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Homestays
All volunteers will be expected to spend
at least one month teaching in a school in Northeastern Thailand -
additional time can be allocated for travel within Thailand and/or for
obtaining TESOL/TELF Certification.
Volunteers will stay with a local family and our fee of £200 includes
accommodation and board. Please read the following and if
you have any other questions that need to be answered which have not
been found here or in the F.A.Q.'s then please don't hesitate to
contact us. To apply, please complete our
Homestay Application (on-line) or
Download in .doc format.
 Location:
All Homestays will take place in
northeastern Thailand the area known locally as “Issan”. This is
statistically the poorest region of Thailand with the average wage
being around a mere USD$100 per month. The provinces involved with the
Homestays include Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket, Amnat Charoen and
Yasothon.
Fee Structure and Breakdown:
 There
is a fee of £200 per
volunteer for the first month of volunteering. This nominal fee
compares to the £900 charged by other companies. Moreover, most of our fees are
donated towards both the school the volunteer will teach at and to the
family the volunteer will live with. The fee breakdown is as follows:
1. £100.- (or nearly 6,300 baht) will go towards a donation to the
school the volunteer will teach at. Even though it is at the
discretion of the school to spend the money, we will ask for it to go
towards things such as books, supplies and lunch costs for the
students and teachers.
2. £60.- (or nearly 3,800 baht) will go towards a donation for the
family the volunteer will stay with during his teaching at the school.
This will go towards the volunteer’s food costs, transportation
locally, living quarters and any other costs assumed by the family
during the volunteers stay.
3. £40.- will go towards the underlying costs of Anglo Thai Cultural
Exchange. The costs involved with this charity are extensive and is
much needed in order to fund the projects. The money will go towards
entrance fees to British universities’ careers fairs, transportation
to these careers fairs in the UK, marketing costs (i.e.
business cards and brochures), Thai information books as well as any
other costs involved.
What is include in the Fees?
· Accommodation during your volunteer teaching with a local teacher or
family.
· Free 24/7 support by email and phone. Loans of cell phones will be
made to the volunteers. Minutes have to be bought by the
volunteers but there is no charge for the use of the cell phone.
· Meals – breakfast with your Homestay family, lunch at the school
you’re volunteering at and dinner with your Homestay family. Any extra
snacks, meals out of the accommodation house, drinks, etc. are at your
own cost.
· Thai informational book will be given free of charge. With some
basic phrases and information, this will help you out during your stay
in Thailand.
· Pickup at Ubon Ratchathani Airport (optional). If you fly into Ubon,
then transportation will be provided to our local base. Stays at our
base in Ubon are free of charge.
What is not included in the Fees?
· International flight from the United Kingdom to Thailand. Would
highly recommend you fly into Bangkok International Airport (most
commonly used).
· Domestic flight from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani (travel time = 1
hour). It is a typically a very cheap flight but can also take the
local bus (travel time = ~14 hours). We prefer you not take the train
due to the distance between the station and the Ubon base.
· Visa charges. This must be taken care of by the volunteer and well
prior to your departure.
· Insurance (both travel and medical). This is optional to have but is
better to be safe than sorry.
· Personal expenses that may be incurred during your stay. This can
include your stay in Bangkok, any souvenirs purchased, etc.
· Tours around Thailand. This too is optional and depends on the
volunteer and length of stay in Thailand.
For longer stays:
For each additional month situated
volunteer teaching at the schools can be done at the cost of £80 per
month. The charge will go directly to the Homestay family (£50) and
the school (£30). Additional months must be mentioned in the
application so we can place you in a school that is willing to take
you on for the specified time.
Our Optional Service Assistance:
The following are optional services that Anglo Thai Cultural Exchange
can assist you with. All charges to the volunteer are directly from
our affiliates and at no extra costs (i.e. what you are charged is
what the affiliate charges).
· Visas can be processed very easily by our charity. It is highly
recommended that you use this service because a certain visa is
required to volunteer teach in Thailand and a letter of
recommendation must be provided along with the
 application to the local embassy.
These visas are valid for three months but will accommodate those
staying longer periods of time.
· Insurance (Medical and Travel) is optional. We can take care of this
through our affiliate if needed.
· Hotel in Bangkok. Hotels are NOT provided for the volunteer upon
their arrival in Bangkok. We can arrange a hotel in Bangkok for you at
any level of quality and price range.
· Tours can be provided for you through our travel agent affiliate.
Tours to anywhere in Thailand are available depending on your price
range.
· International flight to Bangkok, Thailand. This can be arranged for
you at the cheapest prices given to us by our affiliates.
· Domestic flight to Ubon Ratchathani. There are three services which
can be used – Thai AirAsia, Thai Airways or Nok Airways. We recommend
either Thai AirAsia or Nok Airways,
which typically costs around £30-40, as Thai Airways can cost nearly
double. Nok Airways also has a special flight deal which allows
you a baggage weight of 30 kg rather than the typical 15 kg maximum.
TESOL/TEFL accreditation
TESOL is "Teaching English to Speakers of
Other Languages" and TEFL is "Teaching English as a Foreign Language".
This is a month long intensive course in Bangkok which will provide
you with a life-long certification to teach worldwide. This
certification is not required for teaching for our Homestays but is
highly recommended. This certification is recognized worldwide
and enables you to have the ability to obtain a teaching position in
virtually any foreign country. Anglo Thai Cultural Exchange has
affiliated with Chichester College in the United Kingdom for
TESOL/TELF Certification Courses.
During Your Stay:
We ask that all volunteers have a minimum
one month stay volunteering at the schools. This means at least one
month AT THE schools and NOT one month stay in Thailand. Additional
months are more than welcomed! We also do recommend that you take some
time off to actually travel and visit Thailand. There are tons of
things that can be done and a lot of history to be learned.
“Get Togethers”:
During your stay with the Homestay
family, we will provide weekend “get together” sessions with the
volunteers. This will be done on a bi-weekly basis and will give the
volunteers the ability to meet and converse with other volunteers in
our project. Our view is that this will give an open forum to the
volunteers to exchange ideas about teaching and will benefit their
overall teaching to the Thai students. The volunteers will be able to
stay in our Ubon base and transportation will be provided by our
Homestay families.
Our Ubon Base: This refers to our proprety which is situated in
the city of Ubon Ratchathani (Muang Ubon). Upon their arrival in Ubon
Ratchathani, they will have the ability to stay at our base for an
unlimited period of time. If the volunteer prefers to be situated in a
hotel, one can be provided for them at an extra cost.
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