Teacher Blog

Greetings from Da Nang.

My name is Roy and I’m a 46 year old Canadian import to Vietnam. My background was newspaper management, amongst other things, but at the age of 34 I got tired of the industry and decided that it was time for a change—major change.

Mark Twain wrote: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I spent the next ten years (at first part-time but eventually full-time) getting my second degree. Then I quit the job, sold my stuff, and said goodbye to almost everything and everyone.

What a good decision! I looked at jobs all over the world in EFL and decided on Asia. I wanted the best and most efficient introduction to my newly chosen career field and found the CELTA to be the best course (neither of my degrees are in Education). I sweated and waded through all that was required and got the certification. I am incredibly happy I did! The CELTA gave me 90 percent of what I needed to do this job—the other 10 percent comes from your heart. That being said, the CELTA is by far the best prep course for teaching English here. It’s respected all over the world and backed by Cambridge. This is important because the Vietnamese government is rightly very strict regarding who teaches here and a real CELTA makes getting that valued work permit (and staying) easier.

I got my CELTA in HCMC but didn’t take to the city itself, so I left the hustle and bustle of HC and came to the centre of Vietnam…Da Nang. I wanted a place where I could partake of tropical fruit, sunny weather, beautiful beaches, lower living costs and even more wonderful people.

I arrived here in July of 2008 and haven’t looked back. I started work here at the Da Nang Apollo centre and learned to enjoy teaching and to like all my students—even the difficult ones. I’ve renewed my contract once already and plan to do it again and again.

I’ll keep you abreast of continuing developments.