When applying for teaching jobs

vicvo84 wrote:

I see many job postings requiring you to send, along with your CV and/or cover letter, a copy of your passport, photo, certificates, diploma/degrees, criminal and health records during the initial application. I'm a bit weary about sending all of this with my CV before I hear back with more information. Does anyone know if this is a normal requirement?

If the employer asks for all that then I guess you should send it but I would normally send a cover letter and CV and indicate that the rest is available on request.

I hope you are aware that as a Viet Kieu, you face definite obstacles to hiring even if English is your L1.   Although it should not be necessary, you might consider taking an IELTS or TOEFL iBT test to verify your proficiency.  Warning:  Don't take it for granted and do a little light review mostly to familiarize yourself with the test format.  Even for native speakers, perfect scores are rare. 

Sadly, even when hired you may face salary offers of a few dollars less than white foreign teachers.  A particular niche that you may consider is teaching absolute beginners.  My school utilized a very fluent local young lady, and I know she did an excellent job because I twice taught the next level after her.

You did not indicate if it was laboratory or administrative work but considering your Biology degree and health care industry experience you might look into work not as a teacher but as a translator for health care clinics which might want to expand their practice with foreigners.  Keep in mind that translation is different than teaching but I expect you could manage.  There is a lot of technical terminology that you are suited to work with.  Besides face to face translation you might have skills in producing brochures and similar materials.  And of course there will be doctors who want to improve their English.  Most Viet MD's have some English training but mostly for the purpose of reading journals.  Based on my experience teaching a private class with a physician friend and a few other doctors, patient interviews are the area where they need a lot of help in dealing with foreign patients.

It's normal