Teaching English in Vietnam
You may have heard one of those stories about people traveling on a low budget to Asia. When they ran out of money, they found a local language center, taught a few English classes to earn some money, and continued on their journey. Well, those days are long gone. Teaching English in Vietnam is no longer as simple.
Back in the days, many English language centers hired travelers to teach English as long as they were native English speakers. That practice was heavily criticized by the media and parents so since then, things have changed.
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In a country that has almost 100 million people, there are plenty of English language centers. To stay competitive, these language centers have to increase their hiring standard to provide quality education to their students.
In this post, we will take a look at some recent job postings for English teachers and examine the requirements to teach English in Vietnam.
Nowadays, beside private English language centers, students can also learn English at local International schools. These international schools teach kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school curriculum in both English and Vietnamese. They usually have higher standards when it comes to hiring teachers.
Depending on what type of schools you’re applying to, they could have different requirements.
Table of Contents
- Requirements for teaching English at language centers in Vietnam
- Requirements for teaching English at international schools in Vietnam
Requirements for teaching English at language centers in Vietnam
Let’s look at some recent job postings for English teacher positions at some local language centers in Vietnam.
Examples
A recent job posting from Vietnamworks.com for part-time English teacher position at a language training center in Ho Chi Minh city, posted on June 7, 2023, has the following requirements:
Here’s another job posting for an English teacher position at a language school in Ho Chi Minh city, posted on June 14, 2023.
And here are requirements from a local language school also in Ho Chi Minh city, posted on June 9, 2023. Per posting, this job pays 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND per hour depending on qualifications and 130,000 to 180,000 VND per hour for kid-teen classes. That’s around $12.76 – $21.27 (USD) per hour for regular classes and $5-$7 (USD) per hour for kid-teen classes based on the currency rate at the time of this posting.
Learn more about Vietnamese currency.
Requirements
Now we have taken a look at some examples, let’s go over their main requirements.
The first position requires a bachelor’s degree in English teaching/education or a bachelor’s degree in any field with teaching certificate such as TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, etc., and some ESL teaching experience.
The second position doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree but does require 2 years of experience in working with adult learners, language fluency, and again, teaching certificates such as TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA.
The third position doesn’t require TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA. But it requires a degree from Đại học sư phạm (University of Education in Vietnam) with a major in English, study abroad experience preferred, IELTS 7.0 or TOEIC 900 and above preferred.
From those posts, here are some common requirements for teaching English at language training centers in Vietnam:
- Bachelor’s degree in English or Bachelor’s degree in any field with
- TEFL, TESOL, or CELTA certificate
- Teaching experience
- Demonstration of fluency through English proficiency tests such as IELTS 7.0 or TOEIC 900 and above. (This requirement is usually for non-native English speakers only.)
Of course different employers have different requirements, and over time, requirements may change as well. It’s best to check the requirements from time to time to get the most updated requirements.
You can take TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses online at TEFL Academy. TEFL academy received official recognition from government-regulated awarding bodies from the US and the UK. Learn more about their courses here.
Requirements for teaching English at international schools in Vietnam
International kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools in Vietnam usually have bilingual curriculum in both English and Vietnamese. Teaching English in international schools in Vietnam is not the same as teaching English as a second language in local language centers.
Since most subjects are taught in English, these international schools look for experienced teachers who are not only fluent in English but also have degrees in the fields that they’re teaching.
