Highlights: The highlight of my experience has been seeing my students come back to me with good scores on their exams. Getting a good score could mean that they are eligible to study abroad at a foreign university, get a promotion, or get a new job. Through teaching with AMA I feel that I am able to really help my students with the opportunity to go abroad by helping them study and achieve their goal score on the exam.
Overall, this experience has been worthwhile, challenging, and exciting. Teaching abroad has allowed me to save money, meet a lot of new people, make a difference in the lives of my students, and travel. Living somewhere where there is a language barrier makes everything more difficult. From renting an apartment to buying food at the market.
Morning: As a teacher at a private school, most classes are held in the afternoon and evening. This fits better with the students' schedules. It is wonderful to have mornings off to experience the city and the culture. I often tutor in the morning as some students are full time students at the language center. Some of them take a year off of work or school to fully immerse themselves in their studies before applying for working or studying in an English speaking country.
Afternoon & Evening: In the afternoon, classes begin in the center. These classes tend to be between 90 minutes and 120 minutes. Most centers in HCMC will offer at least 25 hours of work a week in their contracts. Most teachers teach about 3 or 4 classes at a time. I am lucky to tutor every afternoon. I meet with students one-on-one for 15-30 minute intervals to help them with speaking or writing. Most of them are studying for the IELTs or TOEFL exam. I tutor for 4 hours every afternoon from 4-8 pm. Teachers with a more typical teaching schedule will teach classes as late as 10 pm.