Culture Shock – a much used term for those who travel. But what does it mean exactly?
 
Culture shock is what you experience after leaving the familiarities of your home culture to live in another cultural or social environment. Even those who are open-minded and well-travelled are not immune to culture shock. Symptoms include homesickness, anger, loneliness and boredom. Everyone will experience culture shock to some extend, but there are ways to deal with it and minimize the effects.
 
Firstly, understand what you are going through and why you feel insecure or anxious. You are faced with a different climate, unfamiliar with your surroundings, as well as people with different values, attitudes, lifestyles, and political and religious beliefs, and oftentimes, you can’t even understand them due to language barriers! Understanding why you feel the way you do will help you to overcome the feeling.
Once you understand, the next step is to accept and adapt to your new culture. Just because something is different, doesn’t mean it is wrong, so learn to do things the way the locals do, and accept that it’s the way it’s done in your new home.
Learn as much as possible about your destination before leaving home. Be open-mined and it will be easier to understand the differences and see things from a different perspective. If you know why people do things the way they do them, it’s easy to accept the differences.
Having a positive attitude can make all the difference. This goes with anything in life, but is especially true when travelling and interacting with new people in new surroundings.
Stay in touch with those back home. But… if you spend all your time connecting with family and friends back home, you’ll just keep feeling homesick and won’t feel up to making new friends. Rather spend your time exploring and meeting new people, and then you have something to tell loved ones back home.
Don’t compare your home culture to your new culture! Noticing the differences is normal, and can be fun, but see the differences as just that – different and exciting, not inferior to home. Take the opportunity to learn as much as possible about your new location and culture.
Keep yourself busy. Particularly enjoy the things you can’t do at home. Try new foods, swim in the sea, explore, make new friends, take full advantage of the time abroad, rather than being afraid and hiding in your hotel room. Don’t have regrets later by saying ‘if only I had done this or seen that…’
Laugh at yourself! If you get lost, just see it as a way to see a new place that you didn’t expect to see. Surrounding yourself with positive people can make all the difference. Don’t get sucked into the inevitable groups of ‘grumpy old expats’ who should have gone back home long ago, and now love trashing their new home.
 
There are different phases of culture shock, and knowing which you are going through will also help you to overcome it.
The Honeymoon Phase: This is a fun time, when all is great, exciting, and new. You embrace the differences, go out of your way to try the weird and wonderful food and relish meeting exotic new people. This phase can last days, weeks, or months.
 
The Honeymoon is Over Phase: During this phase, you start observing differences, however slight, and not always in a good way. You’ve had enough of the food, and miss home comforts and tastes. The local attitudes annoy you, and things are just so much better at home. During this phase, you may feel sad, irritable, angry or anxious. You miss holidays from home such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, and feel sad when you miss out on events such as birthday celebrations back home.
 
The Negotiation Phase: Now you decide if you will give in to negativity or power on past it to make the most of your experience. If you're successful, you regain your sense of perspective, balance, and humour, and move on to the next phase.
 
The All's Well, or Everything is OK Phase: You start feeling more at home with the differences in the new culture. After a while, you may feel as if the culture isn't in fact new, but that you belong here now, or you may not exactly feel part of the culture, but you’re comfortable enough with it to enjoy the differences and challenges. You don’t necessarily have to be in love with the new country (as in the honeymoon phase), but you can navigate it without unwarranted anxiety, negativity, and criticism.
The Reverse Culture Shock Phase: This happens to most who have lived abroad a while. Once you’ve become accustomed to the way things are done in a different country, you can go through the same series of culture shock phases when you return home.
 
Culture shock can present itself at any time, and it’s often the small things we feel the most – like navigating a grocery store with unfamiliar products in currencies we are not familiar with. Working abroad has its own challenges, as aside from day-to-day cultural differences, there are also the differences in the work place. For example, if you are typically organised and punctual, you may struggle to adapt working to a culture with a more relaxed working environment. Or, if you’re a woman, you may find it difficult to adapt in a country where there is gender inequality.
 
It’s most important to be patient – in time, things that once were strange will be the norm. Be kind to yourself, and don’t place high expectations on yourself until you have adjusted to your new life. While moving to a new country is daunting in many ways, it can be equally rewarding, and by not giving it a try, you’ll always have regrets.

What is TEFL?
 Welcome to the Wonderful World of TEFL!
 
TEFL is Teaching English as a Foreign Language. This little but well-used acronym describes the industry, the profession and all the courses you can take to qualify as a teacher. TEFL can be temporary or permanent. Some people do it as a career break, others a gap year as it's a great way of earning money whilst travelling and discovering new cultures and civilisations. Other people consider TEFL at a later stage in life and then use it to cushion their finances, at home or overseas. With TEFL being such an exciting and challenging industry, it as no surprise that some people end up doing it all their lives.
 
Why do a TEFL course?
 At Samui TEFL we see how many of our students are inspired to change their lives. Everyone has their own story or reason for this. Some - in fact most - are tired of the 'rat race'. Day dreaming while staring out of their 10th floor office windows, they wonder how they can make a change; taking the plunge to explore the world.
Most people don't have the funds to finance such adventures themselves. Few of us are lucky enough to be trust fund babies, or inherit a fortune. Seeing new countries and exotic places forms part of many people's bucket list. Before we know it, the years speed by, and the ideas and inspirations we had when fresh out of school, now seem a distant, unachievable goal. We see many of our students follow the 'responsible' path, and study a profession that is safe in the eyes of their parents or career advisors. After four years at university or college, they realise that this is not what they want to do with their lives, or perhaps they just want a few years break before entering the real world, with responsibilities, mortgages etc.

Just as often we see older students, who realise that 40+ is not too old to change your life. Some are newly divorced or widowed, some are just bored with day to day life, and want to fulfil the promises that they made to themselves as young adults, years ago. Some of our students are recently retrenched, due to the current economic climate. Sometimes life's knocks are blessings in disguise, allowing you to make a life change, that you may not have otherwise considered, or had the courage to attempt.

Whatever you reason for wanting a change in life, there is hope; you don't need to rob a bank!
If you are a native English speaker and have a good command of the English language, a 4-week TEFL course from Samui TEFL will equip you with the knowledge and ability to obtain a TEFL job in Asia (note that most jobs will also require you to have a degree). The demand for teachers in Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Cambodia, and even Taiwan is high, and all our degree holding students who pass the course, manage to find jobs very soon after completing the course, many even getting job offers before they even graduate.

Teaching is a very rewarding profession, and teachers are highly respected in the East. Asian children are also very different to those in the West - far more well-behaved, and a pleasure to teach. If the thought of teaching children brings on a sweat and anxiety attack, perhaps you would prefer to teach adult learners. There are language schools throughout Asia catering to adults, and many of our students go on to teach staff at hotels and resorts.

Teaching hours are not long, leaving plenty of time to explore your new surroundings. Local transportation is also very cheap, meaning that weekend trips are affordable, as are longer expeditions during school holidays. As a teacher, you experience the 'real' Asia, making you a traveller, not merely a tourist.

Why Samui TEFL?
Samui TEFL is based on Koh Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand. It is the ideal location to do your TEFL course, before venturing to other locations in Thailand, Asia or beyond to begin your TEFL career.
Although the course is intense, you will still have plenty of time to explore the island on weekends and in the evening. Why take your TEFL course in the city, when you have the option to do so on a tropical island? Doing a TEFL course in your home country would not be as beneficial. If you plan on teaching in Asia, get practice teaching real Asian students, with their distinctive language pronunciation problems. We do most of our practicals at local temple schools, meaning that these children really benefit from our lessons. Being immersed into a real school environment, also prepares you for entering the school system, should you decide to teach at a school. For those preferring to teach adults, we have arranged adult lessons. Our course is intense, and covers all aspects of TEFL teaching. More information can be found on our website or in the info pack emailed. Our students are important to us - we don’t view them as numbers. We stay in contact with students and track their career and travels where possible.

What are my chances of finding a TEFL job after completing the course?
Your chances are excellent! We have many contacts with agencies and schools in Thailand as well other countries, and they frequently contact us requesting teachers. We assist you with registering with the big placement agencies and websites, and help you to tailor your CV to the Asian market. Many students find jobs before they even complete the course, and others within a couple of weeks after leaving. You do need to be pro-active though, and get your CV completed as soon as we have advised you on it. If we don’t have your CV, we cannot get it out there. If you have a university degree (any, not necessarily a teaching degree) then you chances are even higher of finding work quickly, and you will have the pick of the best jobs. We do GUARANTEE jobs to students who meet the following criteria: If you’re from one of the following countries which are considered to be native English-speaking countries – UK and Ireland, USA, Canada, NZ, Aus and SA, if you have a degree, and if you obtain a distinction on the course, we can guaranted you a job placement in Thailand. Please note that legally to get a work permit as a teacher in Thailand a Bachelor’s degree is required. There are some options available for non degree holders, such as teaching in Cambodia, or teaching online. Teaching in a resort or business does not require a degree – however these jobs are scarce.

Average teacher’s salaries in Thailand are about 30,000 to 38,000 THB/month for teachers with a degree, often more for those with additional qualifications. A teacher can live comfortably on such a wage, with accommodation costing about 15 - 20% of this salary. Often accommodation is included in the job package. Packages in China usually include accommodation in the form of a private apartment, meals included, and a salary enough to live on and save a bit.

It’s good to remember that if you visit schools in person, present yourself properly, and can demonstrate enthusiasm for teaching, you WILL be offered teaching work, with degree, especially in late April and October, when the new school terms begin. We also have an extensive database of reputable agents that ask for our students, happy with the quality of teachers that Samui TEFL produces.

How do I know if I am suited to do a TEFL course?
As long as you have a reasonable command of the English language, with regards to vocabulary, grammar and the spoken language, and you are not painfully shy, then you are a suitable candidate. You also need to have an open mind, and be keen on new cultures and experiences!
Many students worry about the grammar aspect of the course. We understand that it may have been a while since you studied grammar at school. This is why we send you ‘pre-course reading material’ in the way of grammar revision, if you require it. We do go over this in class too, but grammar is not taught from scratch, merely revised. Please request the grammar document if you’d like to revise before the course starts.
We do expect our teachers to be passionate and enthusiastic, eager to learn and participate and committed to doing the course. We pride ourselves on our professional conduct, and we expect the same from our teachers. If you are not 100% committed, then the students will suffer. If you put in a reasonable amount of effort, complete your assignments and teacher practices with care and enthusiasm, then you will pass the course!
​For a detailed info pack, email info@samuitefl.com