Assignment 1: Introduction

Hello, My name is Kwae. I was born in Myanmar and raised in Minnesota, USA. I studied Elementary Education at Concordia University, Saint Paul, and graduated in 2022. After graduating, I worked as an educator. I started as a teacher’s assistant, then became a substitute teacher. After obtaining my teacher’s license, I became a Kindergarten teacher. Additional, I coached high school tennis and volleyball part-time. I have always wanted to teach abroad but never found the right time with my goals and busy work life. After many conversations with teachers who taught abroad before, I realized I needed to do it now before pursuing my gradate degree.
The main reason why I chose Thailand is because I wanted to reconnect with my roots and learn more about my family’s history from relatives currently living in Thailand. I also want to explore Thai culture, cuisine, and traditions. I want to experience education outside of the U.S. The challenges I expect to face include the language barrier and adapting to the culture. I have never been outside of U.S., expect when I was a child. Growing up in the U.S., I lived between two cultures: the American culture and the Karen (Knyaw) culture. I know that I will learn to adapt to the Thai culture. It also helps to have a friend that I went to school with is also teaching in Thailand. I hope to experience personal and professional growth from this opportunity. I am eager to create memories that will stay with me forever.

Hi everyone! My name is Hannah Auger, I am originally from Montreal, Canada. I am 25 years old and I just recently completed my Bachelor’s degree in sociology. I am trilingual (English, Spanish, French), and I have a huge passion for knowing as many languages as possible. I have been traveling pretty much my entire life due since my parents love for it. When I was 15, I did a volunteer trip to Cuba, and I believe this trip instilled a passion in me to help others. After this trip, I visited Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and my love for discovering new cultures kept on growing. I decided to come to Thailand because it’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid to visit Southeast Asia. After all, Eastern culture is worlds different than the Western culture I’m used to. I’m obsessed with learning and immersing myself in different cultures because I believe it’s important to see how others live. I think the hardest challenge for me to overcome is getting used to their norms here, and how they live, It’s a different language, religion, and just way of life in general. Everything is new and overwhelming, it just takes some time to get used to that. I hope this experience gives me the courage and self-confidence to do more things that are out of my comfort zone in the future. I also hope that I will be able to connect with as many locals as possible despite the language barrier.

Hi, my name is Lizzie. I have grown up in London my whole life. I have a degree in BA Product Design, I also completed a year in the design industry. The I did a PGCE in Secondary Maths and taught maths and DT in 2 schools in Nottingham. Then I moved back to London and have taught maths in a secondary school since. I volunteer at The Salvation Army, leading arts and crafts worksheets for the children, as a team in The Salvation Army we went to Brazil to volunteer teaching children abroad. I have travelled around the world with my family so I am excited to do it by myself. I am excited to develop myself as a teacher in Thailand. Teaching English compared to maths will be a challenge I am ready to overcome along with understanding how the schools in Thailand work along with their beautiful culture and language.

Hi,

My name is Jaime Saucedo. I’m from Chicago, Illinois. When I was seventeen I joined the United States military. I was deployed to Iraq twice. Being in the military I was able to travel the world and also teach as an instructor. Soon after my military service I went to college and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Radiation Therapy. I worked as a radiation therapist for several years at different clinics and hospitals, but I noticed working as a radiation therapist I did not feel content with my career. I still wanted to work in a field that felt purposeful but not in the medical field. I thought of my time as an instructor in the military and felt my purpose would be served best if I became a teacher.

I looked into becoming a teacher but also wanted to travel. As I researched this I came across information about TEFL. This would allow me to have a meaningful career as a teacher and be able to travel. I registered for a TEFL program in Thailand because I visited Thailand several times. Thailand is such a beautiful country with a rich culture.

Some challenges I expect to face while living in Thailand is the language barrier and not being able to fully integrate into Thai society due to being a foreigner. I plan on taking language courses once I’m settled as a teacher. I also plan on learning their customs and traditions to aid in overcoming the challenges I may face.

What I hope to gain from this experience is being able to make a difference in the lives of those I teach. Teaching English as a foreign language will impact those I teach in Thailand, knowing that the main GDP of Thailand is tourism. It will be important for those learning English to be able to communicate. I believe communication is key in solving the problems of tomorrow.

Hello everyone, my name is Drew! I was born and raised in the United States, specifically California. I studied Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration at San Francisco State University, where I have since lived.

I have worked as a facilitator and director of many recreational activities, such as backpacking, rock climbing, and skiing. My favorite role was as a director of activities for an outdoor summer camp for kids. I’ve explored various states, Northern Europe, and traveled extensively throughout Mexico as a solo adventurer. Embracing challenges and immersing myself completely, I take joy in experiencing different ways of life and absorbing as much as possible.

Thailand quickly rose to the top of my list of interests for numerous reasons. Among them are the recommendations from friends and Green Heart Travel alumni, the rich cultural aspects, including Buddhism, and, of course, the delectable cuisine. The icing on the cake is the opportunity to work in the industry I have grown to love, particularly in mentoring and teaching.

While I generally don’t experience culture shock easily, Asia is uncharted territory for me. With a background primarily in outdoor education, transitioning to indoor classrooms might necessitate some adjustments. I look forward to learning a lot from my future coworkers and friends.

Embarking on my dream of teaching abroad fills me with immense joy and gratitude. I consider myself fortunate to have this opportunity and aspire to excel, with the hope of continuing in this field for years to come.

Thank you, and best wishes to all.

Hello,
My name is Sam and I am from the South of England. I have a degree in Music from the University of Winchester and have been coaching at summer and sport camps for around 5 years now. I have visited Thailand before and fell in the love with the country for its beautiful landscape, rich history and kind people. I liked the idea of combining both teaching and travel, something I’ve wanted to try for a while, and I’m someone who thrives when thrown completely out of their comfort zone. I expect to at times feel a little homesick and feel a slight culture shock when transitioning into learning new ways of life and communicative methods, but I hope to overcome them by keeping calm, speaking about any issues and building a trusted network of contacts. I would love to gain a new skill-set, a lot of good memories and a feeling of ‘yes I did make a difference’.
I am very excited and can’t wait to get started!
Sam

Hello, I am Jenny Tom from Papua New Guinea and live in Port Moresby the nation’s capital city. My entire career life is working for the public sector for over 28 years. My background is mainly in payroll management, Human Resource, Coaching, Change Management and Monitoring & Evaluation etc. I made a choice to travel to Thailand to learn different cultures and help make a difference in child learning in English. I love to explore, which is an opportunity to meet others who may share experience and knowledge in cultural differences. I can adapt easily but a challenge might be language barrier in remote area and culture shock. I hope to learn as much as I can to understand Thailand culture, for my personal growth to step out of my comfort zone, make a difference by teaching children language skills for their future. Also, to build connections with people from diverse background and language exchange to learn local language.

Hello everyone!

My name is Justin and I am from the United States. I have a degree in English which I have used to teach in the U.S. and other countries such as South Korea and Mongolia for the past few years. I have come to enjoy teaching and trying to make a difference in my student’s lives while learning about the culture of a new place.
I’ve been to Thailand as a tourist before and enjoyed the people and culture there which eventually led to me making it my next destination to teach at. Although I’m not a vipassana practitioner which is more common in Thailand, I do follow Buddhism somewhat and look forward to learning more about that side of Thai culture while I teach there.

As far as challenges go, most of them relate to small customs and the obvious language barrier. While I’ve gotten used to developing a broad set of knowledge about small gestures and picked up some simple language here and there for other countries, it’s always a challenge learning these things at the start of moving to a new place. The major challenge that is unique to Thailand compared to the other countries I’ve taught in is the abundance of tourists. Once a tourist myself, I saw many people from overseas and neighboring countries in Thailand. I expect this to bring its own unique set of challenges during my stay there.

Since I’ve seen a lot of the touristy locations in my brief experience as a tourist in Thailand I hope to see more of the authentic Thailand if you will. I’ve found that living in places in a more semi-permanent fashion lets you uncover significantly more of the culture you are in and wish to experience.

I’m excited to be taking this course and hope it can help prepare me more for my future stay.