Program Reviews

So I just completed my TESOL course with XploreAsia in December 2015, and started my placement in Prakhon Chai, Thailand. The whole process start to finish was well structured and organised. (The first part of the process for me was go through Gap360, another reliable and friendly company) Prior to arriving in Thailand I received helpful emails and guidebooks with information from XploreAsia and there was someone there to pick me up from the airport to. I was then taken to Hua Hin where I met some amazing people who I would be living with for the next month while doing my course. The course has definitely improved my confidence as we were doing lots of presentations (it might sound scary but everyone's in the same boat) the placement team at XploreAsia are also great, they try their best to answer your questions and support you even after you have finished the course. I would say the best thing about XploreAsia is their willingness to share previous experiences and prepare you not only to be a good teacher but also to deal with the culture shock many people face whilst living in Thailand.

Deciding to come to Thailand and teach is a life changing decision, Xplore Asia is an excellent company to help you make those changes. I had very little knowledge on Xplore Asia before coming over, I came through Greenheart Travel (who were also amazing) who gave me little information on the transfer to Xplore Asia. However, this effected my TESOL and life thus far in Thailand very little and should not be an issue or something to hold you back.

The driver was waiting when we got off our flight, we loaded up in a van and went straight to the hotel. The hotel, H-Residence was nice and in a great area for seeing the city if you decide to fly in early like I did. I highly suggest staying with Xplore Asia group at the hotel because it gives you a awesome opportunity to get to know some people and see the “touristy” things in Bangkok with a group. We were fed breakfast every morning I was there, and the final morning you load up into a minivan with people from your group and make your way to Hua Hin.

Upon arrival in Hua Hin things got quite rushed. We threw our things into our accomodation (I lived in the big Soi 33 house), jumped back in the van, were given a quick run down of the way our mall trip would go and then dropped off at the mall to get supplies. It was a little overwhelming buying things for a house you hadn’t really seen. Just buy what you need and then figure it out as you go through your month, GET TOILET PAPER and WATER.

The first week of the course was the orientation. It was an incredible experience and is a great time to get to know the
group of people you will be spending the next month in class with, the people who will become one of your most valuable networks in Thailand over your stay here.

Mike does a great job with Thai culture classes, and they are actually interesting! The excursions are amazing (the elephant sanctuary, pineapple farm, art village, rescue paws, etc.). At the end of the week there is a beach BBQ, it is tons of fun.

Once the TESOL starts you will have A LOT of work. There are homework assignments almost daily. Sometimes you will be working in groups, with a partner, or alone. I had Jon Harman as my course instructor, I felt fully prepared to walk into the English camp and teach three solo lessons to middle/high school students. Across the board I heard very positive things about the instructors. They are very passionate about what they are doing and really want you to be an amazing teacher so they invest a large chunk of time into molding each student.

By the time the TESOL is over you feel confident and prepared for whatever placement may be thrown at you. With a Drop Box full of lessons from Kindergarten to High School level, you know you will not be walking into a school without something prepared. I do wish the course covered a little more on private schools with curriculums. The TESOL certainly prepares you for teaching, but we spent a large portion of time covering worst case scenarios and a lot of my group actually ended up with really nice placements in private schools, EP programs, and International Schools.

My overall experience with Xplore Asia was amazing, I would 100% recommend them to anyone considering teaching in Thailand. However, the things I think could use improvement. . .

Cell Phones. This was a disaster from the start. No one at the cell phone company spoke english and none of us spoke Thai. Some people wound up with cell phones with no data, some with no calling/texting ability. Some people ended up on plans, some ended up pay as you go. No one really knew what they were signing up for. The Sim card Xplore Asia provides you with did not fit most people’s smart phones and was therefore useless. I am certain Mike and his staff will have the kinks worked out with this soon, if they haven’t already.

Placements. I came over in the largest group that Xplore Asia has ever accommodated. That being said, they seemed slightly underprepared for the monumental task of placing 210 teachers in schools. The placement team did an excellent job, but placements took quite some time to secure. Some people had no confirmations up to the very end of their stay. I was lucky enough to secure a nice placement. Though, they take very little actual regard for where you would like to be placed (which winds up being a really cool thing). Do not expect to list off a city, or even a region, and actually wind up being placed there. It is considerably harder for them to place people who come over in pairs or triads. I came over with a friend and we wound up separating because the last week we had no confirmed placement. Upon separating we found placements immediately. Travel is cheap and easy here, so do not let being placed away from your friends discourage you. The placement team works really hard, but everything is very up in the air and no one really prepares you for that.

You have to remember you are in Thailand, and occasionally terrible things happen. Xplore Asia staff needed prompting from TESOL students to address and help handle these issues. Once they were prompted, the staff acted completely supportive and were more than willing to help in anyway.

Xplore Asia is a great company. They provide you with a network of people who are willing to help you throughout your stay here. They create an environment that fosters learning. The whole group is very interested in making you the best you can be so that your experience in Thailand is amazing. At the end of the day, despite the few hiccups (remember the few bad things just make the good, that much better!), they want success for you. Their system is wonderful and allows you the perfect amount of time to get comfortable teaching and make great friends. When you graduate you will have an entire network of people to spend weekends and Holidays exploring Thailand with. If you are considering using Xplore Asia, DO IT!

The program was great! Very helpful and prepared me well for teaching in Thailand! Staff was great always on top of things and gave us all the information needed for the course and for the placement. The course was a little to short for the amount of work needed to be prepared but we were able to practice in a classroom for a couple of days which taught us more than a book could ever teach. The orientation week was wonderful. It brought us into te culture before we were thrown into the teaching aspect of why we came here. To learn about the history and culture helped a lot with making lessons and learning more about what our students could be like before we started teaching.

Living in Thailand has the potential to surprise you at every single turn. When I was first placed in Thailand, I was in a small semi-rural town in central Thailand. I used every single moment of free time to explore every inch of that town. One of these occasions, I was driving right before sunset, and ended up discovering a beautiful spot right along the river. It soon became my go-to spot to relax and watch the sun go down. One day, a few locals approached me and we started talking about how I had come to live in that town - This was all in incredibly broken English and using A LOT of hand gestures. This would soon turn into a regular thing where I would go to watch the sunset and the same locals would come out to talk.Over the course of the semester we became such good friends that they would invite me over to dinner or for drinks after the sun had set. We became good friends after that and they are still people that I talk to to this day. Who knew that something as simple as finding a place to watch the sunset would blossom into such an awesome friendship.

Moving to Thailand is one of the most freeing things you can do. It's chill and go with flow attitude are key to letting yourself unlock your untapped adventure potential. So take the leap! You won't regret putting yourself out there.

I completed the October 2015 TESOL course in Chiang Mai. The course was more expensive than if I would have completed it online, but I think I got a lot more out of it doing it in person in Thailand. Not only was I taught by a TESOL instructor who had first hand experience teaching and living in Thailand, I also got the opportunity to practice teaching in front of my peers, as well as, working 2 days in an English camp. There is also a cultural element to this course. I got to go on a few excursions and learn about Thai cultural norms from people who have lived in Thailand for years and really understand the language and culture. On top of all of that, I met some great people from the program who I will be lifelong friends with. You can't really put a price tag on the benefits of having a support system of people who can relate to everything you are experiencing because they are living it too! The safety net of having a guaranteed job is also nice! Going back, I would decide to go through this company all over again.

Let me start by saying that XploreAsia runs an excellent program. The culture classes help by starting you off on the right foot in a new country with very different customs than the United States. The orientation week is full of wonderful little excursions and tours which cover everything from touristy markets to an elephant sanctuary. They also provide excellent accommodation for the duration of the program at a very reasonable cost.
The TESOL course itself varies based on your specific instructor, but in my experience it was very thorough, detailed and comprehensive. Our instructor genuinely cared about our progress through the course and presented us with challenges that we were sure to later face as teachers. I would strongly recommend paying attention. Have I used everything I learned while teaching? No. But it helped me think outside the box when coming up with lesson plans despite not actually following the methods of XploreAsia TESOL.

The team at XploreAsia is absolutely brilliant. They tick all the important boxes for creating a positive experience in Thailand by how they seamlessly guide everyone through the basics, from setting up boring stuff like phones and bank accounts to teaching language and culture and, most importantly, placing their charges in teaching positions around the country. Could I have just come to Thailand and found a job on my own? Definitely! But I wouldn't have been nearly as prepared and I doubt that I would have landed my dream job one week after arriving in the country, because of XploreAsia my past 6 months have been filled with travel and more teaching than I can handle (almost!). I highly recommend this group to anyone who is serious about having the time of their life while teaching in Thailand.

I took the TESOL course by XploreAsia in July and LOVED every second of it. We had a great, electic mix of people in our group and everyone at XploreAsia was constantly friendly, helpful, and informative for our month together. They had no trouble placing my friend and I together and I felt as prepared as possible going into my teaching job.

Now, a few months later, I feel even more fortunate that I went through XploreAsia. I've heard horror stories from people who went through other TESOL companies and weren't given any help with Thai language or culture, transportation, or banking. While none of that is necessarily the responsibility of the TESOL provider, XploreAsia did go above and beyond by providing us with all three, making the transition to a new country that much easier. And now, I still feel comfortable reaching out to someone at XploreAsia if I have any questions. What's more, there is a great Facebook group that allows teachers to share advice on teaching, traveling, work permits, etc. that is all awesome information to have access to.

For anyone looking into TESOL courses in Thailand, XploreAsia is without a doubt the best company to use. They go above and beyond and it really pays off for everyone involved.

I had a great time. Made so many new friends. Got involved with the culture and saw beautiful places. You can not ask for more than that. Great facilities, great teacher, great staff and a smooth placement.

The XploreAsia TESOL course is a brilliant program, designed to push individuals towards their full teaching potential in a safe, fun, and encouraging environment. I think I worked harder every single day and enjoyed each day more than the one before it. It's amazing what good energy you get when you place people from different countries in one room in a foreign country, all with the same crazy goal of teaching English. I can't imagine finding such a life-changing experience through any other program.