Job Discussion Forums

saigon cowboy · Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 84

ILA and VUS seem to be in vouge with the trendy well heeled teens in HCMC. But are they the best for teachers ?

My opinion is no. VUS and ILA will hire you and work you like a water buffalo.
You are easily replaced by younger less experienced teachers because the designer schools are looking for the young white face to impress the parents who pay the bills.

And now my personal survey.

I have countless students who come to my school and complain about the low quality teachers at ILA and VUS. They said it...not me.

I ask them... why did you leave there and come to my untrendy school ?
They all say the same thing..." young teachers who can't teach ".

They want quality and experiance. They know the frauds and fakes.

Pizza Lover · Joined: 20 Jun 2009 Posts: 13

Green Acres · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 260

The management of VUS, in part, once worked for ILA, so the similarities in approach can be attributed, in part, to that.

They realized a long time ago that it was better to bring in college grads who would have no desire to stay here very long. Keep'em coming!! They even provide a TEFL degree for nothing. ILA churns them out by the dozens, and they pervade the marketplace. They will be the ruin of the industry.

Anywhere in Asia can be at the whims of fashion and obedience. For many schools, especially in HCMC, the focus is on profit margins. The question is what makes a school profitable? Contrary to western ways, one does not attend school in Vietnam to become educated. One attends school in order to receive a certificate. A side benefit may be the social network that a school possesses. Education is an illusion, and in many ways, completely impeded by the status quo.

In the past 10 years, money was falling from heaven (a literal translation from a Vietnamese expression). Quality was never a consideration. VUS evolved from a famous name prior to unification in 1975. They have 10,000 students. Some of the teachers there are really excellent. A few years ago, businesses would even accept the VUS certificate of English proficiency -- but not any more.

ILA doesn't have as many students, and is relatively new compared to VUS. They have few good teachers, but a lot of good people work with their organization (for about a year, after they get their TEFL certificate, then they move on). VUS hires more experienced and older teachers, whereas ILA most certainly does not. ILA can be a gateway to RMIT, who used to hire ILA people until recently (perhaps the standard has been lowered too much?).

The real pity is that English teachers in Vietnam may not form unions. They may not join existing teaching unions (they are excluded from membership). They have no pension. They are not unified, and in many cases, work against one another. The industry is led by institutions whose sole interest is money. The entire system has been dumbed down over the past 5 years, and with money-making being the goal, no one cares about, or has ever cared much about, quality. Now schools are looking for more ways to trim their budgets and become profitable. Hiring young "push arounds" is an approach.

A good example of the industry in Vietnam, and most schools in HCMC do this, is the offering of IELTs and TOEFL classes. These schools do not have a general English program, or an academic English program, but rather, offer anywhere from 4-10 levels of IELTs/TOEFL preparation classes. That's it. The shame of it all is that they don't need a foreign teacher to provide this type of curriculum. I once saw a foreign professor fired (basically) for trying to institute an academic English curriculum at a university. It seemed that the English department felt their jobs were at stake, and that they were actually profiting from the inefficiencies (an entirely different thread). I could go on and on, but the point of this thread is just that -- experience, age, wisdom -- these characteristics which are embolden by great teachers like Lao Tzu, Confucius, or the Buddha -- are not valued here (from foreign staff).

How can one make a fashion statement if they are being taught by Lao Tzu? It just doesn't happen.