Job Discussion Forums

[cronolegs]

I am 22 yrs old and was in Vietnam all last year and ended up owning (renting from land lord) a hostel in Dist 1 saigon. So I know how the country works and I am very comfortable getting around/routine.

Since Christmas I have been applying to teach in Korea but so far no luck on the application.

So I am considering coming back to Vietnam and teaching there. Sick of scrounging off my parents.

My questions are
1. What is the age group of teachers there ? I was living off a Vietnamese salary before and so didnt get to experience the "richer" lifestyle there. I am concerned the age of teachers is far higher than myself from what I have seen and witnessed. Are there younger teachers lurking outside of the slum of pham nu lao?

2. How quickly do you think I can get a job - is this holiday thing slowing everything up and for how long.

3. What flexibility do you get with age groups? One of the disadvantages of Korea is it seems all kindergarten/elementary for new teachers.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers

[mark_in_saigon]

Having been here a year, you have probably beat the average time spent in country by an expat teacher here. That being the case, seems your own experience would give you some good answers.

You saw the age range of the teachers, and also the general tendencies of the groups. Obviously, you have a few serious teachers, you have some carousers, you have some folks who would have a hard time passing a college level English course back home. These groups do not always correspond to age levels, although perhaps the older group has a higher share of serious individuals. Perhaps. Still, you should also know that any western teacher working a decent amount of hours makes far more money than the average native, and so you were already richer than most. Everything is relative, but for most of us, we are not going to be the guys driving the cars worth a quarter of a million dollars here. Those folks have more than just some hourly wage (of any rate). I actually think VN is best for folks who have an income from the west, and the teaching income here is just padding. It sure makes life nicer.

You should also know you can get a job as quickly as you like, if you go around and knock on doors and you present yourself properly (and assuming the self you are presenting is qualified and presentable). We have lots of expats here, but we do not have sufficient numbers of better teachers who are serious about their work, look good, speak loudly and clearly, and relate well to the natives (and to children). If you are first rate, you will have no problem finding work.

While it is good to be able to teach all age groups, the nature of the industry is such that the majority of learners are not advanced, and are mostly children. Hoping to teach advanced students is a goal, but not always realistic. Even classes that are billed as advanced may be partially or mostly intermediate students. You should already know what a mess all of this is from your previous time here, it has not gotten substantially better.

Just browse this site in detail, there is lots of great information on all these topics, it all should be current enough to be relevant reading for you.

[Dekadan]

Hey Cronolegs, one thing that you didn't mention are your qualifications, which would help determine how likely you are to be hired. Most jobs I heard of require a university degree plus some sort of TEFL certificate, such as the CELTA. I hope you're aware of this.

Otherwise, MIS hits it pretty much on the head. The schools I worked for had a pretty broad spectrum of teachers. There's a good number of teachers who just graduated from university if you're looking for your age demographic.

The key thing in most parts of Asia is image. Make sure that you're trimmed up and have appropriate clothes on (e.g., if you're a guy, button-up shirt, tie, dress pants) as well as articulate. Try out a few interviews to try to gauge what you can expect.

Good luck!

[Oh My God]

[cronolegs]

"You're probably of VN ancestry and discovered the prejudice of the locals towards Viet Kieu but that's only a guess. "

Nah was just travelling around and fell in love with saigon. Discovered hotels were actually affordable per month and seemed a reasonable business model. So I just asked every hotel in the district if they were for sale. Turned out a few owners wanted out...
Problem being when the hotel got busy the police just asked for more bribes. So you'd make more money being a teacher than a hotel owner/manager....
My friend is still running it, ppbackpackers in pham nu lao

Qualifications are BA 2.1 in a good UK uni and a 120 hour tefl.

It seems the korean schools are showing an interest now so I will probably land there to see something new and different.
Will be back to vietnam some day for sure!

[cronolegs]

Need some help again.

I did get a few offers for Korea and accepted a position. My paper work got delayed in the post and I was quickly replaced. Back to square 1 on applications.

Vietnam keeps ticking through my mind so I got a few more questions...

I know most teachers say they have two teaching jobs + private on top.
I wondered how flexible teaching hours were / holidays/ and how much say I am likely to get on the age of students I teach (with my qualifications) mentioned above.
+ Flexibility on contracts as I am needing to come back to England in September for a week.

A thing I loved about Vietnam was the lack of rules and paperwork. Im not a rule breaker but I just love the relaxed approach to everything. Korea is already irritating me with how "by the book" everything is.
So I am wondering if Vietnam's casual flexibility follows through into Teaching.

MOD EDIT

Cheers

[Dekadan]

Thread's still going, so I'll chip in:
I worked at ILA. If you have a CELTA Pass A or a CELTA Pass B, they give you the option of teaching only adults. However, from what I have heard in general (and this applies worldwide), it is usually a bad idea to say, "I don't want to teach kids." Schools want someone who can be flexible if need be. If you don't want to teach children (or whatever), then it's up to you to get the qualifications so that the school will want to put you in the classes you want.

If you want schools that play less by the rules, then steer more towards smaller schools; the mills are more likely to want to do things a certain standard way.

Otherwise Kurtz nails it: most schools will give you vacation days, just make sure that you book ahead ASAP. It will depend on how many other teachers try to take vacation (e.g., Christmas is usually a fight to get the holiday for).

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

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