Teaching English in Vietnam offers a comfortable lifestyle, but your income depends entirely on the hours you work. Whether you’re pulling in $20/hour at a language center or earning a fixed salary at an international school, there’s a ceiling to what you can make. But what if you could earn money while you sleep, travel, or even after you’ve left Vietnam?
Creating and selling educational resources online has become a legitimate income stream for thousands of teachers worldwide. The materials you’re already creating for your Vietnamese students—IELTS practice tests, grammar worksheets, speaking activities—have universal appeal to English learners everywhere. You’re not starting from scratch; you’re packaging and polishing what already exists on your laptop.
The Major Platforms: Where to Sell Your Materials
TeachersPayTeachers (TpT) is the industry leader with over 7 million teachers using the platform. While it’s predominantly used by K-12 teachers in the United States, the ESL/EFL section is growing rapidly. The platform offers a massive built-in audience actively searching for materials, but it takes a 20-45% commission depending on your membership level ($59.95/year for premium accounts that keep more revenue).
Etsy isn’t just for handmade jewelry anymore. The digital downloads section has become a thriving marketplace for educational materials, with lower fees than TpT (6.5% transaction fee plus $0.20 listing fee) and strong search engine optimization that brings organic traffic. However, you’re competing with all digital products, not just educational materials, so you’ll need to work harder on marketing.
Gumroad is designed for creators selling digital products, taking only 10% commission. It offers a clean interface and works well for bundling resources or creating mini-courses, but there’s no built-in marketplace—you must drive your own traffic through social media, email lists, or your website.
Your Own Website gives you maximum control and keeps nearly 100% of revenue (minus 2.9% payment processing fees), but requires technical knowledge, SEO expertise, and significant marketing effort to drive traffic.
What Actually Sells
Not all materials sell equally well. Here’s what performs best in the ESL space:
Test prep materials for IELTS, TOEFL, and TOEIC consistently rank among top sellers. Think practice tests, strategy guides, vocabulary lists organized by topic, and speaking practice prompts with model answers.
Grammar practice worksheets addressing common problem areas—articles, prepositions, verb tenses, conditionals—sell well because teachers constantly need fresh practice materials.
Conversation and speaking activities like discussion questions, debate topics, and role-play scenarios save teachers prep time and are perennial favorites.
Vietnamese-specific materials addressing L1 interference issues represent a niche opportunity. Your knowledge of Vietnamese learners is valuable—create materials targeting specific pronunciation errors or grammar challenges Vietnamese speakers face.
YouTube and Streaming: Building Audience-Based Income
While selling materials generates passive income, creating a YouTube channel offers a different revenue model combining advertising, sponsorships, and funneling viewers to paid products.
Successful ESL channels demonstrate what’s possible: IELTS Liz has 1.8 million subscribers with videos regularly hitting 200,000-500,000 views, likely generating $3,000-8,000 monthly from AdSense alone. mmmEnglish with Emma has over 6 million subscribers, with ad revenue likely exceeding $10,000 monthly.
YouTube pays through AdSense based on views, with educational content typically earning $3-8 per 1,000 views. A medium-sized channel with 100,000 monthly views generates $300-800 in AdSense, plus opportunities for sponsorships and promoting your own materials.
Starting requires minimal investment: a smartphone camera, basic ring light ($20-40), and lapel microphone ($15-30) total around $50-100. Vietnam’s internet speeds in cities are sufficient for uploading 1080p videos.
Realistic Income Expectations
Most teachers won’t get rich selling worksheets, but the income can be meaningful. In the first year, expect $0-500 as you build reviews and visibility. After building a catalog of 20-50 products, $200-1,000 monthly becomes achievable for dedicated sellers.
The power lies in combining income streams. A teacher might earn $500/month from TpT materials, $150/month from YouTube AdSense, and $200/month from Gumroad course sales—totaling $850/month passive income. In Vietnam, that covers rent in many cities or funds weekend travel every month.
Getting Started This Week
Creating passive income doesn’t require quitting teaching or massive investment. Here’s what you can do in seven days:
Days 1-2: Choose your niche and platform. Research what’s already selling in your chosen area—don’t create generic “grammar worksheets,” create “10 Subject-Verb Agreement Worksheets for Adult ESL Learners (Intermediate Level).”
Days 3-5: Create your first product. Start simple—a 10-page worksheet packet is perfect. Use free tools like Canva for graphics and maintain clear, professional formatting.
Day 6: Set up your seller account and write your product description. Be specific about what’s included, the level, and how to use the materials.
Day 7: Upload your first product and share it with teaching colleagues for feedback.
Practical Considerations for Teachers in Vietnam
Payment Processing: PayPal works in Vietnam for receiving payments from TpT, Etsy, and YouTube, but Vietnamese bank accounts can’t be directly linked. Most teachers use Payoneer, which provides a US account number for receiving payments, then withdraw to Vietnamese banks with reasonable fees (around 2%).
Time Management: Be realistic—a comprehensive worksheet packet takes 3-5 hours to create and format. Building a store of 20 products requires 60-100 hours. Most successful sellers dedicate 5-10 hours weekly consistently rather than sporadic intense efforts.
Tax Considerations: This gets complex depending on your home country. US citizens must report worldwide income to the IRS, while UK, Australian, and Canadian citizens have different obligations. Keep detailed records and consult with a tax professional familiar with expat situations.
The Bottom Line
Your late-night IELTS lesson planning can become a $5 product that sells to teachers worldwide. Your weekend spent creating phrasal verb activities can generate $200 in sales over the next year. That 10-minute YouTube video explaining relative clauses can earn $150 in ad revenue over three years while driving students to your paid course.
Start small, stay consistent, and remember: every successful seller started exactly where you are now—with one product and zero sales. The difference is they uploaded that first product instead of leaving it on their laptop.
Your teaching expertise has value beyond your classroom. It’s time to share it with the world—and get paid for it.