Job Discussion Forums

[beetlil]

My situation...

I am 42 years old, single mum with all kids finishing high school in Australia by the end of this year except my 13 year old.
I have BA (communication), Honours degree (communication & literature), TESOL, 5 years experience teaching at Aus university in communication and have been working as International Student Coordinator in Aus high school for past 18 months. I also did winter camp teaching in Korea a few years back - 2 month stint.
The kids and I went to Vietnam for 3 weeks recently and just loved it and so i'm now thinking of a sea change and working for a few years there.

The advice I need...
Is there any alternative to educate my 13 year old other than the expensive international schools? - as it appears the cost of this would cancel any opportunity of saving.
My 15 year old son wants to be a chef. Is there any chance of him getting some training in this in Vietnam?
I have looked at ILA - would my experience and quals warrant enough pay rate to afford a reasonable house... 3/4 bedrooms? Are there other companies I should look at?
We liked Hoi AN and so am looking at maybe Danang as our base - any opinions?
And... can someone tell me the different teaching schedules from school to language centre as I need to work out if i'm going to be leaving my kids for long periods on their own (they are very independent but i love spending time with them and don't want to miss this!)

Sorry for such a long winded post but basically any advice on housing, pay, education, my chances of getting a decent position and living in Vietnam with a family would really be appreciated.

[mach114]

You could get a job that pays well in Saigon, but my expierence with work outside of Saigon is that it probably won't pay as well or be as stable. Unless you move to the other biggest market in Vietnam which is Hanoi. In these two cities the more hours you work the more you get paid. Generally someone of your qualifications could expect 18 - 20 USD per hour, if you negociate your contracts and look for more reputable schools. Goto [url]www.saigonesl.com [/url]and look at the school lists for Hanoi and Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City). You could do homeschooling for your kids, but any international school is going to cost big bucks; however if you can land a job with one of those schools they may cover part or all of your children's tutition. Most of those schools require that you have certification to be a teacher in your home country. Best of luck to you in the year of the ox!