Job Discussion Forums

zeke0606 · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:07 am Post subject: ILA VIETNAM?

I see that ILA Vietnam has an advert in Dave's for teachers and admin's. Can anyone tell me if they are as they write? It is grand PR, but is it true?
I am considering going to that area of the world and would like some concrete data concerning this school.

Thanks!

Zeke

FriendlyUser · Joined: 21 Sep 2007 Posts: 26 Location: Ho Chi Minh

ILA is the first choice for teachers in HCMC!

zeke0606 · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:42 pm Post subject: what?

thank you very much!

lizarddoctor · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 141 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

ILA is NOT the first choice for teachers in HCMC!!! Unless your fresh off the boat and buy up the gravy they feed you. There are some positives for newbie teachers here, but let me list up some negatives first from a long term VN teacher perspective.

1. Long contracted hours (prime time) for low pay. Yes they appear to pay well, but when you consider that you are working 6 days a week in the evenings and/or full time on the weekends for 14$/hr or less... most everyone else is getting 16-20$/hr around town. Nothing short of a sweatshop.

2. ILA looks for the CELTA as the end all of what makes a teacher, and even then, they usually hire fresh from overseas and regularly turn down long term teachers here in Vietnam who apply. Why? Easier to mold someone fresh off the boat into their system without question.

3. The office tends to get pushy for substitute hours if you have off time and they need to fill a class. The substitution system was not the best set up when I was there.

4. The amount of disgruntled teachers nearing the end of their contracts is amazing. I spent a few months in there listening to others tell me why they wern't resigning their contracts. 2 main reasons... low money and high hour burnout.

5. They are now under discussions from various VNese gov't members for their massive expansions into other cities around Vietnam and a second branch in HCMC due to the fact that they never had enough teachers to actually aquire a license to expand. I have to check again, but I believe that you have to have 1 full time teacher to every 45 students to be able to open a second branch of a school anywhere in the country. ILA definately is packed with students, but doesn't not have 1 full time/45 students to cover 3 branches and may get fined for the 4th and 5th opening. A suprise conversation brought to my attention the last time I had dinner with a few of the local officials to say the least.

6. It is very clicky and you may feel like your in high school all again. Some people like that scene, but I feel its a bit childish to be coming from adults.

Positives? Well, you will get a ton of hours. There are some great resources in there. You have some job security for a year, or until your contract comes up. They honor their contracts ( a rarity in Vietnam). They direct deposit your cash so you are not carrying around millions of VND on payday. The childrens program is their bread and butter, much better classes than the higher elementary students to teach.

Hope that is a little more balanced than their great. If you're new to Vietnam, why not have a look. It's just not all green grass at any school to be claiming that they are the first choice for people here.

zeke0606 · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject: what?

lizarddoctor

I must say this sounds more like what I understand Vietnam to be like. I am not new to this profession - 23 years teachig experience, 11 in the USA and 12 around the world; I have a BA and a MSc and a real teaching credential. Besides I was in the nam in 1969. I thought it might be interesting to return and see what has changed.

zeke

lizarddoctor · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 141 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

There are much better opportunities for the experienced teachers out there. I am not trying to knock ILA, but they really are for the new teachers with no experience who need the contract comfort to leave home in the first place.

The rest of us running the gauntlet of schools in HCMC are making much more on far less hours and headaches. Vietnam is great and I definately recommend it for the adventurous.

ingrown · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 6

hi lizarddoctor,

ila has offered me a contract and as a person with no actual TEFL experience I've been wondering about this company. Of course the contract is only for a year, but I was wondering how hard it is to get supplemental work with private lessons in Vietnam. Is ila a decent way to break into the industry or in your opinion is working for ila simply not worth it?

ingrown

jestert79 · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 44

Sorry, I don't know much about ILA, but you mentioned the availability of private lessons here. In Hanoi, private lessons seem easy to get - I teach kids at the weekend and I had a parent approach me and say (through a translator) that she wanted me to teach two children privately for 4 hours a week! I said no - I like my rest time.

Then I went to the hospital for my medical check. The eye doctor wanted private lessons too. They can actually be pretty pushy - the conversation went like "I want private lessons." "Oh, well, I'm a bit busy and don't really have time." "Well how much do you teach?" "20 hours a week." "20 hours isn't very much." "Well, I need time to prepare the lessons too..." etc.

They're kinda starving for English teachers here - I'm sure if you advertised private lessons you'd get plenty of responses.

Good luck!

fischerles_hump · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 19

ILA is probably top 3 material, along with British Council, and Apollo. RMIT and ACET are also ok. You are doing well if you can get into British Council though. You do read a lot of rubbish on here about ILA, largely from people who are self-taught teachers, i.e. all chalk and talk. "I've been teaching for 15 years and they wouldn't offer me a job" type of thing. I've worked there and for other schools and like everywhere, it's got good and bad points.

lizarddoctor · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 141 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

I never said that it wasn't worth working for ingrown, I said it was a nothing short of a sweatshop. I would recommend just coming over on your own and stopping around town at a few schools on your own. ILA will still be there for you, but I bet you have a few offers on your plate before the first week is through. And all above what ILA is paying for new teachers with no experience. It would be interesting to see if you get the offer while you are not in Vietnam only to get turned down when you present yourself at their doorsteps.

As for hump and his posting that my posting is complete rubbish...

Please everyone take note that he/she does work there and for a first post trumpets ILA in massive support. Use your other username as I can hardly believe that you are a new user to two forums on the same day without the sole intention of promoting ILA and not giving an honest perspective into the actual workings of ILA. Keep in mind that I and many others have worked there too before you just blast a post with a bunch of individualized quotes with your 1st post perspective.

MOD EDIT

fischerles_hump · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 19

Hey man, welcome to the forum to you too! Just correcting a few factual inaccuracies. If that has upset you, then I apologise.

MOD EDIT

fischerles_hump · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 19

Alright, just looked up troll on the internet and concede that I might be being a bit unnecessarily agrumentative. I just think some of your information is a bit out of date. I worked there three years ago, and yeah we worked a six day week then and it sucked and caused a lot of complaints. Now people don't work a six day week. I agree with you that people should come and look around before they agree a contract. There are definately other schools out there. I just think that ILA gets a bad rep because it insists teachers have a CELTA or the equivalent and that upsets a lot of people who a) have been teaching a long time b) don't have a CELTA.

Mr. Kalgukshi · Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:13 pm Post subject:

Please stay on topic and address the message and not the messenger. If not, the next Moderator intervention will be more than editing or a warning.

ingrown · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 6

lizarddoctor- do people occasionally get turned down upon arrival of their promised positions at ila? I would appreciate any knowledge you have to pass on about the subject. also, is being a non-white a disadvantage in Vietnam as it is in some other Asian countries, or do they tend to be more tolerant? Sorry if I've hijacked this thread OP, questions keep popping up.

megbeth · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 11

I was at ILA for a year and highly recommend working for them if you are new to teaching, or even slightly new, or want an easy transitiion into the country. They sort visas, first week accomodation, there are tons of people, great resources and activities for teachers - the Christmas party, scavanger hunt around Saigon which is insanely fun, every three months there is a social... etc. And if you're ever sick you can just call in - no questions asked! And always the oppurtuniy for extra hours, volunteer work, placement testing. It's a great school to begin with, just wouldn't want to remain there forever.