I highly recommend XploreAsia's 120-hour in-class TESOL training and certification to anyone who is considering teaching English in Thailand. The benefits of taking this course right in Thailand rather than studying it online are numerous, and XploreAsia's topnotch team of professionals is amazingly supportive all the way through. In fact, they're still supporting me with regular follow-up after the fact.
During the first week, XploreAsia provides an in-depth look at Thai culture and politics while also providing their TESOL students with a few hours of basic Thai language classes. I can't begin to explain just how helpful this was weeks later, once I began my teaching contract at a Thai school in Bangkok. The staff at the school really appreciated my extra bit of knowledge and understanding compared to other Westerners who didn't receive any cultural training at all. It was also helpful for us both that I was able to speak a wee bit of Thai with them.
The remaining three weeks of the course were filled with not only the same theoretical review of teaching methodologies that one learns through the online course, but also many hours of practical application within the classroom. We learned how to create and present various types of lesson plans, and we were able to provide and receive feedback from our instructors and each other in a safe environment while we learned. This in itself is priceless, but it didn't end there. Following this, we also got the opportunity to do a practicum at a two-day English camp at a nearby Thai school. So, again we received that all-important firsthand experience of dealing with Thai children in their natural school environment which further prepared us for our real jobs to follow.
Studying this TESOL course and teaching in Thailand has been a "bucket list" item of mine for many years, but I don't know how well I would have done if I'd just moved here on my own. I think I would have experienced quite a strong sense of culture shock if it weren't for the safe cocoon of XploreAsia staff and my fellow TESOL students around me for that first month. It really helped me to acclimatize to a new country so that, once I was on my own a month later, I was that much more prepared. I know how to live on my own here now. I know what I need, and I know how and where to get it.
Thank you for making everything so much easier and enjoyable for me, XploreAsia. I highly recommend your company and your TESOL course to everyone.
Response from XploreAsia
Hi Marius, thank you for sending us your feedback. We're really happy that you've found yourself an incredible life here in Thailand.
I wanted to reiterate that the agents do not take your salary. We go over this in detail during the orientation, and throughout the TESOL course. Schools pay agencies to provide teachers, to provide them education support, and to ensure that they always have a teacher at hand should someone need to stand-in for any reason. There is simply more to it than providing visa assistance, etc. Most often, this is confused as schools only pay in one lump sum, and most often this sum is written in one contract which is in the teachers name. We can see why people may think the agent 'takes' salary. But it simply isn't the case. Teachers get paid the rate that is agreed, a salary that is more than double the average salary in Thailand, whilst the agents get their own fee for services to the school.
Again, I'm so glad you've found yourself here.
Please keep in touch!