February 20, 2008


A group of The TEFL Institute course graduates and volunteers enjoyed their time at the annual Bangkok School for the Blind Sports Day. Games, races and good times were the order of the day. The Thai teachers, administration, staff and our English, Irish and American volunteers worked hand in hand to make this a very special culminating event after a long semester for all children at the school. (Pictures)

January 14, 2008


Ramkhamhaeng University invites The TEFL Institute to conduct cross-cultural workshops for 135 foreign English teachers hired by the university to teach in Thai Government schools in Nonthaburi. The training is part of semi-annual workshops and in-service days provided by the university for the benefit of the long term teachers who come from the US, UK, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and the Philippines. The veteran teachers enjoyed gaining in-depth knowledge regarding the Thai cultural values and mores which explained Thai student, parent and teacher reactions in a variety of situations.

December 31, 2007


Thirteen Buffalo State, State University of New York, faculty and administrators visit our school project and selected families in Nakhon Sawan. After the Thai school had identified a number of children living with relatives who were in severe need of assistance, the group of instructors visited to get a first hand impression of the situation and discuss possible short- and long term solutions. (Picture)

December 21, 2007

Santa Lee brought good cheer to children, staff and parents alike at the Bangkok School for the Blind today. The boarding school had prepared quite a Christmas show with musical performances by children of all ages but Santa was the highlight of the day. Santa’ s beard and fuzzy outfit was a novelty for the children who could not wait to touch Santa to check if he really had the beard, long hair and outfit as often described by their teachers. (Pictures) The event was a nice end of year performance for both organizations, who have been working together for four years now and look forward to continued successful cooperation.

December 17, 2007


Santa came early and for the first time to the elementary school children and teachers of the Thai Government School in Nakhon Sawan, after TEFL Institute staff and students bought and wrapped pencil kits, coloring books and crayons for the more than 200 students of the Elementary school. Santa Lee, one of the TEFL Institute volunteers, made a great impression on the children who had never seen Santa “Live”, and both teachers, staff and students enjoyed the festive atmosphere. (Pictures) To learn more about the school and our initiatives, please scroll down.  

November 3, 2007


This year, the East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools for school administrators was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was attended by The TEFL Institute staff to stay up to date with the latest issues and trends in international schools. Workshop topics included “Transforming Schools by Focusing on Learning”, “Becoming empowered by doing Action Research”, and “The Impact of Nature and Nurture on Learning and Teaching”.

October 12, 2007


The TEFL Institute, Bangkok staff attended the 25th Annual Educators Conference of the Association of American Schools of Central America, Colombia, Caribbean and Mexico. The theme of the conference was “Developing an Environment for Student Well-Being and Learning”. Discussions included similarities between problems encountered by Thai teachers and those teaching in local schools in that part of the Americas. Ms. Wanpen’s self-made handicrafts were on display and given away to conference participants as encouragement to lend a helping hand whenever possible. The first order of thirty cloth elephant key chains was placed by a US school administrator who wanted the order for a World Bank Christmas event.

September 2, 2007


More good news from Nakhon Sawan: Ms. Wanpen, formerly homeless with her three children and now employed by the school as cleaning staff, has started working with and paying another single mother who now prepares and sells desserts and snacks to the students in the school. This intended but unexpected snowball effect of self-sustainability came as a great surprise to all of us and certainly made us very happy and proud of Ms. Wanpen and her efforts.

August 16, 2007


The TEFL Institute training staff gave a two day workshop on “How to Integrate Learning and Thinking Skills” for Thai teachers of English in the Bangkok Educational Services Area 1. The all day workshops were very interactive and led to great conversations and discussions among participants regarding the culturally most successful way to encourage greater thinking and creativity among both students and teachers to insure the success of the initiatives started by the Thai Ministry of Education.

August 6, 2007


ERIC Area 1 of Thai Government Schools in Bangkok has asked the The TEFL Institute to teach a two day workshop for the Thai teachers of English in the school district on Backward Design, as envisioned and created by education experts Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. The two day workshop breaks down the concept and goes into practice oriented activities and exercises to facilitate implementation.

July 1, 2007


TEFL trainees and trainers renovate the home for the Wanpen family on Thai school property and look into further working with the Thai Government school to accelerate goals for self-empowerment and self-sufficiency among teachers, students and parents in this impoverished area (Pictures). What had been planned by our trainers and practicing teachers as a simple community project of painting the old place on a hot and lazy Saturday turned into an all-out renovation which brought us all back to Bangkok at 3 a.m. the next morning and left the home in great shape for the new occupants. It felt great to see what had been accomplished and how we could all help the family by just spending a little time and putting forth some effort. Good luck and many thanks to Leonela, one of our TEFL course participants who soon thereafter went back to Caracas, Venezuela, to continue teaching at Escuela Campo Alegre, the international model school for South America. Leonela plans to start volunteer teaching English language lessons based on what she experienced with us. Suerte!

June 1, 2007


Trainers and trainees at the TEFL Institute extend a helping hand to a homeless mother of three in Nakhon Sawan Province. (To learn more about Nakhon Sawan) (Pictures) The teachers at the Thai Government school had identified the two children as being in severe need of help: Their mother was working 12 hour days in a factory, hoping to earn enough funds to supply for her severely disabled 18 year old son, the 11 year old boy and six year old girl. The alcoholic and estranged father only made occasional visits to abuse his wife and take whatever he could to sell for alcohol. When all funds ran out, the mother informed the school that she would have to pull her children out of school. With cooperation from the TEFL Institute trainers, practicing teachers and the Thai school, the Wanpen family lives on school property in a house, all meals are taken care of and the new work place enables the mother to better take care of her 18 year old and other children. Plans to renovate the home in the near future are under way.