An insight into an internship in Thailand

University courses Politics
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An insight into an Internship in Thailand

For the past eight weeks, I have been completing an internship in Thailand with an organisation called GOTOCO. This is an organisation who’s primary purpose is to deliver fully funded internships for English students to work as teachers in rural schools and obtain the ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language qualification’ (TEFL).

The funding included:

  • Flights
  • Food
  • Accomodation
  • In-country support

This experience has been once in a lifetime and something that I will be able to recall in years to come. Whilst the subject I study is Politics, I still found that there was a lot of crossover from what I learn there and my university subject. I also found that this experience has been key for personal development.

What did the programme entail ?

The programme began in Bangkok, Thailand where I met all the other prospective teachers. We then travelled to Kanchanaburi for an orientation week where we got to know everyone and learnt some key skills for teaching. It was great meeting so many people from different backgrounds from universities across the UK and a range of different subjects.

We then found out where we would be placed for the next six weeks. I was being sent to the Far North of Thailand on the Burmese border. The school was totally unique to everybody else due to the refugees from Myanmar studying at the school and local tribes people who also studied there.

The school was brilliant and took us out to various places immersing us in the culture and the teachers had a great sense of humour despite the language barrier. We got involved in public holidays, sports days and swimming lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and it was so encouraging to see students build on their knowledge week on week.

At weekends we were free to travel and visited other areas in Thailand including Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai; where we reunited with fellow student teachers.

At the end of the programme we returned to Bangkok and headed to the South of Thailand where we relaxed by the beach and fed back on our experiences. It was great to speak to the other student teachers and share on our experiences.

Throughout this internship I have also been working towards my TEFL Level 3 qualification which is provided from the organisation allowing me to teach English around the world and has also enabled me to develop my teaching skills.

This experience has been great for personal development, leading me to enhance skills like confidence, independence, organisation and teamwork. I recommend it to anyone who is seeking to gain a unique experience and valuable insights into other cultures and countries.

Check out the link below for more information:

Gotoco - FUNDED and FREE TEFL Adventures overseas (go-to.co)

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Also check out the LinkedIn post by @Cbealby17 :

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Wooow sounds like an amazing experience! Teaching in such a unique environment must have been so rewarding. How did you find adjusting to the culture and the language barrier in the beginning?

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We had an orientation week that helped prepare us before we went to the schools. This helped get us used to some of the culture and traditions that we could expect. As Thailand is such a diverse country it meant that it varied from region to region. The hardest thing was getting used to how laid back everyone was, especially in the school setting. Over time I just began to relax and go with the flow which helped.

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What an awesome experience! Thank you for sharing this😁

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Wow, that sounds like such an amazing experience! I’m really interested in how you managed to adapt to teaching in a different cultural setting, especially with the unique challenges at the school you were placed in.

How did you handle the language barrier and adjust your teaching methods to fit the students’ needs? I’m curious about any specific strategies or resources you found particularly helpful in making the experience successful.

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I was very fortunate I could rely on PowerPoints for teaching. If I taught a new word, I would use images and definitions in Thai to help embed understanding. It also helped getting students to act out words as it meant that I could know what was understood and what wasn’t.

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Sounds amazing, thanks for sharing

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