Assignment 1: Introduction

Hi everyone my name is Subhaan. I am 20 years old from England & I’ve just finished studying my first year at the University of Bradford.

I wanted to take part in this opportunity for many reasons. For example, experiencing different cultures & lifestyles as well as gaining an important qualification to help me in the future. I’ve always wanted to live abroad as a teacher & this opportunity is a perfect way to immerse myself into what my future life could be. Another thing which I’m looking forward to is the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends through this experience all whilst working towards a collective goal.

The challenges I am expectingto face would be the cultural differences & the language barrier. Having grown up in the UK, I am expecting there to be a big cultural shift as well as some difficulties in communication. However, this is one of the aspects of this experience I am looking forward to as it allows a good insight to different ways of life & learning new things.

Subhaan

Hi there! My name is Mandeep, I’m 20 and from Southampton but currently studying PPE at Oxford Uni. I’m travelling to Thailand to volunteer in a local school which is such an amazing opportunity!! I’ve done small tutoring/mentoring tasks n the past but this will be my first time fully experiencing teaching.

I expect some barriers to be a new culture and way of life, and coming across a new language. I’ve always enjoyed learning of new cultures and languages, so I think this will be an exciting challenge for me. In order to overcome this, I will aim to remain open-minded, learn from any mistakes, and do research beforehand — alongside jumping into immersion!
From my volunteering experience, I hope to widen my horizons and become even more of an understanding, welcoming person. Additionally, I’d like to find out if teaching English abroad is something that I really enjoy. Lastly, I’d love to just meet new people and explore a whole new part of the world!

Hello everyone,
I hope you are well.
My name is Chris and I am 20 years old. I have just finished my second year doing History and Politics at Cardiff University, instead of spending the summer doing nothing, I applied to spend 6 weeks on an English teaching programme in Thailand; I believe that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something outside my comfort zone, gain valuable experiences and spend some time in a new country. I am looking forward to learning some Thai so I will be able to integrate better with the people that I will come across while I am there. I am hoping that by the end of the summer, I would like to have a better understanding of Thai culture and have gained good teaching skills which I may be able to use later on.

Hello everyone.
My name is Binal. I am a first-year undergraduate psychology student at the University of Birmingham. I am also an international student, originally from India and just moved to the United Kingdom last year.

I have always been interested in travelling to new places and learning about different cultures and people living in different areas of the world. I am also a big fan of education, teaching and learning, which is why I am very excited to be a part of this teaching abroad program which is a mixture of the two.
Additionally, being a non-native speaker of English myself, I understand the importance of English in a global context and the major role it plays in my life and in a way, I want to try to give back to the teachers who taught me English by help others in a similar manner.
I am also an avid learner of languages and have wanted to learn Thai for quite some time. Thus, going to Thailand would be good exposure to the language and help me begin my language-learning journey (;p).

The major challenge I expect to face is moving to a completely new country I have never been to before and do not know much about. But, interestingly, the only way to face this challenge is head on, by actually going there and trying my best to learn more about that place, meet nice people and have a good time.

I hope to meet many wonderful people, learn a lot of new things and make beautiful memories that last for a very long time😊

Hi I’m Anna and I’m studying Arts and Sciences at UCL majoring in Societies. Moving from rural Wales to London was the best decision I have made and I really enjoyed getting outside my comfort zone and living somewhere completely different. This encouraged me to look for exciting opportunities like teaching English in Thailand. I am really looking forward to learning more about Thai culture and trying new things. I wanted to take this opportunity to make a difference but also meet new people and gain great experiences on the way. Looking forward to meeting you in Thailand!!

Hi! My name is Gina, I’m about to turn 21, am from England and I study at the University of Manchester. I’m really excited to be going to Thailand for 8 weeks to teach English; I have some experience teaching young people due to my background in dance and performing arts, and am motivated to learn how to adapt to teaching languages. Learning new languages is really interesting to me and I feel it’s super important to be able to communicate in the language of a place I’m visiting. I think some challenges will be in being so far from home and with an unfamiliar language, but I’m excited for this change and to be immersed in a different culture, and I’ll go in ready to learn and be challenged! I hope to get some great cultural exchange out of this process, travel beautiful Thailand, and to meet some great people.

Hi,
My name is Joelle and I have just completed my first year of studying Psychology at the University of Southampton. I was born in the UK and have always lived there. I am half Burmese (which is right next to Thailand), a quarter Jamaican and a quarter Trinidadian. I have always enjoyed travelling and understanding different cultures. I was actually hoping to have taken a gap year to complete some international aid work and teaching, but before being told about Gotoco, many of the programmes were super expensive of which I wasn’t able to afford. So this programme is an amazing opportunity for me. This will be the first time I am travelling alone so I’m super excited to challenge myself. I can’t wait to meet lots of new amazing personalities to share this experience with!
I am most looking forward to the teaching as I’ve always loved talking to and helping people. The opportunity to do so in a less developed country is an even bigger plus. What will be most challenging for me is not getting overwhelmed in the midst of this new but challenging experience. Although, through my knowledge of Psychology I’d like to believe I can not only keep myself collected and calm, but my colleagues and students too.

Hello!
My name is Anh and I am from London, UK. I have just finished my first year studying Medicine at the University of Bristol.
I have decided to take part in this programme because travelling and teaching english in a foreign country will expose me to a different culture. I am excited to learn more about Thai culture and the language and all the challenges that come with it as I believe this is significant to my personal growth and is an incredible opportunity.
Some of the challenges I may face during my time in Thailand will be adapting to a new environment where I do not know the language or have the comfort of friends/family. However, I believe this will prompt me to make new friends and learn new things.
I hope to learn new skills in teaching and Thai culture and I’m excited to meet the other people on the programme.