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Teaching Job in Hanoi - Hard to find without certificates?
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lioli



Joined: 15 Oct 2012
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:34 am    Post subject: Teaching Job in Hanoi - Hard to find without certificates? Reply with quote

Hello!

Currently I'm living in Vietnam for a year and now I'm thinking of getting an English teaching job in Hanoi.

I'm a 19-year-old girl who just graduated from High School with A-level,
both my mum and dad are Vietnamese but I was born and bred on German ground.

I am fluent, although not perfect, in German, Vietnamese and English...
(Both written and spoken)

In school I was always the best student at English and at home I've always spent hours and hours to improve my English skills simply out of pure passion for that language >.<

The problem is just that my teaching experience is very very limited. I've been working for two months as an English teacher for 3-5 year-old children in a kindergarten but to my mind the experience I gained there is not really worth mentioning...

How hard will it be for me to prove my potential employers without a university degree, without a TEFL certificate, without any written qualification at all beside my A-level-certificate that I can do it!!? >.<

Do you think TEFL is worth-doing which unfortunelaty is so overlyyyyyyy expensive? (1600$)

Another point that bugs me that native speakers are preferred for employment and I don't even look like a westerner. I look like a Vietnamese citizen =P

About the wage: I'm dreaming of a 10$/h payment...


What do you think?

Any contribution of yours is appreciated! =)
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sigmoid



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 1276

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, look at the bright side... You've got three positives going for you:

1) you're female
2) you have some experience teaching very small kids and a job already
3) you're willing to work for a very competitive wage

Quote:
I've been working for two months as an English teacher for 3-5 year-old children in a kindergarten but to my mind the experience I gained there is not really worth mentioning...


Don't dismiss this opportunity. The "kindy/kidddy" market is pretty significant and sometimes lucrative. A lot of teachers don't want to or can't do it. You might think about private tuition for kids, either local or ex-pat.

Get some letters of reference from the school (teaching ability), any employers you've had (responsibility and diligence), former teachers (intelligence, organizational skills, etc) and professional family friends (good character). Also, look into some short-term volunteer work to get some more experience and references.

Anyway, if you can get enough work of this type, you won't need to worry about schools. I assume you don't need to worry about a visa.

Another thing to consider is the possibility of teaching tiếng Việt to foreigners or Deutsch to somebody. There are a number of sites where you can put your ad online, but you might consider setting up a separate and anonymous e-mail account to do this.

Quote:
Do you think TEFL is worth-doing which unfortunately is so overlyyyyyyy expensive? (1600$)


You should hold off on this for now. You can always get it later...

Quote:
Another point that bugs me that native speakers are preferred for employment and I don't even look like a westerner. I look like a Vietnamese citizen.


Negative energy, let it go... just forget about this, although people will often remind you. Just focus on being the best you can be.

Anyway, the big "native speaker debate" is likely to commence in 3... 2... 1..
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inhanoi



Joined: 22 Oct 2011
Posts: 165

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Native speaker debate? How about a debate on teenagers teaching English? Negative energy? NO ONE in Vietnam is going to take her seriously.
Reality rears its ugly head.

OP, go to college.
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EFLeducator



Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From what I've seen and heard, Vietnam could care less if you have a degree. Hell, I know a guy who is teaching at a university and he has no degree!!! Only in Vietnam I guess.

I guess the standards a pretty low here.
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EFLeducator



Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only teachers I've met in Vietnam who have degrees or the powerful CELTA or some other type of TEFLing certificate are on this forum. I only know of ONE person in HCMC who has a degree AND a CELTA. The rest...no papers.

I hear a person can even have a bank account here even if they have no work visa.
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inhanoi



Joined: 22 Oct 2011
Posts: 165

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's right, "educator." Keep spreading your inaccuracies, gleaned from many late nights on De Tham Street. Besides, the OP asked about HANOI, a place where you'd soon be sent packing.

She is a teenager. The issue isn't whether she has a degree, the fact is that she CAN'T have a degree, she's just barely out of high school. No students in Hanoi would take her seriously. Get that through your thick skull.
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vabeckele



Joined: 19 Nov 2010
Posts: 439

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:24 pm    Post subject: Young, female and Vietnamese Reply with quote

You can make a lot more than you are hoping for...

Just buy some of those small chairs with a table thingy on them and you are good to go; if you have space in your house then do it there.

Keep the individual costs low and the class size a bit bigger and you will make more than your western teachers. Once you have established some kind of presence it will become easier.

Like another poster wrote, you could teach German and Vietnamese too.

You do not need a certificate yet. Find out how things go first. It can get a little complicated with all the minor details.

Note: A good selling point for you is your ability to speak 3 languages. This is a huge advantage for you - understanding the sticking points of language and its acquisition is something many English teachers here do not have and can never fully understand.
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EFLeducator



Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lioli,

Just get a cheap online TEFL certificate and you'll be fine. Head to HCMC because this seems to be the place where the backpacker type TEFLer's go to. Seriously, there are not many here who have work papers or even degrees.

You'll do great!!!!
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Abdullah the Enforcer



Joined: 26 Aug 2012
Posts: 42
Location: In a hole

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLeducator wrote:
Lioli,

Just get a cheap online TEFL certificate and you'll be fine. Head to HCMC because this seems to be the place where the backpacker type TEFLer's go to. Seriously, there are not many here who have work papers or even degrees.

You'll do great!!!!


I take it that Vietnam suits you better than Mexico City, MOD EDIT?

It's interesting how you've gone from TEFLoser to EFLeducator. An epiphany, perhaps?

How's the mamacita?
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1st Sgt Welsh



Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLeducator wrote:


Head to HCMC because this seems to be the place where the backpacker type TEFLer's go to. Seriously, there are not many here who have work papers or even degrees.


Say what? I don't know anybody teaching here that doesn't have a degree and a TEFL certificate.
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Tigerstyleone



Joined: 26 Mar 2010
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLeducator wrote:
From what I've seen and heard, Vietnam could care less if you have a degree. Hell, I know a guy who is teaching at a university and he has no degree!!! Only in Vietnam I guess.

I guess the standards a pretty low here.



Paradise. Paradise.
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Riding One



Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 63

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLeducator wrote:
From what I've seen and heard, Vietnam could care less if you have a degree. Hell, I know a guy who is teaching at a university and he has no degree!!! Only in Vietnam I guess.


Many schools, including Universities do not care.

By hiring the non-degreed they can pay lower.


Quote:
I guess the standards a pretty low here.


The standards are indeed low. Low-quality 'teachers' and dysfunctional, disorganzed, and poorly run schools.

After years of teaching in Saigon, this place has become the bottom of the barrel for teaching.
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Riding One



Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 63

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

inhanoi wrote:
That's right, "educator." Keep spreading your inaccuracies, gleaned from many late nights on De Tham Street. Besides, the OP asked about HANOI, a place where you'd soon be sent packing.


Just echoing inhanoi's point and not referring to anyone in particular:

The market in Hanoi is much more competitive for teaching. Teachers that are considered 'average' or 'below average' should not come to Hanoi. The community is small and word gets out quickly if someone is considered 'not good' or have does not take it seriously.

I have witnessed quite a few teachers from Saigon with years of experience come to Hanoi and they did not last. Many go back to Saigon.

Quote:

She is a teenager. The issue isn't whether she has a degree, the fact is that she CAN'T have a degree, she's just barely out of high school. No students in Hanoi would take her seriously. Get that through your thick skull.


There is an easy way around this. If a school hired her and likes her, she can tell the students she is 23 or 24 and recently graduated from University.

You are right though, that the big issue could be age. Her age is young enough to still be considered a 'kid.' No offense. So, you add a few years on to your age and dress professional.
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sigmoid



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 1276

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
NO ONE in Vietnam is going to take her seriously.


Quote:
I've been working for two months as an English teacher for 3-5 year-old children in a kindergarten



She is ALREADY working as a teacher, so SOME ONE must have already taken her seriously enough to give her job.
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inhanoi



Joined: 22 Oct 2011
Posts: 165

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sig, she's not teaching, she's babysitting.
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