50 hrs of fieldwork per week
1:6 staff to participant ratio
Includes GVI Experiences
Nestled in the misty mountains of Chiang Mai, this immersive program combines learning and adventure. Earn your TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification through three months of comprehensive training. Then, it’s time to apply what you’ve learned in a real-world setting with an exciting three-month work placement. When you’re not teaching, visit Chiang Mai city and stroll through vibrant night markets, enjoy delicious street food, explore ancient temples, or hike through lush forests where elephants, gibbons and an array of birds can be spotted.
Looking to launch your teaching career with an unforgettable adventure? Join us in Chiang Mai, where you’ll earn your TEFL certification and complete a three-month work placement with GVI. This apprenticeship offers a chance to immerse yourself in Thai culture while gaining hands-on experience teaching English as a foreign language. You’ll live at our community hub in the hilltop village of Huay Pakoot, surrounded by stunning mountain views and a vibrant local scene. Here, you will connect with the local Karen community and witness the deep connection they have with elephants.
During your stay here, you’ll engage in a range of sustainable development initiatives, supporting English education and conservation projects within the community.
After earning your TEFL certification, get hands-on with a three-month work placement where you can put your new skills to the test. We’ll guide you through lesson planning, hands-on teaching and understanding the local culture. You’ll get real experience by teaching at local schools, running summer camps and leading adult classes to boost conversational skills and job readiness. Under the guidance of experienced mentors, you’ll also contribute to impactful community work and complete a personal project, all while honing your teaching and cross-cultural communication skills.
Another exciting aspect of this program is the opportunity to contribute to wildlife conservation initiatives. Enjoy hikes through scenic hillsides as you conduct biodiversity surveys on local elephant and gibbon populations.
Make the most of your days off by taking in the sights in Chiang Mai. Stroll through vibrant night markets to sample delicious Thai food, or wander through the Old City and see temples like Wat Phra Singh with its detailed designs and peaceful Buddha statues. If you love nature, hike up Doi Suthep for amazing views and visit the golden stupa at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. For a chill weekend, head to Pai to enjoy waterfalls, hot springs and a laid-back atmosphere.
Throughout your teaching apprenticeship, you’ll actively support important UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #1 No Poverty, #4 Quality Education, #5 Gender Equality, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10 Reduced Inequalities and #17 Partnerships for the Goals.
This internship is specifically useful for someone who has or is actively studying the below subject areas at school, university or college, or has an interest in these subject areas.
Some of the example typical activities you could participate in on this program.
Some of the partners we work with on base.
Located in the heart of Northern Thailand, our community hub in Chiang Mai is surrounded by breathtaking mountains, fields and forests. With beautiful hills all around, we have a bird’s-eye view over the fields and forests below. In the rainy season, the clouds roll through the base at eye level. Being the middle of the jungle, elephants can be found throughout the surrounding areas.
When you arrive you’ll be welcomed by the villagers with a traditional Geju ceremony, which they perform for all new participants upon their arrival. During the Geju, food is blessed and pieces of string are tied onto others’ wrists to wish them good fortune.
The project work takes place in the Mae Chaem District, a 5-hour journey deep into the mountains, where the famous Karen elephant-keeping community resides. This community shares a unique and sacred relationship with elephants.
From our research station it’s about a 50-minute walk to the river where you can see buffalo walking about. Despite being very afraid of people and quite shy, you might sometimes see them in the village. The open-air base is divided into two buildings. The older building is usually reserved as a study area – or for staff meetings, presentations and lectures. It has a table with chairs, a hammock for reading, and a few small desks. The newer building is where people socialise. The library is in the new building. It’s small and basic, consisting of a few bookshelves.You can catch some amazing sunsets right at the base, and when night comes, kick back and enjoy stargazing around the fire pit we often hang out at in the evenings. During free nights, we like to watch movies on the projector, visit a villager’s home, or take a night stroll. Games (board and card games) are well received and enjoyable to interact with the local community members. There are also a few friendly dogs around the base.
We want you to make the most of the chance to live in – and contribute towards – the most diverse and unique wildernesses and communities on earth. Introducing GVI Experiences – immersive adventure, cultural and wellness activities exclusive to GVI that have been specially designed in collaboration with our local partners to support and stimulate sustainable economic development.
Enhance your impact. Expand your adventure. Explore your world.
By joining a GVI program, you not only have the opportunity to work in collaboration with local communities, you also get the chance to explore the surrounding area or venture further to see what else the region has to offer on weekends.
Our field staff are a great source of advice on local travel options. Many participants choose to travel before or after their experience, solidifying friendships made on the program.
Engaging with a new context teaches global awareness, adaptability and critical thinking – skills highly valued in today’s world. Cultural immersion is encouraged, and there are many activities to enjoy during your free time or before and after your program. Please note, these suggestions aren’t included in the program fee and are at your own expense.
We have a projector at base as well as a large selection of movies. Sometimes we take a vote on which one to put on after dinner (or when we have a quiet afternoon).
If you need to get a workout in, you’ll find our gym on the lower floor of our base hut. It includes a gym bench and weights.
On the lower floor of our base hut, you’ll find a ping-pong table. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself engaged in a heated ping-pong tournament against some of the mahouts!
If you’d like to find out what the experience of joining a GVI project is really like, simply contact us and we’ll put you in touch with one of our many Alumni.
We’ll try to match you to an Alum based on your location, nationality, age, stage of academic career, gender, and program interests. This allows you to gain insights into the experience that is most relevant to you.
Depending on your location you might be able to speak to an Alum over the phone or online, or meet up with them face-to-face at a coffee shop nearby. We also run a series of small events around the world where you can speak to GVI Alumni, Ambassadors and staff members.
Program Manager
This is Jonathan, the Program Manager at our Chiang Mai base in Thailand. He has joined us from Liverpool in the United Kingdom and has visited this base as a volunteer on seven ...
When it comes to support, we ensure that each participant is provided with unparalleled, 360 degree support, from your initial contact with the GVI Family, all the way through your program, and even after, as you become part of the GVI Alumni Team.
As part of this promise, we will ensure, whenever possible, that one of our dedicated staff will be available to meet you at the airport. In most locations, we also set up a Whatsapp group to help with managing airport arrivals.
We will arrange with you prior to your departure that, should you arrive in the agreed upon pick up window, a member of our staff will be there to welcome you, easily identifiable in a GVI t-shirt or holding a GVI sign and wearing a friendly smile.
This means there will be someone there to greet you as you land, and from there you will be transported to your GVI base to start your adventure and meet the rest of your team.
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All of our programs have short-, mid- and long-term objectives that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This enables us to report on our collaborative impact across the world in a streamlined manner, measuring which UN SDGs we are making a substantial contribution to. Furthermore, this will help our local partners and communities measure and visualise their contribution to the UN SDGs.
Prior to your arrival on base, you will be educated about the UN SDGs. Then once you arrive on base, you’ll learn about the specific goals we have in this particular location, our various objectives, and also clarification of how your personal, shorter-term involvement contributes to these.
Our aim is to educate you on local and global issues, so that you continue to be an active global citizen after your program, helping to fulfil our mission of building a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference.
GVI Chiang Mai’s programs work in collaboration with the local Karen hill tribe community and village of Huay Pakoot. We work with the local government school – with both teachers and students. Our school-based teaching involves English language, health and wellness workshops, environmental education workshops and sports activities. Our community-based lessons involve adult and child learners in the community. These are often informal evening sessions, based around what the learners want to learn. Upskilling in English helps facilitate a self-sustainable ecotourism industry.
To promote sustainable ecotourism, we work with the elephant-keeping community to assist monitor the introduction of elephants into their natural habitat after their previous lives in tourist camps. Your contribution will assist in keeping these elephants in protected forests, continuing the conservation of these beautiful animals and what remains of their fragmented forest habitats, as well as providing funding to keep the project running. The goal of this project is to have semi-wild herds of elephants living, socialising and foraging in their natural habitat – supervised by their mahouts (elephant keepers) from the local village.
Adult English classes
Teach English classes to the wider community to boost skills and improve ecotourism opportunities.
School classes
Deliver workshops on English, environmental and conservation issues, or sports activities to schools.
Community project work
Depending on community needs, engage in additional project work, which may include delivering workshops.
Learn about traditional health practices
Experience community health activities and events while learning historic medicinal practices. Activities may include cultural and medicinal hikes and promoting sustainable farming and good nutrition.
Elephant surveys
Hike through nearby forests and hills to collect data on elephants. Participate in health checks and record information about their health and behaviour.
Biodiversity surveys
Survey various taxa around the local community, including birds, mammals, insects and reptiles. Conduct biodiversity surveys of bats in remote hillsides and caves.
Gibbon surveys
Help protect critically endangered white-handed gibbons by recording observations on their behaviour, sounds and feeding habits.
Citizen science data
Input data from conservation surveys into local and global citizen science databases, such as eBird and iNaturalist.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals
All of our programs have short-, mid- and long-term objectives that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). We want to be able to measure our collaborative impact across the world in a streamlined manner, so all our staff and volunteers know which UN SDGs they’re making a substantial contribution to. This also helps our local partners and communities measure and visualise their contribution to the UN SDGs.
Prior to your arrival on base, you’ll be educated about the history of the UN SDGs. Then, once on base you’ll learn about the specific goals of your location, the long-, mid- and short-term objectives, and also insight into how your personal, shorter-term involvement contributes to these goals on a global level.
Our aim is to educate you on local and global issues, so that you continue to act as active global citizens after your program, helping to fulfil our mission of building a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference.
GVI Chiang Mai long-term objectives:
1. To provide quality English education and support for community development of the Huay Pakoot village.
2. To create a viable self sustaining ecotourism program for Huay Pakoot village.
3. To improve standards of living and job opportunities for the community in the Huay Pakoot village.
4. To improve sustainable natural resource management in the Huay Pakoot area.
5. To increase and promote ethical elephant treatment and a thriving population of wild White-handed gibbons in the Huay Pakoot area.
A GVI program is an investment in your career. No matter which you choose, you will be working toward improving your employability by mastering new social skills, gaining further technical expertise and earning qualifications in many cases. Most of our staff are, in fact, GVI Alumni, and we have helped many of our Alumni discover, move toward, and earn their own personal dream jobs. Each program includes introductory workshops, ongoing presentations, as well as on-the-ground professional support provided by our very own trained staff members. In addition, our training programs are critical for helping us to ensure the long-term impact of our sustainable development projects around the world.
Learn about the importance of child and vulnerable adult protection best practices and how to apply them while on project.
Introduction to the history and evolution of sustainable development, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and how these related to your project work.
Learn about our country locations and further opportunities available to you during or after your program.
Learn about gender equality, skills development and examples of income-generating activities.
Learn about our empowerment principles.
An introduction to different survey techniques and best practice guidelines for surveys; introduction to different types of data and how to record information via a datasheet.
Learn about biodiversity and how biodiversity is measured, and classifying different species and how to identify species that indicate the health of the habitat.
Learn the practical skill of how to weave baskets from bamboo with the Old Chief of the village.
You will have the opportunity to take part in a traditional Thai cooking class where you will learn how to make some of the local delicacies.
You will have the opportunity to go on biodiversity hikes, which vary depending on the season. You may learn how to collect birding data, how to set up mammal traps and camera traps, how to identify snakes and reptiles, and more.
Learn about the methods used to train the elephants, how the elephant industry in Thailand works, and how we ensure the elephants in Chaing Mai are treated ethically whilst still being safe to work with and be around.
A one-hour presentation that gives you basic training on how to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), including how to teach vocabulary, and classroom management techniques.
Learn how to collect three different kinds of elephant data – behaviour, health check, and activity budget. You will be shown examples of the different types of behaviour and how to use data sheets to record the information.
Learn the local language Pakinyaw during your time in Chiang Mai with five basic Pakinyaw lessons with our Community Liaisons, followed by more advanced Pakinyaw lessons in the following weeks, if you choose.
One of the most popular ways to work and travel the world is teaching English abroad. Many jobs require that you already have a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification. We offer certified TEFL courses in several locations in partnership with The International TEFL Academy (ITA). It is a 170 hour part-time online course which prepares participants to teach English to a wide range of foreign language students from business professionals to young children. Students typically take about 11 weeks to complete the course. Our TEFL course also includes 20 hours of practical work, which is more than TEFL standards require, to provide practical engagement to assist with self-learning. There is also an option to complete another 30 hours at no extra charge to learn more about adapting teaching methods to young learners or business professionals. ITA also provides a lifetime access to career resources.
Career paths in social and environmental impact are not as well-established as in other fields. That’s why we’ll provide our interns who have successfully completed their program with our Careers in Sustainable Development course. In this course, you’ll learn about current and emerging opportunities in a range of sectors, allowing you to make the best decision about your future.
This online course, valued at £295, is included in all internships. Full course details can be found here.
Leadership is a critical skill set for anyone looking to make an impact or drive sustainable development. Develop your own leadership style and learn how to set achievable objectives, give effective feedback and manage conflict successfully. After successfully completing the course, which you have the option of doing prior to your in-country program, you’ll receive a certificate from the University of Richmond.
This online course, valued at £295, is included in all volunteering programs. Full course details can be found here.
In this course, you’ll explore the most common pitfalls of community development initiatives so that you can avoid them. You’ll also learn how to carry out community development work effectively and ethically and how local context impacts program development. After successfully completing the course, which you have the option of doing prior to your in-country program, you’ll receive a certificate from the University of Richmond.
This online course, valued at £295, is included in all volunteering programs. Full course details can be found here.
We won’t sugarcoat it — traveling abroad is usually a complex process that carries an element of risk. But this is exactly why we’re passionate about providing extensive support throughout the process as well as the highest safety standards during the in-country phase. We believe that volunteering abroad should not only be impactful, but an enjoyable experience that carries as little risk as possible. This is exactly how we’ve been able to maintain our reputation as the most highly respected volunteering organisations in the sector over the past two decades.
Make the most of our unique programs with these exclusively curated local adventure and wellness experiences.
