Job Discussion Forums

[wisdomlover]

lizarddoctor says a lot of facts and the info is all here. the top schools depending on how you look at it are places like ila apollo rmit etc....but that is just the beginning. there are opportunities everywhere here. i was quite happy doing my first year of experience at ila after the celta. it was a great experience with a good work environment. it has its problems just like any place does but i dont really think any one is ever going to find the perfect place to work unless you start it yourself and even then your likely to make mistakes. ila is expanding rapidly and will come into problems for it but in general it has been worth it for me. never had to work 6 days a week and the pay was decent and even though they pay lower than other schools the professional development and resources make it very easy for new teachers who want to get solid experience. keep in mind i was in the young learners and teens programs so i don't speak for the adults program. i seriously think you can't be friends with every single person you work with when there are so many teachers. you hang out with who you want just the way you do in life. if your the kind of person i would hang out with at a club then your the kind of person i would hang out with in the teachers room. if not then not. pretty simple. of course if you have questions all people are friendly enough to help but you just can't be friends with a hundred other teachers. now that i am moving on in the industry i am happy but i am also very happy to have a solid year of solid experience at what i would consider a decent school that cared about my professional development. the friends i have that work for all the other schools like them as well. it is pretty simple i guess.....just show up and check the places out yourself and go to the place you like most. you don't need to worry about securing anything before getting here. you just limit your options. well thats my two cents. now back to the chile and argentina forums since that is my next stop. i can tell you this much....going from getting paid well in vietnam to the money in SA is going to be a shock to the wallet.

[Theriel]

Hrm, it might be worth emailing them directly, but thought I'd toss this out there for any people who might have input. I generally teach Business/General English, but my qualification (an MA in phonetics, BA in linguistics) is in phonetics & accent reduction. Anyone know how the situation is regarding pronunciation courses at ILA/other schools? And do you think a CELTA would still be required for that?

Don

[fischerles_hump]

God knows the Vietnamese could do with specific pronunciation courses. The deal is that legally the VN government need to see some sort of teaching English qualification to issue you a work permit. Some schools operate under the table and I'm sure you could get work here. ILA require people to have a work permit, so unless your MA has a practical teaching component then you will need a CELTA or TEFL or something.

[fischerles_hump]

By the way, I though the whole deal now was that comprehensability was the goal rather than achieving a native speaker accent. Something that very few learners do unless they start pre teen. Why would you go to all that bother if you can already make yourself understood?

[Theriel]

Well, the goal is actually somewhere in between, when I teach at least. How comprehensive you are often honestly depends who you're talking with and how good they are at understanding I don't care if the students sound perfectly British, American, etc. Accents can sound kinda cute even, so you certainly don't have to sound native. But I do try to make them understand the difference between certain phonemes, and to be able to consistently produce it.

*Sigh*, the certificate things seem honestly like such a waste of time. I've been teaching for 5 years and already have enough degrees. I feel like the CELTA/Tefl are kinda for mostly people new to the field. I'm tired of getting more qualifications. I can accurately describe when to use which tense, how to pronounce sounds, how to get people more interested, when to correct them and when not to, etc.. I think I'll look somewhere else then.

[pest2]

[mike30]

I worked at ILA for 6 months and would recommend it.

[Lost In Vietnam]

Having just finished a six month contract with ILA, would I recommend working there? The simple answer is NO. There are much better schools out there who pay far more and appreciate you!!

[sv6mile]

Which schools would you recommend?

[Teejay]

International schools.

better sked, better pay.

[Teejay]

yeah, schedules.

[mushroomyakuza]

some very mixed opinions here, but on the whole they seem positive to me. One question that keeps gnawing at me and making me wonder if that's what's causing the spite in this thread: what kinds of hours do you work? By that I don't mean how many, I mean what are the daily schedules likely to be?

[wired]

Will ILA sort out the current work permit issues for teachers? I am planning on flying to Vietnam in April next year to take the CELTA course + apply to work at ILA, but I might try elsewhere first if the situation doesn't improve by then. :/

[varbuut]

[Green Acres]

ILA is the biggest recruiter for all the other schools in the region -- indirectly. People come there and take their CELTA training course, some work for ILA, but the vast majority take on jobs with other schools. ILA doesn't care, they got your money and exploited your time. They also have a constant source of new teachers who are easy to manipulate, so if you are not manipulatable, then it's better that you don't stay in their organization anyway.

On the whole, it's not a bad place for someone breaking into the field, and especially for young teachers. It's like an insane asylum for anyone who's been doing this for a while or is used to being treated as a professional in the field.