On arrival, you’ll be met by our in-country team with all the other interns (unless you are required to complete a quarantine). At the end of the one week orientation you’ll travel by bus, train or flight to your placement location.

Initially you will quarantine from seven to fourteen days, according to current Covid-19 requirements. You’ll enjoy a full week-long cultural orientation upon arrival (a mix of online and in person activities according to Covid-19 regulations).

During orientation you will learn about Vietnamese culture, language and society, while forming friendships with other teachers over the welcome dinner. Previous cultural excursions included visiting a farm for a Vietnamese cooking class, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, and visits to local museums that bring to life the most famous parts of the country’s history.

Master the local greetings, get familiarized with the customs (and the major no no’s), practice your TEFL skills, make new friends, and eat. A lot! It’s time to start your English teaching job in Vietnam at a private language school, private primary/high school, or a government school.

Past interns have been placed in cities all over the map! As a rapidly progressive country, technology in the private language school classrooms is more commonplace with interactive whiteboards and digital resources. Public schools tend to have larger class sizes and less technology but make up for this with high levels of student enthusiasm.

Keep in mind that Vietnamese schools vary significantly, with urban institutions having up to thousands of students while regional primary schools hosting fewer than 100.

You can expect to teach conversational English for ~35 hours weekly. That breaks down to 3-4 lessons daily, 5-6 days a week for 18~25 hours of active teaching. That leaves you plenty of time to mastermind your next fave backup lesson!

Congratulations, you did it! Make sure to celebrate this achievement. It’s time to decide if you’d like to see more of Vietnam, traveling or teaching (or both).

You might decide to extend your stay in Vietnam and teach for longer by renewing your contract. The possibilities are endless for you now as a confident and experienced TEFL teacher.