TEFL Courses in Thailand on the Island of Koh Samui

My name is Ben – graduate of TEFLworld Koh Samui, January. This is my account of my experience of living in Koh Samui, attending TEFLworld Samui, and a couple of relevant parts from either side. I intend to give you a fair and accurate account of my time here; I hope this is of help to you, and can aid you in making a good decision about where to take a TEFL course.

It starts with myself, sat in front of my computer at home in the UK, researching the best places to take a TEFL course in Koh Samui. Not an easy process, as I can testify to. If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have hesitated much in making the choice that took me months of deliberation to reach. What can I get from a TEFL course, taken in South East Asia? What are the benefits of such a course? What will it be like living in Koh Samui? I found these difficult questions to answer, not having experienced either Asia, or a TEFL course, before. So it was with trepidation that I threw my lot in, and committed to jetting off 8,000 miles around the world.

Before coming to Samui, my main concerns were sorting out my flights, getting the correct visa, and ensuring I was heading to a training centre where my money would be well invested. After a good few months of hand-wringing and hissing through the teeth, I eventually decided TEFLworld Koh Samui was the best option; I booked my flights, paid my visa fee, and paid the course deposit.

The 7th of January rolled around, and my time to leave had arrived. Jumping on a plane from London Heathrow at 6 in the morning, I travelled via Colombo, Sri Lanka (a 14 hour flight followed by an impressively uncomfortable stop-over), onto Bangkok (what an airport!), then onto Koh Samui Airport. As the plane dropped to within a few hundred feet of ground level, I was bowled over by what I was seeing. As a first time traveller to Asia, I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was getting into – the scenery is breathtaking, and the small, rural bamboo houses crowded into cramped streets are utterly overrun by the local populace. We landed on Samui’s tiny runway, did a 180 (pretty impressive, for a Boeing), and shuffled down to the waiting ‘buses’. After a short wait for my bags, I headed up to the pick-up area to be greeted by Ying; who I later discovered is both TEFLworld’s chef extraordinaire and teaching practice organiser. Along with 2 others off my flight, who were also booked in for the January course, we threw our bags and ourselves into the back of Ying’s pickup truck, and set off. For those who, like me at the time, have never been to South East Asia before, the transit from the airport to the hotel will be a brilliant experience. Blinkered by lack of sleep and invigorated by a sense of adventure, I drank in the passing sights; locals selling freshly cooked barracuda off grills by the roadside, Thais and Farangs (foreigners) alike squeezing their motorbikes through impossible gaps at 70kph, local workers fixing electricity lines with nothing but bamboo ladders and their bare hands – at the time, it seemed to me a maelstrom of unidentifiable activities.

After a 20 minute or so drive, we arrived at the charming hotel. A quick copy of my passport later, I was checked into my room, shown how to work the room’s various amenities, and left to my own devices, with a promise of help at any time, had I need for it. A quick email from the course leader, Phil Jenkins, promised both me and the 8 others who had enrolled on the course a lift up to the school in the morning. After spending over 30 hours on the move, and only 2 in-flight meals to keep me going, it was most certainly time to go find some food. The hotel is in a good location – it is easy walking distance to the school, and has its’ own restaurant; there are a few good restaurants close by, and it is located about 1km outside central Chaweng (the island’s nightlife hotspot). The hotel is a very pleasant place to stay, for sure – and after eating out, I settled down for the night.

WEEK ONE

Next day, waiting for Ying to come and pick us up, I met the rest of my course-mates. A variety of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds, they were a great bunch, I was to discover. Slightly nervous, we headed up to Panyadee, The British School of Koh Samui. Upon arriving, we were taken to the communal area that was to be our base for the next 4 weeks. After a quick bottle of water, we met the course trainers. Phil, the course leader, and the man responsible for TEFLworld Samui, helped settle us in. There is a cooking area, in which Ying prepares the fantastic meals we were served each lunchtime, which you can also buy a few supplies from (water, Coca Cola, and crisps etc.) We then met Alison and Darren, the two course trainers, who took us on a mini tour of the grounds, and helped familiarise us with the place in which we were to be working. Feeling a bit more comfortable, we settled ourselves down in the classroom.

Alison and Darren took our first session – designed both to break the ice between the group members, and to begin to get into the course content. The first session was fantastic – it really helped me relax and get to know my fellow class-mates. Everything we did had a relevant purpose: it quickly became apparent to me that the course trainers really know their stuff. The method of teaching surprised me, also- I had been expecting an authoritarian, drill style of learning the materials and approaches we needed. Instead, the trainers make the learning process very interactive, and a lot of fun. It seems to me that it is very easy to tell somebody ‘Do this, and this, but don’t do that’, but if you understand the reasons behind why such a thing is good/bad practice, you can learn in a much more effective manner. This is how the teaching is done; rather than being lectured at all day, as a learner, you are constantly invited to get involved – the learning is interactive, and henceforth the learning process is much more effective and profound. After a very enjoyable hour and a half, we took a 5 minute break to get some water, have a cigarette – just a quick break. Back in the classroom, the enjoyable experience continued. I found myself challenged to complete tasks with everybody else, in small groups, on my own – each one with a learning point behind it. Seemingly light, enjoyable tasks evolved into bringing out the positive learning objectives we needed to understand. Come midday, we took an hour break to have some lunch, prepared by Ying. Believe me when I tell you that Ying is a fantastic cook! She caters for all different eating preferences; vegetarians, vegans, intolerances, allergies – Phil asked us all to list these things, and Ying prepared our meals accordingly. Every single day, we had a different dish put in front of us – each one as delicious as the last, throughout the entire course. Lunchtime became a very popular time of day for me and my course-mates! After our hour was up, we headed back inside for another 2 hours of work.

I found my first day quite tiring – jetlagged and slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of the difference between my home country and the one I was in, but that first session helped settle me a lot. Alison gave us hordes of information about the island – where everything is, where to go to eat, where to go out for the night, where to rent a motorbike, how much to pay for certain things, how to understand Thai people and their culture, information on visas – pretty much everything you’ll ever need to live in Samui. It helped me get much more comfortable with my surroundings – instead of blundering up and down the street, as I did on my first night, come the second, I had an idea of where I was going and the best way to get there. It only took me a few days to get to learn the island, and I was not surprised to find it was as good as I’d been told. Koh Samui is a fantastic place to live, as the island is stuffed full of amazing people, both Thai and Farangs. There are some great places to eat – from expensive restaurants with breathtaking views, the local markets selling a huge variety of exotic and delicious local delicacies, to the small huts by the side of the road that sell some of the best Pad Thai money can buy (and for cheaper than a bowl of chips, too!). There are stunning waterfalls, elephant trekking centres, gorgeous beaches – even a restaurant up in the mountains, from where you can see pretty much all Samui; the road for which just happens to be right next to the Chaweng Tara. The nightlife across the island is also fantastic. Chaweng is a hive of activity when the sun goes down, and Lamai has a busy nightlife scene. All around the island runs the main road, called the ring road – once on that, you will see places to eat and drink virtually everywhere. Pretty much whatever your tastes, hobbies, interests – Samui has it all.

The course went on into the week. Darren takes most of the sessions of the course, and we started to really get into the content of the course. We were shown a video of the style of teaching we were expected to use, which constitutes the latest theory in the progression of teaching methodologies. I discovered that besides the teaching style I responded so well to, the course content was up to date, effective and enjoyable. I was in school from 9am till 3pm each day, and was given work to complete outside of school hours two or three times a week – but it never totally consumed my evenings. After school hours, I usually completed my work when I got back to the hotel, as did my course-mates, and then we’d go out to eat. The hours are not long, and the course is very enjoyable and rewarding, but it requires application and endeavour. Therefore, I found my free time to be incredibly enjoyable, as we explored the different places on the island and found that there is a huge amount to do on Samui. Rarely did I find myself with nothing to do.

As the first week started flying past, Darren hit us with an early surprise – we were teaching a lesson the next day! It was to be taught to our peers, to practice using the techniques we had been learning. We were each given a topic and time slot, and rather shocked, started on our lesson plans. I found it slightly nerve racking – not wanting to fail in front of the group, I put a lot of effort into ensuring that the lesson would run without a hitch. The next day, we all turned up in teaching attire (formal attire, shirt and trousers for the men, ties not being necessary in Thailand, shoulders and knees covered for the ladies) and ran our lessons to the group. It evolved into a very interesting experience – everyone learning from both their own mistakes, and those of others. Some in the group were demoralised with their performances, myself being one of them, but with a renewed drive to succeed in the next Teaching Practice. On the last day of the week, I discovered that my chance would come round very quickly – first thing next week, in fact, at one of the island’s schools, Ban Plai Laem School, in Bophut. The prospect of standing up in front of 25 Thai children for 50 minutes and delivering a lesson can be a daunting thought, but armed with the experiences of the week, I was quietly confident.

I personally found the first week fantastic, as did my peers. I was most surprised about the way in which the trainers went about teaching us – it was much more fun that I had anticipated. Before I came to Samui, I viewed the course as a means to an end – by the end of the week I realised it was one hell of an experience in itself. I found myself getting a lot more out of the course than I thought I would, as well as out of the experience of living in Samui. A lot of the other people on the course expressed their delight at the prospect of getting so much actual teaching experience from the course, or the knowledge and experience of the trainers, and the quality of the assistance they provided us with.

The weekends are a great time to experience more of Samui. With that in mind, myself and a few of my course-mates rented motorbikes for the weekend, to drive around the island and sample the different parts of the island. It is worth noting that driving a motorbike can be dangerous in Samui, and as a complete novice to motorbikes, it was with trepidation that I got on one. However, if you drive sensibly, there is little to worry about – and a bike is definitely the best way to get around on Samui, costing less than taxis and Songtaews (maroon communal buses that head around the island – they are very convenient, especially if you have shopping with you). Driving around the island, stopping off every 10/15 minutes to see the places we wanted to visit, I fell in love with Samui. From Chaweng Noi (Chaweng South), we headed up to Choeng Mon, on the northeast side of the island. Located near the airport, you get the occasional aircraft overhead, but for the most part, it is a quiet and scenic part of the island. Choeng Mon has a large number of private villas, and as a result, there are quite a few relaxed, friendly families on holiday, which gives it a pleasant, quiet, relaxed feel. From Choeng Mon, we drove west along the north coast for 10 minutes, into Bophut – which was to become my favourite part of Samui. The main part of Bophut is the walking street (every Friday, the street vendors set up their stalls, selling food, clothing and the like) which is set back about 30 metres from the beach. Along it are a number of beautiful restaurants, bars, shops, and the occasional hotel that backs onto the beach, which is simply breathtaking – a few small boats anchored along the stretch of sea, the island of Koh Phangan easily visible about 8 miles off to the north. It creates a great, relaxing atmosphere, backed by the beautiful scenery; it is well worth a visit. Heading across to the northwest tip of the island, then heading south down the west coast, we came across Nathon (or Ang Thong, as the locals refer to it as) – the home of most of Samui’s ferry ports. A bustling part of the island, the ring road runs straight through Nathon, and is lined thick on both sides with local clothing shops and restaurants. An adjacent road runs along the coastline where the ferries dock, offering lovely scenery and a vibrant feel to the area. Continuing south along the rind road, we passed through Lipa Noi, a small and sparsely populated town. We headed down off the ring road, to the very southeast tip of Samui, through Taling Nam, we stumbled across a quiet, almost deserted beach of outstanding beauty. Back on the ring road, heading east across the southern part of Samui, we passed through Na Mueang and Maret, small towns with more industrial commerce than other parts of the island, such as motorbike repair shops, garages and electrical supply shops. Coming into Lamai, on the southeast side of Samui, there is a lot more activity. A busy beach is supplemented by heavy foot traffic around the numerous local bars, and is always busy come the evening. Heading up north along the east coast, back through Chaweng Noi and past the Chaweng Tara, we headed into Chaweng – a 5 minute bike ride from our hotel. Chaweng is the island’s famous party spot; it’s rammed with bars that stay open well until the morning hours, restaurants are always within sight in Chaweng, and the famous clubs on Samui are located on or right next to Chaweng Beach Road, which runs close to the beach. Chaweng was the obvious choice for Saturday night, followed by Bophut all day Sunday.

WEEK TWO

Back to school the next week, completed lesson plans in hand, we headed straight out to Ban Plai Laem School, near Bophut. It was a nerve racking experience, not knowing what the set up of the room was, what the kids would be like, how they would respond to our lessons – it made all of us apprehensive as to the coming lesson. The time rolled around, and the first of us ran a lesson. We were to discover that Thai children are very respectful, but beyond that, exactly the same as children the world around: lacking in attention spans. I ran my lesson, and was pleased. Some of the lessons went well, some of them were not so good – and I watched the students really respond to the activities that were a lot of fun. It brought all of Alison and Darren’s advice into sharper focus – I learnt more in that day than I’ve ever learnt in a day before. There were 24 children in my first lesson, and it lasted for 50 minutes – and besides being incredibly nervous, it was as much fun as I’ve had in a long time: teaching kids is seriously good fun, especially when you get the lesson right. It’s also tiring – after finishing the first TP (teaching practice), we all headed straight to the beach for a few drinks!

During the second week, we all did another TP, as well as starting to get stuck into the supplementary content, delivered to us by Phil. This was another part of the course that surprised me – I did not expect to be covering some of the topics we did, but it became obvious that it is important to the knowledge of an English teacher, especially one who teaches it as a foreign language, to understand the history and reasons behind the composition of the language. The sessions with Phil were very informative, and especially enlightening as to the reasons behind certain parts of English that a native speaker takes for granted, without understanding. By now, we had slotted into as much of a routine as we ever were going to get (the beauty of the course is that it never gets dull – so many different things happen from day to day), and the pace of the course started to pick up a bit. We were now working hard on developing our teaching techniques with Alison and Darren, learning a number of different things that I couldn’t have imagined about the English language from Phil, and getting busy planning the next TP lesson, which came around on the Friday. Back to Ban Plai Laem School, we had a different group of students – a much rowdier group of students. Teaching those kids demanded much more from us as teachers – not just delivery of content, but of our confidence, our mannerisms and our conduct – everything needed to be correct to hold the attention of these kids. As I sat at the back of the class, watching my peers teach their lessons, it became obvious that each person was developing his/her own teaching style, and that I could learn from the strengths and weaknesses of them all. The course gives you the tools to develop your own style of teaching, and it is something I found myself growing into subconsciously: my own, unique manner of teaching. The improvements from the last lesson were clear to see in every lesson as well – having learnt so much from the previous TP, the talent incline was obvious. Personally, I found that the hardest lesson to teach – having seen some of my peers struggle to control the less attentive children, I became very nervous and doubted my ability to handle the situation. I had to be firm with some of the kids, but I remembered what I had been taught and found that such situations are actually fairly simple to handle, if you do so correctly. My 4th teaching practice came towards the end of the week, at Tipparat School – a much bigger school than Plai Laem, and henceforth bigger classes. I had 34 kids in my class – an intimidating number, but with such well behaved and eager children, taking my lesson was a whole lot of fun. Most of my peers found it the same, and it turned into a fantastic day out teaching. Having finished week 2, which was more demanding, yet less daunting (paradoxically) than week 1, I found myself growing in confidence and ability, yet having to apply myself more to keep achieving my goals.

WEEK THREE

Week 3 saw the course become far more demanding. We had arrived at the point in the course where we were in full flow – spending an extended amount of time getting into the meat of the intricacies of the English language. Again I was surprised how much about the English language I was shown; having a degree and solid experience in a field that demands an excellent understanding of language; I (rather foolishly, it turned out) thought I knew it all. Every lesson, I was made to realise there were a lot of things I didn’t fully understand, that I had taken for granted without comprehending the reasoning behind them. The week was demanding, but incredibly rewarding, no day more so than the end of the week, where it turned out we were to teach two lessons in one day at Panyadee School, the British School of Koh Samui, where TEFLworld Samui is based. With a very diverse set of nationalities, ages and abilities being taught at Panyadee BSS, the lessons demanded a much greater level of versatility than the ones we had planned before. In this very busy end to the week, the classes we were offered enabled us to be much more creative – and I jumped at the chance. A small lesson in the morning, 1 hour with 7 children, turned out to be hugely enjoyable; teaching in such a small group allows for a much more personal teaching style, which I personally loved. In the afternoon, I had an hour with the children aged 13 – 15. I used this opportunity, with kids who speak fantastic English, to get into a much, much more complicated topic than one you can usually teach to non-native speakers, and I found it very rewarding to bring the kids difficult material, and to see them engage with and process it. Sat around with my course mates Friday afternoon, everyone concurred: what a fantastic end to the week! Having taught such a diverse range of children, in a range of different style of settings, really helps a teacher to get a grip on how to engage a class. Every learner is different, in some cases very much so, and it takes a range of different styles and techniques to engage them with the material you are delivering; which the group had been taught, but the experience of finding a natural way of implementing them is what is really key. And the opportunity to experience that had been provided in ample quantities.

WEEK FOUR

The fourth and final week saw another increase in workload, with the final exam looming. The material became more difficult, and the teaching practices changed dramatically. From the local schools, we moved onto teaching the staff in a luxury hotel. With only 4 days to spare in the week (the 5th being given to the final exam), we took two TP’s each at the hotel – which was a whole different game. A lot of fun, to be sure, but it required a whole new approach to material delivery – obviously, such lessons need a completely different approach to making the material engaging. We had 2 days in the hotel, 2 days working on ensuring we knew all the material needed for the exam. I am glad to have been offered the opportunity to teach adults, as well as children – it forced me to find another teaching style that was suitable, which is an absolute necessity for a TEFL teacher. On Friday, Darren took us through a revision session, covering everything we had done in the 4 weeks, and then it was onto the hour long exam.

With the course finished, I had time to reflect upon my experiences at TEFLworld Koh Samui. As earlier stated, when I booked my place on the course, I saw it as a necessity on the road to teaching English in Asia (and beyond, have I ever the desire), but upon finishing the course, I found myself impressed. The training staff have extensive experience and a deep knowledge of the materials they deliver; and it doesn’t hurt at all that they are all great people also. The communal area is also used by the full time teachers at Panyadee, and the area has a real community feel to it. It was also handy to be able to ask the BSS teachers questions, run lessons plans by them, when they had the time to do so. The course was challenging, engaging, and I got much, much more out of it than I expected. Living on Samui is also an experience one should certainly not miss; the island has something for every taste, the scenery is astounding, the people are friendly, and the hotel the course put you up in is a fantastic place. The staff are unconditionally friendly and helpful, and the hotel has the same community spirit about it as TEFLworld does. I have found my time on the island to be great fun. This was epitomised by our ‘celebrations’ for finishing the course. A few hours after the exam was over, we all jumped on our motorbikes, in our cars, and drove up to Makro (one of the supermarkets) to buy vast quantities of food and alcohol for the barbecue we’d been planning. With all the course members, trainers, friends, and eventually a group of the teachers from Panyadee (once they’d finished work), we fired up the barbecue, and cracked open the beers. 10 hours, ungodly amounts of beer and food, and 3 bottles of whiskey later, laughing our heads off, we finally dispersed. What a fantastic end to a fantastic course.

I have since decided to stay on Samui, as have many of the friends I took my course with, and now teach at one of the local language schools. During the other courses that have passed since I finished mine, TEFLworld students have taught lessons in many different places to where I did; at a spa, a massage parlour, one lucky group even got to take their lessons with hotel staff on the beach! The TEFLworld staff are in regular contact; from helping students acquire jobs on the island, to organising day long deep sea fishing trips, they have striven to make sure us students who have passed through the course are doing well on Samui.

A few weeks after finishing the course, I was asked by an old friend to describe my experience to him. It didn’t take much thought to tell him ‘it’s been a brilliant experience; the course was engaging, challenging and great fun, and as for living on Samui – why would I want to be anywhere else?’