12 Apr 2016

Kelsey Oke is a vagabond, an ever-wandering adventurer who hops from country to country with a love of new places, words and yoga. She’s currently in Thailand teaching English, the 5th country she has lived and taught in. We thought she’d be the perfect person to talk to, particularly with Year13’s release of more Gap programs related to teaching English overseas! (Head to Cambodia, France, China, Zanzibar, South Africa, Thailand, Bali or Fiji!)

Where are you located and how long have you been teaching there for?

I am currently living on the Southern Thai island of Koh Samui, coming up on my official one year anniversary since moving here from Western Australia. I have signed on for my second teaching year (to commence in May), and have recently been promoted to Head of the Primary Bilingual department.

What does an average day in the classroom look like?

Though Thailand is the 5th country I have taught in, it has been my first full-year as a full-time teacher. I feel incredibly blessed by this experience of a fantastic teaching year. My P1 students (six and seven year olds) were absolute angels and we grew to be very good friends. An average day in Teacher Kelsey’s classroom is a unique combination of focus on achievement (my intermediate/senior level training and experience as a high school secondary teacher) and giggles & nonsense (those six year olds will get ya). It is comfortable and encouraging, engaging and interactive.

How did you become a teacher overseas?

The first time I boarded a plane and took off across the world I was just 20 years old, having been accepted through an agency called Scotia Ltd to be a private tutor in Northern Italy. Through that experience (the wine & the pizza, mostly!), I secured my belief that I was in the right line of work to see this big, beautiful world. I finished my five year university teaching degree and was hired before graduation to work in Southampton, England. My degree and my love of creating new lives for myself has since taken me to Australia and finally (though not indefinitely!) Thailand.

What do you love about your job?

What I love most about working at Oonrak is how much it surprises me each and every day. For five years I trained to be an intermediate/senior (secondary) schoolteacher, having always had a knack for building solid rapport with teenagers. I never could have guessed how much I would genuinely adore working with tiny human beings, teaching them the fundamentals, the basics, the foundation of everything they might ever learn post-P1. I love my kids. That is the easiest way to answer this question; they are remarkable, unflawed, awe-inspiring little creatures of curiosity and amazement. Another equally important reason is my staff: we have a fantastic group of expats on staff in our English department and we have an absolute blast in that office every single day.

What is the most challenging component of your job?

As to be expected as a teacher working abroad anywhere in the world, the cultural differences can be challenging. I work at the only bilingual school on the island (meaning students learn exactly half of their lessons in Thai, half of them in English). I am lucky to work alongside a wonderful Thai staff, but as Head of Department I am often faced with situations where teaching practices simply clash. The way we may run a classroom or discipline a child or grade a paper or organize student data in our Western school system simply would not make sense here. Being flexible, fluid, open and patient is key to overcoming these challenges.

Did you do a TESOL program and would you recommend it?

I did not do a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program because I have my full university teaching degree and certification in education, as well as the British Qualified Teacher Status certification. If you do not have these qualifications, a TEFL is required almost everywhere in South East Asia (so yes, I recommend it!). Our school has hired three teachers straight out of the Samui TEFL program, but salaries will always range with higher incomes based on qualifications and experience.

(If you want to head overseas and don’t have time to complete a TESOL of TEFL course, our Gap programs don’t have any prerequisites–they teach you everything you need to know!)

What are some common misconceptions about your job?

I think the biggest misconception I face teaching abroad is that I am a wanderlusting nomad, fleeing from country to country, maybe classroom to classroom. I don’t consider myself a traveller at all. I am a mover; I move places and I take up little permanent lives everywhere I go. Just because I am ‘working abroad’ does not necessarily mean I get to do much sight seeing myself! If you are considering working abroad, be aware that most school years only allow a few weeks off here and there, and while I am spoiled with the ability to easily island hop on weekends, it is sometimes near impossible to utilize time off the way people think we might.

What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

I feel eternally grateful that this passion for seeing the whole entire world and living a hundred different lives and indulging in as many cultures and corners of this planet as possible was stewing in me at such a young age. When I was 18 I already knew this was what I wanted, so in that sense, I would tell my 18-year-old self to just keep on keeping on, to not let that fire or curiosity burn out or wear thin, to make sure nothing truly distracts me from getting to all of the places I want to be.

But when I was 18 I was also having my heart broken by the prom king, thinking it was the absolute lowest I would ever feel in my entire life, that nothing else could ever fill that clichéd high school sweetheart void in my silly prom queen heart. So maybe in that sense, I would tell my 18-year-old self that there is so much more to your own life and to your own soul that you have not even discovered yet (and still won’t for many, many years to come!). Life is not conducive to the four walls of high school or the familiar roads of a hometown–I would tell myself (urge myself!) to get out there! But also, to be patient with myself and to allow myself to figure it out along the way.

Finally, I would tell my 18-year-old self that I am incredibly proud of her for enrolling in that five year program (when all I really wanted to do back then was book a one way ticket to Africa!), for sticking it out (even when my mid-degree life in Italy made it all the more tempting!) and for seeing it through properly because now I have hundreds more doors open to me and literally the whole world at my feet.