Companies

Hi EFL World!

Following my last post when I recommended independent travel as something more meaningful than the "camp" experience, I just thought I'd build on that by pointing out some of the salient features of the companies that offer the camp packages.

It's easy for youngsters and gap year students to be deluded into thinking that these companies are some kind of extension of the education system they're coming from, and that they're full of altruists and people concerned only about their welfare. Don't get me wrong, there are undoubtedly people like that within the companies, particularly at ground level. However, that is not their raison d'etre. Don't be naive, this is the real world.  They're businesses designed to make as much money out of you as they can by exploiting a niche in the market. This is almost certainly the motivation of those at the top running the company, the CEO, Managing Director or whatever.

That's why, when you look at doing one of these camps, you need to consider the possibility that you might be putting money into some fat cat's pocket (no personal reference) for something you could easily be doing for free.  Take the Elephant Sanctuary. Try contacting them directly. And "island hopping" - you don't need to join a camp to do that.  And any TEFL "orientation course" for a teaching job in a Thai school should be completely free.  All the placement agencies do that because they take a direct cut from the school. If you do the maths and tot everything up, you'll see you're being well and truly ripped off.

That said, the camp experience can be great fun if you like being in groups or don't have the confidence to travel alone.

But think first, make sure that going to Thailand, or Cambodia for that matter, really does turn out to be the wonderful experience it should be.

Good luck,
EFL Greg