Be like Briony: Settle into Life in Thailand as a First-Time Teacher with BFITS

After 7 months of travelling around South East Asia, it was time for the BFITS Training in Bangkok, Thailand. My partner and I flew from Singapore with butterflies in our stomachs, neither of us having had much teaching experience. I taught in a summer school last summer, but I knew this would be a totally different experience.

From Backpacker to First-Time Teacher in Thailand

We applied for BFITS in December, having known for over a year before that we aimed to try and get jobs in Asia as TEFL teachers. We signed our contracts in January and had been waiting in trepidation for the end of March – the beginning of our journey to teach in Thailand and explore life from a different perspective.

Welcome to Buriram: Our New Home

We had our week of training, made new friends, said goodbye in a whirlwind, repacked our bags, and caught the bus to Buriram, our new home. We still had a month and a half before we started teaching properly, but we were eager to begin making roots, settle down, and immerse ourselves in the culture of our new hometown. We almost immediately found somewhere to live, thanks to some heavy time on Facebook marketplace in the months that had gone by, and moved into our condo (with a pool AND a gym!).

Celebrating Songkran and Local Football Fandom

Within a week of arriving, the famous Songkran holiday was upon us. We hadn’t heard of it before, and it seemed a little too wild to believe… a nationwide water fight? Sign us up. We had an absolute blast, my face quite literally ached from smiling so much.

It was the perfect introduction to Thailand and its incredible people. I felt so welcomed; people hugged me on the street, laughed with us (and drowned us in water), shared food and drink, and just had a great time overall. It was truly a beautiful moment to be a part of, and one that will stay with me forever.

A few days earlier, we had attended a Buriram United football match. I heard of this football team from my father, who is an avid football fan. He told me in no uncertain terms that Buriram had the best football team in ALL of Thailand, and sports lover or not, I MUST catch a game.

And so I did! It was a joyful experience; we discovered we were to be sitting in the ‘cheer’ stand, and I did not know what to expect. I definitely did not foresee the absolute party we were to attend.  Everyone around us was partaking in chants and cheers for the Buriram team, and actual dance moves – choreographed!

People at the very front had megaphones, and they began the chanting, and soon my whole stand was participating! Everytime we scored a giant flag completely engulfed us overhead. We unfortunately lost this match. However, I heard they went on to win the league 7-0 in the last game.

Buriram ADORES its football team, you cannot leave the house without seeing people adorning the many variants of the team’s jerseys, and I have a feeling one or two may soon become part of my own wardrobe…

First Impressions Before the First Lesson

At this point, not even having taught a single student, I was ready to shift my life to Thailand and never look back permanently. Prep week was quickly approaching, however, and the knot of fear was growing with each passing day. Looking back, it’s pretty funny how apprehensive we were.

Prep week showed me that this experience is going to be everything I want it to be. I cannot wait to begin this teaching journey, get to know all my students better, and learn much more about myself and this profession. I now see why so many choose to teach English in Thailand—there’s real personal growth involved.

I know there will be good and bad days, I know I will probably think and rethink my lesson plans, only to have the class go completely unexpectedly! However, meeting my fellow colleagues and my future students helped put my mind at ease, just a little. The nerves are still there, but so is the excitement and anticipation to begin.

Kicking Off Prep Week with Excitement

Our prep week wasn’t for beginning content or diving straight into educating – it was about starting to create a rapport with the kids and current and new teachers. I started the week by introducing myself to my M1, M2, and M3 classes; I set classroom rules and expectations. I played a simple two truths and a lie game, which included a quite hilarious (if I do say so myself!) photo of me jumping out of a plane, which the students found utterly comical.

I played a variety of games with them, including the memory game with the M1’s, where we all stood in a circle and had to remember all the previous people’s names and favorite hobbies. This got continually harder the further into the circle we got, and also quite a bit funnier! I played a ‘real or fake’ online Bamboozle game with all the classes, where they had to guess if certain foods (like baked bean ice cream) were actually real things we ate in the UK or not – this got quite competitive as the game includes ‘power ups and downs’.

Embracing the Journey One Day at a Time

I also introduced the topics we will be studying for the year, and we did a few games, including some things we will be going into further detail during the school year – I did a ‘Station Rotation’ with the M3s, which I feel went quite well!

The week was also a chance for me to pick the current teachers’ brains about how the school ran and future things to look forward to – I discovered that Sports Week in August is a real highlight, and we also do camps and have lots of exciting things to look forward to! I didn’t have to wait too long, however, to discover for myself just how fun Buriram Pitthayakhom (BP) School is going to be.

At the end of the Preparation Week, we had no afternoon classes, so the students hosted a talent show for us! There was dancing and singing and guitar playing, and to top it all off, there was pizza and pop and meat on sticks for everyone to enjoy – it turned into a lovely little celebration of the beginning of the new school year. The kids seem excited for us to be there, and I know the two new teachers in the EP program are 100% excited to be there.

Making Thailand Home: From Visa Runs to Routines

Just after prep week, it was time for our journey into Laos to do our visa run! Time was turning into such a whirlwind. We made the journey by bus and spent 4 days in Laos with a fellow teacher, exploring Savannakhet and waiting for our visas to be approved before venturing back to Thailand, back to the place we had very quickly begun to recognise as ‘home’.

Overall, we have now been in Buriram for nearly 1.5 months, and the school year is beginning in earnest just around the corner. As I sit and reflect on this time, I find myself pleasantly surprised at how quickly Buriram has become more than just a teaching post. For teachers in Thailand who are just starting, it may seem overwhelming at first, but with time, it begins to feel like home.

From the welcoming locals to the eager students and the supportive teacher community, every day brings something new and meaningful. We have settled into our new hometown quite well – we already have our favorite restaurants and cafes, stores, walking routes, and routines. There is still so much I am uncertain about, and things I know that I will learn along the way. This journey is, after all, still just at its beginning.

I still have the first ‘official’ day of teaching, grading papers, planning projects, and navigating things like classroom management – but I feel now that by the end of my time here, I will have become a more adaptable, resilient person.

Teaching in Thailand gives you the chance to grow in ways you didn’t expect. If there’s anything the last few weeks have shown me, it’s that my time here is going to be full of growth, surprises, and amazing stories I am sure I will carry with me for a lifetime.