Teach EFL in Rural Vietnam

Date posted:2017-08-21 | Writer: Global English Center | Email: [email protected]

Our school is now five years old and has both, foreign and Vietnamese teachers. Trung Tâm Ngoại Ngữ Toàn Cầu, or the "Global English Centre", was founded by the current Director, Mrs. Le Thi Thao, who was the first student from Quang Ngai to go to Australia to complete a Master’s degree. 

We are looking for native level English speakers from all over the world, and all nationalities and qualified non-native speakers with appropriate TEFL training and excellent oral language skills will also be considered. Currently, we have three teachers from the U.S., three from the Philippines, two from Germany, two from the U.K. and one from each Australia, New Zealand, and India. Our  foreign teachers are between 27 and 66 years old. About twenty-one months ago, we moved to our new school building.

We have about 1,100 students aged between 5 and 17. Every class has three or four 90-minute lessons per week, depending on the students’ age.  The classes are medium-sized at about 12-15 students. For grades 1 and 2, all foreign teachers get a Vietnamese assistant who speaks some English. Eight months back, we also started offering preschool classes.

Since Quang Ngai parents are keen on enrolling their very young children, starting at the age of five, we are now primarily looking for female teachers who have experience, ability, and interest in elementary/primary ESL teaching. Our ideal candidate is a female native speaker who has a college degree in a relevant field (English Language Teaching, ECE, etc.) and a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate, plus some experience, but we also consider inexperienced applicants from outside the field who would like to begin teaching English as a career. You need at least a Bachelor’s degree to legally work as a teacher in Vietnam.   

We offer a supportive work environment in which you are encouraged to be creative and work independently. Our work hours are different from ordinary schools, though; we operate mostly from 15:30 to 20:40 (Mon to Fri) and 8-11:00 and 14-19:05/20:40 on weekends. You’ll be required to teach 20 classes distributed over six days per week. Your day off will likely be during the week, not on weekends.  

BENEFITS:

Our starting salary is depends on teacher’s qualifications and experience: US$ 1,300 per month (net) for experienced teachers and US$ 1,200 for less experienced candidates (native speakers) who hold a Bachelor’s degree. The pay may not seem much, but keep in mind that:

- the school provides housing (more on that below),

- that you only need about 180 dollars per month to live well here in Quang Ngai, and

- that 1,200 bucks per month puts you well within the upper ten percent income bracket in QN (the average VN person takes home around USD160 per month).   

If you start working here without a TESOL/TEFL certificate, the local authorities will require you to finish an online course during the first six months of your stay. Contracts are typically for one year and renewable, provided satisfactory performance. Should you decide to stay with us for another year, your monthly salary may increase by 50 or 100 dollars.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Teaching the required hours,

- Managing the classroom so that is conducive to learning,

- A kind, professional demeanor (which needs to extend into town),

- Taking part in meetings (there will be only a few), and

- Developing exercises conducive to students' success. Skills and attitudes needed:

- Ability and interest to teach English to students aged between 5 and 12,

- Dedication to students' success,

- Sensitivity to students' needs,

- Patience and a sense of humor (the more the better),

- Flexibility and ability to improvise, and

- some idealism.

TO APPLY:

Please submit the following to the email address given on the job heading: a concise letter of motivation in an email that addresses how your specific experiences, qualifications, and interests fit our needs. Please state your motivation to work for us and why you like the idea of coming to Quang Ngai—in other words, please submit a letter that indicates that you have read the job ad.

Please attach

1) a concise CV/resume that lists relevant qualifications and experiences,

2) electronic copies of your degree(s) and TESOL certificate,

3) one reference (name, position, phone number) who we could contact, an electronic copy of your passport. Please include a phone number/Skype ID in the email (so that we can find it easily) and tell us where you reside at the moment. If you have committed somewhere else until sometime in the near future, please don’t hesitate to apply. We hire year ‘round.

SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES:

- Quang Ngai is not exactly a place for people who are addicted to fun; you need to be able to amuse yourself. Your future colleagues are nice, fun-loving people, however. We party and go on trips together. If you like the idea of living in the ‘real Vietnam’ (and not in some expats enclave), Quang Ngai is the place to be. If you can’t live without Western food, on the other hand, look elsewhere. In other words, make sure that you’re willing to come to Quang Ngai (and look up where it is before you apply: we've had several candidates who, after a lengthy email/interview process, realized that they, after all, didn't want to live in QN).

- We can't hire teachers with children since there is no international school here.

- Please don’t apply if you “love Hoi An”. Quang Ngai is pretty much the antithesis of Hoi An. QN is a quaint provincial town of 120,000 people that pretty much closes down after 22:00. There are no pizzerias or Western style bars here (but scads of nice coffee shops, decent street food, a Jollibee, and two nightclubs). There are also small places where you can sit and enjoy some beers after 10 pm (which we frequently do).