#efl teaching

This is my store where I post activites, games, display items and more that I used myself when I taught English in Japan. Many of the items are free and the priced ones are no more than $3.

I have a bunch of adult students right now, doing distance studies and they just want to get their certifications. Sometimes it is a struggle to give them feedback. I try to not put too much in order to not make them feel hopeless. However, I struggle with not pointing out errors that they should not be making at this level of English.

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A visit to VinCom Plaza Imperia

This VinCom Plaza is not to be confused with the other older one, so they tend to call it VinCom Imperia, as the tall part of the building is a Hotel which is called VinCom Imperia Hotel.

Today we will look at the Mall and the Hotel with the surrounding area. They are part of a large company the Vin Group. They now provide housing within a community environment that is complete in itself by having, a school, hospital, housing and shops or business premises.

Here in Hai Phong they have the two VinCom Plaza shopping centres, VinHomes and a lot of VinMart convenience stores and the newly built factory to produce motorbikes and cars.

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Hai Phong Sightseeing

Today we take a look around a couple of places the people here go to for relaxing, eating, drinking, exercising and to enjoy so fresh air and scenery.

Ho An Bien Lake, is about 5 minutes away from our apartment by motorbike so sometimes we take a walk there or we ride the bike. In the day time it’s fairly quiet, but from about 5 pm all the street restaurants come out and set up tables and chairs by the side of the lake.  

They serve meals or drinks, including beer and the food are traditional Vietnamese. On the road I show leading to Lach Tray they also set up eating places on either side of the road and they provide big sheets of plastic to and mats to sit on and you see many groups and families eating there on the floor.   

There are the boats looking like swans that you can pedal around the Lake, funnily enough the only time we went on there to try the boats, we were on the opposite bank when a storm came with strong winds and we couldn’t get the boat to move towards the dock were we could get off and ended up being against the wall, fortunately the owners had a motor boat and sent it out to tow us back to safety, nice to have a little adventure now and again.

Then we moved on to Central Park which is really part of the city centre many shops, restaurants, coffee shops and bars to choose from around the outside of the park.

As you can see in the video it’s not very wide but it’s quite long, the one downside though, having to cross about 3 roads if you want to walk through from one end to the other. So you never really get away from the traffic.

There are at least two giant screens that they show either TV programs or news on and three fountains, unfortunately not working today. The people usually gather around the fountains and take many pictures.They also use it for playing on skateboards or bicycles, kicking a football around or playing badminton and the strange one with their feet known as Vietnamese Game of Feather Kick – "?á lông"

At the top end of the park is a children’s small fair ground with roller coaster and other rides for them.

In the early mornings and evenings you can also see many of the elderly doing group exercise or practicing yoga.Well quick correction on further investigation it appears this is not Central Park but it is in the city centre. After bit of research on Google maps it appears there is another park a bit further out of the city, so will find that over the weekend and do another video.

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Daily Life in Vietnam

Today let's look at my local area and the kind of driving you can see and experience in Vietnam as well as a trip to my gym.  My local area is in a place called Dong Khe and is close to our local big supermarket Big C which also as a mall associated with it on the ground floor.

      As I said in my video about the driving, out of the countries I've been to here is the worst driving, be very careful if you come here and decide to hire a vehicle especially a motorbike or bicycle. Make sure you wear a helmet which is actually a law and the traffic police will stop you if not wearing one, that's if you can find a traffic policeman. I have been driving here for over 15 months and have never been stopped by anyone while driving. In fact over 6 years of being in Asia and I have not had to show my passport, other than arriving or leaving a country. 

Lifestyle here and in Asia generally is much more relaxed and for me coming from England the weather is just so much better. I have had no trouble with the hot weather my body seems to thrive on it and I don't like air-conditioning so I only use a fan. 

The weather here in Hai Phong and in the North of Vietnam is a bit cooler than the South and the other countries I lived in. We had a really cold snap the first winter here; it went down to 9 degrees C which having been in Asia for over 5 years was cold for me. The summer last year 2018 was milder than this one and the winter was not so cold either. We have been having temperatures around 35 degrees C the last few weeks, although it has dropped to about 32 degrees C now. 

It's also so much more cost effective, Vietnam I would say is the most economical country to live in from the places I have lived. Food and drink and accommodation all very low, we have a two room apartment roughly around 80sqm in total fully furnished with a balcony and we pay 4.5 million vnd which sound a lot but it's about $200 a month. We then pay a further 1 million vnd for our water and electric, that includes free Wi-Fi.

(As of today the exchange rate is 23196.21 vnd to $1)

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Back to the Philippines

My time in Cambodia was definitely the best, in terms of working in a good environment for teaching and I would have been happy to stay there for much longer. However, there was one thing missing from my life and that was a good woman to share my life with.

On that point it didn’t seem to be happening in Cambodia, so when I met a lady online living in the Philippines, I went over there for a holiday to meet her and see how we got on. By this time I had got quite picky about a few things and that was they didn’t have any children and weren’t planning on having any in the future, which is actually quite difficult to find especially in the Philippines.

Any way we seemed to get on well and she matched my above criteria, so after returning to Cambodia I started to look for any teaching jobs in the Philippines. Generally speaking there are no really well paid EFL teaching jobs in the Philippines, but I did come across a possibility and that was with ‘Wall Street English’ they had recently set up an office in Manila to teach online to Chinese students.

The pay was not great, but sufficient to live reasonably comfortably so I applied and managed to secure a position to start in the September of 2016.

This was also well organised with a clear structure and training, but it was longer hours and office based and because of the higher cost of accommodation near the office I chose to live about 12km away. Now if you have ever been to Manila the traffic is horrendous in the mornings and evenings and my journey to work could take anything from 2 to 3 hours in the daytime.

I was not prepared to sit in a mini bus and waste 3 hours in it, so very quickly I bought a bicycle and started to cycle in to work every day and home again taking around 45 min’s each way. Good way to keep fit and do some exercise, a bit scary with the traffic sometimes, but with a bike you can usually avoid being stuck.

Here we lived in a condo unit part of a complex with its own swimming pool and gym, although the gym was not good enough for my use so I joined a local one across the road. The condo was convenient for shopping with a small mall opposite the complex and local shops in walking distance.

Here public transport is very easy with many options to choose from, the simplest and most frequent for short rides were the Jeepneys, very colourful, noisy, open aired, but very economical and quick. We used this to go to a bigger mall about 15 min’s away that had a good cinema and a two storey shopping centre.

The company I was working for took care of my visa and working permit although it transpired that in the end they only kept me on a tourist visa for 6 months, we parted company because they were just too rigid for me, they wanted you to be a bit of a robot and follow their ways a bit too much. I had managed virtually all my life after leaving the Forces, to avoid the typical office and big company bickering and one-up-man-ship and I wasn’t in the mood to start now.

I then worked for a couple of companies that provided online teaching, again to Chinese and also Japanese students. But really by now we were close to obtaining a passport for my partner, then my plan was to move to Vietnam as the pay and cost of living is very favourable there.

I was still sad to be leaving the Philippines though, as I really wish to settle down there, but I’m not in a position to be without a good paying job.

While we were there we took a trip down to Northern Samar one of the islands in the Visayas and were my partner Vilma comes from. We stayed in a nice little hotel near the sea but no beach. The water actually came to the bottom of the hotel with steps down to the water.

    There was a big family party on one afternoon and evening on the beach with a Lechon (roasted pig) and other foods served on Banana leaves. Copious amounts of beer and Emperador Brandy with coke, while singing karaoke and dancing, a good time had by all.

    So from a teaching point of view I would not advise going to the Philippines unless you’re prepared for low pay or maybe you are volunteering. Or you could set up your own business teaching online to some of the rich Chinese or Japanese students. If you have a teaching certificate though meaning a degree in teaching then there are quite a few International schools that you could try.

Cost of living in the Philippines is low, much the same as Cambodia maybe a bit dearer. If living away from the main cities and go out to the provinces then the living costs go down. The local beer here in San Miguel and is a good quality beer. They have some quite odd dishes especially out in the provinces, like Balut (the egg with a young chick inside) and green mango with fermented fish paste, ants eggs and ants to name a few.

Not something I wanted to try, but like the other Asian countries these days there are many fast food chains like McDonalds, Jollibee, KFC, Pizza hut etc.

So as I said, having been there a year and just obtained a passport for Vilma it was time to book flights for Vietnam and go and get a better position.

From now on my posts will be all about Vietnam where I’m currently living and have been here since October 2017. One reason why I haven’t had many pictures and no videos is that I didn’t get my first Smart Phone until I started living in the Philippines again. Now I can take photos and videos very easily, which should help to liven up my posts in the future.

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Let's check out Cambodia

After around 19 months in Thailand I felt it was time to look for new pastures and decided to move to Cambodia.  Some of you may be thinking, ‘What!! why would he do that’, moving from one of the most developed countries in Asia, to a very small and under developed country without the many facilities offered by a more advanced nation.

Stay tuned and I’ll let you know.

So I arrived in Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia traveling by coach, an experience in itself!

Some of the roads were filled with deep pits and holes and it had been raining so muddy too, however we eventually arrived safely in Phnom Penh in the late evening in October 2014.

Fortunately, after only a short walk I was able to find a hotel for temporary accommodation while looking for a job and a more permanent apartment.

It did not take long to acquire a new position and I started work as a Tutor for a company run by an English owner. This involved some one on one tutoring and some small group work with local companies, again at a fairly low level. I continued working here until I met a guy in a local bar one evening and he told me about a language school run by IDP called ACE (Australian Centre for Education) and that I should apply there.

I suppose I should add a rather funny story (although not so funny for me at the time), one day my boss invited me to meet for lunch this was about 2 hours before my lesson with a Korean guy, very good in English but he wanted to improve even more and learn many of the idioms we have in English as well as converse with a native speaker. Anyway so at lunch my boss ordered some pizza and we had a pleasant time eating and drinking. However, unknown to me was the fact that this was commonly known as a ‘happy pizza’ in other words it was laced with cannabis.

I now had to proceed to my lesson with an executive client who spoke very good English and try to provide a good session. But that was not to be, I found myself feeling very drowsy and unable to concentrate eventually after about 30 to 40 min’s he ended the class. I’m sure he must have realised what had happened, but I put it down to not feeling very well. For me a terrible experience, as I would never drink or take mild drugs like that knowing I had a lesson to do, but quite funny looking back. What a boss right!!       

 This I did and after an interview, I was accepted to stat in a new branch in an area known as Toul Tom Poung. It was a brand new building with about 7 floors. This was to begin in the New Year January 2015.  

All the teachers that started in this branch were new teachers and we had induction training before we started. Very professional and although they did have classes for all ages we were able to stipulate our preferences. So I chose to teach at level 4 and above which was at an intermediate level and with teenagers and adults.

Quick note; IDP is an organization in Australia I believe its government run to encourage foreign students to study in Australian Universities. They are one part of the team that makes up the IELTS exams with the British Council.

I was very please to find this position as it was my first experience of working in a well run and organized school, it also took care of our visa’s and working permits and provided medical insurance after a 6 month probationary period.  We had all the necessary tools and equipment to plan our lessons and a structured curriculum using English course books. So whilst it was still required to make lesson plans they were developed around the lessons from the books, these included audio and video material.

Cambodia Expat Lifestyle

OK, so what about Cambodia, I found it a very nice place not too much traffic compared to other major capital cities, which made it easy to get around, here I did buy a second hand scooter rather than renting as they are very cheap here. Most of the traffic is motorbikes and bicycles not so many cars as the population is still relatively poor and cars here are very heavily taxed, they cost more here than in western countries.

The driving is not so good, they do go through red lights and drive on the wrong side of the road and you have to watch for vehicles coming from all directions, but they tend to drive quite slow, so just be careful.

About the traffic police if they stop you there will be a fine, even if you have done nothing wrong, but if you keep your eyes open they are avoidable and if you keep to the outside lane a go faster it’s difficult for them to stop you. It’s also acceptable here to ignore the police if they are flagging you down, they never pursue you.

I bought my scooter and never had a license in Cambodia, didn’t have any insurance. The only expenses were the petrol, about $1 a litre and any repairs, punctures did occur quite frequently but they have many places to repair and not very expensive.  

Cuisine in Cambodia mostly revolves around rice and noodles just like all the other Asian countries, meals could be bought at local restaurants for around a dollar, a can of beer about 70 cents in a store for the local brew or if in a bar $1.50 to $2. That’s if you wish to be on the economy side. But like Thailand being the capital city they have many different kinds of foods including, hamburgers, chips, Kebabs, Chinese, KFC and as in Thailand some western owners of bars and restaurants.

Of course if you venture into the small towns and villages you can only find the local foods.

Things to do, they had some small shopping malls and also one big AON mall that had just been built, with cinema that catered for blockbuster movies.

I also found a gym not as modern as the one in Thailand and no air conditioning which actually I prefer. But it had all the weights and equipment for me to work out a circuit for myself and it was only a dollar per visit.

Cambodia has many holidays, so the students and the school closed quite a bit and I decided to travel to the beach at Sihanouk about a 4 hour mini bus ride from Phnom Penh during any of the longer holidays. It was here that I noticed the scuba diving schools and being an adventurous person. I began by having an introductory course at a PADI diving school close to the beach at Sihanouk. After getting into the diving, I made my mind up to complete my open water certificate, this entailed buying some books and doing some study as well as the diving.

The centre I used had a place on an island, so we went by boat to this Island known as Koh Rong Sanloem and although there were some other small resorts it was almost a deserted beach, especially when it was out of the main season for tourists. However, on the other side of the Island, there were larger resorts and I occasionally took a walk over the hill to the other side, quite a steep climb and took about 30 to 40 min's, through a dense overgrown forest and a few streams to cross quite a nice little hike.  

          I got hooked on diving and went on to complete my advanced diving and also a rescue and first aid course. I thought about becoming an instructor but in the end decided against it.

I was also able to get involved with the school 5-a-side football team, we went to a local venue and played against the local teams, in my first 6 month contract we had two young guys teaching with us who were quite good footballers. So when the school had a 5-a-side competition we had a good team, even at 58, I was able to play in the side and we managed to win the competition on penalties in the final.  Not bad for an old geezer.   

    As for the cost of living, a bit less than Thailand especially for accommodation, although I have to say, I was very blessed to find a 3 bedroom two floor apartment fully furnished, for $200 a month. Most of the rented apartments were more in the region of $250 to $300 depending on what kind of facilities you were after, Oh! and with a balcony.  

Food to buy in the markets are cheap and varied you can get most vegetables that you might be used to, as well as many you have not seen before in your home country, unless you’re from another Asian country of course.