View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
lastfirst
Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 1
|
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:26 am Post subject: ed deg vs tefl cert |
|
|
if i have a masters degree in elementary education will i need to get a tefl cert? will not having one result in lower pay or does it depend on the school? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
snollygoster
Joined: 04 Jun 2009 Posts: 478
|
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:18 pm Post subject: tefl v teachers cert. |
|
|
In reality, to quite a few "schools" in Vietnam, it will depend on which one is the more impressive looking. Red stamps, flourishing important looking signatures etc.
In real schools, the teaching one should be ample, but you may have to show how it relates to ESL (if at all). |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276
|
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
With your degree you should be looking at subject teaching at a primary school, not just regular English language teaching.
You should get paid more, not less. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
inhanoi
Joined: 22 Oct 2011 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:46 am Post subject: |
|
|
Academic subjects at primary schools are taught in Vietnamese.
Unless you're referring to an international school, of which there are far fewer. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
The Mad Hatter
Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
To fully utilize the education credential one has to work at the larger international schools. However, these schools hire strictly from outside of the country, at international teaching job fairs. They do not hire in country. If one arrives here with an education background it will only qualify one for the same employment as someone with a Tesol or Celta. It is possible to be working under or alongside people who make more with less qualifications because education credentials are not honored or remunerated. However, if one does go the normal route it can lead to salaries double or triple at a real international school. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276
|
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: |
Academic subjects at primary schools are taught in Vietnamese.
Unless you're referring to an international school, of which there are far fewer. |
All the more reason to go somewhere else to teach. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
inhanoi
Joined: 22 Oct 2011 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
Sorry, I don't understand. Are you saying that academic subjects throughout the world should be taught in English? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Oh My God
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 273
|
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The Mad Hatter wrote: |
To fully utilize the education credential one has to work at the larger international schools. However, these schools hire strictly from outside of the country, at international teaching job fairs. They do not hire in country. |
Not true, however it should be said that the best wages and benefits are usually gained from 'out of country' hiring (some have been done w/o the job fairs) BUT there are exceptions!
A "Teaching Certificate" can be used in place of an ESL Cert. but from the ones I know who've done this, it's a difficult procedure because the VN aren't used to doing the WP this way BUT that also depends on a lot of other factors.
Welcome to VN |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
inhanoi
Joined: 22 Oct 2011 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
"Welcome to VN?"?? Welcome to most countries in the world. An "education degree" might be recognizable and even impressive to others from the same general location, but a CELTA/Trinity or similar cert is universally recognized.
Why the continuous bashing of Vietnam, as if it's the only place on the planet that presents certain difficulties for certain supposedly qualified teachers?
Many, many teachers have found personal happiness and professional rewards here. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
lizarddoctor

Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 141 Location: HCMC, Vietnam
|
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I am finishing my M.Ed. this semester and it will open a lot of doors toward much better jobs, but the Vietnamese do put a lot of stock in paper. A fairly misguided way to judge someone who is qualified, but an ESL cert of any kind will help a lot since it is another key here. Don't go overboard and pay thousands for one since any with your Masters will do. The schools that will want the CELTA are going to want you to subscribe to their system and honestly will not pay you what you are worth. Vietnam is a great place to people for a wide variety of reasons, but one truth is that the bashers will tend to post more often and probably should have left a long time ago. They never really do say why they are still here do they? lol Must be something after all. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Oh My God
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 273
|
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
inhanoi wrote: |
"Welcome to VN?"??
Why the continuous bashing of Vietnam, as if it's the only place on the planet that presents certain difficulties for certain supposedly qualified teachers?
Many, many teachers have found personal happiness and professional rewards here. |
Why the continuous bashing of Vietnam? Mountains and Molehills - BS... I think my post is informative for the OP and since I live in VN then, Welcome to VN
I do quite well here BUT I've been here several years like LD has. For the newbies, it can be quite difficult.
As far as revealing what I do, I teach at 1 school and do business seminars all over SE Asia with a group.
As far as bashing goes, well it's curious that Saigonesl is not accessible anymore there LD but perhaps you've moved on to greener pastures |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
lizarddoctor

Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 141 Location: HCMC, Vietnam
|
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It's still there, I just happened to shut it off since I don't have time for the distraction as it started turning into something that I never intended it to when I thought I could just step away for a while. I have some ideas that may send it in a whole different direction when I do find the time geared more toward students, but who knows.
My time the last few years has been devoted to my Masters and staying home raising my little one. Still in Vietnam though, just got my sights set a little higher than running the mill circuit after all these years. Can complain about the traffic or some other petty nonsense if anyone really thinks we all should be bashing though...lol |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
The Mad Hatter
Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Here you can teach at high schools and elementary schools and then go all over SE Asia and 'do seminars'. "Business English" with marketing, organizational behavior, team management, entrepreneurship all boost one's status as an English teacher. The same skill sets translate directly to elementary or high school classroom grammar, sentence, pronunciation, ed.psych, and literacy. And one does not even need a "teaching certificate"
What a wonderful world. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
just noel
Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 168
|
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
lizarddoctor wrote: |
I am finishing my M.Ed. this semester |
Good on you lizarddoctor.
If I may ask, this was an online program, correct?
Just curious as I've been researching MAs and I'm in Vietnam as well.
Hope all is well with you as it seems things are. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
1st Sgt Welsh

Joined: 13 Dec 2010 Posts: 946 Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
|
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think if you want to work abroad as a teacher long-term there's a lot to be said for post-graduate qualifications in education. After I finish my PhD, I'm planning on getting a Graduate Diploma of Education and I'm certainly not the only one at my school who is planning (or is actively doing) just that. It just makes sense.
The conditions offered at accredited international schools are invariably much, much better than what you will find with the vast majority of TEFL gigs. The pay, holidays etc at 'real' international schools are often the same as what you would get in your home country and, if you are living in a place with a low cost of living, like Vietnam, you have the potential to make a very good living! Also if you are teaching at an international school, you often get generous discounts when it's time for you own children to go through school. Doesn't worry me too much (no wife, no kids), but I have friends in Saigon that do [and who don't want to educate their children through Vietnamese state schools] and the standard cost of international schooling here is outrageous!
Furthermore, as a teacher, you have more options about where you want to live. For instance, I love the Philippines, but I've got no intention of trying to eke out a living as a TEFLer there. However, if I could get a job at a decent international school in the PI, I'd leave Vietnam in a heartbeat . |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|