Teach English in Thailand with LanguageCorps
In Thailand, LanguageCorps offers four different programs: TESOL Certification, TESOL Plus, Flagship, and Volunteer. All programs include a four-week long intensive TESOL certification program in Cambodia, where you will have the opportunity to meet other teach in Asia participants.
The basic TESOL Certification program includes the course, job placement assistant, two weekend excursions, and a Thai language and cultural program. The TESOL Plus program includes all of the aforementioned, as well as housing during training, travel insurance, and additional amenities. The Flagship program includes everything in the TESOL Plus program, plus a guarantee for job placement in Thailand, comprehensive medical insurance, Corps Advocate support and more.
Reviews
90%Overall
Rating
30%Overall
Rating
Overall, it is what it is. However, there was very little support from the main staff in Cambodia and it was not very professional. The people who go there to teach English were not treated well by the main staff nor were we assisted much in finding a job. The webpage says one thing and when you get there, you are given something else. The students who pay money to go over there are ambassadors of our own countries but the staff "promoted" partying with the cheap beer prices in Phnom Penh. If you are looking for a professional setting and a positive one, look elsewhere.
LanguageCorps's Response to Thoroughly Disappointed:
Hello, I work with w/ LanguageCorps here in our US office. I am very to sorry that you found your experience with our program in Thailand to be less than satisfactory.
We take great pride in striving to ensure that each participant has a great experience living and working abroad, and the vast majority of program participants are very satisfied (as you can see from the many positive reviews here.)
If you would like to email me at Info@languagecorps.com to further discuss your experience, we would love to hear from you. We are always trying to do better and feedback from participants is the most important part of improving our programs.
Best,
Steve Patton
80%Overall
Rating
The LanguageCorps Asia program met almost all of my expectations and even exceeded some. The staff were very knowledgeable about Southeast Asia and teaching abroad. The TESOL course was extremely helpful and once I found a job and started working, I found myself to be much more prepared than many other English teachers I worked with because of the course materials and instructors. Everything that you could need to make the transition to a new country was provided during the training, and support was available even after I received my certificate. Good program, good people and if you want to teach in Southeast Asia I would definitely recommend this program.
80%Overall
Rating
The first thing that shocked me out of my American grip hold was the location of our housing during the TESOL training. Located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, surrounded by tent-homes, is where you'll find the Marady Hotel, a strikingly Western comfort-zone in the middle of quite a poor section of Cambodia's capital. The staff is excellent, and always willing to show you around (especially when it comes to the nightlife of Phnom Penh).
More impressive, however, was the dedication of the staff to providing a solid two week course in teaching English, on par with many graduate courses offered in the United States. The staff was incredibly laid-back (we can take for example here just their attire of T-shirts and khaki shorts) which is very helpful when you have a roomful of students who are in a brand new country. They do not teach with intimidation; they seem to truly teach with care. They want you to have a good experience during training so that you will stay and continue to experience all the benefits of teaching abroad. Beyond the regular classroom activities, they also offer weekly gatherings to further break the ice amongst the students and between the students and teachers (for example, an outing on the "Love Boat" - a fantastic little trip one evening down the central river of Phnom Penh singing karaoke and enjoying an Angkor aboard a little wooden ship).
In the classroom, while the teachers may be laid back, they are also quite straightforward. If this intimidates you, then I'd question how ready you are to be living overseas in the first place. Cambodia and Thailand are not your home country, and you will be expected to conform to their rules and regulations, or else you may send yourself home. There are helpful hints and tools (especially when it comes to organizing Visas and creating resumes for teaching English abroad) that the instructors will help you with from beginning to end. If you follow their directions, you should have no problem securing a position as a teacher and acclimating to life in a wonderful new country!
90%Overall
Rating
I really enjoyed my TESOL course. Getting to spend two weeks in Cambodia was really cool and was an opportunity I may have missed otherwise. The courses and teachers in Phnom Penh were great and the weekend excursions were a blast! The last two weeks of training were in Pattaya, Thailand, which is somewhere I would never visit again. It's basically a red light district with some sketchy characters and the beach there sucked. I was expecting more job placement assistance like it had been advertised, but I was disappointed in that aspect. You truly are in control of your own destiny so start applying for jobs when you begin your TESOL course! Other than that, LanguageCorps is a great value for what they offer compared to other TESOL/TEFL programs. I recommend it, but remember you are ultimately in charge of securing your job!
80%Overall
Rating
Language Corps' four-week Southeast Asia TESOL program was very good. It was such a comfort to come to the region with a group; even though I didn't know anyone beforehand, many of us got pretty close. I'm sure the make-up of the people in each training session goes a long way to shaping how you feel about the program, and I'm lucky that the people in my group were so fun, yet took seriously that we were there to learn about teaching.
The first two weeks in Cambodia were a realistic, helpful, and in-depth crash-course in teaching methodology. The second two weeks split into our respective countries (Thailand, in this case) were stressful but necessary trial-by-fire practice teaching. I'm glad I was at an orphanage where the student number changed every day, so I learned about split-second lesson-plan adjustment. And the LC staff who observed were very supportive.
Where the Thailand branch of LC falls a bit short of the other branches is the post-graduation support in finding jobs. I'll admit that I did the program at a very unique time -- the once-in-100-year 2011 floods, so jobs were hard to solidify. But as the Thailand LC office is located in Pattaya, it is much harder to keep in contact with graduates who are moving on to teach. Since more jobs are offered in the Bangkok area, and as the capital/biggest city it is a more suitable hub for job hunting, once I'd graduated and moved up to Bangkok to look for jobs, and the next group came in, the LC staff wasn't proactive in sending me job information or helping me find a job. Though they were there to look over the contract for the agency I eventually signed with. I understand as adults they did not need to hand-hold us after we'd graduated. But a little more transitional support, or more aid in job searching while still in the program, would have been nicer.
100%Overall
Rating
I am a former LC Grad who would talk to LC prospects while I lived in Bangkok. Here is an email I had received from a former prospect. Below the Prospects email, you'll see my response to her. I changed her name in the email for her privacy.
Hello Mr. McClurkin,
My name is Jamie, and I am writing to you because I am interested in becoming involved in the Language Corps' TESOL Plus program in Thailand. In a few months I will be graduating from Hiram college, and plan to take some time off before heading to graduate school. I'm very interested in becoming involved in this 10-month program because it seems to offer exactly what I'm looking for- the opportunity to enrich the lives of others, gain experience abroad, and teach. As I begin to make decisions about where I would like to spend the next year or so, I need to streamline my list of interests and start investigating their details. I was hoping you could share some of your thoughts and feelings about the program, and any personal advice on how teaching in Thailand has been for you. Have you had any problems or difficulty with Language Corps' program? Would you do anything differently? Do you feel anything is lacking or not easily available to you? I am also particularly concerned about healthcare... not because I'm frequently ill, but more so because if anything were to happen, I worry international healthcare may get complicated or expensive. Nor am I sure how insurance works outside the United States. I imagine you must have a busy schedule, but if you have a few moments to help illuminate what this opportunity can really be like, I would deeply appreciate it!
Thank you very much!
Jamie
Hello Jamie,
The Language Corps(LC) program is an excellent opportunity to go out and get experiences from all ends of life.
When you get to Thailand and start teaching, you will see that the majority of teachers took TESOL courses that cost a lot less money, but what you get from LC can't be matched.First, when you arrive to Cambodia, then Thailand, all your accommodations are factored into the price and it is all taken care or for you. Which is huge! Just one head ache you don't have to deal with. Then when you finish the program, as you might think, sometimes being away from home is a huge decisions and sometimes you can get a little home sick, but LC does a great job curbing this feeling. Once every couple months someone contacts you and touches base. It doesn't sound like much, but when you have been away from home it really helps to think that you are not alone.
Having the start of your program in Cambodia is great and it allows you to connect with other people that are in the exact position that you are in. Also, it's like a mini vacation before you have to go to work. I have personally made life long friends from LC. Even though the people in my course are in different cites and countries, I am still in contact with most of the them. Last week I was in Singapore with some of my class mates and this week, I'm visiting some other LC mates in Vietnam. The thing about being a LC grad is that we are all over SE Asia and you can contact any of us about anything if need.
As for problems with the program, I have not had any. But for you being a woman, my one suggestion is that you want to get out of Pattaya, and you want to get out quickly. It is a safe city and there are some cool things there, but it is a dirty, dirty city.
Health care in Thailand is excellent and very inexpensive. I'm an extremely adventurous eater and I ended up getting food poisioning. I was in the hospital for 24hrs, and my bill came out to $20 including meds. People come to Thailand to have operations and cosmetic work done because the quality of work and also price. The dental work here is equally sound. Last week I got my teeth cleaned, and got 2 cavities filled for under $50(which is a $400-$500 bill in the States).
I can't really tell you about life needs in other parts of Thailand other than Bangkok. If you decided to come to Bangkok, you won't be missing much from home. Everything is here. I would say if there are some certain types of foods that you love, make sure to bring the spices. From my female ex-pat friends, they say that if there is a specific type of makeup that you like bring it.
I hope this gave you an idea on what you have in store. You know that any decision you'll make will be the correct one. LC is an amazing opportunity, and if you choose to take advantage of the program you won't regret your decision.
Good Luck With Graduation,
Ron McClurkin
100%Overall
Rating
While I was living in Bangkok, I would receive emails from students who were looking to join LC. First you will see an email that was sent to me. Then you will see my response.
Hello Mr. McClurkin,
My name is Jamie(Not original name), and I am writing to you because I am interested in becoming involved in the Language Corps' TESOL Plus program in Thailand. In a few months I will be graduating from Hiram college, and plan to take some time off before heading to graduate school. I'm very interested in becoming involved in this 10-month program because it seems to offer exactly what I'm looking for- the opportunity to enrich the lives of others, gain experience abroad, and teach. As I begin to make decisions about where I would like to spend the next year or so, I need to streamline my list of interests and start investigating their details. I was hoping you could share some of your thoughts and feelings about the program, and any personal advice on how teaching in Thailand has been for you. Have you had any problems or difficulty with Language Corps' program? Would you do anything differently? Do you feel anything is lacking or not easily available to you? I am also particularly concerned about healthcare... not because I'm frequently ill, but more so because if anything were to happen, I worry international healthcare may get complicated or expensive. Nor am I sure how insurance works outside the United States. I imagine you must have a busy schedule, but if you have a few moments to help illuminate what this opportunity can really be like, I would deeply appreciate it!
Thank you very much!
Jamie
Hello Jamie,
The Language Corps(LC) program is an excellent opportunity to go out and get experiences from all ends of life.
When you get to Thailand and start teaching, you will see that the majority of teachers took TESOL courses that cost a lot less money, but what you get from LC can't be matched.First, when you arrive to Cambodia, then Thailand, all your accommodations are factored into the price and it is all taken care or for you. Which is huge! Just one head ache you don't have to deal with. Then when you finish the program, as you might think, sometimes being away from home is a huge decisions and sometimes you can get a little home sick, but LC does a great job curbing this feeling. Once every couple months someone contacts you and touches base. It doesn't sound like much, but when you have been away from home it really helps to think that you are not alone.
Having the start of your program in Cambodia is great and it allows you to connect with other people that are in the exact position that you are in. Also, it's like a mini vacation before you have to go to work. I have personally made life long friends from LC. Even though the people in my course are in different cites and countries, I am still in contact with most of the them. Last week I was in Singapore with some of my classmates and this week, I'm visiting some other LC mates in Vietnam. The thing about being a LC grad is that we are all over SE Asia and you can contact any of us about anything if need.
As for problems with the program, I have not had any. But for you being a woman, my one suggestion is that you want to get out of Pattaya, and you want to get out quickly. It is a safe city and there are some cool things there, but it is a dirty, dirty city.
Health care in Thailand is excellent and very inexpensive. I'm an extremely adventurous eater and I ended up getting food poisioning. I was in the hospital for 24hrs, and my bill came out to $20 including meds. People come to Thailand to have operations and cosmetic work done because the quality of work and also price. The dental work here is equally sound. Last week I got my teeth cleaned and got 2 cavities filled for under $50(which is a $400-$500 bill in the States).
I can't really tell you about life needs in other parts of Thailand other than Bangkok. If you decided to come to Bangkok, you won't be missing much from home. Everything is here. I would say if there are some certain types of foods that you love, make sure to bring the spices. From my female ex-pat friends, they say that if there is a specific type of makeup that you like bring it.
I hope this gave you an idea on what you have in store. You know that any decision you'll make will be the correct one. LC is an amazing opportunity, and if you choose to take advantage of the program you won't regret your decision.
Good Luck With Graduation,
Ron McClurkin
Further Info
About LanguageCorps
LanguageCorps is a premier provider of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification programs. Our programs around the world empower our Teachers to thrive as professionals abroad, living in fascinating locations while gaining valuable experience teaching English.
Programs are available in 22 locations in 20 countries:
- Asia: Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
- Europe: Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Russia, Spain, Turkey
- Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru
Programs vary by country, but all include:
- Intensive, 140-hour, four-week TEFL/TESOL training and certification course in the country of your choice
- Pre-departure support
- Accommodations if desired
- Assistance finding a paid teaching position that is right for you, with a reputable school
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They take care of you during training and make sure to show you the local sights. The training was very applicable to your day-to-day teaching responsibilities and you also get hands-on experience teaching in a classroom for two weeks. Job placement assistance was a bit weak, but thankfully jobs are plentiful in Thailand.