Meaningful Work & Travel Teaching Job, Training & Cultural Orientation

I have been living and teaching in Thailand for the past four months. My experience here in Thailand has been overwhelming but extremely enlightening.

I applied for a teaching job through Kids English Thailand who were absolutely transparent and professional. KET made the placement process seamless and timeous. Moving to Thailand was quite a daunting prospect initially as the thought of moving to a new country far away from home was something completely new for me. However, KET gave me peace of mind. Not only was I given answers to all my hundred and one questions, but I was also sensitised about Thai culture and my new lifestyle.

Induction week in Sukhothai was extremely informative and I met other foreign teachers including the incredible staff of KET, who welcomed us like family. After induction I was transported to my placement school in another province where KET assisted me in finding my apartment and helped me with all the necessary running around that I needed to do. In no time I was settled into a new routine and immersed into a new culture.

The KET programme has provided me with the foundations I need to feel confident and assured about my new life here in Thailand. They have been absolutely phenomenal, not only from my pre-departure but they continuously remain in contact and provide me with all the support I need.

I highly recommend KET to all teachers as they are one of the most reputable agencies in Thailand.

If you're looking for teaching jobs in Thailand, I highly recommend the KET company. Finding work abroad is difficult for me. But, thanks to the KET team, I was able to teach in an amazing school here in Thailand, where my teaching skills were honed. In my placement school, I met amazing co-teachers, made new friends, and most importantly, I was able to immerse myself in Thai culture. I am immensely thankful for this experience, which will be in my heart forever. Thank you for the opportunity, KET. 🙌❤️😍

I applied to a lot of online sites, submitted my cv and intro video. One such site was called Dave's ESL cafe, an individual contacted me and told me that I would have to pay him $200 dollars before he could start looking for a placement school for me. I was so desprate to get out of my situation, that I almost did that. After speaking to my parents they, they convinced me not to pay any money up front.

In September of this year, my aunt had given me a guys number, she said that he recruited people from South Africa to teach in Thailand. I spoke to him and also sent my cv and intro video. I waited for two weeks, before giving up hope on him. So I figured that there had to be other agencies. I ran a google search: teacher recuitment agency thailand. A bunch of sites popped up, amongst them, was Kids English.

I finished my applications, and all I had to do was wait, not one of my strong suits, I got a response from them within two days. I spoke to Matthew. At that time I did not know much about him and was a little sceptical at first, I did not know the guy, I did not know if this was another scam or not. After speaking to him, he assured me that I would not have to pay anything up front, and would only have to pay him, when I got to Thailand, and that was for a training program that would immerse me into Thai culture. He asked me to send him a Thai friendly cv and intro video. A few days after that, I got a job offer from a school.

This was my oppertunity. This was my oppertunity to start anew. After so many rejection letters and not having a job, this was my chance to go at life on my own. I took it. I made the trip over to Thailand, met Matthew. The guy just keeps on blowing my mind away, not only at how he handles himself professionally, anyone can do that, Matthew is the kind of guy that will sit for hours trying to solve a problem, the guy is like a scent dog whose following a particularly appealing scent: he won't stop until he's got it. If there is a problem, even if its after school hours, he will talk to you and help sort the problem out.

So if you have gotten this far, know this: This is not a scam. This program is by far, the most chapest option. I have friends who have paid way more than I did, and they regreted it after I told them what I went through with Matthew.

I implore you: Give them a chance. If you are like me, then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Read that again.

Kids English Thailand (KET) is a fantastic agency located in Sukhothai which can help you get a job in Thailand supporting you in every step. The team is incredibly friendly, kind and supportive. They provide the training, basic Thai lessons and the environment is incredibly friendly and welcoming. Kids English Thailand supports you in application for the job and prepare the documents you need in advance, they are the best of the best, you will never be left behind with them. This agency offers a lot to you, sometimes more than you expected, they are very comprehensive.

KET is an awesome agency which can help you get to work in Thailand every step of the way. The team is incredibly friendly and supportive. They make the training genuinely fun, and foster a great environment to meet other teachers and build friendships. When lever we have to apply for documents KET prepares everything in advance to make sure we have what we need. More than just fulfilling their obligations they have repeatedly been there to help when I have needed support navigating Thailand, settling in, and even moving house!

I taught English in Northern Thailand for one year, two semesters, at a primary school and also as a guest lecturer at a university. I taught five periods a day, five days a week, up to twenty six hours of, from ages 3 - 11, some small classes and others large and was a mentor to the university English major students to assess their work and professional teaching experience in collaboration and a personal tutor to students of all ages and adults after school and on the weekend, where I also became a swimming coach, with over twenty years of swimming experience.

I had many duties and responsibilities including: gate duty once a week greeting the students and parents first thing in the morning, attending every class with a lesson plan and objective, assessing each individual student and reporting back to colleagues and directors for feedback and scoring them mid-term and end of term with exams. Everyday involved looking after the students, always keeping an eye on them and assisting with anything they need or resolving any issues or conflict that arose and leading each class to the cafeteria, sitting with the students and ensuring they all eat and finish their food and at the end of the day being present as parents collect their children and have to sign forms to announce their presence. Once a week I also had to do an English morning programme for the entire school and faculty, fun activities for everyone to engage in and learn key vocabulary in the process. There were weekly meetings for all teachers to attend, discussing the learning process, improvements and upcoming events, which I had to always be a part of and was happy to, as each one was extremely enjoyable and a treasurable experience and piece of Thai tradition and most times had to set up the days following up to the events. Occasionally, my teacher duties sometimes stretched further as I attended seminars at schools and universities around Thailand and played a host to these events, where I did online training to Thai teachers on how to teach a foreign language and even had to be a judge to music and dance competitions to represent my school and university as an English Director. I built strong relationships with my students and outside school would spend time with them and at times support them at competitions for sports, music and other extracurricular activities.

I came with no previous teaching experience, but am leaving with a wealth of knowledge and skill from my time there, not only from teaching, but also from the beauty of Thai culture. I had a really immersive experience, with everyone in my day to day life (students, teachers, parents, locals) all with little to no understanding of English language, thus leading me to having to adapt by learning Thai to be able to communicate with them and language exchange, with a strong barrier, using body language and facial expressions everyday and getting to visually elicit meaning and understand their personalities and over time learning one another’s language and using that experience to incorporate into my teaching practises and learning myself by finding and enacting new ways of communication without speech and how to understand and use language correctly, finding shared interests and making them laugh constantly to form a strong bond and trust and Thai people respect you attempting to speak their language as they know how difficult it is for themselves to try to speak yours, a mutual respect and appreciation. A lot of my teaching was trial and error at first, many lessons experimenting to find my style, as I had so much creative freedom, given just the curriculum inside a workbook and then could base any lessons from that, all material, activities and practises were in my control and at my access and everyday each student was so excited to learn the language and practise it together in fun innovative ways. I exercised using pitch, tone and pace to help in understanding, speaking slower, enunciating and elevating my voice for certain words and phrases, as the Thai language is a tonal one and so easier for them to learn and pick up meaning if you use English in the same manner. I split up the lessons by skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and made sure every student participated in class, but always was patient with their comfort and confident, encouraging them to enjoy learning and receiving feedback from their parents about how happy they are when they leave school and love my classes, means everything and makes it such a fulfilling position, as teaching a foreign language is one of the most challenging jobs, but also overwhelmingly rewarding, to be able to teach life lessons inside and outside the classroom, providing them with the tools they need to survive and communicate out in the world naturally everyday and being a role model to them and knowing how much you’re appreciated, it honestly made me realise my full potential and purpose out in the world. The analogy I have used to describe my perspective is that teaching was like watching a foreign film for the first time without subtitles, never hearing the language before, that was the most accurate way to explain what it is like teaching a foreign language.

I was far outside of my comfort zone as I moved out to Asia by myself, leaving all I ever knew to live alone for the first time, teach for the first time in a country and culture I had never been to before and so with all of that I experienced a lot of culture shock naturally and throughout the duration of my teaching, had to participate in many activities, celebrations and traditions in full Thai fashion, eat the best food I have ever had in my life (also the spiciest), adjust to the scorching high temperatures of Thai summer and adapt to living and driving and got to travel and explore the country and absorb everything going on around me; it was like living life for the first time again, absolutely everything was alien to me and that is such an exhilarating and euphoric feeling. Everyday was unpredictable, new and different and an unforgettable experience, adventure and sacred story worth telling, all of it was worth capturing, the tales are endless, I never wanted to put my camera down, but also embraced Buddhist practises of being present and just appreciating the moment with no expectations and I know I will never forget a single moment of any of it, the greatest memories, it was a life changing journey and the happiest and best time of my life without a doubt and just the beginning of what is to come, teaching in Asia, moving out here was the best decision I have ever made.

I had never known or had anything like this before, the way Thai people welcome you into their lives and homes, take care of you and the kindness they show, always smiling and willing to help with anything and everything, even if they don’t understand, and my favourite thing is how they are a proud nation of their culture and community is the most important thing, they do everything together and being brought into that community, there is no greater feeling, everyday everyone in my area waving at me and rushing to come and greet me, excited to interact even if just for a few moments, it is such a heartwarming experience and something that became routine and I couldn’t believe I’d lived so long without having this before and now couldn’t imagine my life without it, it was all I could’ve ever possibly asked for and so much more and I couldn’t begin to thank them all for everything they had done and given to me, I felt so at home, safe and comfortable from my first day until my last and couldn’t catch my breath most days due to how incredible it felt to be treated this way and everything I was included in.

The children are the best part, they started my day, kept me going through the tough days and also kept me grounded and humble and made me look forward to going to work everyday, seeing their excitement whenever they saw me, shouting ‘teacher’ and running to hug me, it made everyday worth it, everything was always for them and I felt at the end that I was just meant to find each and every one of them. I am leaving knowing I made a difference in not only the children’s lives, but everyone else around me everyday in the lasting relationships I made, contributing an active and valuable meaningful impact. It was an adventure, journey of self discovery and introspection, so much personal growth alongside seeing the growth and development of each student, where I learnt even more than I taught, about their culture and language; it was beyond all of my expectations and during the tough and long days, exhausted and frustrated, when I just wanted it to end to finishing and never wanting to leave and saying goodbye to the life and home I’d built one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do and I leave unbelievably grateful, forever changed and ready to spread the kindness and customs I have gathered in my time around the world and proud of who I became, appreciating language more than I ever have before.

I came to Thailand with the company Xplore Asia, who assisted with every step of the journey, from the interview, job applications and placement, the whole visa process, flights and accommodation, legalising my degree and background checks and all the steps needed to work abroad in pre-arrival preparation and then when I arrived in the country, had airport pickup, orientation, language classes, history of the culture and further training in the field of teaching and education. I was then passed onto my agency at Kids English, who provided me with my job as an English teacher at the school and on hand assistance and support through the whole year, always giving me advice, information and helping with any questions or situations I had with the best solutions and frequently keeping communication, checking in on me and my experience and listening to everything I have to say and sharing their own personal stories and it was so comforting and were extremely inspiring by building up my confidence and praising my accomplishments and my journey and staying by my side from the first day until the last, I was extremely blessed with the team I was given and will be staying in contact to be able to share future endeavours, as they were there for the beginning of my teaching career and I owe part of my success to their support and care and cannot recommend them enough to future foreign teachers in Thailand.

A very cool program that allowed me to open new horizons for myself. If you want to change your usual lifestyle and see real Asia, and not just tourist regions, then this program is for you. a sea of ​​motions, acquaintances and impressions is waiting for you. Seeing and experiencing a new culture and new people, plunging into the world of Asian food and courtesy - all this can be acquired by becoming a member of the program. If you do not want to sit in one place, but want to try yourself in a new role - you will not regret it, you can be sure!

I've been working through Kids English and it's been a great experience so far, starting with a couple days of training and info on Thai life and work culture was a great way to get used to the country before starting the job. They've also continued to be very supportive after I've moved to my teaching location, quickly answering any question I have and helping me sort out everything I need for the work permit, medical check, and other immigration stuff.

They also organised my travel to the training location from Bangkok as well as travel to my job location, which was a lot of help, and found an apartment that suited what I wanted. It's been easy and quick to ask questions I have about things I find with food, etc, and they're always glad to give a response really quick.

One extra thing however is that you might want to bring a little more money than they recommend (especially if you're buying a bike or scooter) since it might be a bit before you get the first full month's wages, depending on when you arrive.

I definitely recommend it though, especially if it's your first time in Thailand like me since the training had a lot of useful info about the country which I didn't know before.