Assignment 1: Introduction

Hello! 😀 My name is Jovelle and I am 25 years old. I was born and raised in the UK with different cultural roots such as Jamaica, Hungary, South Asia and the Middle East. Growing up I questioned about these roots and have been travelling to discover more about myself. I studied Media and Communications at university and have worked in HR, events and digital marketing since graduating. My dream to travel became a reality when I discovered TEFL. It all fell into place. I have spent a lot of time expressing with music and art and look forward to using these in my teaching techniques. Encouraging children in a positive way to learn!

Thailand has beautiful nature to be one with and the culture appeals to me very much. I love the respect and joy it shares. I’m looking forward to adapting and learning here.

This move will be a new chapter in my life where I am learning to become resilient and peaceful with whatever life may bring. In challenging times I have learnt to think things through in a productive and constructive way. Due to a challenging childhood I have learnt to be peaceful and grateful in life as that is what keeps things moving forward. Life is beautiful and should be cherished with joy and love!

I am looking forward to becoming confident in teaching and confident in myself. Sharing joy and eduction to other countries in the world. I hope that this time spent teaching will teach me how to the best version of myself 🙂

My name is Lize-Mari, I am 32 years old and I am from South Africa. I had been teaching high school students since 2017. I have a bsc degree in Environmental & Biological science as well as a PGCE.
I have always wanted to travel to Thailand. It is such a beautiful country and I would love to experience the Thai culture and get to know the people that live there.
The challenges that I expect to experience would be the initial culture shock, language barriers, home sickness and probably a little bit of loneliness as well. I would overcome these challenges by giving myself time to adjust to the new culture and lifestyle and by getting into a daily routine as soon as I can. To combat loneliness I would meet new people and find a hobby that will also give me the opportunity to meet people.
I am hoping to grow personally as well as professionally and gain more confidence in myself. I would like to make a difference in people’s lives.

Hello Eva,
Thank you for sharing. I like how you are open-minded in wanting to experience a culture different from your own. It is not common to find people who are willing to move across the world to learn about a new culture.
In terms of your challenges, I too feel that there will be times when I miss my family and friends. What has worked for me in the past, is creating relationships with people in Thailand so I have their support and when I feel lonely, I can spend time with them. Overall, like you said, this experience is going to be amazing. We are going to be learning so much and experiencing amazing opportunities.
– Breanne

Hi! My name is Nadiira and I am 24 years old. I was born and raised in Finland, Helsinki. My parents decided to move to the UK when I was about 10 and I went to Primary school and Secondary school here in London. I had to join a EAL class and I had to learn the English Language from scratch and that’s where my passion for teaching began.
I continued my English studies all the way through to A levels/Degree level, and I now hold a Degree in English Language and Teaching English As a Foreign Language.
Due to Covid and other personal factors, I haven’t had the chance to teach English in a school setting yet. have taught evening classes and have been a Nursery Practitioner for the past 2 years.
Honestly, I woke up one morning and said I want to move abroad… NOW😂 so I browsed online and researched. I’ve always wanted to travel to Thailand as it is on my bucket list, and I always felt as though I wanted to immerse myself in to a new culture and experience so that’s what I plan to do. I also want to build up my portfolio as a Teacher of English and travel around the world.
I’m excited to undertake this experience and embrace it with open arms, and expect to meet some challenges along the way. My biggest fear would be getting lost 😂 or offending anyone in any type of way due to a cultural misunderstanding or miscommunication. Hence why I have been reading up on a lot of things in regard to that.
From this experience, I hope to gain a lot of confidence to keep teaching abroad and also meet new people from around the world and most importantly make a difference in a child’s life and help them learn the same way I was helped 🙂
Bye!

Hi everyone! My name is Kristina, and I was born and raised in South Dakota in the United States. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in History and a Minor in Art from Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota in 2021.  I haven’t traveled outside of the United Sates a whole lot, but I have been to Italy (mainly Florence and Bologna) and to Iceland. I loved both places- but if you ever get the chance to travel to Iceland, it’s amazing and I highly recommend it!
Since I’ve graduated, I have been working different jobs that were not related to my degree and have been looking for something that I would love, and I had heard of teaching English abroad from a friend who was getting ready to go overseas herself. I have always wanted to travel more and experience different parts of the world and learn about different cultures and their people and when I saw this chance to go to Thailand, I thought it would be a good fit!
The challenges that I think that I could face are the cultural differences and the language barriers that might occur. I think it could get a little awkward if I do or say something that isn’t really something that is done or said in Thailand. But honestly, I think with the preparations that XPlore Asia is giving us, with this course and the orientation week, and the way everyone speaks of the Thai people- that they’re very welcoming and very understanding of non-natives, I think that I should be okay. What I’m really nervous about is leaving my family and living away from them for 5 months. We’re pretty close so it will be weird to be away from home for an extended period of time for the first time! But I am really excited for this experience! Another challenge that I think I could encounter is that I have no teaching experience at all. I got my degree in History, plain and simple- not in any form for teaching. Also, I am not the most outgoing person in the world, but I think just focusing on what they teach us here and what I learned through the TEFL course as well as getting comfortable with my role and where I am going to live and the people around me will really help me overcome this.
What I’m hoping to get out of this experience is to experience a new culture and it’s amazing people, to learn new things from both and have a greater understanding of the world. I am also hoping this will help push me out of my comfort zone and make me push myself to be more adventurous and be more willing to do what I want to do in the future. I think that this will be a once in a lifetime experience that will shape my future in the best possible way!

Hi everyone! My name is Christina, I am 24 from Indiana in the USA! It has always been my dream to travel the world and also leave an impact. I went to college and got a degree in hospitality, tourism, and event management with the excitement to do something in tourism. I found out about TEFL and thought that this was the PERFECT way to leave an impact while fully submersing myself in the culture of wherever I go, but for my first stop, I am really excited for it to be Thailand! I have already been here for 3 weeks, and I have 3 more weeks of traveling before we all meet in hua hin. I think my biggest challenge will be adjusting to a teacher lifestyle from a bartender. Im used to long late nights and waking up late, but now I will have to wake up early and work all day and then have after school responsibilities, so adjusting to that might be the most difficult part, but im really excited for that upcoming change! I think I will overcome that by the passion that I have for teaching others and wanting to be apart of a new community. I hope to meet lots of new people and provide them with useful knowledge. while traveling to hidden gems of Thailand. I also hope to inspire some of my friends to get out and do things that they’re scared to do 🙂

Hi Everyone,
My name is Kayla, I’m from Uitenhage, South Africa. I am a first-year student at UNISA. I am studying towards my degree in Foundation Phase Education. This journey will probably have a few obstacles, like being away from my partner and my family and not being able to snuggle with my pets, but experience is something that can’t be bought and that is what motivates me most. I’ve always wanted to teach overseas and being able to learn more about different culture, it never crossed my mind that I would be able to teach overseas whilst continuing my studies. This will be my first time going overseas and I am excited to see what the future may hold and getting know all of you! The main challenge that I may need to overcome is the language barrier, but I hope to learn from the local people. My goal is to become a better version of myself and learning new teaching strategies that I will be able to implement in my own country.