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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Do English teachers in Vietnam earn more than English teachers in China?
Foreign English teachers that is.
11 years 26 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Depends where you work and what qualifications you have. EF in China pays around 6500RMB (take home) per month typically, but I was making 11000 after tax where I was and had no rent. In Vietnam, you can find work easily and clear 10000RMB (US$1500ish) working 22 hours a week (no prep time where I work in Hanoi). If you have a CELTA you can earn upwards of $2000 working at an international school, although that means a full 40 hour working week.
No language school will pay your rent for you in Vietnam, so you have to take that into consideration. However, that's not too much of a strain on finances. And unlike in China, if your company tries to screw you it's easy to walk and not have to worry about release forms etc.
Overall, Vietnam is a much better country for foreign English teachers and the teaching community is much less dominated by gap year wankers. You're also much more likely to have a western boss.
Yian's answer is 100 per cent right.
The only thing to add is that it's really easy to pick up part-time work which can be very lucrative. If you're willing to work a 25 hour contact week, there's no reason why even an unqualified teacher couldn't earn the equivalent of 12,000-13000 RMB per month. Degree qualified and experienced teachers do very well.
Yian and MissA,
Can you please provide information for those that want to teach at a university in Vietnam? (Requirements,salary,recommended schools,recommend a city or two,living costs,getting a work visa,how do the Vietnamese feel about Western people?,etc. Thank you!
I can try to help - I work in a language centre not a university, but I know there are university jobs going.
Requirements; as always, it depends what you want to do. Want to teach kindergarten? Do you speak English? Done!
For a university, the requirements are higher - I'd say a CELTA and a year experience, minumum to teach in any genuine program. There are conversation classes, here, I know, but none of this oral English eupemistical bollocks going on. If you want to teach in a university, expect to teach in a university.
Unfortunately getting a visa is harder than it used to be. You'll need a degree, police check and teaching cert to be fully legal. A LOT of people do visa runs to Thailand of Cambodia.
Your two big choices are Hanoi or HCMC. The'rey very different - Hanoi is like an awesome experiment in chaos theory and HCMC is bigger, slightly more organised and much more western. If you're genuinely interested in either of them, message me and I'll give you any info I can.
How they feel about westerners? They tend to like us - even given last century's history. It's a fun place to be.
They love eating pussy ... and dog and snake. Chicken in Vietnam is served off the bone. That just about covers everything.
Joking aside, I did a stint working for an International School that paid good money (but the resources were crap). The UN school pays most and has the greatest perks. However, they only hire very highly qualified people,but do cover accommodation costs up to $1,200US per month. That, my friends, is enough to live on comfortably AND pay rent. On $1,500US per month you'll be making the same basic salary as everyone else.
Look at thenewhanoian website for some gist -- alot of the stuff on there is, to be frank, complete shit. That said, I got a job through the website where I make more than I did in China (working 40 hours per week) and only work part-time, no office/prep hours or anything.
Experiencing Vietnam after China is like being home again for the first few months.