Assignment 1: Introduction

Hi Barbara,

Just a brief observation.
Your introduction is lovely.
I read it and felt an immense feeling of positivity and inspiration.
It made me happy!
Best of luck with your upcoming adventure in beautiful Thailand.

Hi, my name is Kirsty and I am from Scotland in the UK. I have had a sense of adventure since I was a teenager, first becoming an exchange student and moving to America when I was 17 for school. I then returned home to study my degree in Marketing and Business, and travelled to South Africa and Australia soon after graduating. I returned to education in 2022 to get my Teaching Diploma, as I have a passion for teaching and learning myself, so I hope to fulfil this passion teaching in Thailand.
I decided to teach in Thailand as I have never been to the country before and I enjoy an adventure. My eldest nephew just started school, so I felt like it was the right time to move away from my family and see more of the world again.
The challenges I anticipate are the culture shock and getting used to a new routine in a new place. I have been learning Thai language from an online teacher (I really hope to meet her in person once I’m in Thailand!), but I am in no way fluent, so the language barrier will also feel overwhelming.
From this experience, I hope to meet like-minded people who I can share teaching, travel and cultural experiences with, while building a career in the TEFL industry.

Hello,
My name is Alan, and I’m ready to translate my professional skills into a new, impactful career phase.

My foundation is built on extensive experience in Business Administration and warehouse operations. These roles required logistical planning, efficiency, and personnel management. Complementing this, my time spent raising younger siblings gave me invaluable, hands-on experience in patience, consistency, and the practical application of being a mentor and teacher.

As an avid traveller, I feel incredibly lucky to have explored many countries on holiday, which has cultivated a deep appreciation for world cultures, particularly a profound love of the culture of Southeast Asia and Thailand. Although this upcoming trip will be my first time in Thailand, I have already approached it with diligence and completed extensive online research.

Why Thailand?
My decision to move to Thailand and participate in this English teaching programme is driven by two main factors: a deep respect for its heritage and a determination to enhance my organisational and mentoring skills. I want to move beyond tourism to genuinely immerse myself in a culture I have long admired from afar and achieve authentic community involvement. My primary objective while teaching is to equip the next generation with the essential language skills necessary to succeed in our ever-evolving, interconnected globalised economy.

Anticipated Challenges
I anticipate significant hurdles, primarily those related to transitioning into the classroom. As a first-time educator, mastering the practicalities of effective lesson planning and maintaining positive classroom management will be steep learning curves. Beyond the teaching domain, the cultural shift presents its own challenges. While I have researched Thai culture extensively, adapting to the local educational hierarchy and the language barrier will require patience and deep immersion. These initial challenges, both pedagogical and cultural, are the focus of my commitment to personal and professional development.

Personal Growth and Goals
My consistent strategy for navigating demanding situations is summarised by the principle I rely on daily: take one breath, one step, one day at a time. I’ve always viewed confidence as a skill requiring development, and this international assignment represents a critical phase in my continuous professional and personal improvement. Ultimately, I hope to gain valuable international career experience, achieve true cultural fluency, and emerge from this process as a more adaptable, resilient, and confident professional.

I am truly enthusiastic about commencing this programme. 🙂

Alan

Hi Julia! My name is Isabelle and I’m also from Tampa. (Clearwater to be more specific)! I really admire your motivation to learn about the culture in Thailand and that you want to make sure the students have a great experience, I hope you achieve your goal and have a great time while you’re there!

• This reply was modified 7 months, 2 weeks ago by Isabelle Otero.

Hi Everyone,
My name is Faith and I’m from Upstate New York in the U.S. I just graduated with my bachelor’s in Sociology this past May, and am super excited to start this next phase in life. I got my first taste of teaching English as a foreign language while studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and fell in love with it. I want to experience new cultures and languages that I may find even more challenging, and I think that teaching in Thailand is a great place to start. I’m expecting the school environment, among other things, to be much different from what I expect in the U.S. Although this will be difficult to navigate at times, I’m ready to try by leading with curiosity and humility. I hope to gain lasting friendships along the way, and knowledge that will change the way I live my life.

Good Morning from Bangkok!

My name is Lindsey and I am in my 40s from Memphis, Tennessee in the USA. I have 4 children, 2 Bio & 2 adopted from Ukraine. My Bio’s are 20 (Girl) & 17 (boy) and my Adopted are 20 (Boy) & 24 (Boy). I have been all over the world volunteering in orphanages & rescues and also traveled as a flight attendant and most recently the past few years as a National Talent Booking Agent in the entertainment industry. 🙂 My children’s dad is a musician in a rock band and has always traveled extensively… so our kids are well traveled and have loved the cultural experiences they have been so fortunate to have experienced. Now that my children are big and in college etc, I am ready to get back to my roots and explore my next career opportunity.

I started out as with a Cardiovascular Technology degree at 21 and worked with the heart. Didn’t really love it so I went back to school (Ole Miss) to get my Education/Biology degree and lack just a small portion of completing this. I have a minor in Education and English. In my younger years, I taught as a teacher assistant for two years in 1st & 2nd grade and worked with ESL in the US. I also did education rotations through 4th & 5th grade while pursuing my Elementary Education degree. I taught my host children and adopted over the years English and feel confident this is my calling. I enjoy seeing a child learning something and feeling accomplished from it. Brings me immense joy. I felt like now is the time to pursue what I love regardless of salary which has never been an option with all my kiddos!!

Challenges for me mainly are just missing my family, my kids and my animals. Also being old now and trying to remind myself all the basics as its been years since I took courses related to ant of this. Hope my brain still works haha. I push through adversity so I am hopeful that quality that has helped me in my careers previously will help contribute to a successful time here.

I came in early as I have friends here in Thailand and really wanted to spend some time acclimating myself here before the program starts and I am so glad I did. I chose Thailand because I have always been fascinated with it mainly for the animal aspect of it and lots of the cultural things. I hope to volunteer some while here with animal rescue and possibly orphanages as I have done in my past.

If any of you need a mom type figure, I am happy to be a support for any of you! Thats kind of my thing, I have always been the mom of the group even with my friends ha. That being said I am still LOTS of fun though as working in the music industry it was a big part of my life! I am the “Cool” mom! lol

Look forward to getting to know all of you!

Lindsey

A big congratulations are in order to obtaining your degree.
I wish you all the best with all that you wish to accomplish and may you excel in this journey as you embark on it.

Hi everyone! My name is Margo Somer and I am 23 years old. I’m from Northern Virginia in the United States. I graduated 2 years ago from the University of Tampa with a degree in marketing. Since then I have nannied and worked as a marketing analyst for a commercial real estate company in Tampa, Florida. Although I loved both of those jobs and lived in such an amazing city, I felt like I needed to make a big change in my life. When I was in college I studied abroad in Greece for 6 weeks and that’s when I realized how much I enjoyed traveling and knew I needed to see as much of this world as possible. I had done research about programs like Xplore Asia and just knew I had to do it. I felt like if I didn’t make this change now, then I was never going to do it. I pitched this idea to my best friends, not expecting them to be on board, but here we are going to teach in Asia together. I am so excited to be able to experience this with 2 of my lifelong best friends because we have always talked about doing something like this from such a young age. Everyone I know that has traveled to Thailand has had nothing but amazing things to say about the country and its people, so I knew this was the place for me. I have yearned to explore Asia for as long as I can remember and being able to do that, while hopefully making a difference in children’s lives, is all I have dreamed about. I know this journey will not be easy for me, as I have never been to Asia or away from my friends and family for this long. I know that there will be bumps in the road, whether that be adjusting to the culture or being extremely homesick. That is also a reason for wanting to do this, is being able to adapt, learn and grow from every experience here, whether it be good or bad. I truly want to become a better person in every way that I can and I know this experience will do that for me. I am definitely nervous to become a teacher, but I know this will help my leadership, communication and organizational skills. I have always loved teaching children in sports as I have been a camp counselor, coach and referee. I find joy in knowing that I am making a difference, no matter how small or big, in a child’s life. There have been several teachers and coaches that have made huge impacts on my life, and that’s what I hope to do here in Thailand.
Best of luck to everyone,
Margo 🙂