Published tháng 5 20, 2013 by ana03 with
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Back home in South Africa, I'd already decided months before that I would do my TEFL course in Thailand. My plan was to stay in a guesthouse while I did the course and explore the city, and then get a job immediately afterwards. And that's exactly what I did.
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Myself and all my lovely course mates. |
I have met and heard of countless people who have done their TEFL course online, and then arrive fresh off the plane in the country they want to teach in. In my opinion (and the opinion of many others in the real and virtual world) this is not the way to go. I had never set foot in a classroom as an authority figure and mentor before, and here I was at the naive age of 22 standing in front of 30 unruly teenagers. I believe that having my instructors there to guide me was invaluable, and the feedback received from them afterwards set me on my way to becoming what I hope is now a fairly awesome ESL teacher. On top of that, I had instant friends from all over the world, with all sorts of stories to tell, who were all doing the course with me. It made for many nights out socialising and stressing over teaching practices and grammar tests. Being a bit of an awkward person with a penchant for chatting up stray dogs, I doubt I would have made many foreign human friends within that first month of being abroad.
If you're interested, I did my course through SEE TEFL, which I've learnt is one of the most reputable courses in Chiang Mai. It cost me $1000 at the time, and I chose to find my own (incredibly cheap) accommodation. I would recommend doing the same, as I had friends from the course stay in the accommodation you can book through the course, and we ended up nicknaming it "The Prison". I'm sure a few reviews online actually confirm that sentiment.
Check out the rest of my photos and some useful links below:
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Spoiled with breakfasts at Eagle House. |
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Eagle House, where I stayed very cheaply for a whole month. |
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The soi (little road) where Eagle House is. |
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Another shot of Eagle House, where I sat and worked on my laptop over muesli and smoothies every day. |
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A nice enough place I stayed initially called Dutch Delicious, but met a few too many creepy old men here for my liking. |
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An area of bars popular with foreigners in Chiang Mai. By "popular" I mean the foreigners haven't stayed long enough to discover the much better ones. |
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A confession/warning scribbled on a bar wall. |
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Another poetic bit of advice from a drunken falang. |
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Very dirty bathroom walls. |
Recommended TEFL Courses and Cheap Guesthouses:
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See Tefl - a really nice bunch who offer a lot of support, whether you find a job through them afterwards or not.
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Green Tefl - I've heard good things about this course, and they seem to be the most similar to See Tefl, ie: offering job support, teaching experience in real schools, etc. The only difference I could find is that they don't offer you basic Thai lessons which See Tefl does.
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Uni Tefl - Another course I've heard good things about. The only downside for me is that it costs $1500, which seems a bit steep compared to some others.
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Eagle House - a cheap and friendly guesthouse - also one of the oldest in Chiang Mai. Even if you don't stay here, you should stop by for some Western comforts - muesli, fresh yoghurt, and sammiches!
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Julie Guesthouse - another cheap and friendly guesthouse that might be good for a longer stay, like Eagle House above.
Adrian Fleur, Chiang Mai accommodation, Eagle House, ESL, Food, guesthouse Chiang Mai, Living in Chiang Mai, SEE Tefl, Teaching, teaching abroad, Teaching English as a foreign language, TEFL, TEFL course, Thailand
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