Jared moved to Hanoi, Vietnam in August 2024 to start his TEFL adventure. He has kindly agreed to share his experience.
What inspired you to become a TEFL teacher in Hanoi?
I was working in a corporate career for five years and I didn’t enjoy the experience for the most part of it. I think once COVID hit, my priorities shifted. I was looking for something that was more fulfilling, more rewarding, and I had had experience working with children before as a sports coach for a couple of years. I had also worked at various summer camps and children’s parties. So for me, it was quite natural to think of pivoting careers into education. I also come from a family that has had many teachers and educators, so it did feel quite natural.
How did you go about it?
As I didn’t qualify as a teacher at university (I just did a generic Arts degree), I decided to do what most people do, a 168-hour TEFL course (I did mine through The TEFL Academy). I decided to do one that was a bit more intensive than the 120 hour introductory course, as I thought that might be better for someone like me, who doesn’t have an education degree.
From there, I went through an interview process of about two or three weeks. I narrowed it down to which continent I would like to be on first. Asia, from what I had heard, was one of the continents that offered a very different lifestyle from what I was used to in South Africa, and then in Australia where I was studying. It would also give me the opportunity to save as well as travel quite extensively. That was a big reason why I decided to choose Asia.
Why Vietnam?
The contract offers that I received in South Korea, China and Japan were quite full on. They were expecting you to work six days a week, and the number of teaching hours in a week were quite high. They did have really good subsidies and add-ons to your monthly salary, but I think the work-life balance for those kinds of countries was quite difficult. Thailand, I noticed, didn’t really offer the money that was on offer in Vietnam. I knew at that stage that I was going to be travelling quite a bit and, obviously, the whole process of immigrating is quite expensive. So that led me to Vietnam. I had many offers in Vietnam, both in the biggest city, Ho Chi Minh City, and the capital (Hanoi).
Why Hanoi?
I decided on Hanoi because, from what I had researched, it was a little less chaotic than Ho Chi Min and because the population size is about half. It was something that was a bit more attractive to me at the time, too. Ho Chi Minh is not that seasonal and is quite hot all year round. Hanoi, meanwhile, is quite seasonal which was something that I was looking forward to.
What were your first few months in Hanoi like?
One of the things about Vietnam is that most schools will link up with a company which hires foreign teachers and positions them in various public and private schools. The company liaises with the school directly, so you’re not employed by the schools. I signed up with a company that was quite well renowned within Vietnam. Their focus was specifically in the north and, at the time, they employed close to 200 full-time teachers and about 30 part-time teachers. The induction was amazing, the teachers that they employed were great and the curriculum and academic support I received was fantastic. Despite all this, my first few weeks in Vietnam were not easy.
The issue with Vietnam in my experience is that rules and regulations change quite often, and you don’t really get a significant heads-up when they do change. We were told that because of the change in regulations brought about by the department of Education, we would not be able to work in a number of different districts within Vietnam. In response, my company planned to position teachers in multiple schools in order to get their teaching hours up.
However, they were then not able to do so. I signed a full-time contract in May, 2024 while I was still in South Africa, and I arrived in Vietnam in August 2024. Within the first month, I was told that my guaranteed teaching hours per week of between 18-22 hours would be falling to about 6.5 hours. I was told that I would need to sign a part-time contract and find additional hours elsewhere or resign, because they would not be able to increase my number of hours.
At that stage, I had already signed a lease with a rental agency and rented out a bike. So I did have quite a number of unexpected costs in those first few weeks, and it was difficult to wrap my head around. I struggled to find sources of information to guide me and find other opportunities. It definitely put a damper on my initial excitement about Hanoi.
What was your first stable TEFL job in Hanoi?
I realized a few months later that it is actually very easy to find work in Hanoi. There are always vacancies throughout the year, regardless of the school. The start of the school term is in August, but some of the English programs only start two or three months into the academic year (October or November). What I have found is that there is quite a high turnover of teachers in Hanoi. Some people maybe don’t like the feel of the city, or some people are just passing through. There are various reasons, as I’m sure there are for most places.
Obviously with the unexpected costs of supporting myself in my situation after immigrating and putting down a deposit for an apartment, I was quite desperate for a job. I decided to work for a language center, which generally operate from Monday to Fridays in the evenings (5:00 PM till about 9:30 PM). I would do two classes on weekdays, which would be from 5:20-7:20, and then 7:30 to 9:30, as well as weekends. So weekends are generally when most of the language centers would operate because children can come in in the morning or lunchtime shifts.
So it was quite a drastic change from what I was expecting. Weekend work was not really what I was after, but the language center was a good enough experience, I think, for someone who hadn’t taught before. It was quite nice. I worked for quite a while in a renowned language center called Apollo. They are situated all over Vietnam. They’ve got thousands of teachers, both expat and native, and they’ve been operating for close to three decades, if I’m not mistaken (so very well established). Everything was run really well: I had no issues with payments or with any of the other teachers. The teacher assistants were very helpful. The staff were very receptive to feedback and my line manager was always helping me, which was great.
So I do think that language centers are a great opportunity if you are a night owl and are looking to work in the evenings and the weekends. You can have your mornings and afternoons free. When I was working at the language center, I had the ability to wake up early or at any time that I really wanted to, especially weekdays. The nice thing about the language center too is that you get annual leave, whereas where I’m working currently at a private Vietnamese school, I don’t have that. My holidays are pretty much restricted to term time, unless I take unpaid leave, whereas the language centers do offer annual leave that is paid for. I had a lot of freedom to create my own lesson plans and to come up with the content that I would like within the scope of the curriculum, which was nice and easy.
Why did you decide to switch from a language centre to a private school?
At the language centre, I got heaps of support and the experience was good. However, for the lifestyle I wanted to live, it wasn’t really going to work out long-term. I wanted to see a bit more of my mates, who were all working Monday to Friday. I wanted to be able to go away on weekends and play a bit of sports and, unfortunately, the language center schedule wasn’t really offering that to me.
So I decided to quit. I jobhunted before the start of the new academic year, and finished at the language center in July. Since then, I have been working at a private Vietnamese school (outsourced from my new company), since the start of this academic year, which was August, 2025.
My new company is great. The academic coordinator is the one that comes up with the lesson plans and designs all of the curriculum, so I don’t have to do much in terms of prep work, which is great. So if you are someone that is looking to study whilst working, to boost your qualifications or if you’re a new teacher and less confident in your teaching skills, then it is quite nice to have someone with a decade of experience to design the lessons.
What are some of the challenges of teaching English in Hanoi?
The expectations at a private school versus a public school, or even more renowned schools versus startup schools, are vastly different. The parents have huge expectations of their children, which is the same for children in language centers too.
I have found that it is quite tricky to navigate that area of teaching. The children definitely do feel the weight of expectations and the parents are quite vocal about whether they feel like their children can do better or not. I’ve sat in many teacher-parent meetings where that has come up. Most of the correspondence will go through your Teaching Assistant, but it is still something that definitely puts off a lot of people, particularly if you are new to teaching. So yeah, that is definitely something to consider.
Another downside is definitely that Hanoi can be quite chaotic, particularly if you’ve never lived or traveled in Asia before. So adjusting to that can probably be quite daunting for people. This is why I think that there is a high turnover of staff. In saying that, most of the expats in my rugby club have been living here for a number of years. They all came over to Hanoi with the idea of maybe only staying here for a short period of time, but they’ve all managed to stay here a lot longer. So I think that is quite positive too.
Another downside is the pollution. Particularly for someone that is maybe struggling with their health, living in Hanoi might be very detrimental to you. It is a significant downside, particularly in the winter and autumn months.
The weather in general might be a downside for some people. It is very seasonal, so there are frequent tropical rain showers. The heat can be quite difficult for someone who is maybe not used to it.
What are some of the upsides of teaching English in Hanoi?
The salary with my new company is really, really good for someone who doesn’t have their teaching (university) qualifications. It allows me to sustain a really, really good lifestyle. I can eat out for almost every meal, go away on weekends, and save up to go on overseas trips quite easily.
I am also fortunate that the school provides me with a daily meal at school, which is great, and we get a two-three hour lunch break. So at my school specifically, from 11:30 to 1:30, we are on break. It means that I get two hours to have lunch and do whatever I like. So if you are studying further, you can use that time to study. If you are looking to just unwind, you could read a book, partake in arts and crafts, or even just sleep, which most of the Vietnamese teachers do. If you’ve got a second job, it’s a good time to prepare your lessons for the evening, for instance. The timetable suits me perfectly and it allows for extra work, if I wanted.
Hanoi offers diverse opportunities to work. You can work during the day, or in the evenings. There are job opportunities at any given time. So if you do feel like you are not well suited to the role or the position that you are in, I don’t think that you would struggle to find a new job, which I think is great.
In terms of the teaching, the children have generally been very respectful. There is a big push from parents and teachers alike to ensure that there is respect for teachers, which I think is absolutely wonderful. I think I can’t praise that part of teaching in Vietnam or in Hanoi enough. The teachers are really well respected.
I feel like I have found a community quite easily in Hanoi, particularly living in the expat district that I live in, Tay Ho. It’s very easy to make friends: there are lots of societies, lots of sports clubs, and lots of opportunities to go out and meet people.
I have also enjoyed the cultural diversity within Vietnam. The food is absolutely incredible. The opportunity to save is amazing. So whatever it is that you might be pursuing, whether it be travel or further qualifications, I think it’s a great place to be. Hanoi itself is an amazing city. There is a rich history here and there are amazing opportunities to travel within Vietnam. There’s definitely a buzzing expat community that really caters to every single medium I have, whether it be cultural, sports-related, or other. The people in Vietnam are so amazing. They are very welcoming and I have found that part of it quite easy.
What do you wish you’d known before moving to Hanoi to teach English?
So what did I wish that I knew before starting TEFL in Hanoi? That’s a good question. I wish I knew more about the different opportunities available, including public schools, private schools, language centers, and international schools. If you’re someone that doesn’t have an education degree, like me, I think that it is nice to be aware of these opportunities. Like I mentioned, I earn a very decent salary over here and I live a very comfortable life. There is nothing much that I would change.
If you want to pack your schedule with teaching hours, I do think that Hanoi is a great place where you can find part-time jobs quite easily, and they pay quite well. And I think the expectations are quite low, so it is easy to earn even more than what you may have thought that you might be able to.
If you’re really looking to find jobs that pay significantly more, you will need a teaching qualification. Vietnam has changed quite a bit from maybe a decade ago, particularly in terms of regulations and laws. The government is really looking for people to have the correct qualifications, the documentation in order to work, and work permits. That can be quite daunting for people. So just be aware of what is necessary before you move.
I obviously came from a corporate environment, which is run in a specific way, and I think Vietnam is not run that way. A lot of times you’ll find that things are done last minute, schedules change, last minute. You may be signed up for courses or parent teacher meetings at a very late time and you’re expected to just make it happen without much prior notice. This can be difficult, at times.
I also find that there is sometimes a lack of accountability. That is quite difficult to get used to, particularly coming from the environment that I was in. So you’ve got to have an open mind, be adaptable, and pivot to make things work here. If you don’t, you may not enjoy it.
The takeaway on TEFL in Hanoi?
So far, I’ve really enjoyed my 18 months here and I cannot recommend it enough. I love Hanoi and I have loved my first experience of tefl here. I do think that it is a great starting place. It has everything that you could really want from your first teaching experience, or your first travel abroad experience. I have found it to be very accommodating, and a place where I could settle and build a life.
Related links:
- Considering becoming a TEFL teacher elsewhere in Asia? See Teaching in Beijing, China: Madison’s experience
- Already a TEFL teacher and looking to transfer to Vietnam? See Language Link Vietnam, one of the organisations Jared worked for.
If you’re a TEFL teacher willing to share your experience of teaching in your city, please be in touch!