Further Information
Thailand Community Development Expedition

Teaching Experience

Participants have the opportunity to continue their teaching after the course by sharing the teaching of GVI English classes in the main community or other communities for a further four-weeks-worth of lessons to local students. This is more easily accomplished by volunteers who come on the ten-week expedition. Additionally, two course graduates are awarded internship positions on the subsequent expedition, including additional time teaching in the community and supporting current participants. Volunteer placements are available for qualified graduates to teach in remote communities in Thailand and around the world, and GVI offers a job placement service to all GVI TEFL graduates, which assists them in finding placements in local communities around the world or paid positions in the TEFL Industry. During the first two weeks, you will receive intensive training to develop the skills needed to become a teacher of English as a foreign language (TEFL), as well as developing your language skills within the local communities.

GVI's English Program in Other Communities

A unique aspect to this program is that TEFL course participants teach students who are involved in an existing English curriculum, made possible by the GVI TEFL courses themselves. The TEFL course enables adults in the community to take four-week English classes, and students can progress through levels after formal evaluations which take place at the end of each four-week class. In Mexico, over 350 students in Tulum and nearby communities have benefited from English classes provided by the GVI TEFL course. After the first two courses, 51 students (adults and children) received certificates for attending English classes (85 percent attendance is required to receive a certificate). In December 2005, 118 students received certificates. As of March 2006, the GVI TEFL resulted in teaching 100 people in 11 different classes and at five different levels. In addition, GVI TEFL course graduates have taught – and are teaching – in the surrounding communities of Muyil, Punta Allen, San Felipe, and Rio Lagartos. GVI will duplicate the success of the Mexico program in Thailand, where demand from the local communities and organizations for assistance is just as great.