Job Discussion Forums

[Jazzed]

Hi all, buckle up..

Preamble: had job offered to begin in VN in Jan. Fell through!

Short version is I've now been looking elsewhere (Korea, Taiwan etc).
Now been re-offered job beginning in July (Int. school - I'm a qualified high schl teacher).
.... (also have now been told lease on my apt ending - so have to 'get out')...

Considering taking the gig in July (okay benefits/prospects etc). Now comes the actual question:
I need a job between now and July. Considering taking the CELTA ($$ ), but there is of course the chance that I will never use it again after July. (but if I do and decide to go on to an MATESOL - I can get credit for having done the CELTA).

You still with me?

How feasible is it to arrive in Vietnam (or Thailand if you have knowledge about that) and pick up work without a TEFL qualification or background - just after Tet?? (I'm aware that there is a difference between being a teacher in my home country and and an EFL teacher)

Another option is to shaft the Int School option altogether and go for the "train then teach" type programs.

thanks in advance for following the bouncing ball there - anyone care to offer "well if I were you" or " in my experience" advice? (Good on YOU!)

[ChuckECheese]

Jazzed,

I believe you're in luck. If you are a qualified teacher, you must have degree in education (B.ED) or teacher's credential. If so, you do not need TEFL/TESOL or CELTA to teach in Vietnam or any other Asian countries.

In fact, all you need is decent looking white face and ability to speak English. But with your degree in education and experience, you'll be in much much better position though.

Make sure before coming to Vietnam, bring all the original documents (See sticky "Here's what you need to bring to work in VN
") with you. Just go on over to Vietnam and apply in person to some of the well known schools.

By the way, which international school has given you the job offer? Is it SSIS or British International?

Good luck.

[Jazzed]

ChuckeCheese,

You're a legend for responding, thankyou.

I was trying not to give all the gory details for 2 reasons - not wanting to test the readers patience and unsure if prospective employer lurking.
(it's ISS BTW)

If I can test your patience further, when you say 'just front up to the well known schools' do you mean the ILA, Apollo, Language Link big chain type schools? (having just typed that - I feel like a goofball immediately, because that is 99.9% surely what you meant - don't flame me - I'm a sensitive newbie )

And taking that a step further, would you recommend inflicting my CV/white-faced photo on them now to get a foot in - or are you going to reiterate "just turn up"?

end of essay..

thanks (just working my way through the entire body of icons!)

[ChuckECheese]

LOL

Don't worry. We don't bite. But we require you to buy all of us a round of iced tiger beer when you get to Vietnam.

[Jazzed]

ChuckE (I've gone with the affectionate Australian shortening of a name now that we're old mates)

..you're just full of it! (helpfulness that is) Thanks.

Believe it or not I've been sitting here tossing up whether to reply to you..thoughts are "am I rude if I don't even just say thanks" or am I (to use a great phrase), "testing his patience" if I keep batting back with *crap*.

anyway...Thanks,

as for tigers..donediddlydoodlydone!

[huxter]

Since you two are hitting it off so well, why don't you move in together?

[sethness]

re: CELTA in Thailand...

if you hunt around DavesESLcafe in the Thailand section, I'm sure you can find a couple of schools that will give you a teeny-tiny salary (but good enough for life in Thailand) AND a CELTA or TEFL (I forget which) to boot, and only require a commitment of a few months.

EDIT: here's one of'em: http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=13923

If I remember correctly, some of these jobs are at public high schools... so it all seems to fit in perfectly with your needs. You'll come out of it with the short-term ESL-teaching job you want, no bad karma for only doing it until July, and you'll have an ESL-teaching certificate in your pocket.

Life is good.

On the down-side, Thailand just had a military coup. I don't think it's particularly dangerous, though.

[lizarddoctor]

It is quite feasable to pick up some work at some of the lower end schools without a certification at all. Just don't pin your hopes on landing a higher pay job at a much better school. After tet when the students start their new semester, most everyone who has their phone number out there starts getting calls for work regardless of when you passed them your card or resume. Some of the schools called me time and again after Tet the last few years and I gave them my resume nearly 8 months before with no word.

As far as paperwork goes, just keep your contract to 3 months or less with a school and you NEVER will need a work permit or certified paperwork. I have been to the Minisrty of Labor myself and have already gone over this whole issue with them. Anyone out there who lets a school dupe them into thinking that they need all the paperwork for a work permit is just letting the school have a bit more control. The work permit is really limiting for a teacher when the system isn't created with the western 40 hr work week ethic in mind. Other industries ok, but not the ESL scene. The process of actually getting one isn't concrete and too many people get bent out of shape when they don't realize that they don't have to do it in the first place. That said, do have your degree or cert with you at an interview if you have one. I just show work related pictures at this point and haven't shown my degree or even a resume at an interview in over a year. But then again, I have already gone through the networking process of getting my name out there.

Many of us long term teachers just get tired of reposting that simple information over and over when many of the questions that are posted here are newbie topics that could be found with a simple search on this forum. The only reason I say this is that a lot of good information gets buried in the forum never to be seen again. Make the decision to stay for the long haul (2-3 years +) before you start dealing with the Work Permit headache as there will always be available work out there on the fly. Maybe after then you might want to get one, but even then, you will be so networked with the schools by then that you might find it a bit foolish since the schools will work around the loopholes for you if they really need (or want) you in their school.

[Jazzed]

Thanks to all who've replied.

Huxter..you're hilarious

Sethness...thanks for advice..I've seen that ad..dates don't fit..tks anyway

Lizardoctor...thanks .. just FYI I've actually been trawling the newbie forum (I'm up to page 30) and all others for the past year...so I have researched and am well aware of the fact that oldbies are jack of answering what is to them the same q over and over..I've looked, but I regarded my situation as specific..anyhoo, no problem..thanks for taking the time to reply - I appreciate you sharing what you've gleaned.

(I've also been hanging around saigonesl too FYI)


(Could I just let y'all know that I emailed Apollo with my CV and they quickly responded that as you have no CELTA /Trinity we have nothing for you.)


If you're interested to keep reading..this has been helpful, but my situation gets more multifacted by the minute. As originally stated, I had a job offer in VN starting now - fell through - so I started looking elsewhere..then re-offered VN, which I'd like to take as I know the DOS and it might be a good prospect for me in the future viz. moving into the International school scene. Currently, I am being interviewed for short-term positions in England; am talking to someone at a school in Thailand; and have a bite from an Int school in Hanoi - so going nuts with the decision. As to the relation to any of this to the VN forum - I just wanted to know if (saying I decided to wait for the July Int schol job) I could arrive and pick up work until then, or whether I would need the CELTA.

Thankyou and apologies for the rave - all your input has been valued.

[BedTiger]

[Jazzed]

BedTiger...tres interessant! Actually it was Hanoi! That's weird...but maybe (you'd know??) it's a blanket policy to not hire anyone sans CELTA/Trinity.. anyway, they can go to *bleep*. Tks for yr input