To finish off the second week of Summer School Activities the students were taken to the back of Big Mountain to explore all the old French stuff.
Monthly Archives: June 2013
EFL Teaching in Vietnam: Fun in the Park – day 2.
Today was the second day of Summer School activities at i-Talk Language Centre.
I made a small video of the art class in the park. To see it just click below.
I ho pe you enjoy it.
Don’t forget your free gift at
Teach EFL: The Actions of Successful EFL Teachers
The Actions of Successful EFL Teachers.
The Actions of Successful EFL Teachers
is an updated revision of The Little EFL Book.
I have included more information on how to teach literacy as an EFL teacher.
The price has also been dropped a little (for a while).
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/the-actions-of-successful-second-language-teachers/13897514
This book makes EFL teaching fun again.
I hope you enjoy the book.
Paul Rowe
EFL Teaching in Vietnam : A great FREE EFL teaching resource.
Yesterday I uploaded a small video clip of myself demonstrating how to do Dialogue Streaming. Dialogue Streaming can be used to teach ‘sounds’, ‘words’ and sentence patterns. In other words, EVERYTHING an EFL teach needs to teach.
It is my gift to you. Use it and share it with other EFL teachers.
EFL Teaching in Vietnam: DON’T do it!
EFL Teaching in Vietnam: DON’T !
This is going to sound strange coming from someone is so insistent that EFL teaching is fun, but at the moment I am advising NOT to teach in Vietnam.
Every week I have people contacting me and asking for advice about finding work as a teacher in Viet Nam. As of this week I am suggesting that EFL teachers can find better quality work in almost any other country at the moment.
Don’t shoot me I am only the messenger.
I live here. I own a school and another business here, so I am staying and will weather this downturn out. However, if I really had a choice I would head almost anywhere else.
So, what is the problem?
In a nutshell, there are too many low quality EFL teachers in Vietnam.
China needed 1,000s of English teachers prior to the 2008 Olympic Games. Those “teachers” needed next-to-no qualifications and agreed to work for peanuts. Once the games were over those “teachers” flooded out of China and into the rest of the world. Vietnam is on China’s doorstep and is only a bus ride away.
They were happy to work for peanuts in China and they have been happy to accept lower than usual hourly rates from greedy English school owners. A few months ago I heard of an experienced teacher here in Vung Tau having to work for 3 dollars an hour!!!!!!
Cambodia and Myanmar pay more than that! And while I am specifically mentioning Vung Tau, I have noticed that I see almost NO English teachers at restaurants, pubs, the beach and parties anymore. They are being paid so little, that they need to work seven days a week/eight hours a day to either get by, or save some money.
However, Vietnam has other unique reasons why it should be avoided by EFL teachers.
- While the rest of world has bounced back, or is making a rally from the down turn in the American dollar (some time back), Vietnam hasn’t. It is the first time Vietnam has ever had to experience an economic downturn. VN now has World Bank loans and is not insular to world events. It is not coping well.
- While real estate has dropped a little in the last year, Vietnam still has some of the highest priced real estate IN THE WORLD!! For EFL teachers this translates to expensive (but substandard) accommodation. Yes, even in the countryside!
- Power shortages are still common. Most schools will not pay teachers if night classes are cancelled due to power cuts.
- If your rental motorcycle or car breaks, it is your responsibility to fix it.
- If anything inside your accommodation breaks, it is your responsibility to fix it.
- And something I just discovered about six months ago, because it nearly happened to me; if your accommodation burns down, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for it (even if you didn’t cause the fire). (No insurance is the norm.) This isn’t just for foreigners, this is for everyone! Seriously think this over. There is no doing a runner to escape your irate landlord. Who’s holding your passport? Yes, you landlord.
So if you still want to do EFL teaching, and you still want it to be a fun experience, then cross Vietnam off the map and look else where.
Leave a comment in relation to the best countries to do EFL teaching at the moment. It might help some people out.
Teaching4fun 