If you’re looking to venture out of your comfort zone and travel, and, in doing so, developing personally as well as benefiting other people, then I would absolutely recommend teaching in Vietnam.
At first I’d underestimated just how much of a test it would be to teach English abroad. Challenges came in ways that I anticipated, as well as in unexpected forms: from language barriers, to being overwhelmed by the abundance of traffic, to learning to adapt to strikingly different cultural norms. But do you know what? These differences were something that I, personally, thrived from.
It was through these challenges that I learned so much about myself and my capabilities. And all of this was in addition to helping many children in Vietnam improve their English.
For me, a frequently satisfying victory was that of experiencing mutual, communicative understanding and joy with, for example, the children in your class, the teaching assistants that you work with, or the lovely, welcoming Vietnamese people that live near you, without the use of words themselves, but mere gestures.
Ready to start your own Vietnam story? Check out our Paid Vietnam Internship here.
