Experienced teacher thinking of moving to Vietnam

rapidfire7 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm a 35 year old Australian who is considering relocating to Vietnam to teach English after thoroughly enjoying the month I spent travelling there last year.

However, at my stage of life, I would definitely not be treating this as some kind of gap year experience to ‘find myself', but rather a medium to long term life and career move.

I am already an experienced primary educator with a Masters degree in Special Education, and would hope that my qualifications/experience would open up some better opportunities than if I only had a TEFL cert etc.

I'd be really keen to hear the experiences of people who have been teaching in Vietnam for a number of years or who are planning to be there for the long term, and if people think this may be a good option for me at my stage of life or not.

Cheers.   

Ricky,

Hopefully you can land a semi-permanent (long term) position in a location you love.

A legal employment contract with a work permit will open the door for you to gain legal temporary resident status, a huge advantage when seeking stability here.

Best of luck as others more experienced give you specific how-to pointers.

rapidfire7 wrote:

I am already an experienced primary educator with a Masters degree in Special Education, and would hope that my qualifications/experience would open up some better opportunities than if I only had a TEFL cert etc.

It is a little unclear from the above whether you presently have a TEFL certificate in addition to your Masters degree.  By law, your being a certified teacher exempts you from having to have a TEFL Cert. in applying for a work permit.   My lawyer told me this (I have a BEd) when I applied for mine and then decided to turn in a copy of my TEFL anyway.  This is because you never can be sure of whether the bureaucrat who handles your application actually knows the law, or even cares.  I would take a TEFL class even if you feel you do not need it.

I saw both good and bad teachers in Vietnam, but the best were those that had real time in the classroom in their home countries.  The worst owned a tax preparation franchise in Toronto.  Not only did he have the wrong temperament, he did not enunciate well.    The kind of patience to explain things clearly that you need for SPED will serve you well in ESL.  Not all language school owners understand the value of a real trained teacher, particularly if the teacher is above what they see as the most desirable age (21-30) but if you link up with the right owner/franchisee, I am betting that they will not want to let you go.  After getting your feet wet, you probably can start looking around for management roles if that is what you want.