While most of my friends spent their last couple of months at school stressing over jobs, interviews and salaries, I kept myself busy deciding on my choice of placement in Thailand. I decided to teach in Thailand during my last year of university, and I haven’t looked back since.

Before I began searching for teaching opportunities, I reached out to a couple of friends who had previously taught in the Land of Smiles. Although none of them had chosen CIEE as their provider, almost all recommended the “Teach English Abroad in Thailand with CIEE” program for its reputation, value and placements. CIEE's sign-up process was simple, easy to navigate and full of details. From applying for a Thai Non-B Immigrant Visa to accepting my school placement, CIEE ensured that the stressful part of applying was anything but stressful.

I'm currently teaching in Phetchabun, a town just 4-5 hours north of Bangkok. What Phetchabun lacks in skyscrapers and "concrete jungles," it makes up for in beautiful landscapes, adventurous hikes and authentic Thai experiences. My placement with CIEE is exactly what I wanted and as I continue to teach for a second semester, I couldn't be happier.

The school day in Thailand starts off with assembly at 8 a.m. sharp. There, students sing the National Anthem, listen to announcements and recite prayers. During one particular morning, I noticed students pulling out money from their pockets. After a couple of minutes of confusion -- and many minutes of asking around -- I learned that the students were collecting money for an out-of-district student whose home had burned down. While students in the States will gladly raise money for their own sports teams, it's hard to imagine American students raising money for someone who doesn't attend their own school.

If you're looking to teach in Thailand, but are unsure about the process, I highly recommend looking into CIEE's vast network of current and former participants. CIEE's application platform is easy to understand and simple to use.

Teaching in Thailand was my first experience living anywhere that was more than 50 miles from where I grew up in Long Island, New York. To put it shortly this has been one of the best experiences of my life. All the apprehensions, and fears I had before I left debunked one right after another almost instantly upon my arrival. The orientation provided by CIEE was a big part in that. Spending a week in Chang Mai with other teachers, former teachers and the support system was extremely helpful for someone like myself who has never done anything like this before. You start to get a feel for the people and culture while still having the support to answer questions and provide information. I also believe that the community of teachers who are all arriving in the same position of having no idea of what to expect is extremely helpful.
After leaving orientation the same fears and apprehensions arise again, and one more time they quickly subside. I arrived in a smaller town outside of a small city, and immediately I felt safe and welcome. The people although largely surprised by seeing an American were always smiling wanting to communicate and make me feel at home. I have met people, seen things, and had experiences that will stay with me forever. More importantly I feel that I have become a part of a community and that is something special that I do not believe happens often.
Six months or even a year may seem like a long time but as I am writing this I am weeks away from completing my time here and it feels like I arrived yesterday. I also now understand why people don't leave. CIEE provided incredible support and helped walk me through this process step by step. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking to travel and teach.

Applying to CIEE’s Teach in Thailand program was quite possibly the best decision I ever made. Before coming to Thailand, I’d never been overseas, so I was very nervous and didn’t know what to expect. The program coordinator, Kerry, was amazingly helpful, and she walked me through the entire process. Every time I called Kerry, she answered and talked to me for as long as it took to resolve whatever issue/meltdown I was having. When I ran into trouble with my visa, she made sure my school understood that I’d be coming and didn’t give my position away. The situation was a lot less stressful than it could have/should have been.

The real benefit of teaching in Thailand through CIEE is the support and how your host school deals with you. Schools that work with CIEE have to provide their teachers with accommodations and a contract completion bonus. They stressed making sure I became independent and comfortable travelling around town on my own. I didn’t travel to Thailand alone, and my preference was to be placed in the same location with my travel partner. CIEE actually placed me in the same exact school. It doesn’t get much better than that.

This wasn’t part of the contract, but my school taught me how to ride a motorbike and drive a manual transmission truck. The school also helped me buy my own motorbike and went out of their way to ensure that I had reliable transportation around town. This experience has reshaped my values, wants, and needs. I’ve met a ton of interesting people, and I’ve made some great friends along the way. I wouldn’t trade my time in Thailand for anything. If you’re looking to teach in the land of smiles, and you want to go through a program, you won’t do much better than the Teach in Thailand program from CIEE.

I first heard about the CIEE Teach Abroad program after I studied abroad with CIEE in 2014. After I graduated from college, I committed to teach in Thailand for one semester. I was nervous about moving halfway across the world, managing a large classroom and adjusting to the culture. Any fear I had about teaching and traveling abroad quickly disappeared given the constant support CIEE provides. I am happy to say I have made great friends in my community. I value my teaching experience and know I am learning as much from my students as they learn from me. When I am not at school, I explore provinces across Thailand, work on my Thai conversational skills and engage with other teachers along the way. I enjoy blogging about my experience as an official CIEE blogger and have found it to be a very therapeutic outlet. I am so happy with my experience that I have decided to stay and teach for a second semester! This experience is invaluable and the best decision I have ever made!

I will try to put into words how amazing it feels to be in Thailand, teaching English. I welcome Khlong Lan Wittaya's students with a smile and cup of coffee in hand every morning. In return, I see smiles and hear "goodmorning teacher!" The community has embraced me in a way that I never imagined. I feel like I have several families here who constantly invite me to dinners and on adventures. They ask me if I am homesick and I can honestly say "no" because I feel right at home, thanks to them. My life is so simple and I do everything I've always wanted to do in one day. I have time for what really matters and what I truly love to do. Thanks to CIEE, I feel fully supported and confident in their services. They helped me reach my current state of complete bliss, by holding my hand through the application and assimilation process. CIEE gave me the confidence to travel across the globe and pursue a dream I've always had.

Teaching abroad with CIEE Teach Abroad was the best thing I ever did. After I received my master's degree, I wanted to travel, but I wanted to travel with meaning. CIEE Teach Abroad helped me do just that! I loved that they took care of all the tricky stuff -- housing, my visa, school placement, they offered an in-country orientation upon arrival, and pre-departure assistance and an online course to prepare us. It was all so easy, and the staff was awesome. They are so easy to work with and they have all taught abroad so they know how you're feeling before you go.

I taught in Bangkok Thailand, and it was the most rewarding job I have ever had. The kids were so much fun to work with, and I learned so much from them. I met people I will be friends with for the rest of my life, and my weekends were filled with fun adventures all over South East Asia. While I was teaching, I was able to visit 8 different countries, so I was able to fulfill my travel bug and work with kids all in one go! It was so much fun, and so rewarding. I highly recommend CIEE Teach Abroad to anyone! They also offer an awesome TEFL Certification course, and it helped my teaching skills tremendously. I had previously taught at the university level, but this TEFL course taught me so many things I hadn't considered in regards to teaching.

I am so thankful for CIEE. They truly changed my life.

After, deciding to teach abroad, I did some research on companies to go through. I came across CIEE and had really great feelings about their programs offered and their overall dedication to their participants. The step by step process made it so easy to work with CIEE and complete the process of teaching abroad. I have had help from the minute I started an application and I am continuing to hear from CIEE three months into my teaching experience in Thailand. If you are looking to teach abroad, CIEE has been a phenomenal group to go through and I highly recommend them!

I made the decision to teach abroad just a few months before getting on the plane, so overall it was a pretty fast process. I found CIEE online and completed an application in a couple weeks. They were very helpful during the pre-departure time. One of my recommenders wasn’t able to submit their letter of recommendation on time, so I had to replace them at the last second. CIEE was understanding, and let a new recommender submit instead. They also had a guide on how to prepare all the necessary documents for obtaining a visa, and getting the visa documents together did require a lot of legwork. The biggest headache for me was getting my state background check, so if I had to do it again I would just get a background check through the FBI. Also, I had trouble figuring out what vaccines were covered by my insurance, but that was a problem with the insurance company.

So after getting my visa and school placement, I was on the plane to a week-long CIEE program orientation in Bangkok. This was a very, very useful and fun time. The orientation was about meeting other teachers from the program, learning about Thailand, and, importantly, learning how to be a teacher. Especially since I did not have any background in teaching or prior experience as a classroom teacher. I think an orientation like this is really critical for people who have never worked or lived abroad before. There is so much anxiety about living in a different part of the world, with people you don’t know anything about, and also having to perform as a professional teacher. It would have been very difficult for me to adjust to a new life and also be a good teacher, at least at the start, without this orientation.

So now I have been successfully living and working in Thailand as an English teacher for a few months. CIEE has emailed me a few times to check in and see how I’m doing, and I’ve been in contact with them with questions about my current program as well as questions about future teach abroad opportunities.

Overall, I’m very happy with CIEE and their staff. Everyone has been very helpful, understanding, and professional. I would like to teach in another country after Thailand through CIEE, and I feel very confident about it. It’s great to have CIEE’s support, from the help with the paperwork that’s required, to in-country orientation, and continuing support for the length of the program.