Teacher Liam

(Thailand 2013)

Teaching a bunch of kids English, how difficult can it be?

Photo by author

That was the main thought in my mind every time I discussed the idea of a TEFL career when I was back in Wales. However, that pre-imagined reality soon vanished when I was stood in front of a class of 30 children, all staring at me as if I was some foreign alien (which I was).

And you’re supposed to teach them English? A near impossible task.

Photo by author

As I nervously led my class through my first lesson, I couldn’t help but think how the term ‘thrown in at the deep end’ couldn’t be better suited than right now. None of the online teaching theory you learn prior helps very much. I had zero understanding of Thai at the time, so I had no idea what the students or my co-teacher was saying to me.

The school had also not provided me with any learning materials, so it was down to my experience… which at the time was zero!

But, looking back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It didn’t take me long to get into a routine, judge what worked and what didn’t, and of course work out which students were the best behaved and which were… not so.