(upbeat electronic music)
- Hello from Bangkok.
My name is Nicola and I'm one of the content
and writing investors for ITA.
I've been in Bangkok for a few weeks now
house sitting for some friends and I really love this city
so I can't wait to show you around today.
So since I'm not actually teaching in Bangkok,
I won't be able to tell you about the job hunting process
or the typical day in a classroom here
but I do know ITA has a ton of resources
on their website and Facebook groups.
They can answer all those questions for you.
But what I can do is show you around Bangkok
and you can see if this is a place
where you might want to start your abroad adventure
so let's go.
(people talking)
- [Nicola] More.
(laughing)
Yes.
- [Vendor] Look at this one.
- [Nicola] Yes, it's so good.
Ooh, it's green, it might be Thai iced tea.
Oh wait no, this one's mine, yes.
So this is the Thai iced coffee.
This is one of my favorite things.
I did the online TEFL course while I was still
teaching in the States which was perfect for me
because I had a full time job so I needed something
that was really flexible and I was able to do that
in addition to working and it was really interesting
so I had a great in my online course.
I know a lot of people have questions
about the practicum portion of the online TEFL course.
So I was teaching in a school at the time
but my school didn't have any ESL students,
it was a really small school.
So I did a little research and,
and I found out that a school district near mine offered
adult education classes and they had an adult ESL class
several nights a week so I was able
to do my practicum there.
So if you're not sure where to do your practicum,
I suggest checking out your local school districts
because you might be able to find
something similar close to you.
So a lot of people finish their TEFL course
and have several months before they're actually able
to move abroad and teach.
If you're one of these people, you probably want
to get out there, you wanna put your teaching skills
to the test and moving abroad can be expensive
so you might wanna make some extra money.
So an awesome way to do this is teaching English online.
You can teach English online while you're still
in the States before you come abroad
and it's a great way to save up some money
for your big move and get some experience
teaching actual ESL students and build confidence.
Okay, had to move in to the air conditioning.
So to be an online English teacher,
most companies look for a native English speaker
with a Bachelor's degree or higher with some experience
working with children.
This can be teaching, tutoring, mentoring,
that kind of thing.
So there are some exceptions to this.
Not every company requires you have a Bachelor's
and there's some flexibility.
ITA has put together a really awesome chart
that compares the different companies
and you can grab that on their website.
If you're teaching English online from the States
before moving abroad, there's a good chance you'll be
working pretty early in the morning or late in the evening
and on the weekends there's a little more flexibility
but the great thing about teaching online
is with most companies you have complete flexibility
with your schedule.
Okay, we're going to find some dinner.
(laughing)
Yeah, so good.
So a lot of people wonder about
when you're traveling alone how do you make friends,
how do you meet people, sorry it's really loud.
So this is one of the ways that ITA has been super helpful
because they have Facebook groups for pretty much
every country and you can use these groups
to find people in your city or in your town
and everyone's really, really friendly and cool
so it's a great resource to have to help you get settled
and find like your first group of friends
when you get abroad.
If you had a great time seeing Bangkok today,
if you want more information about teaching English online
or house sitting or just my travels in general,
you can follow me at my blog and I'll put the link
right here and--
Bye.
(upbeat electronic music)