Job Discussion Forums

[CNexpatesl]

Am wondering what your average teaching job in Nam is like. I'm used to training centers in China, which basically all force you to be a hopped up dancing monkey. You cannot be boring, low energy, or introverted in the slightest even for a minute, lest you want to be fired.

I'm wondering if this is more or less the case in Vietnam? Or are they more lenient and relaxed? How about teaching adults, are those jobs common and easy to come by? Of course I realize there is a stark difference between language mills, public school jobs and university jobs, but I'm talking about your average teaching job there.

[ExpatLuke]

Something tells me you're exaggerating greatly. I've taught in China and have a lot of friends who are currently teaching there. They don't all force you to be a dancing clown the whole time.

Lecturing is obviously not an effective way to teach children anything. So there are very few places which would accept a teacher who doesn't know how to do anything but lecture. Combine that with the fact that you need to deliver a lesson which appeals to multiple learning styles, and you'll understand why people don't want to hire a "boring" teacher who just stands at the front the class, writing things on the board all day.

If you want to lecture, get a job at a university in the West.

[sigmoid]

Naturally, the kiddy class market in VN is huge and yes you need to be "not boring".

There's also a large IELTS market.

See: http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=113400

In HCMC, and possibly Hanoi, etc., it's possible to just teach IELTS, plus maybe TOEFL and TOIEC, usually evenings and weekends.

There's not much in the way of adult classes or university jobs, but don't rule them out. There's also some possibility of tutoring private students, often expat Japanese or Korean kids, which doesn't require playing games and clowning around.

[RustyShackleford]

There are several university and college jobs out there. You just need to be upfront about applying and be okay with less than stellar salaries.

[CNexpatesl]

[ExpatLuke]

Most ESL jobs are done at after school programs. Meaning the kids have been studying the whole day, probably sitting at a desk, listening to their teacher lecture and give exercises.

It's probably about money to some degree, but in my mind it's more about motivating your students to actually study and learn. It's proven that all learners, especially children, have a variety of learning styles. And if you're only appealing to only 1 learning style with your teaching, you're a bad teacher who cannot assess and meet the needs of your students.

Honestly, it sounds like you need a little more training or an attitude adjustment, not skipping to another country, so you can be a bad teacher, but the school can't afford to lose you.

[I'm With Stupid]

[ExpatLuke]

It's debated whether appealing to different learning styles will make students learn more quickly. However, it's not debated that appealing to them, especially with children, will improve attention spans and behavior in class.

How to teach ESL changes its preferred methods every few years, and the learning styles theory is being called into question. Many people are saying it goes deeper than just the 4 standard styles. But few, if any, are saying that designing lessons which appeal to multiple styles should be thrown out altogether.

My bad teacher comment was referring to someone who wants to "lazy teach" at the front of the room for the whole lesson and cannot assess the needs of their students.