Job Discussion Forums

[EricCC]

Hi pople,

I am interested in moving to Saigon sometime in the next 2-3 years to teach English. I have visited Saigon over Christmas break and liked what I saw. I have also traveled throughout Thailand and have visted Japan and Hong Kong. However, I am preplexed as to how a developing nation with such a low cost of living can afford to pay its teachers so much? And, given the relatively high pay, how come every ESL-teacher-to-be does not come out of the woodwork to take a job in HCMC? So, my real question is what keeps wages to high and can we expect those wages to remain stable in the near and distant future.

Thank�s for any comments you have.

P.S. I would be interested in making any contacts with people already living and working in the area.

[Micro67]

Vietnam is definitely the best kept secret in Asia. The money and lifestyle are good. It is definitely not everyones cup of tea, but generally it is the best game in town.

[Gordon]

I have been interested in Vietnam for many years and have had many of the same thoughts. How can the schools afford to pay so much? Are the classes so large that you can't move or do they pay a small fortune for our services?

For those who are there now, can you give a rough estimate of what you can save in a month?

[Cyan]

If you are earning the lowest possible - about $12/hour you should be able to save about $500 a month. This obviously depends on your budget i.e are you thrifty or a spender?

I have not yet been here a full month but those in the know seem to say that this is about right.

Cyan

[jibbs]

Some places pay even less than $12 for someone without qualifications or experience. I wonder what the average pay is for, say, someone with just any B.A. and nothing else. I'd expect the CELTA holders should get 1 or 2 dollars more per hour than the B.A. only. I think $12 is fair as a starting wage at a regular language school. If you show them you can do a good job, expect a pay raise in a month or two, and another after 6 months or more. Actually $14 is a good starting pay, I believe, but I may have low expectations?

[jride000]

Cyan.
I am considering moving to Vietnam this coming May. I will have a college degree and that is all. Would you say the chance of me finding a job relatively quickly(1-2 weeks) at 12$ is pretty high?? Thanks.

[Cyan]

Hi jride000

I believe you will have a moderate to good chance. If you get the TEFL / CELTA you will have an even better chance. Schools here really consider a degree plus the TEFL/CELTA as a good starting point.

Good Luck - hope things work out

Peace
Ryan

[sigmoid]

...

[Gordon]

What would a person with a masters in applied linguistics, CELTA and 12 years of teaching experience expect to make?

[ghostdog]

The good schools with good positions that pay well are few and few between. There are any number of places with jobs at $12 an hour, as noted any number of times, but conditions are usually awful and most of them would only pay lip service to education and experience and then hire some newbie or backpacker who will do virtually anything for beer money. As a location, HCMC is generally suitable for people with little or no experience who want to hang out (with each other) for a while and drink large quantities of (so I am told) cheap beer in expat haunts. As a serious teaching location, you have to be both patient and lucky to establish yourself here. It takes a long time to make any connection here with anyone who is really in a position to help you, other than to steer you to one of the chains or bottomfeeders, who you really won't need any help to find.

I hate to discourage you, Gordon, but most of the people posting on this board (and others similar to it) are not in the same position as you regarding education and experience, and their responses may therefore be misleading. I wish I had had contact with more experienced teachers before I came here--it would have helped me be more realistic in my expectations and less frustrated with dealing with the highly unprofessional standards that permeate most of the language schools.

That being said, I should note that the situation does seem to be working out for me at the moment, or at least it has the potential to in the short- to medium-term. But the idea that the streets are paved with gold for English teachers is patently ridiculous, unless you have virtually no life or work experience and therefore $12 an hour sounds like an enormous sum of money to you for what is supposed to be a professional position.

Also, I would echo what Sigmoid says--it can be pleasant here but it's also pretty boring unless you really, really live to go to expat bars, pound down beers, and avail yourself of the local peddled flesh. There's little culture, little intellectual life, few books (outside photocopies of what backpackers read), and only one cinema in HCMC which shows films in English, though not anything you may want to see. (I am told that things are marginally better in Hanoi but I do not have first-hand knowledge yet). There are cheap pirate CDs and DVDs and any number of places to travel to, though it should be said that everything seems to be packaged into tours, so if you want to get away on your own you may be disappointed.

In short, it is definitely not for everyone, and as a long-term move (more than, say, six months) professional teachers should consider their options very carefully, especially since virtually no one worth working for will hire you from abroad.

Good luck.

[Micro67]

[Gordon]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but how long have some of you Vietnam vets been in Vietnam? I have the impression that ex-pats don't live there for 3+ years.

Thank you for the tips so far.

[EricCC]

I have yet to here a logical explanation as to how schools can afford to pay teachers so much. However, the above discussion has been an interesting read.

ERic

[Waldorf Salad]

The school I work for in Taiwan charges students about US$4.5 per hour. I think I have an average of 10 students in my classes, so that's $45. The school pays me about $19. What's this like in Vietnam?

[sigmoid]