Teachers' dress

I've found that dressing appropriately and professionally helps out at least somewhat, both in getting new students and working with others.  I seem to get a better response when dressed professionally.  For some strange reason, wearing shoes rather than sandals seems to make a difference.

I've heard a few Thai people mention that they treat Thai teachers in a more traditional fashion than farang teachers (I take part of this to mean that you can make the occasional cultural blunder and Thai people will understand), which has its advantages and disadvantages.  However, dress seems to be tied in with class and maybe to dress the part brings you a little closer to being viewed as an 'ajahn' rather than a goofball.

TEFL Phuket

Visa Run and TOEIC Students

Did a quick trip to Penang, Malaysia for a visa run to get another Non-Immigrant B. Penang was really nice, very clean, as is all of Malaysia, it seems. Still in process for my work permit, but hopefully this next go-round will work out smoothly.

Two students now, both of whom are male and interested in taking the TOEIC. P, who is finishing up tomorrow, is mostly a beginner-intermediate. Very gung-ho about learning, he was taking 3-hour lessons and not flagging one bit! Based on his level-testing, we thought that the TOEIC Bridge would be the best for him. He was around 50% the first day taking a sample test, today he was at 85%. Very sharp at knowing grammar and rules, but seems to have a lot of difficulty speaking.

The other student, B, is interested in taking the TOEIC, but his English isn't quite there yet.  Just learning grammar rules and such, and understanding of spoken American English is still developing.

TEFL Phuket

More teaching time

So not much new here, teaching is still going well. My students are having fun.


Going to actually be completeing a whole course here soon, my first one. She's very motivated and does a lot of out-of-class study time, so she's going really fast.


Thai people really like it when you tell them you like spicy food. A cook that has been cooking for us hasn't been holding back on the chilis, so we've gotten used to it. A lot of sweat-fests to get here, though. :-) Went to the beach this past Sunday with friends who wanted some Issan food, even Koong was gasping for breat eating it.

TEFL Phuket

Teaching English in Thailand

So far I've my teaching schedule has been pretty light, by choice. I'm working on some other business, so teaching has been a bit of a filler so far.

The students so far have been great. Very excited to learn, and they really like to have fun in class. Keeping things light and relaxed seems to make them more interested and enthused about the class.

So far all of my one-on-one Thai students have been female. I think especially in Phuket, many Thai women really want to meet farang (foreigners) men seeing them as their best option to step up the socio-economic ladder. There are also many parents interested in signing up their children for English classes. Learning English for them provides a lot of opportunity here.

I've noticed that the way English is normally taught by Thai people leads to what is called "Tinglish". Some language books regularly drop consonants in their transliteration from English to Thai. For example, one book's transliteration for 'housemaid' would be pronounced 'houmaid'. I think this is one of the reasons many Thais want to learn from native English speakers. American English seems to be the most in demand, as they view it as the accent/dialect most understandable by anyone who might speak English.

Here's where I got my TEFL/TESOL Certification:
TEFL Phuket
also check out:
TEFL Thailand
I help out at:
Kamala Language School

So this is what TEFL is like.

Wow, my fist blog post, what a gas.

After spending some time in India and studying some more Buddhism, I decided to come to Thailand. I've been here since September, I think, and have gotten set up in Kamala. I got my TESOL/TEFL certification through TEFL Phuket and am now teaching and loving it here.

Teaching English to Thai people has been really wonderful so far. I haven't been doing too much teaching as I've got some other work on the side, but that is starting to pick up. The Thai people I've taught have been really enthusiastic about learning English, I think especially since it means a big jump in opportunities that get presented to them. There's a great amount of respect given to teachers as well, so all that combines for a pretty positive environment for learning.

The school I'm working for is helping with the logistics of getting a work permit, which is pretty handy. Right now I'm in Thailand on a Non-Immigrant B visa while the work permit is getting processed. It seems to be going smoothly, they do a lot of this here. Just make sure you have your i's dotted and t's crossed. After that I'll be full-time teaching English abroad! Howzat? :-)