Any other teachers here, what's going on? Re-opening of schools?

Actually the government does not fund the native English teachers in public schools, the parents do.  I know of this because a friend had two stepdaughters in the middle school where he taught.  He and I calculated that the extra fees collected for students whose parents wanted them in the program were at least triple what the foreign teachers were being paid.  My guess is that the language centers got about half of the difference and the rest was divvied up by principals and other officials.  That said, there may be some justifiable caution among parents about coughing up extra funds at this time.

Thanks I didn't know that, I thought the funds came from up high. It seems that all students in a given class (say 4-1 class) receive lessons though. I was aware of the fact that the center receives a lot more than the 400,000 teachers receive. Doesn't bother me too much, even with direct hiring I doubt that number would move up much. There's simply too low a barrier to entry into this profession. And once English teachers have a standard salary in whatever country you are in , it is very unlikely to move much regardless of inflation.

At this point I'd just like to know if the schools want us back and when the start and ending date of the Spring/Summer term is. Quite frustrating to be honest.

Schools started opening this past Monday:

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/hanoi … 93776.htmlhttps://e.vnexpress.net/news/video/stud … 92233.html

Language school job ads:
https://vietnamteachingjobs.com

List of Online Teaching Companies:
https://www.goodairlanguage.com/teachin … -online-2/

As usual johnross23 comes through when the subject is ESL education.  Although he has given you a good start you might consider posting your original question on Dave's ESL Cafe.  Dave's Vietnam  You may have to register to post.  That forum went dead after management started strictly enforcing a 300 word limit but I see that some of the more knowledgeable regulars are still there.  You seem to have a pretty good grip on the situation yourself and may be able to get a solid response there.

johnross23 wrote:

Schools started opening this past Monday:

Interesting and encouraging videos.  One thing that I found important was the reduction in class size to around 20 students.  For the kind of speaking and pronunciation work that foreign teachers are usually expected to provide, the smaller class size will mean a lot more speaking opportunities for each student.  For those who have never taught in public schools, the norm used to be 40-50 per class, desks jammed against each other so that students often almost had to climb over each other to get to their assigned seats.  It's hard to ask a child to come up to the chalkboard if they have to squeeze past 3 or 4 of their peers to get there.  My only fear is that there might be a move to reduce the teacher pay based on the drop in school fees collected, as I mentioned in my first post.  We will see.

My wife's daughter starts back to school Monday.  She is in grade 8.  She used to go all day but they have shortened it to half day so they can cut in half all of the class sizes.  She's in the morning group every day.  The Vietnamese guy I work with every day has a daughter in grade 9 and she has some days she goes in the morning and some in the afternoon so that part is at least school or grade dependent.

I prefer from the parents side to have it the same every day to start to create some sense of normalcy in the school day again.  It's been mixed up long enough.

The ads on Vietnam Teaching jobs haven't changed much over the past couple of months although the posting dates have.

Most of the new ads I've seen are from facebook pages like English teaching Jobs in Vietnam. A couple on craigslist.

Another strategy is to find a list of schools with web pages and just emailing them whether they are advertising or not.

My experience so far:

There are some private schools with high turnover that are constantly looking.
If you like making ppts, showing videos, playing games and then turning to the students and saying 'get it?' then those jobs are for you. These places probably require that you own a laptop. Probably 6 or more classes a day. I know of one school with 9 classes a day (40 min.) and 3 or 4 on Saturday am.

I have turned down about three jobs this past week. One wanted me to do make a 45 minute demo video with no students for a 45 minute class. Another asked me to fill out some form they called a lesson plan, gave me a topic, 6 words to review and nothing else. That means no scans from a textbook. I was to be observed by a panel with a meeting after to discuss my performance. The third had a low hourly pay, expected me to lesson plan, make and grade tests in my free time. They only had about 5-10 classes a week.

There is one ubiquitous ad with it's princely sum of 1000 to 1500 USD salary depending on experience, pretend demo and the students opinion of you.

Survival jobs IMHO.

Other news:

Parents have been showing up en masse to some private schools unhappy with the fees they paid for what they consider substandard online efforts.

Better schools probably kept paying something to retain their teachers.

There are some jobs. Hanoi and some cities that opened earlier seem to have a lot of jobs.

Maybe it'll take another week before things get going again. They'll have to hire back VN staff and get customers before they hire us back.Undoubtedly some language centres are probably finished.

Edit: I just applied to two jobs from facebook.
I passed on the 16USD an hour job.

Dave's ESL Cafe has nothing at all about Vietnam except old news about the border closing. I put an ad up there about three weeks ago. i was spammed by Chinese recruiters for weeks. A few from Korea. I put HCMC, VN in the title and in the post.

LinkedIn is better, aside from this forum which is by far the best place for news in VN.
LinkedIn has forums or boards dedicated to teaching, EFL teaching, teaching and/or living in VN, business in VN. Lots of spammers pushing their own wares there, a lot of gripes about HR. The only job ads I saw were from hack schools with serious turnover problems. But they are everywhere.

VietNam teaching jobs is usually pretty good, Vietnam works seems to be shut down. ESLBase has lists of schools with links to websites. Careerjet has some new jobs sometimes.

I've seen more than half a dozen new ads today. I applied to about three.
I ignored low paying and even standard paying positions that seem to load up your day with extra work like formal lesson plans, seminars, extra curricular duties. Anything that smells like micromanaging or magic systems.

It sure is hard to find a fair paying position that just wants you to show up and teach every day.  Training for newbs that need/want it.  That's been true here for a while though. It has nothing to do with the virus IMHO.

Hi All

greetings from Thanh Hoa City. Times are tough, like an ingrown toenail. Y'll may be familiar with many of the scams[b] centers love to play?

- In the past, when there were face-to-face meetings, we would 'shake hands'. on a Saturday evening. Next morning, at 6:30 am, a bus tour would take place. Returning 10 hous late. Then the owner would make countless videos, while you would start the full-time job in some small town. An apartment? At the center. Contract: not a wod.

After a week, the owner would say "we only hire teachers from the agency XYZ". Thanl you for volunteering. (You won't get a single Dong).
***
Others may give you some Chinese contract, withot the typical Vietnamese heading and the red seal(s). Then declare it illegal. 2 weeks, full time work. You paid 250 k at some hotel nearby. Remuneration: 0.
***

Last week, I continued negotiating with a small center. I've worked for them, a few hours.  good operation. / Unable to get answers to 2 simple questiomns (Q1: the hours, Q2: the pay), I was  [b]ordered to shw up on Saturday at 8 am.  (My question, whether i may continue to take classes, was ignored).

That was a 2 hours' drive, both ways. And I was given some schedule. 12 hours a week. My offer of 13 M a month was rejected. She countered 10 M. Every single day, there would be some class(es).

We agreed, to try it for a week.
^^^

The local hotel rejected me. Not sure, if this has been ongoing, after the schools reopened? My own hotel seems to be operating npormally, but I've been only foreigner for many month.

I had to do boring stuff like pronounce words. It was yet another case of 'window dressing'. They show off their foreign teacher. Cut the promised hours even further (even 15 minutes means a SAVING).

Last night, she fired me. Pretending "concern" by parents about the foreigner infecting their darlings. No shared dinner that day either.

What a deal: 7.5 hours riding a motor scooter. 600 k paid. - The previous job: They lied about paying it to my bank account. 6many months later, they want to pay "for 5 hours". Advertised? $ 15, then changed to $ 11. Now, they just try to pull a fast one. ANYTHING to save a million or two? You bet! (Once upon a time, on a stable long-term contract, the owner and her manager would SCREAM at me, until I gave in and let them underpay me by about $ 100 ($ 1,000, 30 hours a week. Free room and 2 warm meals). Yeah, this kind of a job would be sweet (no sarcasm).

The owner explained, the local shoe factory with 26,000 workers would lay off people. And I do get it. I would rather work for 200 k than have 0 income.

The world has changed somewhat, huh? Sign a contract on Day 1. Check out, if they know, what they are doing. Many people don't understand kids or learning or IELTS etc.  (One principal with OCD added 2 hours of instructions by him to the contract.  You cannot make this stuff up).

The Vietnamese: work for free, or pay a month's salary to get the job!

My stable job ended, when the owner demanded "a loan". I have seen tears and knew, hell would freeze over, before this owner would repay that "loan".

Not good mate....

Did you know Thanh Hoa is possibly the *** in Vietnam.....that may explain some of it.

Hope things improve😆

Craigslist: Ads have dried up. Many keep getting renewed. Lke that variation of "$ 1,800" ad infinitum. Surely, they can find suitable teachers for that much?!? Q: ID theft? What's going on?

Thee are FAKE JOBS, too. And a ton of FAKE or misleading ads. One example:

1. HCMC + $ ,1300 or something ($ 15 an hour), just for a ballpark figure).
Turns out, it might very well be $ 900 before tax. Deduct the hotel, and you miht have $ 500 left. 60-80 hours is kinda  v a g e, too. Don't they know?!?

Many don't want to hire. Are they afraid of speaking?

Here's my rant for 2019:

The head branch of a local, large language centre is open today. At least the metal doors are up. This place was pretty good, 400 VND an hr. In the outskirts of HCMC that's ok.

But...

Classes range from 15 minutes to 25 minutes in length. i was once given a schedule of 12  fifteen minute classes in three hours with no break. Obviously I asked someone who appeared to be a manager of some sort if they were crazy! It was a Saturday and I had already taught 14 classes. The manager changed the schedule and then pursued an agenda to coerce the teachers at her branch to lie about me in order to get me fired. Fortunately they had video tape.

No apology later the same office manager, who kept her job pursued a a different strategy for the same purpose.

Meanwhile the various branches of this centre have no shortage of VN teachers who think their pronunciation, speaking and vocabulary are better than any foreign teacher. Regardless of the NETs experience or education. They think nothing of interrupting the NET and arguing with them about pretty much anything.

Sneak is pronounced snik, stalactite is pronounced stalactick, and so on.

I am having my students practice answering questions about future plans using 'going to'. the VN teacher interrupts me to point out that we can ask 'What are you doing tomorrow...' . Yes, but that is not my lesson. 20 minutes wasted as the students stopped practising while I tried in vain to explain this to the VN teacher.

They also think that they are your boss. That you are an assistant who's purpose is to help them cover the exercise book for example. The school made it clear that NETs are to teach speaking and pronunciation and that they can teach whatever they want in their time. I guess they didn't bother to tell their VN staff.

Just before the virus they lost their only two NETS that actually spoke English as an L1.
That included me. We had had enough of arguing teachers and teachers that were just uncooperative. We did not discuss or plan this, it was just a coincidence.

The school was losing students. Even the food stand operators could see it. Eight students from my street alone were pulled from the school.

Their reason: their children couldn't speak English and had done poorly in the public school English exams. They didn't attend the branch I taught at.

Somehow I was sent an email from the school meant for the VN staff that addressed the situation.
Their response: We are losing students quickly. Please review and follow the methods to have fun in your classes!

That about sums up what most VN EFL schools are about. Hire a NET clown, play games, make money!

One last thing; A private school I worked for briefly made it clear that their priority was to deliver the curriculum (from a particular country), students actually learning that stuff was secondary. And fun, fun, fun! Teaching speaking? Not part of the curriculum.

Finding a good job here is getting tougher and tougher. Unless you're a clown. Then you should make hay while the sun shines! This is your moment!

Where is it all going.???
Like it or not....Mandarin will be the language they will need in future.

China will  economically swallow  Vietnam eventually.   

Everyone’s been waffling about the manufacturer’s shifting to Vietnam, but most of that “talk” was pre-virus.     Now....it’s all about make it where you sell it.    There may be a short term shift,, but within a few years the industrial parks will start to fold , and  Vietnam is too far behind for Industry 4 to benefit.

And that’s purely because of the education system & the “ keep em poor, keep em dumb” mantra from the commies.   It’s worked very well hasn’t it......keeps them under control & that’s about it.

I see in the news this week “anyone” can buy a fake university degree for $50 bucks.    Just another nail in the coffin.

Within 10 years,,if tourism doesn’t recover ( it may not) what’s left. ??

That’s when big brother up north will arrive & save the day.

Nah. Ever since I was in Uni many decades ago i have been hearing that everyone will speak Chinese. Since then English has become the lingua franca. Of course it has. It is the language of money. There are many reasons English has become dominant. It's ability to absorb vocabulary from other languages for example. Zeitgeist anyone?

The single fact that Chinese has no alphabet, which is stunning in itself, assures that no one without a need to communicate with a monolingual citizen of China or academic interest will bother with Chinese.

I've also been hearing how they'll take over the world. So far all they've been adept at is stealing technology, lying about viruses, pollution that is affecting the ozone layer and bullying smaller neighbours. Oh, and propaganda. Did you know that a US navy sailor was responsible for Covid-19? LOL

Tourism does not make the world go round. It's icing on the cake along with a thriving entertainment and sports industry.

Companies are moving here. Apple is hiring in VN? Governments like Japan are actively encouraging their companies to come home.  China is unreliable as a business partner. Their only value is as an emerging market when all the western people have bought everything they can.

Nobody knows how things will shake out when Covid passes or cools down in some way. But one thing is sure. People are mad at China. it won't be business as usual for them, to paraphrase the British PM.

From what I can see, it is a buyer's or hirers market as far as getting new NET here. Plenty of new arrivals, some very good and some bad.

The bad ones work form less, often not having a full grasp of English.

It's the same with all jobs here, often you will experience locals who have a stable job, but not be any good at it.

Customer service based jobs or anything that involves keeping customers happy is pretty poor.. but I would prefer these jobs go to locals first over foreigners.

Teaching jobs are the ones that can and do have the biggest impact on Vietnamese, English is widely spoken in the business world and it is vitally important if Vietnam wants to be successful. The biggest economic power in the world with the most influence is the US who.. speak English. That's why it's important.

Having NET work for a school here is going to be high priority for the schools to attract students, and I turn more money.

On reflection, hiring a bad teacher would be bad for business. Bad teachers get the school a bad name.. so they go through high turnover of staff.. it's a circle.

Most if not all schools have high NET turnover of staff because of bad management.

You also need to qualify what high turnover is.  Most of the schools I've left have been because of inflation. My first job paid 15USD an hour. After about three years all the job ads were offering 18 USD. I loved that company. I'd still be there except they wouldn't even discuss a raise. I moved on and my monthly pay increased by more than 10mil VND a month. That's bad management.

Three years later I moved on for 20+ USD per hour.

I worked for a company that lost more than half their NETs by November (hired in August). It is a problem with the TAs attitude towards the NETs. I thought it was one of the best companies I'd worked for and I'd still be there except a TA in one of my classes was undermining my lessons and my authority in the classes we shared.
I complained as instructed and the management started going after me! That's bad management.

A lot of very experienced, very good  NETs here refuse to teach with a TA in the room.
I don't. I think a reasonably good one can be an asset. Unfortunately some of them are abusive, delusional about their English proficiency or just plain interfere when I'm teaching. So those guys who don't like them have a point. Younger classes however need a VN adult in the room. It would be highly irresponsible IMHO to not have one.

I have worked for a company that never payed in full or on time. They had a high staff turnover too. That's bad management.

Two companies I worked for were abusive towards my VN wife. That's just plain stupid and bad management.

I have been paid hourly and then asked to make and grade tests, grade homework and make lesson plans in my free time. I don't work for free. That's bad management.

Most of the places I've worked for here have lasted around three years. But there have been a few along the way that lasted only a month or two. Some even less. Thoroughly incompetent management being the number one reason followed by intolerable abusive and/or intolerable incompetence from owners (mostly), VN staff or TAs.

Along the way I've seen many native English speakers who had no idea whatsoever how to teach a lesson at all, let alone a vocabulary, phonics or speaking lesson. These people thrive here because they'll work for whatever no matter what. Work for free? No problem! Abuse, incompetence directed towards them?  No problem, they'll try harder next time. They don't get fired for incompetence. They're enabled by a system that talks about work permits but never enforces them. If they did there would never be enough EFL NETs to meet the demand and EFL would only be available for the wealthy.

Today in VN reminds me of 10-15 years ago in Korea. Teaching is being replaced by edutainment.

You have three bosses in this industry: The students want to have fun, the parents want the kids to learn and the school needs to hang on to clients and increase enrolment.

Many schools today ignore the parents. Finding those that don't can be difficult. They breed like rabbits.

After reading this thread I ask myself why anyone would subject themselves to this.  Also I wonder how much of the poor treatment is somewhat self-inflicted if only from the steady stream of new "teachers" coming here without a plan and doing "whatever" it takes to get a job.  If the teachers would stand up for themselves as a group they would get work permits and decent pay, but that won't happen because as individuals they get desperate, stuck in a foreign country with no choice but to take what is given to them and then they work for hope and peanuts.  I wonder how many went home, never to return?  Would be the smart play.

And just as a data point, my wife decided to not send her daughter back to VUS after they started up again after COVID, even with an offer of a 30% discount over previous tuition.  She had been going there for about a year prior to the shutdown.  So, if an American/VN family that can afford to pay for the English school without any issue isn't spending the money to send their child back, what are the Vietnamese families doing?

Thanks to all that replied. It's not really self inflicted as I cannot control what someone 20 years younger is doing or willing to work for. I would certainly throw in the towel before I would start scootering around for private lessons that pay under 300,000 an hour, but I have seen desperate ads offering just that. I would have assumed working for  government schools even with the Coronavirus crisis would have offered stability or at least clarity. A "We regret to inform all foreign teachers" letter would be better than twisting in the wind. There's a number of reasons I would like to stay here, but not at all costs obviously.

In answer to your (Mr. SteinNebraska's) first query I could write an equally long essay on my job experiences in Canada.

The difference is that IMHO it is somewhat more important that EFL is taken seriously and done well. People didn't pin their hopes and dreams for the future of their children on anything I did for a living in Canada.

As for the second, I am about to find out as I am going to visit some nearby language centres with a resume, a suit and a smile tomorrow morning. They seem to be opening up today. Possibly a local MOE decision.

There are plenty of language centres for families who can't afford VUS. In some areas you can't throw a stone without hitting one.

I think your wife made a wise choice. Most of the VN around me and around some other posters here seem to think this thing has been conquered but more likely they have decided not to let it rule their lives. So they laugh at the silly foreigner wearing his mask everywhere. LOL

Life goes on until otherwise notified.

NYSTEACHER2 wrote:

Thanks to all that replied. It's not really self inflicted as I cannot control what someone 20 years younger is doing or willing to work for. I would certainly throw in the towel before I would start scootering around for private lessons that pay under 300,000 an hour, but I have seen desperate ads offering just that. I would have assumed working for  government schools even with the Coronavirus crisis would have offered stability or at least clarity. A "We regret to inform all foreign teachers" letter would be better than twisting in the wind. There's a number of reasons I would like to stay here, but not at all costs obviously.

There are jobs here now. Without knowing your quals it's hard to give advice (whatever it's worth) but to start at the top- the Canadian International School is hiring.

At the next level- WASS, VAS, Wellspring are all looking for teachers.

Language centres seem to be opening up. Try AMA, Duong Minh, SuperYouth. VUS and ILA always have ads.

As for teaching in public schools I love that too but I have no idea. Try i-CLC, EMG, AMA. Google and e-mail a resume or inquiry.

The important thing is that a school pays on time and in full, the rest is all noise. Your experience may differ.

NYSTEACHER2 wrote:

Thanks to all that replied. It's not really self inflicted as I cannot control what someone 20 years younger is doing or willing to work for.

I was definitely not calling you out on this, it's the profession as a whole doing it to themselves as a whole.  It's unfortunate because I hear how some of the people are taught and it's just wrong how they are treated strictly as a revenue stream and not for the greater good of learning.

VietCanada wrote:

In answer to your (Mr. SteinNebraska's) first query I could write an equally long essay on my job experiences in Canada.


There are plenty of language centres for families who can't afford VUS. In some areas you can't throw a stone without hitting one.

I really didn't think VUS was even expensive.  I think it was less than 8,000,000 for either a three or four month course, two days a week, three hours a day.  Something like 300,000 for a three hour class evening.  And now they offered a discount from that.  My wife thinks she has enough basics now that we can just take care of it at home.  Actually right now mom is at hometown for memory party and will be coming back Thursday after picking up her police check for her visa.  So daughter and I are doing a five day week home alone and haven't needed google translate yet.

SteinNebraska wrote:

... how they are treated strictly as a revenue stream and not for the greater good of learning.

You got it Pontiac.

SteinNebraska wrote:

VietCanada wrote:

In answer to your (Mr. SteinNebraska's) first query I could write an equally long essay on my job experiences in Canada.


There are plenty of language centres for families who can't afford VUS. In some areas you can't throw a stone without hitting one.

I really didn't think VUS was even expensive.  I think it was less than 8,000,000 for either a three or four month course, two days a week, three hours a day.  Something like 300,000 for a three hour class evening.  And now they offered a discount from that.  My wife thinks she has enough basics now that we can just take care of it at home.  Actually right now mom is at hometown for memory party and will be coming back Thursday after picking up her police check for her visa.  So daughter and I are doing a five day week home alone and haven't needed google translate yet.

My wife tells me that a couple of places I worked at are around one and a half million for a month. The last place I worked at used to interrupt my classes to hand out invoices for late payments to the kids to take home for their parents. They don't really have a mail system here.

Edit:  MWF, TTS evenings or intensive SS daytime. Usually 90 minute classes. The weekend daytimes are three hours each day I think. They see me for about half an hour a week. Some schools it was 45 minutes of me. Higher levels could be the whole 90 minutes.

I operated my own center years back in another country. If you refuse to be gimmicky and hire edutainters it's going to be really tough sledding to keep things in the black. The only way you can get away with serious teaching is doing SAT prep, TOEFL etc, but even with that you need a rep, and most students are looking for quick shortcuts rather than to actually improve their English base.

Whether the money is flowing or not, if the kids come home and didn't have "fun" during the lesson the parents will look elsewhere. It's a compromise we have to make. Unfortunately too many 20 somethings just focus on the fun part because its easier to get through lessons that way, and it then becomes difficult to do anything serious with a group that's accustomed to lots of hangman, Simon says, throw the ball etc.

NYSTEACHER2 wrote:

I operated my own center years back in another country. If you refuse to be gimmicky and hire edutainters it's going to be really tough sledding to keep things in the black. The only way you can get away with serious teaching is doing SAT prep, TOEFL etc, but even with that you need a rep, and most students are looking for quick shortcuts rather than to actually improve their English base.

Whether the money is flowing or not, if the kids come home and didn't have "fun" during the lesson the parents will look elsewhere. It's a compromise we have to make. Unfortunately too many 20 somethings just focus on the fun part because its easier to get through lessons that way, and it then becomes difficult to do anything serious with a group that's accustomed to lots of hangman, Simon says, throw the ball etc.

i can tell when the last teacher was all about singing, hugging and handing out candy.

Experienced teachers in my experience are perfectly capable of having a fun class while actually teaching. Many schools I've interviewed with lately would rather go with a system with ppts, games and then checking to see if they learned anything. No consideration for serious teachers. just plug in the newbs.

I meet them all the time. But most often I meet teachers like the guy who asked me what phonics was or the guy who asked me what the past continuous was. Teachers and schools who use debunked myths like left/right brain or seven ways nonsense.

VietCanada wrote:

In answer to your (Mr. SteinNebraska's) first query I could write an equally long essay on my job experiences in Canada.

The difference is that IMHO it is somewhat more important that EFL is taken seriously and done well. People didn't pin their hopes and dreams for the future of their children on anything I did for a living in Canada.

As for the second, I am about to find out as I am going to visit some nearby language centres with a resume, a suit and a smile tomorrow morning. They seem to be opening up today. Possibly a local MOE decision.

There are plenty of language centres for families who can't afford VUS. In some areas you can't throw a stone without hitting one.

I think your wife made a wise choice. Most of the VN around me and around some other posters here seem to think this thing has been conquered but more likely they have decided not to let it rule their lives. So they laugh at the silly foreigner wearing his mask everywhere. LOL

Life goes on until otherwise notified.

Wearing a suit in this heat will be a fun time,lol.

colinoscapee wrote:

Wearing a suit in this heat will be a fun time,lol.

I'm going in the morning. It is seriously hot and humid. My electric bill is going to be high this month.

colinoscapee wrote:

VietCanada wrote:

In answer to your (Mr. SteinNebraska's) first query I could write an equally long essay on my job experiences in Canada.

The difference is that IMHO it is somewhat more important that EFL is taken seriously and done well. People didn't pin their hopes and dreams for the future of their children on anything I did for a living in Canada.

As for the second, I am about to find out as I am going to visit some nearby language centres with a resume, a suit and a smile tomorrow morning. They seem to be opening up today. Possibly a local MOE decision.

There are plenty of language centres for families who can't afford VUS. In some areas you can't throw a stone without hitting one.

I think your wife made a wise choice. Most of the VN around me and around some other posters here seem to think this thing has been conquered but more likely they have decided not to let it rule their lives. So they laugh at the silly foreigner wearing his mask everywhere. LOL

Life goes on until otherwise notified.

Wearing a suit in this heat will be a fun time,lol.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Not only for the heat but it's also a bit unusual. 

A nice long-sleeved dress shirt, smart trousers, decent belt and shoes is generally sufficient. A professional appearance demonstrates responsibility but most schools are primarily concerned about a candidate's personality with the emphasis on relaxed, loud, and fun, perhaps a bit zany.

Thanks for sharing, OP.

You are not alone. Take my experience: This is one of many centers owned by a big corporation with many businesses. Great buildings, swimming pools, good classrooms. Junk TAs. a) They give you 5 flash cards and refuse to let you, the higher paid teacher, choose something like a song. When students want that different experience, they robotically want to spend the hour YELLING "farmer, farmer farmer". These 10-year olds aren't dumb. I complained and wasn't called back for many moons.

Upon returning, the TA was a lazy ***. She couldn't be *** to even think for a minute about the different classes? Flash cards! But some classes have very good students wqho already knew the effing words! What to do? The TA would never put her phone down or stay more than the first and the last minutes of a class.

Tough, when village kids come who have NO English names and haven't come before. First time, I get such a bunch of 6 year olds. That's the perfect opportunity to observe a teacher who cannot remember Vietnamese names. The kids were fearing alien stuff and it was pretty awkward, with me working hard to make something hapopen.

So they have a specialist for the lesson plans? But the tas can't be *** to pass on the booksd I saw the good classes had?

Feedback? Shut up, or get blacklisted. I would appreciate if a customer, competitor or a Cop told me that my kitchen is roach-infested. Here, the messenger gets canned.

---
They like to give you the s*** stuff. Vocab. So they can play some Youtube content and be popular. Or they make videos for days, then fire you. Feel lucky, if you worked 8.25 hours and get 5 hours offered (not actually paid, please note the distinction).

Most TAs don't care. Others have been unpaid!  At Thai schools, they were often absent, or outside the classroom, busy with their phones, too. And they get to say who is good or bad as a teacher. People needing Google Translate...

Along comes someone with a fake degree. Good bye NES. Make no mistake, I'm shocked and unable to claim that I have 'figured out' those bosses, operators who lack a basic education themselves and how things work over here.

the law has changed, visa law will change also . everyone must have a work permit. No contract work at all, it's a very big find for any one working without one, also you must have a degree and a TOEFL. One one can just work with a TOEFL now. it's alway been like that but now everyone is going by the law. B.Visa you can not teach off of either. so without a work permit one one can work. No visa will let anyone teach any more . It's not legal. in Jan. the laws will be super tight.

Visa and work permit rules changing soon, July 1sr some people here will be exempt from work permit if married to Vietnamese local
It has always been the rule you needed a wo rk permit

I've been looking for work in my neighbourhood.

So far I've been spammed by Chinese recruiters.

Asked to travel across the city (D.2 and the area just before the bridge to D.2) to do 2 hour demos for subjects I don't teach.

Asked to travel across the city to do pretend demos for schools a 20 minute drive away.

i answered an ad paying 450/hr to teach in nearby public schools in my neighbourhood. Two days later I was offered 380/hr to teach about 4 hrs a week in an institute. I mentioned this discrepancy. I was told the ad was for a different city (it was not) and offered 400/hr for the same schedule.

Asked to travel across the city to do demos and pretend demos for positions that only paid for contact time but required  that I prepare lesson plans, prepare and grade tests and assignments. i don't work for free.

I ignore all ads that pay 16 USD an hr, are looking for energetic, fun, clowns, offer training, include lower paid probation periods. Cute uniforms, T-shirts or red ties.

Asked to travel across the city to do a prepared demo and a 45 minute math test (primary school math).

Ignored.

Received emails like "just heard from Jeff, you sound perfect! please come across the city and do a pretend demo" . I have no idea who Jeff is, I know nothing about the school it's actual location, their pay and benefits, target audience. And Jeff is not getting a percentage my pay.


I think I'm going to retire.

I don't follow the English teaching thing but saw it today and hadn't seen it mentioned here.

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/city-diary/ … 54626.html

SteinNebraska wrote:

I don't follow the English teaching thing but saw it today and hadn't seen it mentioned here.

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/city-diary/ … 54626.html

I mentioned it on another teaching related post a couple weeks ago (https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 30#4858343):

Well, it's now very much a moot point with regard to qualifications, visas, grammar, NES vs. NNES, etc. since that virus thing you may have heard about occurred.

Until the borders are opened and int'l flights resume, the labor pool available for foreign teachers in public schools/language institutes/unis/etc. comprises exactly those who have remained here. That's it.

Schools are going to start the reopening process on Monday:

"Over 1.7 million HCMC students will resume school from Monday after a three-and-a-half month break, and Hanoi has similar reopening plans."
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/saigo … 89182.html

Not sure when language institutes will reopen but a number of them are already advertising for foreign teachers.

Should be a massive teachers' market until the country opens back up. Schools are probably going to plea that they're "broke" after 3+ months of being closed during any salary negotiations, but if you're in the teaching field, you should play hardball with them because there's likely to be a lot of desperate HR people around.

I still feel this way. Schools in VN should also remember, many places are in the same boat. Once the borders and flights open up, okay some teachers may start showing up, but the teachers who are here now will also be free to leave and go to other countries where schools and institutes may offer higher salaries and better contracts.

There are some real gems on Facebook today. $900 a month for teachers with a master's degree.

Another one for $14/hr.

Many people responding to ads who can't even write a single, simple English sentence correctly are getting 'see your inbox' responses.

Ads for jobs that actually come from recruiters based overseas.

Ads from people who want to teach that come from countries not on the list of countries whose citizens can legally teach here. Mangled English of course.

I saw one a few days ago from someone who could barely write comprehensible English proudly proclaiming that he didn't have any qualifications to teach whatsoever but that people who did couldn't teach anyway so hire him. Even a had a picture.

Responses from people not currently in VN asking if the job is available to people not currently in VN.

I must be on the wrong Facebook page. Maybe I can find the one for 'Legal, qualified, experienced teachers wanted. Market or even a living wage offered."

It's a who's who of schools to not apply to for future reference.

Another month of this and I am definitely retiring.

edit: No point in a new post.
$20/hr for an IELTS teacher. Some posters are replying by ridiculing the low wages offered.
Begpacker wages was good.

I wonder how long these clown schools are going to keep this up.