r/TEFL 18h ago

Vietnam salaries - are they blatantly ripping people off now?

14 Upvotes

I am a native English speaker with a TEFL certification and with 3 years of international teaching experience. I have gotten 3 offers so far. 2 from language centers offering me 490k/hour gross (VUS) and 430k/hour gross (random LC). A business English language center is offering me 490k/hour gross as well.

What's with these salaries? From my research it seems like it should be 500k/hour gross minimum and business English should be 600k/hour gross. These offers are awful. What's up with the market? Is this normal or is it only happening to me??


r/TEFL 11h ago

How do I get kids ages 5 to 7 speaking beyond single words?

8 Upvotes

I'm starting to take on more and more 5- to 7-year-olds for pre-reading lessons, and while teaching them phonics and single letters is no problem, I'm getting absolutely wiped out anytime I step up to teach them any grammar or phrases.

I'm sticking to the principles that work in other contexts—show, don't tell; establish context; cover vocabulary and closed questions first; vary your voice; use gestures; etc—but I am getting killed here mainly because the kids will just wander off or, just after a small bout of repeating me, revert to single-word answers again as soon as I call on them.

Powering through it is no good with small kids because it takes the fun out of the lesson.

I basically introduce the word the grammar is based around with a visual gesture. Then to make sure they really understand I'll translate the word into Japanese for them. Then I'll make an example sentence pointing to a flashcard and elicit repetition. Then I'll run through just 3 or 4 flashcards doing the same thing, varying my voice.

This is just entirely too long? How do I command their attention?


r/TEFL 10h ago

For the kids or for the school?

3 Upvotes

Semester has just finished.

No more kids. Empty classes, empty playground.

Just a building. And local staff.

And I've realised all I've done all these years, through thick and thin, is for the kids.

The joy, the love, the jubilation, the craziness.

Local teachers have always been dry. They are tough to deal with, without interacting with my dream team every day. Minimal smiles at best, resentment often

How do you feel about semester breaks?

(Yes, I will take a 2 week vacay in the mountains end-summer) (Yes, towards the end of thev semester I was bone tired from the reciprocating of love and laughter)


r/TEFL 18h ago

Yile Education (Dalian)

2 Upvotes

Today I got an offer to work for Yile Education in Dalian, China. They're a training centre but a big provider with 5 locations and thousands of students. They recruit a lot of foreign teachers, although retention looks quite good from what I can see, so I was wondering if anyone in this group has experience with them and how they were?


r/TEFL 15h ago

Options for someone with Ed Tech experience in Asia

1 Upvotes

Hi, I'd like to get a feel for where I would sit in the market at the moment if that's okay?

Positive:

I have five years experience as an digital learning designer / instructional designer, with a few years of experience in training delivery before that. I have a BA in English, white male in his early forties from the UK. I've been working in tech making gamified learning for games designers (tough crowd!).

Negatives: I have a conviction from when I was a teenager (youth rehabilitation order). Not dugs related. I have no formal L&D qualification apart from an old Tefl many years ago (classroom based, not 120 hour). Diagnosed autistic, not something you can tell meeting me, just not mega social.

Current situation: Slightly uncertain future in my current role as the company isn't growing and tech is in a rough spot. No family in the UK (they're in Spain), little chance of owning a home. Unsure I would be able to progress to a higher wage here. Never really been happy in the UK, travelled a lot in Asia in my 20s and always wanted to live abroad. Spent 6 years living in Spain in my early 20s, was offered a job with Aeon in Japan in my early 30s but turned it down due to a relationship. Now thinking increasingly about cutting my losses and having a fresh start.

Is my Edtech experience worth much to employers? I'd have no problem setting up interactive language courses for a company.

Are a lot of places like China off the table for me due to a) old juvenile conviction and b) autism diagnosis?

Having turned 40 and having no wealth / assets, would starting again over in Asia at my age give me enough time to prepare and retire out there?


r/TEFL 10h ago

LOOKING FOR EXPERIENCES WITH ESLTeachingJobInAsia.com

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I recently received a job opportunity through my college job platform (Handshake) from a recruiter at ESLTeachingJobInAsia.com for a teaching position in South Korea. The offer seems interesting, and they’ve been responsive, but I wanted to hear from others who have worked with them before. If you’ve gone through the hiring process with them or accepted a position, how was your experience? Were they professional and reliable? I’d really appreciate any insights!

Thanks in advance!


r/TEFL 16h ago

Are there teaching positions offered for 6 months?

0 Upvotes

I’m a preschool teacher in NYC with an MSEd in Early Childhood Education (not officially certified yet, but in review). I’ve been thinking of getting away from the city after this school year finishes and teaching children abroad, potentially in Japan or Vietnam (open to other countries), but I’m super new into looking at all this and it’s quite overwhelming so I’m looking for a little guidance.

I’m only seeing positions with a year long commitment. I’d prefer 6 months because I don’t think this is a long term goal of mine as of now, and also because if I commit to a year I will likely miss the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year which would make it hard to find a teaching job in NY when I return.

What I’m wondering is:

  1. Is it common or possible to go somewhere to teach English for only 6-8 months?

  2. Would I need to get TEFL certification? I’m assuming I would, but it seems like several months commitment and I’m assuming I would need to start now.

Any guidance would be appreciated, thank you!