Best Decision I've Ever Made!

When I started thinking about teaching in Thailand, I was very overwhelmed by all the options I found online. You could go a totally DIY route (doing your TESOL online and finding your own placement) or go with a program that would hold your hand throughout the whole process. I was very uncertain about spending so much money to have someone help me with a process that I could have done myself, but ultimately the fact that I'd never traveled alone before (much less to somewhere as different as Asia) and the real teaching experience during the course IN the country I'd be teaching in were the two things that really swayed me.
The orientation week was so exciting and so memorable - although it did feel like a summer camp at times. But being able to meet and bond with other people going through the exact same situation as me during that first month absolutely made my time after the course a lot easier. In addition, once you graduate the course, you're connected on facebook with an entire network of other people in Thailand who are teaching and went through the program as well. So we got a bunch of teaching resources and ideas in the course, but then that network of people is a gift that keeps on giving! The program also gives you essentially lifetime in-country support, so if you ever have any issues post-program, the staff are still there for you and will help you as much as they can.
One thing I wasn't quite expecting, but really appreciated, was how much work we had to do for the TESOL course. We had homework to do almost every night during the course! I've heard of some programs that are basically just a party and you don't really learn much in your course, but this one wasn't like that at all. We learned a TON and it really prepared me to be in the classroom. Even though it was a lot of work we still a lots of fun in and out of the classrooms!