England, Birmingham. I am a Physical Education teacher. I studied a BA hons and Arts in Physical Education and School sport at University of Wolverhampton. I then studied at Loughborough University to complete my PGCE.

[Ellie Harbinson]

Hi, my name is Ellie. I am 23 years old from England, Birmingham. I am a Physical Education teacher. I studied a BA hons and Arts in Physical Education and School sport at University of Wolverhampton. I then studied at Loughborough University to complete my PGCE. I know I will face the language barrier but I will provide resources, songs, videos and more to support myself and others. I will also have a thai teacher in class with me. I hope to meet the most amazing people! make memories for life! and inspire the next generation!

[Ellie Harbinson]

Hi, my name is Ellie Harbinson. I am 23 yes old from England, Birmingham. I have recently completed university and I am now on my gap year. I studied a Ba hons and arts in Physical Education and School Sport at University of Wolverhampton for 3 years. I then moved onto Loughborough University for my PGCE year. I have now achieved qualified teacher status and will be a PE teacher in the UK. Thailand has always taken my interest, I am very spiritual and into meditiation , yoga and praying. I feel that Thailand is the best place I can become a better version of myself. I know the language barrier can become a problem when teaching in my school However, I will always have a Thai teacher with me, I will provide resources, videos and not explain in depth. This is how the children will understand more. I hope to make the best experience, with memories I will treasure forever, meet the most amazing people and inspire the next generation!

[Katie Taylor]

Hello Everyone!
My name is Katie and I am in training to be a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language. I am spending the summer holidays of my day job in a primary school, teaching and learning in thailand for 6 weeks. I expect this to be a challenging yet so very rewarding summer.
Thailand is a well known holiday destination, but I feel that living here and truely immersing into the culture and the work envirnment will provide it’s own challenges that are completely new to me! I will approach this experience with an open mind and no expectations.
I studied Psychology at the University of Chester, I graduated 2 years ago and I have been working in a primary school, in Early Years Education and as an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant from Reception to Year 6.
I love the idea of combining my passion of working with children, with my passion for travelling the world. Training as a Foreign Language Teacher will provide me the skills and training that I need to follow this dream.

[Author]

Posts