“Miss Lizzie, you've spelt gorilla wrong”, said my 6 year old student….

Having just an 120-hour TEFL qualification and no teaching experience, it was safe to say I was pretty nervous about my first lesson. It was arranged that my first week would be spent observing other teachers and seeing what classes in Vietnam were like compared to the UK. This was all great until five minutes before one of these “observations”, I was told that the teacher had called in sick and that I had to teach two 1 and a half hour lessons with no preparation. WICKED.

It went bloody awful and the 17 year old students weren't very sympathetic. But I survived and being thrown in at the deep end was a good a way to start than any.

I still teach these 17-year olds as well as 13 different grade 1 and 2 classes- some of which are the cutest children you could ever meet! Before starting my job, I thought it was just primary school classes I would be teaching rather than secondary too. But teaching grumpy teens is giving me much needed experience and it is always good to have some challenges in any job.

The company I work for send teachers out to different schools all across the city. I work at three different schools, so it is a good way of visiting other areas.

When I finished my degree, teaching had never crossed my mind- let alone teaching abroad! It is giving me a great experience and the TEFL qualification has given me the chance to live and work abroad, build my confidence and meet a lot of new people. Although this job has allowed me to see I’m not a teacher at heart, it has given me the reassurance that I still want to do what I had originally set out to do after graduating last Summer. I truly want to work in PR and communications-particularly with charities, having carried out a health and media related dissertation. However, I will obviously never completely dismiss teaching, as I am having a great time. It is always good to keep your options open.

It’s only been two and a half months since I started teaching and I already have some very funny stories. One day I asked my 6 year old students to get their workbooks out. One boy pulled out two fish from his desk (see picture for proof). This same class also corrected my spelling of “gorilla”- this was obviously a test I had set them, which they had passed. So well done class 1D!

Both teachers and students at the schools are welcoming, shown through the abundant of drawings I receive from 6 year olds. One girl has drawn a picture of me every lesson without fail. Very cute. In March, Vietnam also celebrates “Women’s day”, where I was given flowers by my primary school students! It made my day, especially when I had to teach a very grumpy teenage class that afternoon. Obviously they had forgotten my flowers and left them at home.