In This Episode…
How Theresa got started
Why she decided to try teaching
How she chose a certification program: why she landed on CELTA
How her four weeks in the CELTA program compared to four years of doing a BA
What she really got out of her certification
What she wishes she’d done before doing CELTA
How grammar for teaching is different than grammar for speaking/ writing
Her first local teaching job in Washington, DC
What it’s like to teach in a private language school in the US, and what incoming teachers should expect
How she transitioned from CELTA to teaching in her own classroom
What affected her students’ motivation
What she found so helpful about being in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual classroom
The biggest challenges she faced
The practical advice that most helped her in planning and teaching successfully
How she got ideas for lesson content from her students
Da Nang, Vietnam
Her teaching experience in Vietnam
How she decided on a location
Why she says teaching in Vietnam was completely different from teaching in DC
How her expectations compared to reality
What the teaching schedule was like
The three big differences between teaching children vs. teaching adults
What to expect in terms of teaching resources- what you’ll have access to and what you’ll need to seek out
The meaning of “edu-tainment”
What kind of teachers different schools attract
How she went from teacher to school director in a very short time
Her duties as the Director of Studies
Hoi An
Theresa’s recommendations for traveling
Da Nang’s white sand beaches and paragliding
Hoi An’s gorgeous old town
The Cuchi tunnels in Ho Chi Minh
The Beer Corner in Hanoi (but watch out for pickpockets!)
Top advice for living/ working in Vietnam
Why you’ll want to know the differences between options for working environments: whether you’ll be around partiers/ backpackers or more serious teachers
Decide whether you want to be in a big language center vs. a smaller private school vs. a public school
Just go! Get to Vietnam and find a job once you’re there, not before
How to rent an apartment
How to make sure you get to stay in the city where you want to be
Choosing between Vietnam and Taiwan depending on your personality
Interview with Theresa Troyer: Teaching Locally and in Vietnam
Show Notes
Have you ever dreamed of changing careers and running off to Vietnam to teach English? Theresa Troyer did just that. In this episode, we’re talking with Theresa about how she decided to teach and what it was like to dive into the field of TEFL. She gives us the lowdown on why she chose to get a CELTA and how intense it really was, and then tells us all about what it was like to teach locally before transitioning overseas to teach in Vietnam. If you’ve ever thought about Vietnam as a work or travel destination and you’re looking for some advice (or just a good breakdown of expectations vs. reality), then you won’t want to miss this episode!
Theresa in Da Nang
Daily life in Vietnam
Living in Bắc Ninh for three months
Living in Hanoi
How English teachers live lavishly
Saving money while still going out/ traveling often
The dangers of driving
What the food is like
Healthcare
Whether you need to learn Vietnamese
Finding a community: expat groups vs. locals
“...You can live very lavishly for not a lot of money (. . .) Also, you’re in Vietnam, and in Southeast Asia it’s so easy to travel to anywhere else in Southeast Asia. ”
At the beach in Phu Quoc
The best things about living in Vietnam
Her favorite food: bun cha
The cost of living- affordable!
How easy it is to travel around Asia
The less ideal aspects of living in Vietnam
Food-related health risks
Driving risks
That time a live cockroach crawled out of her dinner
with a very young learner group in Hanoi: “edutainment!”
“Be really honest with yourself about who you are and what you value. If you are someone that likes a lot of structure and order, things being on time, a lot of organization (. . .) Vietnam is not necessarily going to be the place for you. But if you are very ‘go with the flow,’ if you don’t mind rapid changes at the last minute, if you aren’t particularly bothered by doing what’s required (. . .) then Vietnam might be the place for you. ”