After the first year in a Vietnamese bilingual preschool, an international teacher grows less by collecting courses and more by deepening practice: reflecting on a small number of moments each week, observing and being observed by colleagues, choosing one area of expertise to develop, learning seriously from Vietnamese co-teachers, and gradually helping newer teachers find their feet. The first year is about learning the setting; the second and third are where a teacher becomes genuinely skilled in it.
This article is for teachers who have survived the first year and want the next ones to count. It does not cover salaries, contracts or job offers, which depend on each school, and it touches on qualifications only briefly. Work permit rules, which affect what qualifications are needed, change from time to time and are best checked with the school and specialist guides such as thaodien.org. The focus here is the practice itself.
Why the second year is where growth happens
The first year in a new country and a new kind of school takes a great deal of energy simply to get through. Teachers learn routines, names, forms of address, the rhythm of the school year and the habits of a co-teacher. Much of the learning is about the setting rather than about teaching, and there is little spare attention for refining practice.
By the second year, much of this has become automatic. The festivals are familiar, families recognise you, and you know how the day flows. That released attention is the resource for real growth. Teachers who use it deliberately often find that their second year feels completely different: they notice more about individual children, plan with more confidence and contribute more to the team.
The risk is the opposite: a comfortable plateau. Once the job feels manageable, it is easy to repeat what worked last year without asking whether it could work better. Research on teacher development has long pointed out that experience alone does not guarantee improvement; it is reflection on experience, ideally with others, that turns years into expertise. The rest of this article is about building that habit into an ordinary working week.
Reflective practice that fits a busy week
Reflective practice is a familiar phrase in teacher education, often traced to Donald Schön’s work in the 1980s on how professionals think in action and about action afterwards. Graham Gibbs’s reflective cycle, published in 1988, offers a simple structure: describe what happened, notice your feelings, evaluate, analyse, conclude and plan what you would do next time. Neither needs to be followed rigidly, but both remind teachers that reflection is more than a vague sense of whether a day went well.
In a preschool, reflection works best when it is small and regular. Choosing one moment each day, perhaps a conversation during play, a difficult transition or a child who surprised you, and writing a few lines about it takes five minutes and builds a remarkable record over a term. The key is to describe precisely, in the children’s words where possible, before interpreting.
Patterns appear quickly. A teacher may notice that transitions after outdoor play are always hard, that a particular child talks most in the block corner, or that her own questions during story time tend to be closed. Each pattern suggests a small change to try, and the next week’s notes show whether it helped. This is reflection that changes practice rather than reflection as a paperwork exercise.
Being observed and observing others
Many international teachers find being observed uncomfortable, especially when the observer is a manager and the feedback feels like evaluation. Peer observation offers a different experience. Two teachers agree on a focus, such as how children respond to open questions or how the room supports independence, one watches the other for twenty or thirty minutes, and they talk afterwards about what was seen. The observed teacher chooses the focus, which keeps the exchange useful rather than judgemental.
Observing others is just as valuable. Spending half an hour in a Vietnamese colleague’s class, or in a different age group, shows practice that you would never see in your own room. Teachers of the youngest children often have deep knowledge of care routines and settling; teachers of the oldest kindergarten year know how to prepare children for the move to primary school. Each perspective sharpens your own.
Ask the school whether peer observation can be arranged, perhaps during periods when a class has additional adults. Even two or three observations a term, with a short conversation afterwards, give teachers material for reflection that no course can match. Keep the conversations professional and private, and focus on children’s experience rather than on the adult’s performance.
A growth map for the first three years
A rough outline of how an international teacher’s focus often shifts. Every teacher and school is different; the table describes common patterns, not targets.
| Stage | Main focus | Signs of progress |
|---|---|---|
| First term | Learning the setting, the team and the children | Knows every child by name, follows routines, has a working rhythm with the co-teacher |
| Rest of year one | Contributing within the class | Plans and leads some experiences, uses classroom Vietnamese, communicates with families with support |
| Year two | Deepening practice in one or two areas | Observes children precisely, adapts plans to individuals, reflects regularly |
| Year three | Contributing beyond the class | Supports newer teachers, shares practice in meetings, helps shape the curriculum |
The pace depends on the teacher’s background, the school’s support and the quality of the co-teaching partnership. A teacher who arrives with early-years training may move quickly through the first stages; one coming from ESL may spend longer on the foundations of child development and play. Neither path is better, and comparing yourself with colleagues who started from a different place helps little.
What the map does suggest is that growth has a direction. A teacher still focused entirely on surviving the week in the third year may need a conversation with the school about support, workload or fit. Raising it early is better than letting frustration build.
Choosing one area to go deep
Early-years education is broad, and trying to improve everything at once leads to improving nothing much. A more effective approach is to choose one area for a year and go deep. Possible areas include observation and documentation, outdoor and nature-based learning, bilingual story time, music and movement, supporting children with additional needs, or the language development of children in their silent period.
Going deep means reading seriously, trying ideas in the classroom, observing closely what happens and talking about it with colleagues. Some teachers frame this as a small enquiry: a question such as “how can I help quieter children take part in group conversations?”, a few changes tried over a term, and notes on what children did. This kind of practitioner enquiry, close to what is often called action research, does not need statistics or a formal report to be valuable.
The chosen area should connect with the school’s priorities and with what the children in your class need. Discuss it with your curriculum lead or principal at the start of the year. Many schools welcome a teacher who wants to develop expertise in a particular area, especially one that can later be shared with the team.
Learning from Vietnamese colleagues as a professional
In the first year, international teachers learn from Vietnamese colleagues mostly about practicalities: routines, families, festivals and language. In later years, there is more to learn. Vietnamese early-years teachers have trained in child development, care and the national preschool programme, and many have years of experience with children of all ages. Their knowledge of how to settle a distressed toddler, organise a group of thirty children for lunch or read a child’s mood is professional expertise, not just local custom.
Treating this as expertise changes the relationship. Ask a colleague why she handles a situation in a particular way, and listen to the reasoning. Some practices will reflect cultural expectations that you see differently; others will reflect hard-won knowledge of children that you lack. Distinguishing the two takes time and humility.
International teachers can also act as a bridge in the other direction, sharing ideas from early-years traditions elsewhere in a way that respects what the school already does well. The most useful exchanges are two-way: a Vietnamese colleague demonstrates how she runs a calm rest time, and an international colleague shares an approach to open-ended questioning. Both teachers grow, and the children benefit from adults who keep learning together.
Supporting newer teachers
By the second or third year, an international teacher has become the person new arrivals turn to. This is a chance to consolidate your own learning, because explaining why something works forces you to understand it. It is also a contribution to the school: teachers who are supported well in their first term tend to settle faster and serve children better.
Informal support is often the most valuable: showing a newcomer where things are, explaining the forms of address, sharing which phrases help at lunchtime, and listening when the adjustment curve dips. If the school has a formal mentoring arrangement, take part willingly and keep the relationship confidential and supportive rather than evaluative.
Good mentoring is mostly listening and asking questions. Rather than telling a new teacher what to do, help her notice what is happening and think through options. Share your own first-year mistakes; they reassure more than any advice. And remember that the newcomer will bring fresh eyes that can help you see your own practice differently.
Keeping a professional portfolio
A simple portfolio helps a teacher see her own growth and talk about it clearly. It need not be elaborate.
- Reflective notes. A selection of entries that show how your thinking changed over the year.
- Examples of planning. Plans for experiences or projects, with notes on what happened and what you would change.
- Observation samples. Anonymised observations or learning stories that show how you read children’s learning.
- Feedback. Notes from peer observations and conversations with leaders, with your own response.
- Professional learning. Courses, reading and enquiries, each with a sentence on what it changed in your practice.
Protect children’s privacy in everything you keep. Remove names, avoid photographs of faces unless the school and families have agreed to their use, and follow the school’s policy on storing records. A portfolio is a record of your practice, not of the children, and it should be safe to share with a future employer without exposing anyone.
Reviewing the portfolio at the end of each term, ideally with a mentor or leader, turns it into a planning tool. It shows where you have grown and where to focus next.
Sustaining yourself for the long term
Early-years teaching is physically and emotionally demanding anywhere, and working in a second culture adds to the load. Teachers who stay well over several years tend to protect a few things: sleep, regular exercise suited to a hot climate, friendships both inside and outside the international community, and time away from school thinking.
Boundaries matter too. Messaging apps connect teachers and families easily, and without clear agreements it is possible to be answering questions late into the evening. Follow the school’s guidance on communication with families, and agree with your co-teacher who responds to what and when.
Finally, keep in touch with why you came. Many teachers find that the moments that sustain them are small: a child who used to cry at drop-off now runs in, a shy child who whispers her first English sentence to you, a colleague who asks for your idea. Noticing and recording these moments is part of reflective practice, and it is also part of staying well in a demanding job.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How can international teachers keep developing after their first year in Vietnam?
Through regular reflection on small classroom moments, peer observation with colleagues, choosing one area of practice to study in depth, learning seriously from Vietnamese co-teachers, and supporting newer teachers. These habits turn experience into expertise more reliably than collecting courses.
What is a simple way to start reflective practice?
Choose one moment each day, such as a conversation during play or a difficult transition, and write a few lines describing exactly what happened before interpreting it. Over a term, patterns appear that suggest small changes to try, and the notes show whether those changes helped.
Is peer observation the same as being evaluated?
No. In peer observation two teachers agree on a focus chosen by the observed teacher, one watches for a short period, and they discuss what was seen. It is a professional conversation about children’s experience, not a performance review, and it works best when kept private and supportive.
Should I get an early-years qualification while working in Vietnam?
Many teachers find one valuable, especially those coming from ESL. Which qualifications are useful depends on your background, the school and current work permit requirements, so check with your school and up-to-date immigration guidance before choosing a course.
How can I learn from my Vietnamese co-teacher without seeming critical?
Ask about her reasoning with genuine curiosity: why she handles a situation a certain way, what she has seen work over the years. Treat her knowledge of child development and care as professional expertise. Sharing your own ideas in return makes the exchange feel mutual rather than one-sided.
How do I avoid burnout as an international preschool teacher?
Protect sleep, exercise and friendships, set clear boundaries around messaging with families, and agree responsibilities with your co-teacher. Notice and record the small moments of progress that make the work meaningful, and raise concerns about workload with the school early rather than late.