Job Discussion Forums

[Miriam]

Who has heard of volunteering in Vietnam??? I am going to DaNang next year in June to teach English in an orphanage for 6 weeks. yes I know, you have to get there yourself and you don't get paid, but.....you do get the experience.. After this time, I am trying to find paid work in Vietnam.The orphanage is 1 km from the beach, the volunteers get put in hotels nearby. Has anyone else done this, or is doing this now??
This is the website for more information. Let me know what your thoughts are on this?
http://www.volunteer.org.nz/vietnam/

[Celine]

Hi there
I did a very short volunteering programme back in March 2003 in Vinh Long (in the Mekong Delta). I loved it. At the time I was wondering whether to go into EFL (from an office job in finance) and it was certainly an eye opener. I worked at a state university, no teaching resources except for a blackboard and chalk, 35-40 students per class, and never the same students twice. Shit teaching conditions, but that was the reality of the local teachers, what they had to work with year on year for a wage averaging 100USD, with very little hope for a change... The kind of place that would never hire a foreign teacher in the first place because they can barely pay their own staff as it is.
Yes, volunteering means you have to pay your way, your plane journey, very much as a holiday, and on top of that, you have to work. If you have a job already (ie savings / decent money in the bank) and are wondering whether Vietnam/EFL is for you, why not? It's a better way to meet people and experience the local life than being a tourist.
Then again, so would teaching!
I never regretted it (did a CELTA afterwards, and went on teaching), but I had money and a job to go back to in London afterwards... It does make a difference.