Rebeca is highly qualified and has at least three years of TEFL experience abroad, meaning she knows exactly what's it like to start a new career teaching English abroad.

"I was born in Bangkok, Thailand and lived there for a couple of months before moving to the UK (via Indonesia, Algeria and Zambia!). I went to school and university in Northern Ireland and now live in the North of England! So when people ask we where I'm from the best description I can give is 'Thai-rish'!!

The first time I taught English was in my student days in Paris, I taught primary school and college students - I loved it that much I put off going back to University so I could stay on for another year! Following that I taught in primary schools in the the town of Fort de France in Martinique, in the French West Indies, possibly the best year of my life! More recently I have taught in Thailand, in a little fishing village called Bang Saen - about 2 hours east of Bangkok, here I taught full time in a bi-lingual kindergarten and part-time at a Univeristy Language school. In between teaching abroad I have worked in summer schools in Oxford too.

I have a BA in French studies from Queens University Belfast and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education specialising in Modern Foreign Languages from Durham University. I completed my TESOL Certificate in Thailand.

I get a real buzz being in the classroom, no two days are ever the same! There's nothing quite like watching a student progress over a period of time and become a more confident and able speaker. I particularly love teaching young learners - there's so much room for creativity and lots of fun and games. I think the thing that really makes teaching a fantastic job is the realationships you build up with the students in the classroom.

Training is great fun and the nature of the course is so interactive and 'hands-on' that it doesn't always feel like work! It's great to see people fired up and excited about starting to teach English. The only down side of training is hearing about all the exotic places people are jetting off to - makes me very jealous!!!

I'm a real foodie! Part of the reason I love traveling is to experience new food! I think you can learn a lot about a country through the local food. For someone like me, Thailand and South East Asia is food heaven! I love the hot chillis and the wonderful mix of spices, for that reason my favourite dish would have to be 'som tam' (spicy raw papaya salad) or 'khao soi' (a Northern Thai noodle dish with chicken and curry sauce). My biggest food surprise was in Dominica in the Caribbean when I discovered that 'mountain chicken' was actually frog!!

When I'm not traveling or teaching I relax by doing yoga and have recently started a beginners pottery course! I think I must have watched too much of 'Ghost' as a teenager! I'm looking forward to creating some ceramic masterpieces!

After living in Thailand for nearly 3 years I have a strange relationship with colours....it's the only country I know of where every day has a designated colour! Even now I find it hard not to wear yellow on a Monday, pink on Tuesday, green on a Wednesday, orange on a Thursday, blue on a Friday, purple on a Saturday or red on a Sunday!"