A Quick Video Guide to an English Teacher’s Cultural Orientation in Thailand

It’s an exciting prospect, packing up life back home in exchange for a work-abroad adventure in a tropical paradise on the other side of the world. But, I wouldn’t blame you if you’re a bit nervous too. There’s a lot that’s in store: a strange, albeit fascinating new culture, language, writing, unknown foods, a foreign way of life and of course a lot of hard work, quite probably in a field you’ve never worked in before. It’s for this reason that the cultural orientation we offer everyone signing up to our Teach English in Thailand program is so loved.

 

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Let’s take a quick video tour through the orientation we offer in Hua Hin, Thailand and how it prepares you for living and working in the country:

What you’ll get to do on your orientation week:

  • Learn how to shop at a typical Thai market
  • Learn what the different foods and fruits on display are and how to eat them
  • Learn how to cook Thai dishes using the ingredients found at the market
  • Try your hand (and feet) at the national sport, Muay Thai
  • Volunteer at a local animal shelter and learn about what’s being done to help the many street dogs in Thailand
  • Take very handy Thai language lessons which will help you get by in the market or when with your new coworkers
  • Spend time with a Buddhist monk to learn about the role the religion plays in the every day life of Thai people
  • Plus there are a bunch of awesome activities you can do on your down time, more on that below…

Hua Hin, where the cultural orientation and TESOL course is hosted is a great base to explore this corner of Thailand from. Not only is it based on a very popular stretch of beach and only a couple of hours van ride from Bangkok, it’s also near to some pretty stunning sights.

  • Visit the Phraya Nakhon cave shrine which is about an hour from Hua Hin and involves a shortish hike from the beach to this spectacular and peaceful cave
  • Hua Hin itself has some great restaurants with everything from traditional Thai to Japanese to even Swedish and German cuisine and everything in between
  • Take a trip to the Cicada weekend night market which has a fantastic outdoor food ‘hall’ and is packed with designer crafts, live music and artists doing their thing right in front of your eyes
  • Oh and that colorful water fight you see in the video above? That’s Songkran the Thai new year and happens in mid April usually, the hottest time of year. It goes on for as long as a week and involves people dunking, spraying and blasting each other with cold water while fast-paced Thai techno music blares and people dance for days. It’s also a festival all about honoring your elders, renewal, washing away the old year and celebrating the promise that a new year brings

Another great day trip to take while in Hua Hin is to the Palu-U Waterfalls about an hour and a half to 2 hours due inland from town, up into the mountains. It’s a lovely hike through the forest complete with butterflies and the serenity of just sitting and watching mother nature at her finest.

 

Interested in Teaching English in Thailand? We’ll send you more info!

INQUIRE NOW ›

 

About Nick Paul

Nick is the Marketing Manager for Travelbud and has had a long history in the travel industry working in student travel and even a big multinational online travel agency.

He regularly presents at travel conferences and has spent a great deal of time traveling the world from the US to Europe, Africa and most recently South East Asia.

Nick is super passionate about travel and his best travel memories include his recent trip to Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea to meet face-to-face with some of TravelBud’s teachers.

Read more about him and other TravelBud authors.

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