Job Discussion Forums

[BigMike07]

This is my first post and i may get some grief for this post but i was wondering about the amount of saving a person can do while teaching english in Vietnam.

I have a bachelors in accounting from a USA university. I have no experience in formal teaching or a TEFL certificate. I have been in the Peace Corps and have done some small scale teaching of English to some friends and neighbors while in the Peace Corps. I was wondering what amount people are able to save while teaching in Vietnam. I was wondering if you could tell me the saving possibility in a larger city as well as a small scale city.

thanks

[AnnMouse]

I'll be polite...

Of course there are too many factors here to give you a real idea but based on personal experience in Hanoi...

1 - it may be more difficult than you think to get work here without formal training - whatever you've read on these forums.
2 - However, chances are you should still be able to pick up some work though it might be on a casual basis at first. In any case schools are unlikley to offer you solid contracts/rates as you don't meet the recruitment criteria for most of the bigger schools here
3 - Assuming you got a fairly standard newbie teacher contract in a fairly standard VNese city you would be grossing APPROXIMATELY $1000 a month (lots of people are going to disagree/have their own opinion on this)
4 - Living costs are up to you but you should be able to get by spending a total of APPROXIMATELY $7-800 a month total - food, rent, travel, entertainment (lots of people are also going to disagree/have their own opinion on this)
5 - You would do better with a qualification of some kind, which you can get here but you have to be prepared to spend for weeks doing it and lay out about $1500 for it (maybe plus accomodation costs)
6 - If you are serious about staying in EFL for at least a couple of years then doing the training course is a worthwhile investment

[just noel]

[fischerles_hump]

Getting a cert certainly opens a lot more doors for you. You'll also need one if you want to get a work permit and work legally. I manage to save a fair bit here, I save somewhere around $1000 a month, it could be more but I don't really watch my cash. I saved more in Taiwan but then I led a pretty crappy existence. I reckon in Vietnam you can strike a pretty good balance between leading a nice life and saving a bit of cash.

[Teejay]

With 1500 a month, i can save 500...it depends on how much u want to spend and on how much u want to save.

U may earn more too...it depends on how much hours u want to take or u can take.

newbie

[Micro67]

While costs are going up there are still deals to be found. In Saigon Districts 1 and 3 are getting to be high, but just out a little further there are still great deals on housing, food, cloths and other necessities.

On the flip side, wages are also creaping upward and moving that money is becomming more efficient. Unfortunately, people working more than one job might wind up with several bank accounts, but that is a small price. Getting the money out of the country is also becomming easier and less expensive as restrictions on banks are eased.

There is no reason that people can't save well over $1,000 a month and with the summer comming that number is limited only by how much you want to work, where you want to live and how you spend your money. If you want to live in a small apartment in Go Vap and eat pho three times a day you could do much better.

[Riding One]