Job Discussion Forums

Oh My God · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 273

It's just part of a funny previous thread. Check it out!
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=1063903&highlight=#1063903

Don't know why I'm up so late, maybe it's all that beer AND the 1,2,3,drink! mentality of my VN friends. Embarassed

Jodes · Joined: 04 Jun 2013 Posts: 1

mark_in_saigon · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 837

While it is true some posters try to go negative just to stir things up, this is the case all over the internet now, and unavoidable. Admin does a pretty good job of removing the most obvious transgressor(s), though one does seem to have a process for continually reincarnating himself. You have to also see that just because a poster gives a lot of negative comment, it does not necessarily mean he has a negative attitude. If you study the scene here, you will see a lot of problems, mostly getting worse, and not to realize all this is to be removed from reality, in my opinion. When talking to the natives, one sees that they clearly feel things are getting worse generally, but this is about the system they live in, not the question of ESL. Hard to see where ESL is getting better either, from my vantage point, though there may be some improvements here and there. The influx of economic refugees to come over and teach could even be a net positive for the nation if managed properly, but of course it is not managed properly.

Usually folks who ask a question like yours do not give the required background info so that an answer can be truly meaningful. Just to state a few points you would have to discuss:

length of time you want to teach

your current skill as a teacher

your background working with non native speakers of English

your financial profile, plus your expectations for income

which certification you would target

your willingness to put up with going through the classes

your true goals for coming here

There are others, those are just a few that immediately come to mind. It is difficult for you or anyone to really discuss all of these with the detail required for someone else to tell you what your best course of action is. You may find your best advice comes from sending PM's to the folks whose advice you respect the most, rather than putting all your life out there for all to see, and accepting the insulting answers that commonly follow. If you do read the site enough, you can get a pretty good feel for the answers to your questions, if you are sure about your own goals and your personal situation. I look at the site as a book that anyone can add to, with all the levels of quality that implies. If you find posters who continually seem to be trying to create animosity, you might discount their advice. If you find others who have nothing but praise for the entire system, you might also view their comments with suspicion. With a bit of time, you should be able to get a good feel for the landscape here. This site really does have some excellent info on ESL in VN, and also about living and working in VN generally as well. I am sure most of us welcome new posters to join the site and add their insights.

I'm With Stupid · Joined: 03 Sep 2010 Posts: 432

I'm sure I've heard of VUS hiring people with certificates that aren't 4 week with observed teaching (might be wrong). I think it's safe to assume that the people in charge of issuing work permits have less of a clue as to the merits of particular teaching certificates than the schools (plenty of which also have no clue). But yeah, I've heard of people earning good money with no degree and no certificate (more hassle with visas though, I imagine, and more risky) and one of the people on my CELTA course had already been teaching in Vietnam for a year before she did it, so it's definitely doable.

TRH · Joined: 27 Oct 2011 Posts: 340 Location: Hawaii

deadlift · Joined: 08 Jun 2010 Posts: 267

mark_in_saigon · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 837

VietCanada · Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590

A university degree, criminal background check, a health check (no stds) and a teaching certification such as a TEFL are all you need to teach legally here.

Once here you'll find that experience teaching in Vietnam is useful and that steady paychecks are pretty rare.

Schools like AMA, EMG and i-Smart for example will place you in public schools for about $14 or $15 an hour since you have no experience in Vietnam but you won't work in the summer for two or three months or at TET for about 2 weeks. Classes are canceled for school exam times in December and May so your pay will be less in those months. You could get 15-20 hours a week but in reality you'll only get a full paycheck for maybe 5 months of the year. Three smaller paychecks and three months of no paychecks. This is where you start.

Weekend and evening work as a supplement is possible but the language schools that offer those jobs can be a bit more demanding in terms of having prior teaching experience in Vietnam, the quality of that experience and credentials. They seem to run all year. 1.5 to 15 hours a week. Cleverlearn, VAS and Premier are examples.

There are pseudo international schools like IPS, various Australian schools and others that offer classes in their own pseudo school buildings during the school year but they also pay hourly and require you to create and mark exams, write report cards and other duties for which you are not paid. But these schools can be even tougher to get into without prior teaching experience in VN. Your degree, experience and creds will need to fit whatever subject you are teaching. You still have the unpaid holidays and summers off but you will be working a lot of free OT during the exam periods.

Pseudo international schools that offer monthly salaries but will work you to death and still find reasons to cut your pay and lay you off for the summer months. You need to be experienced and qualified to teach a subject.

I would say that this is not the place to pop in and hang around for a calendar year courtesy of the the local EFL industry regardless of your creds.

It takes time to find schools. Schools that use the Internet to advertise work also tend to be the schools that sell CELTAs to prospective teachers. Causes one to wonder aloud about the true nature of their business'. It takes time to find work. It takes time to find hours. It takes a year just to be considered to have experience in Vietnam. There is no way to pop in or get hired online to make $1300 a month, every month and explore/experience Vietnam.

Vietnam is where experienced, grizzled old cynical EFLers come to retire after their national pension is secured. Or it should be. It's absolutely great for that. For the young its a place to find a wife. Or it should be.

OT Posters on the Korea board seem to be talking up China.