Teach English, become TEFL certified and gain career development opportunities

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Program Overview
Life on the Program
Project Details
Volunteer Testimonials

Program Overview

This teaching internship takes you to Ao Luk, a small rural town in southern Thailand, near the Andaman Sea. The region is known for its picture perfect beaches, stunning waterfalls and ancient sites—including the Tiger Temple, a Buddhist monastery built on a cliff and surrounded by lush jungle.

Your internship will begin with TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification and teaching evening classes to local students. Following your successful TEFL certification you will start the 12 week work placement phase of the internship. You will be given a teaching assignment in the community where you will be able to use your new skills as a professional TEFL teacher, support the positive development of the local community and immerse yourself further in this friendly and fascinating culture. Over the course of your placement you will make a huge difference to the children you teach and their wider community.

Qualifying candidates may be given the opportunity to work for selected partner organisations or with GVI in Thailand, or in other countries around the world.

Life on the Program

As you work towards your TEFL certification, you will undertake training with an instructor, focusing on lesson planning and teaching techniques, practising your new found skills in the evenings where you will teach English to local students at the community centre.

The 100-hour course is run in the first four weeks of the initial teacher training . The end result provides high quality teachers who can use their skills to teach in a range of environments, from communities with few resources to commercial TEFL posts. GVI is listed as an Institutional Member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), and the 100-hour TEFL course complies with the UK’s College of Teachers code of conduct (CoT).

Once you become a qualified TEFL teacher you will have a two week break where you will have the chance to get involved in other projects, such as teaching in local schools and on environmental education projects, before teaching an additional four week term in the Ao Luk community. You will then begin your work placement within the community, where you will take and lead your own English classes, further building upon the skills you have learned. Those placed in Ao Luk will have the opportunity to develop extra lessons within the community, as well as using their knowledge and experience to assist new volunteers through their training. Although rewarding, your days can be long as you learn and develop alongside your students.

During your first 12 weeks, you will stay at the GVI Base in Ao Luk. Accommodation is basic but comfortable, with cold running water and electricity. Rooms are dorm style and bathrooms are shared, with everyone taking turns to prepare meals for the group & clean around base. During your placement your accommodation will depend on where you are placed; it may be at the base in Ao Luk, in a homestay with a Thai family, a guesthouse or your own independent rooms.

Project Details

As tourism grows and takes over beachfront and forest areas, many local communities are losing natural resources, altering their way of life and as a result many local traditions are being lost. Our goal is to support local communities to develop sustainable tourism opportunities that blend into their lifestyle.

To this end, GVI is working directly with local communities in Thailand to supply free English lessons to the community and train local teachers in English language training. In addition, we aim to assist in the development of sustainable local businesses and to develop lesson plans to highlight important issues with the community.

How this project makes a difference:

For local people in Thailand, English skills open doors for future educational and professional opportunities. Children starting at a young age will learn the language quicker that will prepare them well for their future.

By putting skills and knowledge into the hands of the local community, we are able to provide the tools to improve their own lives, livelihoods and future opportunities.

Volunteer Testimonials

Karen Kirton, Australia

Ao Luk is a small, friendly community and one of my favorite parts of this experience has been walking around the town and meeting people. Be it shopkeepers, kids running out of their houses to say hello or locals riding on motorbikes, everyone is so friendly and welcoming. We are often given gifts of fruit by our students and other locals, and it is so satisfying to have a past student stop you in the street to practice their English skills! GVI has a great reputation in the area and I have enjoyed being a part of the the GVI group and the community.

Thomas Martin, United Kingdom

The fact that we are teachers in a town, which for the moment at least, has very few tourists, means that we are able to see the real Thailand. We go to villages not tourist visits, we explore caves that have yet to be frequented by foreigners, we swim in places that are totally deserted but for the GVI team, and we play basketball and drink beer with the locals. This place is amazing if you want to see unseen Thailand as well as actually making a difference I would definitely suggest GVI in Ao Luk.