TEFL Phuket News

When you make your decision to join us for a course here in Phuket, you have chosen by far the best course with the best location in Thailand.

There are several schools that are licensed to issue TEFL certificates in Phuket, and we’re one!

Here’s a scan of our license (click to see larger image):

From TEFL Phuket

We also have a very qualified TEFL instructor, Jim Heard, with a Master’s Degree in Education and fourteen years of experience teaching in Thailand and Korea; he will be able to impart to you both the most up-to-date techniques for teaching and practical knowledge on how to deliver effective lessons.

We keep class sizes small! Your class will never be larger than fifteen students.

We have the best location in Phuket- just a few minutes walk to the beach! Here we are:

View TEFL Phuket in a larger map

But you don’t want to take one of those courses where it’s just filled with people wanting to sit on the beach, right? You want to be with others who are looking to teach and start a new career. Well, how about a guaranteed job? Yes - take our TEFL/TESOL course, follow our advice, do a diligent job search and you will find work to teach English in Thailand. We will help with CV refinement for the Asian market, provide you with contacts and placement service (for those who excel in our course), and access to our online jobs board that is exclusive to our students and alumni.

Throw in twenty hours of teaching observation and practice to get you into real-life teaching environments, and you have yourself a serious TEFL course. The proof of this is a 100% success rate for people finding work when they do a diligent job search and employers soliciting us for graduates of our courses.

So: spend four weeks in an intensive, serious training course, relax by the beach a few minutes away, and start a new career. Let’s get you going: Enroll Now

To experience why living in Thailand teaching English can be a life changing experience, consider the following story.

Johnny is a student who recently completed his TEFL certificate course with us and is teaching in one of our schools.

Recently, he had a bit of trouble on his motorbike, slipping in some loose sand. His injuries were minor - a scraped foot and knee, but they needed some attention. Johnny did his best in cleaning the wounds a little and slapping some bandages on them.

That afternoon a few of his new Thai acquaintances stopped by for a visit. They looked over what Johnny had done to fix himself up and with little word or explanation, the Thai people departed en masse. Johnny said they scattered into three different directions and reappeared after a short time with a variety of salves, bandages and other medicine. The Thai people cleaned his wounds, covered them in some various salves and rebandaged his foot and knee - this time from a position of experience.

Johnny felt so good, he said he went out to spend some time with the friends and while he was out, his landlady cleaned his apartment, changed his sheets, and tidied up generally. Johnny was amazed when he returned, initially thinking his place had been broken into, but he thought immediately that “thieves don’t normally clean this well.”

Johnny has healed well, has a nice little scar and a great story. All of the above was done without compensation or a request for return favors.

You may never have encountered the amazing compassion and kind spirit that is found in the hearts of the Thai people. It is a “secret” until you come here, live, work and one day are spontaneously touched by the “Jai Dee” (kind heart) of the Thais.

Thailand’s people are on par with her outrageous natural beauty. Their caring, compassion and kindness is unmatched.

Thanks to Johnny for the story and to the Thai people for being on the planet.

Many people are intimidated by the idea of Teaching English in Thailand without any knowledge of Thai.

Their question: I can’t speak Thai, can I still teach?

YES you can teach as knowledge of Thai is not necessary to teach English in Thailand.

In fact, speaking Thai in your classes can be a hindrance to your students’ progress.

TEFL is Teaching English as a Foreign Language. This means the language spoken locally, outside of the classroom, is not English. This is different than EFL or ESL and sometimes TESOL which are generally taught in an English-speaking country. The difference is that your class time may be the only time that your students are easily and safely (without risk of embarrassment) able to practice their English. To speak Thai with them, or to rely on their mother tongue for instruction, would mean they lose valuable English practice time and opportunity.

We view the classroom as a safe place in which errors in English are welcomed as opportunities to learn. Your role as teacher is pronunciation coach and usage advisor. As a native speaker, you have a natural “ear” for what sounds correct. English is highly irregular in some situations, and a native’s knowledge is irreplaceable for students learning to speak well.

Thai may sometimes be used to clarify a point or as an aid in definitions, but the absolute majority (99%) of your classroom time should be speaking English with your students. It is possible to use an online dictionary or translation service to give a general idea of meaning, as well. Plus Google image search can help with pictures of things, emotions or activities. There are also online videos from YouTube and other sites, which can be beneficial, but these should be pre-screened.

In our training, we emphasize maximizing student talk time (STT) rather than teacher talk time (TTT). You can speak English, your students cannot. So we engage our students, teach them a bit of new English, then set up a safe “free practice” opportunity. Thus, they learn with confidence and in an enjoyable manner, so they learn better and more quickly.

Thus, near-native proficiency in English is the only language skill necessary to be successful Teaching English in Asia.

For more information on registering for the course, click here.

Thanks for your interest and see you in Phuket soon!

Sawatdee! (The Thai equivalent of ALOHA.)