APAX English (April) Teacher

I worked for Apax leader in Hanoi Vietnam very bad reputation and management.The staff not able to speak a proper English.Try to treat the staff foreigners teachers with a fake message to paid some fees .They lie about support and help to do the work permit process.They don't anything.The staff are cold and not supporting anyone .They care about the money they made .Poor quality of teaching most the students have difficulties to speak English with a very bad grammar .The reputation of Apax leader in Vietnam is very bad and worst everytime .Crowed classroom and they don't care about safety of the teacher when they are sick .Very bad place to work .I recommend to don't work in this place at all people are insane there ...

I taught for APAX for a year, and had - on the whole - a fantastic time. I was a teacher for a while and then became a headteacher for the rest of my contract. Being a teacher when I started and when APAX was quite new to Vietnam was pretty good. It was only in Hanoi and HCMC in 2016, but now it's gotten a lot better and has spread out all over the country, so you can teach in loads of different provinces and cities. It's now probably one of the biggest centres, if not the biggest. Teachers now get two days off instead of one, and the schedule is very manageable on the days you're teaching. There's no lesson planning, you get all the support you need, and your teaching hours are 18 a week. I have friends from and talk to people who work for the other big centres and most say APAX is the best for pay and getting a good experience.

When I became a headteacher, most teachers were great to manage and got on with it. The centre itself was enjoyable to work with too - from the branch manager and sales to the CSOs, and I was lucky to have such great colleagues from when I got to the centre (with a welcoming, decent headteacher) to when I finished up there. All the Vietnamese staff are very supportive and friendly, and they're really fun to work with.

If I'd have carried on teaching I would've looked into moving into the 4.0 program which is newer and focused on older learners, as I got on best with the more advanced classes in April (Sprout and up), and there are fewer than these. For first-time teachers though, and especially if you like teaching kids up to early teens, you won't get a better job with decent pay than this.

I have been working at APAX English full-time

Pros
- 18 teaching hours a week with a good amount of variety between classes
- At least 2 days off a week and getting more time off is quite easy
- No lesson planning/prep is minimal
- Comparatively high salary; most of my friends in other schools make much less
- Stable and consistent work/scheduling; no last-minute call-outs
- Lots of overtime opportunities if you're into that kind of thing
- Freedom to bring your own content into may of the classes
- Friendly, supportive environment from both management and teachers
- They say that contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on in Southeast Asia; with APAX, there's a real effort to make sure the contract is honored
- Try to accommodate your needs as best they can (if you want to travel mid-contract etc.)