Teaching in Vietnam with a mortgage

HI Guys,

After a very long time I'm back on TT and I just want advice to make sure I'll be doing the right thing. I teach in a vocational college in Melbourne and we have a few Vietnamese students. My college teaches English and Horticulture, the English department has catered for all levels of English but the management want to phase out lower levels. We connections with a Vietnamese Migration Agent who's given us quite a few students but most come wiht a low level of English. As the management are not keen to teach lower levels this agent suggested that I, as one of the English teachers, go to Vietnam for 3-6 months, teach English to a group of students at a language school so that they come to Australia with a higher level of English.

Usually I'd jump at the chance of teaching overseas because of the great experience it provides regardless of how low my salary woudl be. However, I own a flat, have a mortgage and I'm not willing to sell it. My plan is to insist on either continue being paid my normal salary, or at least a portion high enough to cover my Mortgage repayments or turning it down completely. I also plan to rent out my flat but I'd prefer to rent it out to somebody I know and not deal with a real Estate agent. If anyone has had similar experiences and have any suggestions on how to approach this it would be greatly appreciated.

A typical ESL teacher in Vietnam will get around $1,500+ /month, tax free, with free accommodation. Food, transport and entertainment are much cheaper than Australia. It's not like teaching in Africa.

I rented my place to a friend when I went to England for 2 years. Worked out well. I had to cover a bit of the mortgage, but the rent covered most of it.

I would insist on a salary sufficient to cover the mortgage and live comfortably in Vietnam. Then if you rent it out it will be a bonus, and everything won't fall apart if your tenant has to leave.

THanks guys for your advice, it all looks a bit iffy at the moment, not due to finances, mainly due to the agent having absolutely no idea about teaching, thus having a few unrealistic expectations.

Cheers

Excuse me for saying so, but without even reading the entire post, you have so many English mistakes, that if you are a native English speaker I have to ask you to refrain from teaching English.