Ben is half American/Thai; he grew up in Thailand and went to study high school in the U.S. when he was 13. He has 12 years of English teaching experience, teaching a wide range of students from kindergarten students to high school, company staff, and CEOs of large companies.
Ben is currently the TEFL Course Director as well as the trainer at Text-And-Talk Academy.
Since my home country is Thailand, and I'm used to the life here, I would have to say that my favorite travel memory is in the U.K. when I went to visit my wife during her term break. We got to go to many different places such as London, Reading, Birmingham, and Manchester (and, of course, Old Trafford).
Working at Text-And-Talk requires me to be more of a people's person than what my previous work has. Here the need to understand our TEFL students is very important.
People have different issues and concerns, and instead of ignoring them, we try to find out the root causes and offer them solutions. The more we can understand them, the better we can coach them. And as a result, they become very effective and charming EFL teachers.
The best story is one of our TEFL graduates got a really well-paid job in Thailand, then in Saudi Arabia and currently online where he can spend more time with his wife and kid. He said that he really appreciates having done the TEFL course with Text-And-Talk and is always grateful for the help from my late father, James Parmelee, who established our TEFL course.
I would recommend to do the on-site TEFL course with Text-And-Talk in Bangkok, Thailand. Not only do we train our trainees to be able to teach English effectively as a foreign language but also how to get into the hearts of Thai students and employers, which is very crucial in being accepted here and having long-term relationships.
Our TEFL academy is unique because we always emphasize the quality of our training. We do not focus on taking the trainees on tour to see elephants. However, we do take our trainees to visit and experience schools and companies so that they will know what to expect when they have to teach English in a similar workplace.
As Text-And-Talk Academy has been in operation for over 20 years, it is an indicator that we emphasize the quality of learning. Out of 3,200 TEFL graduates, every single one of them has been able to get a good job within 2-3 weeks of completing the course.