Job Discussion Forums

CNexpatesl · Joined: 27 May 2015 Posts: 194

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kingplaya4 · Joined: 09 Dec 2017 Posts: 11 Location: Nha Be

i can't compare the two as I've only been in Ho Chi Minh, but assuming you're a male teacher it's very competitive. So if you aren't particularly high energy, I'd look elsewhere where there's more demand, possibly China. It's a tough market here because I sense the lack of loyalty goes both ways- teachers are quitting all the time to go home for various reasons, so anything they don't like about you even in the smallest way may be grounds for dismissal as they know someone else will be coming along soon enough, and they don't know how long you are truly staying anyways. A big part of the problem is the work permit situation which contributes to all the transients.

That's not to say that with enough time and effort you can't find a match for a school that will take an older, quieter teacher, but it's more likely to be in the boondocks and may not have the benefits and lifestyle you want. Maybe someone else who is on the ground can recommend somewhere better, but I often see more ads for Chinese jobs than Vietnamese in the Vietnamese section, so I suspect things are still booming over there.

sigmoid · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276

I don't think the market in Ha Noi is any better than HCMC. It's definitely smaller.

Anyway, this is the way that teaching is in VN. The market is mostly kids and teens classes. Teachers need to be popular and not boring if they want to get the teaching hours. If you're not down with that, you need to become an.IELTS guru. There are a few schools that specialize in test prep.

In addition, a lot of folks get creative and look beyond the schools at stuff like privates and corporate work, online teaching, doing business, etc., essentially anything and everything that can keep your shadow from darkening the door of any lousy language institute at 8 am on a Saturday morning.

theoriginalprankster · Joined: 19 Mar 2012 Posts: 895

I'll pipe in - I've lived and worked in China for the last 15 years, and jobs are a dime a dozen.

But one needs a change of scenery after 15 years and that's why I'm planning to head to Vietnam in the next couple months.

I'm doing a summer camp now - free boarding and food (free wifi, washing machine, fridge), and about 20 teaching hours/week. Salary about $2200/m no tax. Easy money.

But I still yearn to leave and go to Vietnam.