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Well, now I am moving unto Year 6.  I am making some new changes starting this month in regards to my work with international schools here in Saigon.

Last week, I completed my third year as the part-time Computer Science/ICT Teacher at the American International School.  The first two years were interesting but the last year was a bit long.  AIS now has three campuses and will be opening their main campus in Nha Be, past Phu My Hung, in January, 2011.  They did receive their IB so I wish them the best in the future.  There really is no passion for education at AIS that I felt at the Zaman International School in Cambodia and the Horizon International Bilingual School (HIBS) in Vietnam.

One school that will exemplify a true passion of education is the newly formed The American School of Vietnam (TAS).  I will fill in two weeks for their ICT teacher.  The two weeks will be a great transition for me.  I will be moving from an American educational environment at TAS to a British educational environment at HIBS.

I will be fully on board at HIBS, also known as Horizon, starting July 1st.  My first task is to work with the IT Teachers and principal to implement the Moodle learning management system before the start of the 2010-2011 school year.  We will use Moodle system wide between the 5 HIBS campuses located in Saigon and Hanoi. We are pretty much going to implement an entirely new IT network at Horizon that will meet international standards including using interactive wide boards and distance learning.  Expect me to blog a lot about my IT work at Horizon.  Time permitting, I will also teach the Computer Studies course based on the Cambridge system.

Transitioning to HIBS will be great, it will mean I can get to eat Turkish food everyday.  That is a huge benefit in itself and the Turkish management is very supportive of education.  Most people may have never heard of Horizon.  The school is about 5 years old but in the next 5 years, I guarantee you will hear a lot about this school.

Thus, starting this month, I will be lucky enough to work at 2 of the top 5 best international schools in Saigon (The other three are the British International School, International School Ho Chi Minh City, and South Saigon International School).  These five place quality and education over quantity and profit.  If you are a parent, these values should be very important.  The other international schools do not seem to place any value on quality anymore.  To determine whether an international school is focusing on quality or not, just look at the turnover of the teachers and staff.  The higher quality international schools can retain their teachers and staff, the lower quality cannot.

Just my ten cents worth on international schools in Saigon…

Well, finally, after trying for nearly 10 months, I got my work permit.  I can now legally work in Vietnam for the Horizon International Bilingual School for the next 3 years in various capacities relating to IT. My work permit can be extended three times possibly up to 9 more years for a total of 12 years.

My school is now working on getting me my 3 year temporary resident card.

Yes, it was a bit difficult to get my work permit.  I originally started with my company, SLG Vscapeone.  Due to problems related to my ex-business partner, the documents filled out for the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DoLISA) were incorrectly filled out.  One document listed me as General Director, the other as Assistant Manager.  Yes, this was purposely done and many know I was forced to leave Vietnam for 4 days to fix my visa in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last March.  Now everything is good to go and I hope many Expats do not have to experience the headache I went through.

So here is my recap on how “Americans” can get their work permits.  There are still many who need to obtain them before the July deadline at which point Vietnam will start to deport those foreigners who do not hold work permits.

Rule #1, DO NOT USE AN AGENT to get your work permit.  They are worthless and not worth the time and money you will spend with them.  I used my ex-business partner’s friend who, for nearly 5 months, did nothing to help me obtain my work permit though I had to pay him.  When Horizon resubmitted the forms, we had to start from scratch (minus the police report and health check).  My lawyer filled out my job experience form.  Skip the agent, ask your employers or very close friend to help you.  You have to do most of the work anyway.

Here we go: Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I think I am a bit behind the times in regards to new international schools in Saigon.  I found out that Fran Radano has helped open another high-quality school in Vietnam called The American School of Vietnam.  I met Fran about 5 years ago when he was still running Cleverlearn which attained a good reputation for high-quality while he was working there.

The American School of Vietnam

About 3 years ago he also helped form the American International School where I currently teach ICT part-time.  At the time, I accepted the part-time position because of Fran.  AIS had an early reputation for high-quality, I use these word with Fran a lot, before switching to a business model focusing on quantity over quality.  Fran left over a year ago and I heard rumors that he was forming his own international school.  I got the actual name a couple weeks ago.

Below is the school profile I took off the website:

Located in the tranquil suburb of Thao Dien, in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2, The American School of Vietnam is a fully-licensed international school program designed by American educators experienced in the development and operation of American and international schools. An independent and private college preparatory school with a highly individualized and personalized program, The American School of Vietnam offers a strong, US-based curriculum for Kindergarten through Grade 12. The newly-built primary and secondary campuses have state-of-the-art technology in each classroom, two libraries, well-equipped science and computer labs, dance and drama studios, an intimate auditorium, swimming pool, soccer field, basketball court, and rock climbing wall. On a secure, safe and friendly campus, just minutes over the Saigon Bridge, in an undisturbed setting, free of city noise, led by a faculty of fully-credentialed, enthusiastic, dedicated American and international teachers, the school prepares students for the demand, rigor, and academic challenge of America’s universities.

From the website I do recognize some good American teachers.  This school has a good future.  Consider it more as a college predatory or gifted school since this time around, I suspect the high-quality standards Fran is well known for will remain.

Best of luck to Fran and The American School of Vietnam!  This is the definitely one of the schools parents should send their children to…

Website: http://www.theamericanschool.edu.vn

Last Friday was my 38th birthday.  I went to my IT class at the American International School and was surprised to find two of my students, Joy and Long, had prepared a surprise party for me.  Joy had made me some pasta with spaghetti sauce, sushi for the entire class and brought a huge cake.  Boy was I glad I skipped lunch that day.

Thanks Joy and Long!  This will be a memorable AIS moment for me to reflect upon in the future.

My Birthday Cake at the American International School, it says 'Big Belly' and 'Handsome'on the cake.

Joy preparing for the surprise party

I mentioned over a month ago that VTV visited my Linux Lab.  A couple weeks ago they aired the 10 minute segment on VTV.  I know several of the guys featured on the program including An Nguyen of SaigonLUG and Professor Son from the University of Education.   The open source community is starting to grow in Saigon but it still has 5-10 years to mature.  It is definitely more active then 5 years ago which is very positive.

My piece is at the 7 minute mark after the interview with Professor Son.  Oh, the entire clip is in Vietnamese…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ECJ1QxTuk[/youtube]

Sorry for adding this late, I posted it on Facebook over a week ago and then just got lazy