With a population of over 5 million people Bruno Fernandes World Cup Jersey , Ho Chi Minh City, formally known as Saigon, is a thriving metropolis with the best and worst that mankind can dish up and in a quirky kind of way, an English language school on what seems like every street corner. Positions that would ordinarily be occupied by McDonalds or some other fast food chain in a developed, western country.

English language schools need English language teachers and another interesting phenomenon in Ho Chi Minh City is the influx of institutions that offer TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) training programs. TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City is all about providing people with the skills and certification they need to secure ongoing English language teaching jobs. So, what does TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City typically involve?

Cost

There are options for TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City to suit all budgets Bruno Alves World Cup Jersey , but like so many areas in life, you get what you pay for. Online TESOL courses are cheap as chips and if you hunt around you might find a program for as low as US $200.00. With a cheap, online TESOL course, it would pay to ask yourself: 1. will the program that is on offer adequately prepare me for work as an ESL teacher; and 2. how will a potential employer (a school) respond to my online TESOL certification. Face-to-face TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City offered by a reputable provider such as AVSE-TESOL typically costs around US $1,500.00. The good news is the higher fee often comes with government accreditation, a job guarantee and in some instances accommodation for the duration of the study program.

Time commitment

My research into TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh turned up courses that can be completed in less than week and others than can take a month or even longer. You will make up your own mind about whether less than week is sufficient time to learn the vocational skills you need to productive ESL (English as a second language) teacher. Personally Bernardo Silva World Cup Jersey , I wouldn’t have thought so. In contrast, TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City at AVSE-TESOL involves 150 hours of study over a 4-week period. The 150 hours can be broken down as follows: 8 hours of observing qualified ESL teachers taking classes; 12 hours of teaching practice with ‘real’ students involved in ongoing classes; 80 hours of face-to-face tuition with qualified TESOL educators who are native English speakers; and 50 hours of assignments and other course related work.

Eligibility

While most providers of TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City require TESOL students to have a university degree to gain admission to their study program this isn’t the case at AVSE-TESOL. They welcome all comers – those who hold a degree, people who don’t hold a degree, native English speakers and non-native English speakers. The core requirement to gain admission to TESOL training in Ho Chi Minh City offered by AVSE-TESOL is advanced English language skills.
Sri Lankan customers browse Chinese books at the newly opened Xinzhi bookstore in Colombo, the company's fifth overseas outlet. Provided to China Daily

For many Chinese, Colombo is a great place to shop for jewelry and tea Anthony Lopes World Cup Jersey , but for Li Yong, the Sri Lankan capital is the location of the latest in his chain of Chinese bookstores.

Li's company, Kunming Xinzhi Group, is China's largest private book retailer, with 58 outlets around the country. It opened its fifth overseas bookstore in late November in Sri Lanka. The 450-square-meter shop is the first in South Asia, but others have opened in Phnom Penh Andre Silva World Cup Jersey , Vientiane, Kuala Lumpur and Mandalay in Myanmar during the past two years.

"We have a medium-term plan that by 2015 we will have 10 bookstores in Southeast and South Asia. Our long-term plan is to have 20 around the world by 2020," said Li, the founder and president of Kunming Xinzhi, who began conducting market research into Southeast Asia in the mid-1990s, finally opening the first overseas store in Phnom Penh in Cambodia in November 2011. He found that the demand for knowledge about China and for Chinese language learning aids is growing rapidly in the region Andre Gomes World Cup Jersey , so the company decided to focus on Asian cities with large populations of ethnic Chinese and Chinese entrepreneurs.

"We are also considering Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal," Li said. "Our sixth store will be on the way when we can rent a proper place in any of those countries."

Li's confidence about future expansion is built on the enthusiastic reactions of readers in the five countries where the stores have already launched. At the opening ceremony, and during an earlier 10-day trial run Adrien Silva World Cup Jersey , the Colombo store sold a wealth of Chinese dictionaries, ancient literature, modern novels and language textbooks.

Xinzhi's vice-president, Yao Shusheng, who is in charge of overseas operations, said many students from the local Confucius Institute William Carvalho Portugal Jersey , a language school backed by the Chinese government, have flocked to the store.

"Our target customers are Chinese people who work in those countries, people of Chinese descent who want to know more about the culture, local people who are learning Chinese, and scholars and officials who are interested in China," he said.

"We sell the 'big culture' concept in our stores. Not just Chinese books Rui Patricio Portugal Jersey , but also audiovisual products, sports goods, gifts, even furniture and accessories," he said.

There are future plans for Chinese schools, galleries and cultural centers under the company's brand. "We need a multi-driven business model to support our overseas operations. After all Ruben Neves Portugal Jersey , the purchasing power for Chinese books in those countries can't be as high as in the domestic market," he said.

Learning for the future

Except for the store manager and one assistant sent from China, all.