Job Discussion Forums

[deadlift]

http://tuoitrenews.vn/cmlink/tuoitrenews/education/education-news/city-educators-debate-use-of-filipino-english-teachers-1.91158

Includes this eye-popping quote:

[mark_in_saigon]

Yes, those figures just destroy the entire basis of the story. When we see numbers in these VN news stories, this is often the case, as if the numbers were made up. Maybe they were using the exchange rate for a different currency or some crazy thing. I find that when reading VN news stories, best to consider them as hints of what MAY be, not any kind of definitive snapshot of reality. It is nice that someone goes to the trouble of writing and publishing a story, but the believability factor over here has to be very low.

[1st Sgt Welsh]

Although it's delightful to fantasize about those kinds of salaries, I can't help but wonder how many students, landlords, shopkeepers etc. will read this nonsense and swallow it hook, line and sinker .

[mark_in_saigon]

I suspect not many, these folks are pretty up to speed on wages and prices. My take on the story would be that it is either just a totally crazy mistake, they meant to display drachmas or something, or it could be some kind of ridiculous attempt to manipulate markets in some way, labor markets that is. Even so, if that were the case, the numbers should not be so far off. I have seen for the longest time the attempt to boost the prices of housing on Craigslist by flooding the adverts with crazy prices, trying to get the expats to think that $1,000 for an apartment should be the going rate, they did it for years, and are still trying. While VN has some features of a market economy, we should never forget that it is mostly something else. I tell you what, if the system actually did decide that the average Filipino English teach was worth 2 grand per month, that would be the end of the line for about 95% of the western teachers here. Average wages over there are similar to VN, and you could fill the market 20 times over with Filipinos at that price.

[Mattingly]

[I'm With Stupid]

I like the fact that the Brits get paid the most. Just need to decide what to do with my $120k now. I assume it all comes as a big bonus at the end of my contract?

Incidentally, it's not actually a bad idea. But a far better idea would be to use this apparently massive new budget to get the best Vietnamese English speakers into the teaching profession and get them trained in more modern teaching practices. At the moment, all the best English speakers are working in hotels and Western companies because they pay more. Even those who do work in education work for private language centres rather than public schools.

[mark_in_saigon]

http://www.thanhniennews.com/index/pages/20121109-hcmc-criticized-for-hiring-filipinos-to-teach-english.aspx

We should all read this one also. This relates to the previous story that started this thread. However, the numbers quoted on the pass rates of the VN teachers of English are a bit of a different topic, or a related topic, not quite the same. We should all be aware of the reality of these numbers and what it means for our work.

Under the nationwide project to improve students� English skills, officials have adopted the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) to measure language competency and teachers will need to achieve level B2 in English with high school graduates expected to reach B1, a level below.

However, a survey in June found the English skills of most teachers in Vietnam were far behind such standards.

Nguyen Ngoc Hung, the project�s executive manager said, however, no teachers would be sacked if they are not qualified because �we already know most of them are not qualified.�

According to reports by local media, of the 700 teachers of Ben Tre Province who had been tested, only 61 got the required score.

The education ministry said that in one province, which could not be identified, the pass rate was as low as one in 700.

Hung said 97 percent of high school teachers, and 93 percent of elementary and secondary school teachers failed to achieve B2 in the recent English tests and 17 percent of elementary school teachers tested only achieved a beginner's level.