Job Discussion Forums

[Gold Rush]

Is 750US/month good from a university?

I have to teach 20 hours/week or 20 45-minute periods.
Housing doesn't seem to be included and there's quite a bit of commuting from downtown HCMC to the outskirts.

Also, this is the initial offer of a university in HCMC, namely the Nong Lam University in ThuDoc district.

What do you think?

[spycatcher reincarnated]

Don't know what salaries Unis pay, but you could find much higher pay at English schools. Nong Lam university is probably about 30-45 minutes from District 1 so you had better hope you are given a good schedule.

Just in case you don't know exactly where it is:

Highway number one
Soon before Suoi Tien park there is a flyover that goes over highway number one.
Turn right here and go over the flyover
Probably the second turning on the right (about 1 KM I guess)
200 meters up this road and it is on your right.

"Thu Duc" is the correct spelling.

Nong Lam Uni has a good reputation. Especially the English department.

[Micro67]

[lizarddoctor]

You should be aiming more toward the 15$-20$ range per hour to start or more depending on what your qualifications are. If they are paying so little you need to ask yourself...

1. Are they paying ALL of your tax and is this contracted?

2. Are all of the classes back to back with very little break? It does suck to have to teach 2 hours, go home for 2 hours, come back and teach for 3 hours. It really cuts into your personal time.

3. Are the classes in the morning and early afternoon weekday classes only? If so, then a little less pay is ok due to the fact that they are harder to get. Night and weekend hours are easy to get and should they be compensating you more for your qualifications.

4. Are there any fringe benefits in the contract? Contracts here are paper thin, but some places do offer some extras that they do honor.

5. How far is it away from your home and how is the traffic at the commute hours? This affects the pay negotiation for me.

6. And most importantly, did you even attempt to negotiate or just ready to accept what they offered you walking in the door? Please do negotiate as the schools here need you more than you need them.

After you consider those questions... accept it if the deal makes you happy, keep looking if it doesn't feel right.

[indigora]

The problem isn't really the pay, but the location of Thu Duc. You can find other part-time contracts in HCMC, but to commute to Thu Duc for 80 hours a month and try to earn more for your time is really not worth it.

Working for a university has many added benefits in Vietnamese society especially, so the actual pay is not relevant. I would turn it down because of the commute, though if I was working all 20 hours in 2 days, I might seriously reconsider. They can do that, you know. Ask them to organize your time to fit your needs.

[Cyan]

Hi indigora

Im curious to knopw what "added benefits in Vietnamese society especially" you might be talking about?

Can you elaborate?

Thu Duc is far out of the city centre and that salary is really low so I just want to find out more about your motivations for such a job?

[antran1976]

Hi guys, just another repetitive question. Can a qualified Viet Kieu make as much as $15 US per hour teaching English in Vietnam? I know I have the qualifications to teach in Vietnam but for some reason I am still thinking that I will be making the salary that they pay the local teachers!

By the way, a friend of mine, also a Viet Kieu, is taking the Oxford TESOL Seminar in NYC (this was recommended by me, as I have already taken it). He isn't sure that the Oxford Seminar is enough to teach in Vietnam! I told him that they (Oxford) have contacts in Vietnam! He still doesn't believe me! Can someone please verify this for us if you know anything about an Oxford Tesol Certificate and its value in Vietnam?

We also argued about this stupid grammar point in my friend's ESL resume. He wrote under qualifications: - Excellent written and communication skills. I told him that it should be "communicative skill" and he started laughing at me! Am I wrong?

[ytuque]

You are right!


We also argued about this stupid grammar point in my friend's ESL resume. He wrote under qualifications: - Excellent written and communication skills. I told him that it should be "communicative skill" and he started laughing at me! Am I wrong?

[tw]

Beware of Oxford Seminars job placement service for its graduates! You are better off finding a job yourself. I activated my job placement service in May and the so-called coordinator never took the initiative to contact me other than to confirm that she had received my activation and later, the documents needed to process my case. I was told a recruiter had been working on my behalf to find me a job but I never heard from this recruiter, or any others that the coordinator later told me she had given my documents to. When I e-mailed her, she told me that because (1) I was not a university degree holder and (2) because of my Chinese background the recruiter was having a difficult time finding positions for me. She also used this excuse that because I had "insisted" on working in Dalian it made things more difficult. That was of course a lie because I had only said that my preferance was Dalian, but never did I say Dalian ONLY. As for the no-degree and Chinese-face problems, I received plenty of job offers from my own job search and even had to turn down a few contracts before deciding on well-paying job in a northeastern Chinese university.

The Oxford Seminars course is useful for anyone without any teaching experience. To me it was just spending some money to buy a piece of paper in order to increase my marketability.

[Henry_Cowell]

A "written skill" is a skill that is written.

A "writing skill" is skill in writing.

I think you want the latter.

"Communication skills" is standard American English usage. There are courses and books with this title.

Think of it this way: an "x skill" is a skill in x. In this context, "x" should always be a noun rather than an adjective or past participle.

A skill in writing = writing skill (not "written" skill)

A skill in communication = communication skill (not "communicative" skill)

A skill in cooking = cooking skill (not "cooked" skill )

[antran1976]

Hello Henry_Cowell,

I am fully aware of your argument for the use of "communication" instead of "communicative" skill in a resume. But do you think that it's grammatically incorrect to put "communicative skill" rather than "communication skill"? When putting "communicative skill" I am stressing the fact that a have a skill and it's a skill in communication and it is therefore called a "communicative skill." Anyway, which one do you think sounds better (more natural)? I think both "communication skill" and "communicative skill" are grammatically correct but personally prefer the latter because it goes well (be in parallelism) with its partner "written skill). Am I wrong?

An (Leslie) Tran

[Henry_Cowell]

Now you're right. It's not a question of grammar. Both "communicative skills" and "communication skills" are correct grammatically.

However, the term "communicative skills" is education jargon used by language teachers. These are the same people who use the equally meaningless term "written skills." I wouldn't use either phrase in a resume.

Your skill is not "communicative." If it were, what would it communicate?

But you are communicative -- because you have strong communication skills (i.e., skills in communication). A skill is not communicative. A person (or action or utterance) is.

Likewise, your skill is not "written." Where is that skill "written"? Instead, it's a "writing" skill. I hope you see the difference.

[antran1976]

So you think "...excellent writing and communication skills..." sounds better for a resume than "...excellent written and communicative skills..."?

[Henry_Cowell]

Yes -- especially if it's for a job teaching English.

If you're listing more than two skills, you might want to put the word skills first:

Excellent skills in writing, commmunication, testing, and curriculum design

Good luck!

[antran1976]

Thanks!