Koh Lipe, Thailand

Program Information Pack for Entrust TEFL Trainee’s

Entrust TEFL www.entrustTEFL.com

Information This information is in no particular order but we feel there are a few things that would be good for you to learn as you are about to set out on your adventure teaching English in Thailand. Koh Lipe Accommodation Rooms on the island will be double occupancy, so you will have to share with another person of the same gender. If you are applying as a couple you will normally be able to share together but if we have an even amount of each gender (i.e. 10 males and 10 females) we will require you to share with a member of the same gender so that we can avoid having to book more rooms than necessary. If you require a single room this can be arranged at an extra cost. All accommodation costs for nightly stays are covered on Koh Lipe as well as transport from the island. Extra costs from minibars, meals, beach bar, equipment rentals, etc. are not covered. Hat Yai Accommodation Accommodation in Hat Yai for the teaching practice will also be double occupancy with the same rules as described above. Only nightly stays are covered, not extra costs. Accommodation for Teaching Placement Accommodation or Accommodation allowance is provided with your teaching placement. Accommodation Allowance (Rent) is provided up to 3,000 THB per month which is usually paid along with your salary. If you want a more expensive apartment you can pay the extra on top of 3,000 THB per month, or a less expensive apartment you can pocket the difference if not provided by the school. Other bills such as electricity, water, etc. are not covered but usually will not come anything above 1000 THB per month (usually a lot less than that).

Accommodation in Thailand is generally smaller than Western style accommodation. Most of the schools and agents do not have accommodation that is 100% up to Western standards; however it will provide you a safe place to call home during your placement that will have the three basics, Internet, A/C and hot water showers. Food on the island Prices on Koh Lipe are sometimes double the prices of food that you will find on the mainland as everything has to be shipped in; however these prices will still be cheap compared to Western standards for a good meal. Saying this, more exquisite meals can be provided at some restaurants and you can end up paying Western prices. Food in general ...is very cheap in Thailand and about 35 THB per meal. You will not normally have cooking facilities at home so you will normally eat out for every meal. We hope you like noodles and rice, because most meals are a combination of meat/ veg and one of these staple foods. However there is a rich variety of foods in Thailand. Food is one aspect of Thailand no one ever complains about. Once you get into your accommodation you can purchase cooking appliances such as a toaster oven, microwave, hot water maker, electric stovetop, etc. to enable you to still make meals at home if you wish. Teaching Salary The teaching salary will usually be paid to you at the end of the month which will include your accommodation allowance. The normal starting salary for a teacher in Thailand is between 30,000 – 35,000 Thai baht for degreed native speakers. If you do not hold a degree the salary will be much lower. The average Salary for a Thai national is 8,000 Thai baht a month, so as an English teacher you will be automatically be placed in upper middle class. Cost of Living The day to day cost of living in Thailand is inexpensive compared to most other countries. The following are in Thai baht and based on 2011 estimates:

UTILITIES Utilities (water/elec) 500-1000+ (dep. on a/c use)

Mobile phone bill use) 300-1000+ (depending on long distance

FOOD/DRINK Thai meal at food stall 30-40 +

Thai meal at restaurant 50-100+ Western meal at restaurant 75-300+ McDonalds/KFC/Burger King, etc. 100-130

CLOTHING Dress shirt 200-600+

Tailored dress shirt 600-1000 Dress pants (trousers) 300-1000+ Tailored dress pants (trousers) 800-1200 Tie 50-500

ENTERTAINMENT DVD 80-300 (copy/real)

Movie at cinema 100-140+ DVD rental 40 DVD player 1500-6000+ 21” TV 3000-10,000+ English Book 100-350 (used/new)

TRANSPORTATION / TRAVEL BKK taxi 35/ first 2 km.+ 5-10/km.

Motorcycle taxi 20-100 (depending on distance) City bus 5-25 Baht Motorcycle rental 125-200/day 2500-3500/mth Inter-provincial Bus About 1 baht/km

BKK-Chiang Mai – 700 km

BKK-Phuket – 800 km

BKK-Kanchanburi – 120 km

Guesthouse 100-1000 3* Hotel 600-1200 4/5* Hotel 1500-3000+ BKK-Phuket/Chiang Mai Flight 1000-3000 / one way

MISC. Western Deodorant 100-200

Laundry 35 baht / Kilo Haircut 100+/month English Newspaper 25-35 One hour at Internet Café 10-40 baht/hour

Clothing Sizes Plus size teachers and/or taller teachers (approximately 185 cm. for males and 175 cm. for females) may find it difficult to find clothing that fits in Thailand, especially outside of Bangkok and tourist areas. Shoes larger than size 10 are very difficult to find, especially outside of Bangkok. It is recommended that teachers keep this in mind during their preparations and budget. Teachers should have appropriate teacher clothing ready before the first day of classes. You are a responsible teacher, and teaching is not easy You are expected to be professional during school hours and will be given responsibility over many classes of Thai children. We expect you to remember you are their teacher, and the training we provide during the 3 week TEFL course should be more than sufficient and give you all the ammunition you need to be a good teacher. Teaching is not an easy job. Many of you were recruited because you mentioned you had desires to become a qualified teacher later as a career and wanted a taste of what teaching will be like. Not everyone is born to teach and we would say teaching is a mix of patience, skill, extrovert-ism, patience, rapport & relationship building, discipline, patience, fun, stress, planning, patience, confidence and assessment. Did we mention you need a lot of patience? You will find at times teaching to be a struggle - all teachers do - but your ability to get through the difficult lessons or difficult days will make it more worthwhile in the end. Your relationship with your pupils will be what you will treasure the most. We like to be open and honest with you from the start, as many people come to Thailand with the assumption that teaching will be one of those things they do on the side while they are having fun. We need to stress that this is not a holiday job. You will be in a professional position - you will be a teacher - and so we expect you to act like a professional and we expect you to be the best teacher you can be. The Entrust TEFL program on the island will enable you to take advantage of the evenings and weekends on Koh Lipe to relax and enjoy yourselves before you start work.

But you are still a tourist Although this is not a holiday job (and we stress this to encourage good attitudes), there will be many tourist things to do. You will be in Thailand, a wealth of culture and experiences will be right around the corner and we hope that as individuals as groups you will explore all that Thailand has to offer. Teaching is a Monday to Friday job and this leaves you every evening and at weekends to enjoy a beautiful country. Also, due to you being around other trainees of a similar age for three whole weeks of the Entrust TEFL course, it’s very easy to make friends and it’s very likely that friendship will last into placement and beyond. Everyone will be experiencing the same adventure and so you will all have a lot in common. You will begin to develop your own style of teaching, coupled with your own style of behavior management. We hope that during the TEFL course you are attentive and that your desires to be a good teacher will flow into teaching practice and into real teaching in the placement. You were recruited because we believe in you, and soon will come the test where you have to believe in yourself. You will be great though – if you were not you would not be where you are now! Budget In the two months leading up to your first salary check and accommodation allowance, and also afterwards, we would ask you to be careful with your money. Thailand is one of the cheapest places on the earth but costs can still mount up if you are not careful. Make sure you keep track of exactly how much money you have and budget for the month. It is also a good idea to keep some money only for emergencies. For first time teachers in Thailand we recommend a weekly personal spending budget of 2,000 baht a week (not including fixed costs), then go up from there depending on your lifestyle. Remember Monday through Friday you will be eating at least one meal provided by the school. Example: Recommended Weekly Personal Spending Budget (depending on lifestyle)

Weekdays (Monday – Friday) 200 baht a day Weekends (Saturday – Sunday) 500 baht a day 2,000 baht a week In-country coordinator and other support You have a dedicated in-country Coordinator whom you can call if you need anything or need to know how to organize things in Thailand. Their mobile phone will be on 24 hrs a day. The main purpose of the coordinator will be to make sure that everyone is taken care of on your welfare and happiness. If you feel you have something that the in-country coordinator cannot deal with effectively, please call Entrust TEFL directly or even one of the managing directors Patrick McNaughton at 087-911-2121 or Dalton Kavhendekete at 086-956-1126. You can also email them at any time Pat@entrustTEFL.com or Dalton@entrustTEFL.com with any feedback. Competition – 5,000 THB up for grabs! Vlog anyone? Entrust TEFL will be having a competition. We want to promote as realistic a view of our courses as possible and what better way to do this than through our trainee’s. We will be giving a prize of 5,000 Thai Baht to the best Video Log (or Vlog) of your time on the island, in teaching practice and in your placement. You can even begin with a few video’s before you fly. We want to use these videos for our website and so once you have entered the competition you allow us to use these video’s how and when we want for the promotion of our courses / programs. We will download them from your YouTube account and then upload them to ours in order to embed them into our websites. The winner will be the trainee with the most creative video log and will be judged by all members of the Entrust team. Points will be awarded for: 1. Creativity, innovation and honesty of each video 2. How clearly we can understand you

Each member of the Entrust team will rate each video and total points will be counted at the end of the competition period in order for us to pick a winner. Remember there are only 15-20 TEFLer’s on the course and many of them will not be willing to do a Vlog, so your chances of pocketing the £300 will be greatly enhanced. Here are the rules: 1. You can only upload 1 video per day up to a maximum of 30 videos. 2. Video’s should normally be less than 2 minutes long (there is some leeway if you are reporting on something interesting

but we don’t want ramblers!). 3. The Vlog should focus on things like:

- the highlight of the day/ things happening that day - things you are learning - emotions you are going through - anything you feel other’s would find interesting - the realities of TEFL life/ teaching/ Koh Lipe/ Thailand

4. No swearing/ smoking shots please (kids might be watching) The 5,000 baht will be given to once we announce the winner, which will be after the TEFL course. You can enter as a team of two or three but the money will have to be split between you both if you win. To enter send an initial email to vlog@entrustTEFL.com stating your full name(s). Entrants must be enrolled on the Entrust TEFL course. After you have entered you can send links to your videos to the same email address and we will view them from there. You can enter anytime from now until the last few days of the island. We look forward to receiving your entries! Packing Things to consider packing for your trip 1. Laptops, there are many internet facilities in Thailand. 2. Unlocked cell phones as it easy to get SIM cards here in Thailand (If not we can have them unlocked here) 3. You can also use your bank cards from your home countries 4. Please don’t bring checks as banks in Thailand don’t accept foreign bank checks. (see money section for more info) 5. Loose clothes as Thailand is in the tropics and is warm 6. Please bring some insect repellents as our training happens on an island and if you go out at night they tend to be some

insects 7. Also remember to bring some teacher clothes both for your teaching practice and placment Laundry and TV/ Internet Laundry is easily and inexpensively done by many local ladies (300 - 500 baht/month) or at small coin-operated shops. There are internet cafes everywhere and are usually very cheap. Restaurants and street vendors are everywhere and usually very inexpensive. TV’s and DVD players can be purchased for a reasonable price, but there are many other things to do in Thailand other than watch TV and movies. Flights Your flights will be organized directly to Koh Lipe (Sunrise Beach) by OVC. We will greet you at the airport and take you to the resort. Money It is best to convert your South African Rand to one of the major currencies such as US Dollar, GB Pounds, or Euro in your country prior to your arrival as it will easier to use those funds once here in Thailand. Most banks or currency exchanges here in Thailand will not exchange SA Rand and even taking it out through a local ATM will give you a very low exchange rate, something like 3 to 1 rather than 8 to 1.

Job Description An Entrust TEFL trained native English teacher should look forward to a maximum of 24 and a minimum of 16 classes per week involving 20-22 hours of teaching. The duration of a class is usually 50-60 minutes, depending on the school. A teaching-week stretches from Monday till Friday, usually from 8:00 in the morning till 4:30 in the evening (timings vary with schools), scheduling and submitting lessons plans on a monthly basis. Attending the morning assembly at 8:00 am is also required. Thai schools don’t operate on Thai National holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. Also Thai school operate usually on Western holidays like Christmas and Easter, please be aware of that. TEFL teachers are expected to teach their classes, check attendance for their classes, give grades to students, check students’ progress, give tests and exams to students and be responsible for the courses are they handling. Teachers are also expected to attend English camps and extra-curricular activities that are organized by the school. Entrust TEFL makes it mandatory for all teachers placed by us in various institutions to respect all rules and regulations of the schools unless otherwise notified by us. Dress Code for ESL Teachers In schools, males are expected to wear formal pants (no jeans or cargo pants) and a button up / collared long or short sleeve formal shirt (no golf shirts). Formal shoes are accepted, no running shoes or sandals and please no unusual colors. Facial hair is to be properly trimmed and presentable. Earrings or visible facial rings (eyebrow, lip, nose, chin, etc) are not accepted. Visible tattoos are not accepted. Generally hair should be short and presentable. Males with long hair may be expected to wear it pulled back. In schools, females are expected to wear knee length or longer skirts with a presentable blouse (no low cut or revealing shirts). Shoes should be dress shoes – open toe and high heel shoes are acceptable (no sandals or running shoes). Visible facial rings (eyebrow, lip, nose, chin, etc.) are not accepted. Earrings are accepted providing that they are not worn in excessive numbers (E.g. 4 earrings in each ear). Hair should be presentable. Visible tattoos are not accepted. If you have tattoos, you will be required to cover them up. Dress codes in Thai government schools may seem strict at first, but appearances and first impressions are extremely important in Thailand. If you are a teacher, you will be expected to dress accordingly especially in a school. Teachers are given so much respect in Thailand hence the need to dress up properly all the time. Teachers will be at school for all Non-Thai national holidays. This includes Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc. Most schools have special celebrations on these days and you will be asked to help organize them as you will be the resident expert on Western holidays. Smoking Teachers are strictly forbidden from smoking within a Thai school premises. A fine of 2000 THB will be charged if you are caught smoking on the school premises. Respectable females in Thai society do not indulge in smoking. However, it is not a taboo to smoke in public. If you have to smoke please go outside the school and at least a 3-5 minute walk from the entrance as they surly don’t want a group of foreign teachers smoking right outside of the school next to their school sign. Remember in Thailand you are to serve as positive remodels for the students and project a good image for the school. Alcohol Intake of alcohol has to be beyond school hours; exceptions being parties or activities sponsored by school off school grounds where students are not present. Teachers are subject to dismissal if found untimely intoxicated/ under the influence of alcohol within the periphery of the school. This will not be tolerate and teachers who go to school intoxicated, they will be dismissed on the spot. Drugs Narcotics and use of illegal drugs is strictly forbidden by Entrust TEFL and any teachers found in possession will be dismissed on the spot. The laws are strict and penalties are crushing for use and trafficking of illegal drugs in the country. Please desist from using drugs.

For More information please contact: Willie van Loggerenberg

OVC Johannesburg – Franchise Owner Teach Abroad – Program Manager (Thailand, Georgia & South Korea) Tel: 011 888 1331 or Cell: 083 704 9740 Fax: 086 606 8237 Email: will@ovc.co.za Website: www.ovc.co.za BBM: 29387CDB