After a month-and-a-half long stint in the North of Thailand getting trained for ESL teaching and hopping around mountain towns, I finally ended up in a small village in Northeastern Thailand called Muang Khong. You might ask yourself where that is and try to google it. You won’t find much information online. Even an hour away from town I’ll tell people where I live an they’ll have no idea where I’m talking about. Oddly, Google already has Muang Khong on streetview if you know where to be looking (google is everywhere!). The town is about 5 hours Northeast of Bangkok in a large conglomeration of provinces in the East that everyone calls Isaan (there are like ten different ways to spell it).
Muang Khong and Isaan
Sunset over some rice paddies from a train just outside Muang Khong
Isaan has a few cities (Korat, Khon Kaen, Ubon), but it’s mostly flat farmland with rice paddies, their farmers, and small towns. This makes for some great sunsets, but doesn’t allow for many activities if one’s passions lie outside the wide world of agriculture. So this region (with a few exceptions) is not an undiscovered tourist destination waiting to happen, it’s a Kansas or an Iowa and only a few of the foreigners ever go outside Miami. Before I arrived, I was nervous that Muang Khong would be too rural, too flat, too small, and too far away from other foreigners for me to be happy. It is still rural, small, flat, and isolated, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised in what I’ve found to enjoy in all of that.
In just about everyone’s experience, Thais are naturally, and sometimes overwhelmingly, kind and generous. This quality is kicked into overdrive in Isaan. As a foreigner (Thais call us farang) teacher here, locals want to give you directions, help you get a good deal, make sure your food is delicious, and are very, very curious about you (although this usually boils down to four questions that I’ll get to later). Thai generosity has gotten me a free bicycle, more fresh fruit than I can count (or eat), dirt cheap motorcycle repair, last-minute rides to bus stations, several rounds of rice moonshine, and a road trip to a 5-hour Muay Thai extravanganza, just to name a few. Trying to reciprocate these favors is futile 99% of the time, which leads to some lingering grateful guilt that I don’t really fight anymore.
One of the fun (and occasionally creepy) aspects of being a foreign teacher in such a small community is that after a few weeks you achieve small-town celebrity status. I imagine it’s a similar feeling to being the new on-site reporter at a small-time local TV station. Regardless of where or when, if you come across a student outside of school, they will wave and yell some variation of “helloooooo teacher!” then giggle as if they have just done something exceptionally clever and silly. This has happened enough that now everyone in town knows I will answer/acknowledge when the word “teacher!” is directed at me. Especially in the evenings after school, my trips to the market or to dinner are filled with “helloooooo teacher!”s at regular intervals. Most of the time, this phenomenon is fun; everyone smiles and is friendly, I like that they want to interact with me, even if only for a few seconds, and it’s a good feeling when you’re walking down the street and everyone you pass wants to say hi! Other times it feels like the locals are those kids at the zoo that poke the glass to try and make the animal move: “If you yell ‘hello’ at the Farang, he’ll say something that sounds funny!”
School and ESL Teaching
Get stoked for directional vocabulary!
Teaching has been the best part of my time here so far. I teach 12-14 year olds for 5 periods a day (a little over 4 hours of actual class time). At the outset, I figured that since enthusiasm comes easily and I’ve been blessed with a 12-year-old’s sense of humor, teaching junior high would be pretty straightforward. My first week in the classroom was revealing. I found out pretty quickly it wasn’t going to be a breeze and my Robin-Williams-in-Dead-Poets-Society aspirations can be put out to pasture. Half of my classes have 35-45 kids in them, all with chairs and desks. The other half are double-classes with 70-90 students, all sitting on the floor. While there are some notable exceptions, 95% of my students have very, very low English proficiency. Kids in Muang Khong get instruction in grammar and written English (there is very little emphasis on speaking and conversation) from their Thai teachers, and those teachers often have poor English themselves. I’ll be the first native-speaker English teacher the M1s (12-13 y.o.) have had. Some of my twelve year olds can’t write their first names in English and even my oldest students have vocabularies limited mostly to nouns involving sports, animals, food, and the movies Frozen and Fast 7.
The smaller classroom
Thais have a deep-seated cultural aversion to the idea of ‘losing face,’ and this makes things harder for them and me. Unless there is candy involved, Thai kids hate to answer a question they aren’t absolutely sure about in front of the class. I’m learning to fight through this with a lot of games, group-work, praise, and goofiness. For instance, if you can demonstrate that your students can answer a question in groups of three students, that they’ll have some time to prepare their answer in their group, and that the class will applaud when they’re done, you might have some volunteers. If you just ask for raised hands, you’re dreamin.’ Buuuuut since the students have such limited English, demonstrating this to them becomes rather difficult. A vicious cycle.
Another feature of the Thai educational system is that I can’t fail any of my students. I know it and they know it. This is rarely a problem, but in every class there are a few students who make it plain that they have no interest in learning English or doing much work. In an American school, I could make it clear that they will fail and be held back if they don’t put in a bare minimum of effort, but in Thailand this an empty threat. I have no little recourse if a student doesn’t want to do an assignment or participate other than making the assignments and activities as engaging as possible. A lot of the Thai teachers simply don’t teach to these kids and leave them to their own devices in the back of the class, and sometimes I do the same so that the rest of the students can keep progressing. However, when we have time the solution seems to be games, games, and games. If you can bring out the competitive spirit long enough for the kids in the back to nail ten or twelve words of vocabulary, that’s a win.
Muay Thai
Bicha and his son Bat working on combos. Note the set of dumbbells made of two paint cans filled with cement and an iron rod.
In the second week at school, the janitor/handyman introduced himself and asked me if I like boxing. I’ve never been terribly intrigued by boxing, but I wanted to make friends so I said yes. WIth no other explanation, he told me to meet him after school and drove me to the neighboring town about twenty minutes away. It turned out that his friend Bicha runs a Muay Thai boxing ‘gym’ out of his front yard as a side-gig. This guy is pure rural Thailand: he smokes like a chimney, doesn’t speak a lick of English, and makes dirty jokes about you in Thai when he doesn’t think you’re hitting hard enough. He has two sons, (I think 16 and 17, definitely still in high school), who are both absolute lunatics with a pair of boxing gloves, and Bicha himself was a good fighter in his own right back in whatever decade was his heyday (he could be anywhere from 35-60).
Muay Thai (thai-style martial art in which kicking, punching, elbows, knees, and wrestling are all allowed) has grown on me and I’ve been going every day after school for the past three weeks. Since no one speaks much English to give me instructions, I fall in behind Bicha’s sons and do what they do. The routine is generally a half hour running session (which is the most brutal part since it’s usually 90+ in the sun), followed by stretching, shadow-boxing, and hitting the punching bags. Then we go into the ring one at a time with Bicha and work through combinations with pads, followed by some sort of conditioning drill on the punching bags. The session always ends with the two boys doing ungodly amounts of situps, laughing at me as I try, sweatily, desperately clinging to my last shreds of dignity, to keep up.
Interesting Tidbits
Meeting the local 5:0
We showed up to school one Wednesday and were told that we wouldn’t have classes in the afternoon. Then, a little before lunchtime, we were updated that the reason we were excused from classes was that we were going to be teaching the local police force. The end of the lesson was a question and answer section in which the other English teacher and I were speaking on behalf of Western civilization. Most of the questions were things like “do westerners feel uncomfortable when we call them farang?” and “why is it bad to ask a woman how old she is?” The highlight was “if I meet a French person, will they expect me to kiss them on both cheeks?”
Thai is a tonal language, so there are lots of words with the same sounds and different tones that all sound identical to me. The word bpaed can mean ‘eight,’ ‘duck,’ or ‘spicy’ depending on the tone you use, which can get very confusing at restaurants when the waiter keeps insisting that they don’t have duck even though you’re just trying to ask if one of their dishes is spicy.
There are four questions I always get asked, almost always in this order with widely varying levels of very creative Thanglish:
“Where are you from?”
“What are you doing in Isaan?”
“Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?” (Cue shock and awe noises)
“Have you eaten rice yet?” (This is akin to asking someone how they are doing, but it translates to “have you eaten rice yet.” I’m still not sure whether people are asking me how I’m doing or whether I’m hungry in different situations).
I bought a scooter for 3,000 baht (a little under $90). The school janitor helped me pick it out, so I was pretty convinced I had gotten away with a steal when I got it home from the shop without any problems. Of course the next time I tried to ride it, the kick-start snapped right off and had to be welded back on, the exhaust pipe had something stuck in it, and the headlight wasn’t working. But four hours and $3.50 to the mechanic later and she runs like a dream.
Just a man, his switch, and the respect of everyone within a hundred foot radius
I wish I had a better picture to do this guy justice. This man is the head disciplinarian/PE teacher at Muang Khong High. All the young teachers love him and call him ‘papa.’ At any school gathering he can be seen walking around with his bamboo switch, a smile on his face and a whistle in his mouth. I’ve never seen him actually use the switch, but no teacher commands more respect/fear than he does among the students. Every morning the students gather to sing the national anthem and do announcements You can always tell where papa is because the students around him are singing louder than anyone else. In another life, he would have been great as a beneficent dictator maintaining an iron grip over a small, resource-rich nation-state. For now he just whistles at kids for being late and talking during announcements.
About three weeks into my stay here, I started getting these little bug bite-looking itchy red spots on my shoulders and arms. WebMD had me convinced they were bedbugs, one of the Thai teachers told me I was allergic to the papaya salad we had had earlier in the week, and the doctor at the hospital assured my that he didn’t know so he just gave me some antihistamines. A few days later I went to a clinic with a different doctor and he told me I was just having a reaction to the extreme heat. Turns out I’m literally allergic to this place.
Thai first names are a mouthful (Nathawat, Panintorn, Durmklang), so everyone has a nice short nickname to make things easy. For an English-speaker, these get pretty funny. There are a lot of Nats, Kats, Oms, etc. My favorites so far (I wish I had pictures) are Boss, a tiny, over-enthusiastic 12 year old with a penchant for asking for high-fives at very inconvenient times and a borderline obese, round-faced, jolly 14 year-old named Turbo. The English program director’s deputy is named Manoon Moonboom, which is also pretty cool.
Here, I’ve been asked to give a lesson on impromptu lesson on “the importance of punctuality” for a morning homeroom. The Thai teacher does not look pleased with my work.
Most of the time, it’s sort of shocking that Thailand has a functioning education system. Everything changes at a moment’s notice, no one ever seems to know the full story, things are at least ten minutes late, and no one stops to think “maybe if we tweaked a few things, this could go a lot smoother.” In this sort of environment, no two days at school are ever the same. We’re often asked to teach some special class or help out with another teacher’s lesson at a moment’s notice. Getting comfortable with freestyling lessons as you go is probably the single most important skill I’ve picked up here.
That’s all I have for now. Thanks for reading this far down! Next time: in which Nick joins a small-time Muay Thai entourage.
Sabai Sabai,
Nick
Nick graduated our Chiang Mai TESOL course in April 2015. Nick is a Colorado native and a somewhat recent graduate of Colby College. He got a little too comfortable living in DC and figured taking his talents to a different hemisphere was a good way to fix that. He likes mountains, rugby, anything with taro in it, students who prefer fistbumps to high fives, and chicken-on-a-stick. He will never understand Austin’s obsession with toasties, despite his best efforts. He’s a big fan of Thailand, the Thais, and being a teacher here and he totally thinks you should give it a shot.
Interested in writing for the XploreAsia blog? Contact jon@xploreasia.org for more details.
For more information on teaching ESL in Thailand or across Southeast Asia please contact us here!
Monday was working 9-7 in an office. Tuesday was working 9-7 in an office doing coffee runs for survival. Wednesday up until Friday was me sitting in front of a computer screen from 9-7, casually getting interrupted by other unhappy colleagues arguing with the boss. The ratio of week days to weekend never made sense to me. My weekends were crazy and spontaneous, travelling up and down the east coast of Australia. But before I knew it, I was back in front of my computer screen, enclosed in a small room.
I was scrolling through the net one day, (I say the net because you know how you’re on one website and after about fifty clicks on random things and an hour later, you’ve ended up somewhere completely off track?), I came across something along the lines of “Teach In Thailand!” First of all, I had no idea where Thailand even fell on the map and secondly, I was a horrid student. Potentially putting up with someone like me was not on my bucket list, but still I found myself clicking on the link and filling in my details.
It was the next day I received a call from a woman who would help me for the next few months planning my trip to Thailand.
I received my visa, quit my job, turned twenty, gave over half of my wardrobe to my lovely, Brazilian flatmate, and my cute but psycho (no not me) cat, Blaze, ran away which was perfect timing if you ask me.
Sitting on the edge of my bed with my mother who had flown over from New Zealand to say goodbye, life decided then and there that it would throw a brick at me. That brick would be my very first anxiety attack. I couldn’t breathe, every little worry that I didn’t think was there before, or at least hid very well, was screaming at me. Mum throws her arms around me and is repeatedly saying, “It’s ok, just breathe.”
Bangkok, an overwhelming city of discovery.
Not even half a day later I arrive in Bangkok airport. Of all places for a twenty year old girl who has just had an anxiety attack to go, SHE GOES TO BANGKOK? It’s almost like I was begging for another episode.
I meet up with the small group of other people who have given up their lives in other parts of the world to do this. After just one hectic night together on the streets of Bangkok, I can say I honestly felt happy, excited and most of all my mind was free of bad thoughts.
We study, party, learn, explore, meditate and even at times cry together. Then I get the news that I got offered an ESL teaching job, even though I hadn’t graduated with my TESOL certificate yet.
I take it.
I cry as I hug my friends goodbye and jump on board a bus that will drive for ten hours to reach my new home; Trang, located in the southern part of Thailand.
Starting Out as an ESL Teacher
Adventures in Trang
Don’t ever expect something when going into unfamiliar grounds. I thought I was going to be able to chill out, explore my new town, make some friends maybe. Wrong. Oh, how wrong I was. They threw me into the school almost as soon as I put my feet down on Trang soil. Like, Eden, don’t catch your breath just yet. My new job was teaching 6-12 year old, Mini English Program Students English and Art at Anuban Trang School. Mini English Program basically is a segregated part of the school where students learn most of their subjects in Thai AND English, of course at a bigger cost. My agents take me in, I meet a few of the other foreign teachers and then I get given my timetable which shows that I have five classes to teach that day. I’m thinking great, I can go home and prepare lesson plans for these classes next week. Wrong again. So, so wrong. I am told I have to begin teaching straight away, no lesson plans. Just wing it basically. I think I muttered a “Are you being serious?” There I was, standing in front of this class of seven year olds, in a country where Thai is their first language and me not knowing what they even know about English or Art.
In all seriousness, I don’t know where I pulled it from, but I fully aced teaching this class. We’re going over fruits. I’m drawing. I’m asking them what it is. They’re all yelling the answer at me. I say “Are you sure? I think it’s a banana.” They’d respond, “Noooooo, Teacher! Apple! Apple!” We’re laughing and joking and learning. My agents are sitting there with massive grins on their faces. They don’t even stay for the whole lesson. They’re just like yeah, this girl’s got it.
That day a South African woman from my school, whom I would become very good friends with, side saddled me on the back of her bike and we rode to my new apartment. I was shown about five different places that I could move into. One place had a major ant infestation, another was so dark and gloomy I felt like the sun had disappeared. Of course it wasn’t until the fifth one was shown to me that I had decided, yes. This is the one. It was a brand new modern apartment with a huge room already furnished with a king sized bed, table and chairs, television, vanity, wardrobe and fridge. Off from that room was a bathroom with a modern toilet and a hot shower. The apartment building had free parking, 24 hour surveillance cameras operating, big security gates and my favourite; FREE WIFI. Obviously I decided to pay more for the luxury of all these things. I was well aware of cheaper accommodation but I knew that it meant bucket showers and squat toilets which I hadn’t quite yet accustomed myself to.
Settling In
The best thing about teaching ESL in Thailand? The students.
Soon enough I get myself into a really good rhythm at school. (Wait, do I call it school or work? I don’t know.) I planned my lessons according to the textbooks the students have. They’re great. One topic will generally last a few weeks. One of my favourite topics in English I did with my P4 students was Emergency Services. Teaching them what to do in the event of a house fire, doing role plays with each other with one acting as someone who has an emergency and the other acting as the phone operator for the emergency services. We even did a few classes on Tsunamis, which really interested them because they all knew about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that hit Thailand. At the end of this topic one of the other foreign teachers organised for the local Fire Fighters to come into school and speak to the students, they had the best time.
The feeling you get from giving your own knowledge to someone who takes it in willingly and appreciates it is completely overwhelming. I never realised how extremely lucky I was knowing the English language. Thai’s know that English is the key to so many opportunities and that’s why they’re eager to learn it. No one should be denied the right to be educated, so I think it’s wonderful that there are so many foreign teachers leaving their western lives to pass on their own knowledge to these beautiful people.
Having a great time in Phuket.
When I wasn’t working I was off exploring the country. Like any other twenty year old would do, of course I headed to Phuket. Where of course I partied for days until I literally was lying on the floor of the backpackers exhausted like “Help me”. I got that help alright, helped onto the boat to Phi Phi Island where I partied even more except I had a bloody brilliant beach to fall flat onto.
I got to experience high-end shopping in Bangkok, Songkran in Chiang Mai, blessings of a Monk in Phuket, snorkeling in Phi Phi Island, amazing/endless market shopping in Songkhla, cricket eating in Hua Hin. Just endless amounts of new experiences and fun.
Looking Back at Life as an ESL Teacher
Looking back at Teaching ESL in Thailand
In March 2015 my teaching came to an end. Unfortunately visas can get difficult and you need to make sacrifices. I have returned to New Zealand where I am going to begin university. It was such a hard decision for me, but I know that once I get my degree I can return to Thailand and teach once more. The relationship I built with my students, my 6-7 year olds in particular gave me feelings I had never had before. I left them begging me to stay, crying, tugging at my skirt. I miss them every single day and I love them like they’re my own. Teaching in Thailand is by far the best decision I ever made and it makes me so excited for my life ahead. I mean, i’m almost 21, and I feel like I’ve already accomplished such a huge thing in my life. I will always encourage people to never settle for a life they know is too small for them. Get out there. Try something new. Go somewhere you haven’t been before. Offer all that you have to give to someone who wants and needs it. I promise you will feel richer than the man with the most money in the world.
Eden Le Comte
Eden is Australian born, and lived in New Zealand most of her life. She grew up in a squash orientated family but I broke herself away from it after realising it wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
Eden has a lust for travel, adventure and throwing herself in the deep end.
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When you first leave your home to move to a place like Thailand, there are several challenges and obstacles that you’ll have to overcome. They’re not all about teaching abroad, they’re also about adapting to a new, fascinating, initially difficult to adjust to, culture. Last time I discussed some of these initial road bumps including the language barrier, eating the local cuisine, and readjusting your perception of cleanliness. However, once you’ve cleared these hurdles and the novelty of your new surroundings begins to normalize, you’ll need to start dealing with the real world problems that we all tried so hard to run away from. “But Austin, how will we pay our bills and set up a phone plan in this new foreign land?” you might ask. Well fear not friends, Thailand has an establishment that will solve literally all of your real world needs. This place will feed you, clothe you, help you pay your utilities, sell you plane tickets, and serve as an armory for the war against the mosquitoes. And they’re on every corner.
7/11. The stronghold of Western life in Thailand. And yes, that’s the same 7/11 that you knew from back home that sold you lottery tickets, slurpees, and gross hotdogs. While the gross hotdogs are still available, Thai 7/11s are so much more than that. As you adapt and get your bearings in your new home, the Seven will become a halfway house between your new life and your old habits. It truly epitomizes the meaning of what a convenience store should be. But before I get into the wonders that Sevs Elevs has to offer, the first thing it will provide? Air-conditioning. In a land of soul-crushing humidity and high Celsius temperatures, a momentary immersion into the crisp, arctic-like air will cleanse your soul and refresh your spirit. Just look at the street dogs who sleep in front of the automated sliding doors. They aren’t just there for the rush of almost being stepped on during a nap. That fleeting breeze from inside makes it all worth it.
Let’s talk about food again. Now while I encourage everyone to try to eat as many new things as possible, most of us take baby steps into this new style of cookery. For the first month or so as you eat your fried rice and learn the names of other dishes to order, you’re going to need something to sustain you. Don’t worry, the 7 is here to save the day. The beginner 7/11 meal is the Toasty sandwich. A Toasty is essentially the illegitimate love child of a Panini and a prison sandwich. The amateur Toasty is the Ham & Cheese, though you’ll have to decide between normal bread or to fork up the extra 2 baht for the croissant bread (pro tip: do it). After a while, once you’ve earned your Bachelor’s in Toasty studies, you’ll graduate to other flavors like carbonara or the chicken pizza one. But whatever you do, just don’t eat the tuna Toasty. Please. (Hey Austin..I like that one! – Jon). In time, as you complete your Toasty Masters, you’ll be ready to move onto the other instant meals they have like chicken fingers, garlic bread, or pork wontons. All of which will be cooked for you on the spot behind the register.
7/11 is also where you’ll put credit on your phone. Since phone contracts aren’t really a thing here, everything is pre-paid. Once you plug in the SIM card that XploreAsia gives you, you’ll need to top that bad-boy up before you can post that picture of a man, baby, and dog on a scooter up to Facebook. To top your phone up, gingerly approach the cashier, point to your phone with a sheepish smile and say, “TrueMove Online?” Tell them how many baht you want, type your number into the keypad, and you’re ready to rock and roll. Snapchat away my friends.
This all sounds pretty great right? Well to quote the late, great Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!” Say you wanted to book a plane ticket to Kuala Lumpur for your visa trip next month but don’t want to pay for it with your bank card from back home. Book it online through a cheap airline like NokAir and they’ll send you a code. Take that code into 7/11 and pay for it in cash right there. Convenient right? How about your electricity bill? Yup, the Sev-o will handle that too. It will also serve as a cheap haven for whichever of the 3 varieties of Thai beer you declare your allegiance to. It will however take a couple months and a few awkward encounters of trying to buy beer between 2pm-5pm until you finally remember that alcohol is illegal during those times.
The 7 will also sell you everything else necessary to sustain you until you have time to make your weekly trip to Tesco. You can pick up whiteboard pens for class, toothpaste, bottled water, toilet paper, mosquito spray, purple mosquito coils, cigarettes with a scary picture on the pack, or even a silly hat. I could keep going, but you get the point.
7/11 is a place that you will spend so much time that you abbreviate the name because you just can’t be bothered with all 5 syllables. Regardless of what you call it or how you feel about it, for better or worse, the 7 will be central to your Thailand experience. Embrace it, befriend the employees, and start establishing yourself as not just another backpacker. And if you feel a little embarrassed for going into the store for the third time that day, don’t worry, there’s always the other one across the street.
Austin is our Education Programs Manager. Originally from California, Austin describes himself as a traveler, eager to see everything he can and curious as to how the rest of the world lives.
Learning English for Thai People: A Path to a Better Life
Before expats come over to teach in Thailand, many assume that Thai peoples’ main motivation for learning English is personal interest or as an extracurricular activity. This idea tends to be founded from our own personal experience as most of us learned French or Spanish for those same reasons throughout our primary and secondary schooling. We studied other languages either because of a desire to travel or to enhance our university applications. However, this assumption of Thai peoples’ motivations for studying English is slightly misguided. While some Thai people do learn English because they plan to travel or for fun, the majority of Thais study English, or pressure their children to do so, in order to improve their material wellbeing or social standing.
English language skills are in great demand in Thailand. One widely recognized reason for this is that they are essential to supporting the country’s burgeoning tourism industry. Last year, Thailand had more than 26 million visitors arriving by plane—an increase of over 200% in the past decade. However, an often overlooked and arguably more important reason that English language skills are in such high demand in Thailand is to support the country’s massive export manufacturing industries.
Thailand competes with many of its regional neighbors to be a top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). Thai government officials do everything in their power to attract the attention of multinational corporations like General Electric, General Motors, Unilever, and Microsoft to convince them to open a factory or regional headquarters here in Thailand instead of somewhere like Vietnam, Malaysia, or China. While Thailand’s beaches, mountains and the friendliness of the Thai people make a persuasive argument, promoting strong English language skills of the local workforce is the final frontier. As a result, this is something that the Thai government fixates heavily on. Every two to three weeks there’s an article in the local media lamenting that Thailand is falling behind its neighbors in standardized tests of English language capability. With the exception of the agriculture industry, English language skills are in extremely high demand. Unfortunately, throughout the tourism, manufacturing, and education sectors, Thailand is falling behind its regional neighbors in this regard.
There is another important reason that learning the English language is currently in such high demand in Thailand. On December 31st, 2015, the countries of Southeast Asia will enter into a new phase of regional integration known as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). Thailand is a member of this union which began an unprecedented era of international cooperation between nations. ASEAN established a regional trading bloc that will lower the barriers to the movement of people, goods, and services across Southeast Asia. Being that there is no common language amongst the countries in the region, communication between nations is done almost entirely in English. As a result, English has been declared the official language of the ASEAN community. Therefore, not only are English language skills in demand in the private sector, but in the Thai government sector as well.
How big of a difference does learning English make to the typical Thai worker or government employee? It really is remarkable. If you take two Thai workers, who are in all ways equal (education, age, experience, performance), but only one has strong English language capability, he or she can earn anywhere from 2-3 times the salary compared to their non-English speaking counterpart. This is why from the national government level all the way down to the individual family, massive financial investments are made in English language education. It is important to not only Thailand’s development as a nation, but also for the development of the individual Thai person and their earning potential.
Thailand is still a developing country. The average salary of a Thai person is roughly USD 5,000, compared to USD 40,000 for someone living in the United States. In fact, the economic and class structure in Thailand looks nothing like that in the United States. Thailand’s middle class is very small compared to the United States and is a relatively new socioeconomic group. A few generations ago, there was no middle class in Thailand. Bangkok is the only area of Thailand where the middle class is prominent and it makes up 50% of the city’s population. This figure accounts for the majority of middle class individuals in Thailand. Outside of Bangkok, the middle class shrinks to a very small percentage. For example, in one of the most populated regions of Thailand, the Northeast, the middle class makes up less than 10% of the population. The vast majority of Thais in areas like these are poor farmers.
Because the middle class is a relatively new social group, the class system in Thailand still largely resembles pre-modern times and is built upon unequal relations between the traditional elites (land holders) and peasants. While we are a long way from those ancient times, this pre-modern class and social structure still exists in many ways, and it represents a huge barrier to upward mobility.
A majority of Thais are born poor, they live poor, and they die poor. Their children end up going to underfunded schools with apathetic teachers and often drop out before they reach graduation. Sound familiar? You could say the same thing about many inner-city communities in the Western world. The main difference is that those communities represent nearly 75% of the population in Thailand. To this day, there is still very little upward mobility for Thais born into a lower class family. Chances are, if you are born poor, your offspring will be poor, and they will in turn raise family trapped in this vicious cycle of poverty that repeats itself generation after generation. There is a way to break this cycle of poverty. This is where English language comes in.
If you can speak English, you can move up in Thai society. You can move out of poverty and provide a better life for yourself and your children. English language skills are an important springboard to the middle class and a way to leave poverty behind. Young Thai kids who you encounter in the classroom might not appreciate this, but their families, their communities and the Thai government certainly do. As a result, Thailand hires more than 10,000 native English-speaking teachers each year. Despite this, the current supply of native English speaking teachers still doesn’t meet the overall demand.
Because of all of this, native English speaking teachers play a very important role in this country. They hold the potential to help a child born to a family of rice farmers to have a fair shot at providing a better life for their children. In my years of training and preparing thousands of native English teachers in Thailand, I think most Westerners coming over to Thailand don’t fully grasp the extent of good they can do. For most of us it seems strange that some language we grew up speaking and taking for granted could be so important to the future of Thailand. But that is the reality. As native English-speaking teachers, we possess an important skill. While I don’t mean to come off as ethnocentric, English language skills truly can be one of the most important skills that Thai people will learn in their years of schooling. I liken the role of teachers as somewhat akin to joining the Peace Corps, a wonderful program with a long history of helping people. In the Peace Corps, volunteers typically go into areas to build homes, wells, schools, and infrastructure to help communities grow. As ESL teachers in Thailand, we have the ability to impart a special skill that will enable hundreds and maybe thousands of young Thai people to improve their lives. They can use these skills to one day improve their homes, their communities, and reinvest in future generations. I imagine that many teachers didn’t foresee the potential impact they could make when they first decided to teach English in Thailand. And on top of it all, you get paid for it!
Michael Volpe is the Managing Director of XploreAsia. He has an extensive educational background in international business and political science, along with nearly 10 years of teaching experience at the university level in Thailand and the United States. He is a Fulbright-Hays Scholar with a PhD in International Public Policy from George Mason University.
Culture shock. Let’s be clear from the start. It’s not extreme homesickness, fatigue or frustration with a new diet of foods that we deem unsuitable for our ‘rich’ (bland) pallets. In fact it’s a combination of all of these things with so much more to boot. Everyone who has experienced culture shock will tell you that it’s a real challenge and that it’s something that has to be beaten actively. It won’t pass unless action is taken.
Culture shock is, in a way, a joy to experience. It’s one of the final barriers to truly immersing yourself into a wonderful new culture and surpassing it will enrich you and give you a newfound perspective on all the different things you encounter.
I overcame culture shock in a particularly strange way. It was relatively early on in my experience living and working abroad. I still remember how it happened vividly to this day.
I made some strong bonds on arrival in Thailand.
I spent my first couple of weeks in Thailand relishing the energy of other like-minded westerners all experiencing a new culture. These were really exciting times. Everything was intriguing, inspiring and just so different. I must admit, I found myself thinking ‘this isn’t so bad’ numerous times. I honestly never once truly felt homesick and rarely thought about my friends and family back home. I felt positive and, most importantly, present in every waking moment. I made the decision to practice daily meditation and yoga, enjoy a relatively healthy diet and focus on building close relationships with the people around me. I felt like this was exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I felt secure, wanted, and happy to be a part of something much larger than myself.
These feelings only lasted up until the day I left to my first school placement in a small market town called Ban Mi. I was incredibly emotional on my journey to this new adventure. I felt like my entire world was falling apart and that everything that I had just achieved was for nothing. I admit, while I am an emotional person, I just didn’t feel prepared and I was afraid that I’d made a poor decision leaving so soon.
When the tears subsided and I felt the warmth of the sun pouring through the van window, I suddenly felt peaceful. I knew that the real challenge was about to begin and that this was my chance to start over. Once again, relatively quickly, I thought that I had overcome culture shock, that my low point had passed and that now I can do anything.
I have a habit of speaking too soon and this was most definitely one of those moments. My biggest challenges were yet to come.
I ate this everyday for two weeks. Same time, same place.
My first few days in Ban Mi were initially rather exciting/terrifying in equal measure. I’m not the traveller type, I’m certainly not fearless and I did thrive from the reassurance of friends & family. I came to Thailand to realise a dream of becoming a teacher in a foreign country. I never thought my first major issue would be plucking up the courage to go and buy dinner from somewhere other than 7-11. I eventually found somewhere to eat that would be my go-to place for the duration of my stay. Still unsure of myself, I ate the same dish every night for two weeks. It was good but hardly adventurous.
I’m the type of guy who thrives from routine, any time I’m derailed it’s a serious setback. Things have to happen on time, when they’re agreed and must play out to all of my many expectations. Having these expectations when living in a place like Thailand is simply asking for trouble. My first few weeks were spent becoming frustrated with everything around me. Nothing was going how I wanted it to, people weren’t adjusting to me and I was beginning to resent everything and everyone. I was feeling miserable, tired, homesick and didn’t really feel like being a teacher anymore. I avoided ‘conversations’ with the locals and just spent most of my days in silence apart from teaching. There were many days where I wouldn’t have a single exchange in English to anyone. In hindsight, I’d begun to alienate myself as I refused to accept anything other than my own way to be the ‘right’ way. This..is culture shock.
Early one Monday morning I woke up with a particularly bad attitude. I didn’t much feel like teaching, let alone going to school. Reluctantly I got myself up, headed out of the door and started the relatively short walk to school in 45 degree heat. This journey took me through a market where I diced with death as a pedestrian amongst a million scooters. After the fifth near accident I scraped through the market and made it to the outdoor gym I often used in the evenings. As I walked up I heard a sound coming from a pile of rubbish on the side of the road. As I got closer I noticed a box. The sounds were coming from inside. I carefully opened the box, expecting some sort of death dealing monster to be inside, but was surprised to find four new-born puppies, most of which still had their eyes closed. Why these puppies were placed in this box and put there to be taken away by the refuse collectors I will never know or understand.
Two of the puppies after a few days of care.
All of a sudden, I had a purpose. I was going to take care of these animals to make sure they had a fair shot at life. I carefully took out each puppy and placed them in a safe place, away from harm, outside of the gym. I covered them up and went to work at the school. On my return after school, I got them out from my improvised kennel and fed them some milk, which they hungrily lapped up. I returned to this place every morning, lunchtime and in the evening to take care of these little guys. They grew so fast and I was quickly becoming a popular sight to see in the local community.
The Foreigner that Cares for Stray Dogs
The dogs showed real improvement after the local community got involved feeding and bathing them.
The locals started taking notice and I would often have local kids come, play with the puppies and help me feed them. Some were a little rough and had to be taught how to treat animals, but we got there in the end. I believe that the efforts I made, especially out in the open to take care of these dogs who couldn’t fend for themselves, helped open up the community not only to me, but also to eachother. People banded together to feed and clean the dogs, play with them and give them love. The dogs became part of the community, as did I. People often approached me to chat, to offer food and many times invited me into their homes. I realised that I wasn’t just giving these dogs the opportunity to have a good shot at life, I was giving myself one too. Before making this chance discovery I had all but given up. Now I had a community that supported me, friends, family and the greatest little buddies by my side. I got through culture shock by not focusing on myself but by finding a way to channel my energy into doing good.
The last photo I have of my little friends before leaving town.
By becoming selfless I had realised that the only barrier to overcoming my issues was myself and my own perceptions. So to all of you thinking about coming over or who have just begun your journey, get out there, do good things for others in your community, forget about your troubles and start living.
Culture shock is a necessary rite of passage for any long stayers. It’s also one of the most humbling experiences I have had in my life and I would live it over and over again.
Jon is a former teacher in Thailand. Now working for XploreAsia, Jon focusses on marketing and managing the blog. Jon is a passionate movie and music lover as well as having a keen interest in new cultures and ideas.
For more insights in starting out as a teacher, check out his blog here.
IN ALL OF US there are two fears that are constantly fighting each other: one, the fear of scary, risky, unfamiliar unknowns; and two, the fear of getting too comfortable in one place and missing out on a life well-spent.
It is the fight between our need for safety, security and familiar things and our want for new, exciting experiences worthy of telling your grandchildren—the nine-to-five desk job in the city versus the nine-to-whatever job in paradise, the shiny new briefcase versus the dirty old backpack, the low buzz of repetitive weekends out at the bars versus the constant, electrifying adrenaline high of adventure in strange new lands.
Hanging out with my family back home.
Three months before I graduated college I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Not many of my friends did either. The fight between fears was playing loud inside my head… Should I move to the city and begin a career, or should I buy a plane ticket, fly to the other end of the world, and see what it’s all about?
I bought the ticket.
It’s been almost three months since I moved to Thailand. I haven’t been this happy since I was just a wide-eyed little kid who got away with eating pillowcases full of candy and pooping his pants at the zoo. In many ways, I have become that kid again… I am completely taken in by the magic of the world; I live in a constant state of surprise, fascination and curiosity; I am learning things about myself that only new experiences and challenges can provide; and I am always excited about what’s happening here, now, and whatever the future might hold (but I swear I don’t poop my pants anymore.)
So, why Thailand? I’m twenty-three years old, fresh out of college with a fancy piece of paper hanging on my bedroom wall that says I’m a Bachelor of Journalism or something… why not put that to good use?
I wanted to become a better person—a more compassionate, patient, responsible, fearless, open-minded, hopeful, happy citizen of the world—and this I would achieve by forcing myself outside my comfort zone and into unfamiliar territory, into a culture totally unlike my own, surrounded by people who think and talk differently than I do.
I wanted to help push the world in the right direction—and this I would achieve by teaching English.
How I Started Teaching English in Thailand
The XploreAsia Songkran crew, Hua Hin.
My journey as a Foreign English teacher began with XploreAsia. For one month I lived in Hua Hin with close to a hundred other people from all over the world… my whole life I had been surrounded by mostly midwestern Americans, ate mostly midwestern American food and drank mostly midwestern American beer… I was, mostly, a midwestern American.
By the time I left Hua Hin I was a changed person. I had gained more than just a certification to teach. I gained a new, exhilarating confidence. I gained new perspectives and a deep respect for the awesome glory of the world around me. I gained life-long friends.
And I’m still changing every single day.
Some of my high school students in Thailand.
For two months I’ve been teaching English to high schoolers in a small southern town called Thung Song. Everything about the town is totally, magnificently authentic. If I wake up early enough in the morning and open my bedroom window, I can hear beautiful Buddhist chants floating down on a cool breeze from a temple silhouetted on the horizon. The rush-hour traffic on the road outside my house consists of smiley teenagers zipping by on motor scooters, curious dogs, fidgety little roosters and giant bulls being herded from one patch of muddy grass to another.
The locals have shattered my once long-held belief that Minnesotans are the friendliest people on the planet.
This is my view every morning at school. This is why I’m here, incredible.
Several times throughout the school day I am hit with intense bursts of gratitude and peacefulness. My students and co-workers have accepted me as their own. They appreciate me and respect me. They want to be my friend. Walking through the hallways, I smile and laugh and give out so many high-fives it damn-near hurts my face and hands.
Three months ago my family and I said our goodbyes at the airport. I hugged them, threw on my backpack and blew a teary-eyed kiss from behind the row of conveyor belts and body scanners.
I started walking. To where was I walking, and why? A better me, a better life, a better world? Yes—but the paths we walk and the destinations for which we are bound ultimately cannot be seen. I was walking with that mantra humming somewhere in the back of my mind—a better me, a better life, a better world—but there was one thing burning white hot in my heart, driving me faster and further than any pretty-sounding humble idea can do; and that is the desire to go—the desire to get off your ass, throw yourself into the winds of the world, and make some memories—go! All we can do is just go.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Michael Finn
Michael is a 23-year-old graduate of Iowa State University. He has served as a reporter for the Iowa State Daily, as a writer for Ethos magazine and as Co-Editor-In-Chief of SIR, a student-run men’s magazine. His latest project, Eyes of an Expat, is an ongoing collection of stories about his adventures abroad.
“Fifteen minutes until boarding,” the calm, collected stewardess said over the intercom. I slumped down in the hard airport chair, grinding my knuckles into my 3:00 AM eyelids. Outside the giant windows Seattle rain fell over the dark runway. I stared at the massive plane waiting to take me 13 hours and 9763.6 km around to the other side of the world.
A million thoughts fired in my head all at once:
What if we can’t find jobs? What if something goes wrong with our visas? What if we’re flying to a meticulously-orchestrated scam? What if I quit my comfortable, secure, perfectly-mediocre job to move to a country that has just undergone a military coup, and we end up in an uncharted village being torn apart by savage cannibals!?
Oh come on, I’ve never been to Thailand before…
Fourteen minutes, still plenty of time to run back out through security, hail a taxi to the nearest hotel, and call my boss to beg for my job back.
I squeezed my girlfriend’s hand. She didn’t respond. We had spent the last week packing our entire lives into suitcases, cleaning the most foreign areas of our apartment, and changing every address on every paper trail, all the while waiting for the perfect moment to collapse over into a much needed coma-like sleep.
Lucky woman had gotten the jump on me, I thought with a smirk.
Every taped piece of cardboard and signed address redirect form had led to this big moment of shuffling in and out of relative’s cars, getting stuck in traffic, and then trudging nervously through a quiet airport.
I exhaled a long breathe, thinking— It really hadn’t been that difficult at all.
In my head, I tried to piece together every factor in my life that had lead me to this terminal, like stitching threads of a disassembled map together.
I had been traveling to other countries before, an experience that had left me with an insatiable craving for new tastes, melodies, perspectives, and cultures.
I had a passion for language, all languages. I even had enough passion for the English language to devote four years of studying to it.
FFX – Looks a bit like the south of Thailand eh?
Final Fantasy X—weird I know, but the world in which that game takes place was modeled after Southeast Asia. I can’t help but think that on some subconscious level, the endless of hours I had plugged into playing through the lush tropical environments in that game had influenced me towards a future in Thailand.
Oh, how I would miss that game. Did they play video games in Thailand? Probably not like in America.
There was also the fear of being locked in a vicious nine to five cycle, stuck in the burbs in my early twenties, already signing off on my retirement package.
“Ladies and Gentleman we would like to start the boarding process,” a voice sounded from the intercom again.
I took another deep breath. Maybe trying to define the motivation behind this move wasn’t any less stressful than cataloging every possible crisis that could occur.
My girlfriend awoke, and we boarded the plane together, the first step in our upcoming adventure.
A Teacher in Thailand
With Krissy in Koh Chang
So far, the nine months my girlfriend and I have spent in Thailand has been a whirlwind of fun, culture shock, challenge, and responsibility.
Being one of five foreigners in the beautiful rural town of Phukieo, Chaiyaphum, I’ve learned to deal with things like loneliness, prejudice, homesickness, and the constant feeling that someone is staring at me (I always feel like somebodies watching me…). Dealing with these negative experiences however, has been a necessary sacrifice for me to experience the humbling hospitality, gratitude, respect, and endless supply of home-made Thai-food I’ve enjoyed from the same rural town.
I went from not using my English degree at all, dealing with sales quotas, emails, and a boss that never seemed to be impressed no matter how many more sales I put in the books, to dealing with mid-term test submission deadlines, communication failures, behaviorally challenged classes with fifty plus students, and the pressure of trying to fit into a work culture that is vastly different than my own.
The head of our English department gave me some home-made green curry and noodles…mm, mmmm
I could lie and write that the entire experience has been a rose colored box of new-born puppies wrapped in sunshine. The truth however, is that the road from my life in Seattle, to my life in rural Essan has been a chaotic and challenging one. It has been a timeline of joyous new experiences mixed with moments of inexpressible frustration.
From working with XploreAsia in the city of Hua Hin, bonding with like-minded individuals from all over the world and learning how to be an effective teacher in Thailand, to being the only foreigner at a Thai wedding for which I didn’t know the bride and groom, the experience has been humbling.
Conversing with my students, co-workers, and the local people has allowed me to see the similarities and differences between my culture in America and the culture here in Northeast Thailand. This experience has not only allowed me to better understand the things that are important in my culture, but also the things that are important to people all over the world.
Working in such a different environment has imbued me with the power to harness an inner calmness, or as the Thai’s say, a jai yen (cool heart), even during the most stressful and chaotic situations.
The tasks I manage everyday: making a fool of myself in front of classes of fifty teenagers who only partially understand me, stumbling through awkward communications in a language polar opposite to my own, and navigating the bus system and chaotic roadways of Thailand, has given me a self confidence that I never knew in the past. A self confidence that is reinforced every time one of my students shows progress, or thanks me for explaining a new concept to them. A self confidence that is reinforced every time one of the teachers at my school smiles and invites me to lunch, or drops a coffee at my desk because they respect me for who I am, and the effort that I put into my teaching. A self confidence that is reinforced every time the town fruit vendor drops an extra piece of pineapple in my bag because their child came home from school feeling more confident about their English skills.
Part of living in Thailand is making friends with elephants!
Sharing a tiny studio apartment with my girlfriend, there are things I miss though. There’s no hot water, we don’t have a television (no Playstation!), I can’t crank my electric guitar up to 11, I can’t escape off to the city of Seattle to indulge in the nightlife, and our air conditioner is a moody machine continually deciding to take a break every time the weather goes over 88 degrees Fahrenheit. But with the absence of these comforts, I have been able to prioritize my free time to allow myself to focus on the hobbies and goals that I find most important, free of the distractions that had disrupted my concentration in the past.
I have used my free time to continue my musical studies, focus on my writing, and develop new teaching resources. Not only has the absence of the aforementioned comforts allowed me to focus my time and talents, but it has also allowed me to develop a greater appreciation for those past comforts. It has allowed me to see firsthand that the seemingly inherent comforts a large majority of people in America enjoy, can easily be taken for granted.
Living in Thailand has allowed me to experience things, and mature in ways I have always wanted to. I’ve seen opulent temples, and gorgeous beaches. I have walked the streets of a sprawling city with over 12 million people. I’ve even made friends with elephants.
I am a stronger person with increased self-confidence. I am an accomplished educator, and scholar of the English language. Being in Thailand has given me the time and tools to absolve myself of the previous distractions that had kept me from working towards my personal goals. I have almost completed the second draft of my full-length novel. I am a better jazz pianist, classical guitarist, and music theorist. I am multi-lingual, and I have learned to forge relationships and prosper in a culture that is completely foreign to my own.
One of my classes, always willing to pose for a photo!
I know now, that nine months ago, standing in the terminal at Seatac airport, I had nothing to fear. That every challenge I would endure would be paralleled by a rewarding, and irreplaceable experience. That my time in Thailand would be one of immense personal growth greater than any Playstation game, secure 8-5, or 4O1K plan anywhere else.
Justin is currently teaching a second term at a school in Phukieo, Thailand. He graduated from the TESOL course last October with his girlfriend, Krissy. He’s having an incredible experience in Thailand and is a passionate educator.
Justin is one of our featured writers in the field, keep up to date with his progress on his personal blog.
Close your eyes. Now open them. Now just pretend that they’re closed again because otherwise you won’t be able to read this. It’s a Wednesday, and today is the day you’ve finally mustered up the courage to go and try the local restaurant down the street from your apartment. You arrive and plop yourself down on a plastic stool because you’ve realized that the cheaper the chairs, the cheaper the food. You’re covered in a thin layer of sweat. This is normal. Next, the equally sweaty and cheerful restaurant lady comes over to “take your order.” The following encounter essentially consists of a series of pointing, miming, and keeping your fingers crossed that you’ll eventually get a plate of food that isn’t alive or a member of the insect family. As she walks away, out of the corner of your eye, you see a family of rodents scurrying across the far side of restaurant. It’s in this moment that it finally registers, “Wow, I live in Asia.”
The scenario above represents some of the many challenges that exist while adapting to your new life teaching abroad. You’ll need to acclimate to a completely different style of food, navigate the language barrier, endure the constant battle to stay dry, and learn to unlearn the standards of hygiene that you’ve been acclimated to your whole life. It’s these kinds of things that we’ve taken for granted that will now become a key part of surviving each day.
One of the more obvious and initial obstacles you will face is dealing with the language barrier. It can make even the simplest of tasks infinitely more challenging. Whether it is ordering dinner, asking for directions, or even just getting a haircut, sometimes you’re just going to have to smile and hope for the best. While eventually you will pick up enough of the local language that you’re able to feed and clothe yourself, there will inevitably be some mishaps along the way. The key to surviving those mishaps is the ability to stay patient. It will be frustrating at times, but patience will really be critical to your happiness while living abroad. Just recently, a friend told me a story about how it took him 2 weeks and 4 different trips to Tesco to successfully buy one plunger. As much as it would be easy to blame the employees for not understanding English, miming out the act of “plunging a toilet” over and over really makes it hit home that learning some of the native language will go a long way.
The next big issue that we as expats face is the food. Eating what the locals eat can be an incredible, delicious, and terrifying part of immersing yourself into the culture. Saying that you’re open to trying new things and being offered fried rat over rice with spicy sauce are two completely different things. In the West you can buy candy on a stick, in Asia you can buy scorpions on a stick. Plus the diet in the Western world is completely different than an Asian diet. Whereas back home things are all wheat based, here everything is rice based. So on one hand, anybody with a fashionable, new gluten-allergy won’t have any problems, but on the other, everyone else might have some digestive adaptation to deal with on top a little bit of culture shock. But fear not! Pharmacies are ready for this. Yes, going in and miming out your symptoms can be embarrassing, but two minutes later you’ll get basic antibiotics over the counter for just a few dollars.
Another major part of adapting to life overseas is the inherent difference in hygiene standards. I’ve developed a simple principle that will be very telling of how well you will do in coming to terms with these disparities. It’s called the “hair-in-my-food” principle. For example, if you’re the type of person who finds small hair in their food, picks it out, and continues to chow down, you’ll do just fine living in Asia. If you’re more of the, “I’m gonna say something and send this back,” kind of person, you’re going to have a bit of a tougher time at first. Expats here see things every day that would make health inspectors back home quiver in their Birkenstocks. Want to buy meat at the market? Be prepared for your raw filet to be picked off the top of a pile that’s been sitting in the heat with complex mosquito-prevention technology spinning above it (see: stick with inflated bag tied to it).
How about the hygiene beyond food? Let’s talk about toilets. When was the last time you worried about the mere existence of a toilet? The first time you find yourself staring at a hole in the ground to squat over, you’ll think back fondly to these naive times. Toilet paper? That can be a luxury in Asia. Sometimes you just need settle for the water basin beside the hole and make sure not to eat food with your left hand. Let that sink in for a moment… Those of us who live here get used to carrying around an extra roll of TP with us at all times, just in case. Problem solved.
To the uninitiated, many of these things can be a little scary and unsettling. Yes, you will do and see things living abroad that you would never see or encounter in your hometown. But for most of us, we left our hometowns precisely because we wanted to see how the rest of the world lived and to experience a culture that is nothing like our own. I could’ve spent this whole article discussing the breathtaking scenery or amazing hospitality that you will inevitably encounter. However, it’s important to remember that any experience in life will come with both good and bad parts. The key is to embrace them both, find humor in differences that exist, and you’ll come out of this experience a wiser and more humble individual. “Suffering cheerfully endured, ceases to be suffering, and is transmuted into effable joy,” is a Gandhi quote that I’ve always liked and thought it applied well to teaching and living abroad. The things you’ll encounter each day will vary, but approach them with a smile, and your time spent here will truly be a life-changing experience.
Austin is our Education Programs Manager. Originally from California, Austin describes himself as a traveler, eager to see everything he can and curious as to how the rest of the world lives.
You’re on the way to the airport, there’s a silence in the car. There’s so much you and your family want to say but aren’t quite sure how to articulate it. Today is the day you leave your home country, your friends and your family behind. You still can’t believe it, it doesn’t quite feel real yet. In-between bouts of checking if you’d lost your passport since the last time you checked five minutes ago, you get flashes of excitement and fear, all at the same time. You are going to teach abroad.
This…is….it.
You say your goodbyes, tell your mum to stop crying, your dad hugs you as he checks to see nobody can see him shedding a tear. You walk through those gates alone. Your family are still standing waiting for you to turn around and come back as they fade away into the distance. Nerves turn to fear, and then the excitement kicks in.
Rewind a few months, you’ve just booked your ticket: the tangible evidence of your drive, passion and hard work. You’ve given yourself a chance for something more, something different and something completely alien to you. You’ve accepted that things just haven’t been enough. You want to see the world and immerse yourself into a completely different culture. At the same time, you want to try your hand at teaching, maybe do some volunteering, and gain all-round new skills. It’s a huge, life-changing decision that is equal parts exciting and terrifying.
You’re officially on the plane. You’ve watched three outdated movies and the baby next to you hasn’t stopped screaming for the past two hours. You’re tired, weary and now so far from home. The plane lands with a bump and you fight your way out of the plane. The first thing you notice is the heat. Your bags are feeling heavier as you make your way to your pickup, but you can finally say you’ve arrived.
Welcome to your new adventure. You’ve come a long way, but life as you know it is about to change. You’re going to have an experience like no other. You’re going to meet likeminded travelers and forge incredible bonds with people who will be friends for life. You’re going to become a teacher, one that your students will never forget, and one who they’ll idolise and want to know everything about. You’ll talk about your experiences.
You’ll tell everyone about the first time you went to an elephant sanctuary and when you received a blessing from a monk at a temple built into a mountainside. You will never forget the first time you got a chance to try-out Muay Thai and the taste of the pineapples fresh from the ground. The dogs you meet at Rescue Paws will always have a place in your heart. You will tell tales of communities welcoming you with open arms, your students, your new families, friends and inspire others to follow their dreams.
You’re going to have tough times, times where you feel lost, frustrated, even angry. But with the supportive network of both the people you meet on the course and the XploreAsia family, you will get through these barriers and re-emerge ready to take on all challenges. These experiences inspire a growth within you that you would have never experienced back ‘home’. Chances are you’ll stay a lot longer than planned as you fall in love with the rich culture and the warm, friendly greetings from passers by. You’re living in a culture like no other, an experience unrivalled, a journey you chose for yourself.
This is your XploreAsia experience – embracing adventure, changing lives.
Our blog is unique as we have tapped into our network of teachers to provide you with an unflinching view of teaching abroad.
You can expect stories from past and present teachers, current TESOL participants along with history/politics from Michael Volpe. Staff stories and current news from everyone here at XploreAsia & Rescue Paws will also feature.
We are constantly on the lookout for writers, if you would like to contribute any of your own thoughts and/or ideas please contact me – jon@xploreasia.org
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After a month-and-a-half long stint in the North of Thailand getting trained for ESL teaching and hopping around mountain towns, I finally ended up in a small village in Northeastern Thailand called Muang Khong. You might ask yourself where that is and try to google it. You won’t find much information online. Even an hour away from town I’ll tell people where I live an they’ll have no idea where I’m talking about. Oddly, Google already has Muang Khong on streetview if you know where to be looking (google is everywhere!). The town is about 5 hours Northeast of Bangkok in a large conglomeration of provinces in the East that everyone calls Isaan (there are like ten different ways to spell it).
Nick graduated our Chiang Mai TESOL course in April 2015. Nick is a Colorado native and a somewhat recent graduate of Colby College. He got a little too comfortable living in DC and figured taking his talents to a different hemisphere was a good way to fix that. He likes mountains, rugby, anything with taro in it, students who prefer fistbumps to high fives, and chicken-on-a-stick. He will never understand Austin’s obsession with toasties, despite his best efforts. He’s a big fan of Thailand, the Thais, and being a teacher here and he totally thinks you should give it a shot.
