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re: hungary with live in accomodation provided?

 
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siologen



Joined: 25 Oct 2016
Posts: 336

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:06 pm    Post subject: re: hungary with live in accomodation provided? Reply with quote

Hello all,

Anyone teaching in hungary, with digs provided at a school, and is it worth it or not? I know, I know, salaries are low in CEE region, but compared to the western europe region, it still seems cheaper Surprised Shocked Laughing Cool

Sooo....anyone teaching there who likes it, or can recommend it, or just has any suggestions after teaching there for a while?

Cheers on,
s
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Keskaa



Joined: 14 Feb 2013
Posts: 21
Location: Somewhere in the great wide open

PostPosted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi there!

I have been working in Hungary for the past several years through an organisation called CETP. They are based in Oregon and place you in Hungarian schools which have housing and utilities provided. You earn according to the same pay scale as Hungarian teachers (maybe around 120,000-180,000 HUF per month depending on your qualifications and experience).

It is a great organisation, honest, and will do its utmost best to help you out. They support your visa and everything, and if you ever have trouble, you can call their in-country support, and she is a bulldog and will fight for you.

The only negative is that you have to pay quite a significant fee to join. It is 2,500 usd to start, and 750 usd per year to renew at the same school. However, you have to consider that your rent is paid, your utilities are paid, visa is paid for and done by a lawyer for you, and you are tax-exempt for the first two years here, so that will save you about 18% more of your salary.

CETP really simplifies it here. I make around the upper-end of the CETP-teacher salary since I have a Master's degree, but even though it isn't much by Western European standards, I have a very comfortable life. Even teachers making 30,000 less than me still live well. You have to be frugal, but it can be done. Private lessons also can increase your income.

True, I have a very positive opinion of them, and not everyone will have had the same experience, but I truly believe that there are far more people who will remember CETP fondly than those who would not.

Check out their website if you are interested!

https://www.cetp.info/
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AGoodStory



Joined: 26 Feb 2010
Posts: 738

PostPosted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keskaa, that fee, although steep, also covers health insurance, does it not? Or is that provided by the school? I seem to remember health insurance as one of the benefits, but I could be wrong. What has your experience been with the quality of the housing? Have you stayed at the same school, or have you had different placements during your time there?

.
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Keskaa



Joined: 14 Feb 2013
Posts: 21
Location: Somewhere in the great wide open

PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AGoodStory wrote:
Keskaa, that fee, although steep, also covers health insurance, does it not? Or is that provided by the school? I seem to remember health insurance as one of the benefits, but I could be wrong. What has your experience been with the quality of the housing? Have you stayed at the same school, or have you had different placements during your time there?

.


Hi again,

The health insurance is a mandatory salary deduction for all residents of Hungary and Hungarians themselves. The fee cannot cover it, as it is a governmental requirement. So, the health insurance is about 16.5% of your total salary every month if I remember correctly, and for that, you are covered for public hospitals. If you want private insurance, you can buy that and get cheaper access to public doctors (who you will still have to pay on top of the private insurance), but you also won't have to wait months for basic services and tests if needed.

The quality of housing depends mostly on where you are placed, as the housing you get is tied to the school you work at. However, in the contract, the school is required to give you a fully-furnished place to live, including cooking utensils and everything. Some people get quite large flats (I heard someone say that their flat was over 60 square meters) but mine is just 33 square meters, which I think is more common.

The commute you get again, depends on the accommodation and placement. I have a 5-minute walk to work, but others in Budapest and some out in the country who may commute between two schools, for example, often have to ride the public transport, which adds time to your day. I am not sure if the schools help pay for the transport tickets, as I have heard that some people are compensated and some are not.

I have been with the same school the whole time, and I am very happy here. I could have changed if I wanted to, but I haven't seen any reason to do so. This isn't a job for everyone, as you earn quite a low salary (but equivalent to your Hungarian colleagues), don't have control over where you live (but don't pay for it, either), may have to travel by public transport, and you probably will not be living in the center of Budapest due to the extreme housing costs. However, if you are willing to be frugal, compromise a bit, and learn where the best flea markets are so you can shop and save money, it really isn't hard at all! The important thing is to remember that you won't be living large, but you will be comfortable.
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billbob



Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:51 am    Post subject: Native speakers in Hungary? Reply with quote

Just out of interest, are there many native speakers working in Hungary? Do you work/have you worked there, or are you being/have you been taught by one?

I've never met a tefler who's worked in Hungary, and the Hungarians I've spoken to said they never had one as their teacher. One young woman told me they are not common, and most of whom are there are (or were c.10 years ago) American volunteers working for church organisations. True or not?
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Dave Rochester



Joined: 08 Jun 2016
Posts: 13

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:57 pm    Post subject: Re: Native speakers in Hungary? Reply with quote

billbob wrote:
Just out of interest, are there many native speakers working in Hungary? Do you work/have you worked there, or are you being/have you been taught by one?

I've never met a tefler who's worked in Hungary, and the Hungarians I've spoken to said they never had one as their teacher. One young woman told me they are not common, and most of whom are there are (or were c.10 years ago) American volunteers working for church organisations. True or not?


Absolute rubbish.
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billbob



Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Native speakers in Hungary? Reply with quote

Absolute rubbish.[/quote]

What is? What she told me about the Americans from church groups, or my impressions?

I honestly don't know and I'm curious, that's all. Do you find a similar amount of native speakers in HU and PL and CZ? If yes, do they mainly work for private language schools/freelance, or in state schools/universities?
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hungary is a different case to the Czech Republic or Poland. The Hungarian economy is in relatively dire straits and state schools can barely afford to pay their own highly-qualified teachers.

There are few native English speakers teaching in Hungary because there are relatively lots of highly qualified Hungarians, and salaries are generally too low to attract expats.

The Czech Rep and Poland are relatively better-off economically and have more native English speaking teachers. Most are teaching for private language schools and freelance, and most university/state school jobs are filled by qualified locals. Again, pay at state/university schools is relatively low.
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billbob



Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you, spiral78.

From a distance, I have the impression that CZ is better off economically than PL, but did not imagine that Hungary was that much worse off than both of them. Cheers
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Keskaa



Joined: 14 Feb 2013
Posts: 21
Location: Somewhere in the great wide open

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:09 am    Post subject: Re: Native speakers in Hungary? Reply with quote

billbob wrote:
Just out of interest, are there many native speakers working in Hungary? Do you work/have you worked there, or are you being/have you been taught by one?

I've never met a tefler who's worked in Hungary, and the Hungarians I've spoken to said they never had one as their teacher. One young woman told me they are not common, and most of whom are there are (or were c.10 years ago) American volunteers working for church organisations. True or not?


Hi there,

In my experience, there are TONS of native-English teachers in Hungary these days. Most of them work in Budapest and the larger cities like Debrecen and maybe Szeged, and about 80-100 work in Hungarian public schools around the country through CETP (Central European Teaching Program). There are TONS of highly-qualified Hungarian-native teachers here, but there is a huge preference still for native-English speakers. That is not to say that there are many jobs in teaching, though, because there just aren't too many good ones, and the ones that do exist are low-paid, high hours, high workload, and the rents in BP are INSANE, so unless you roommate it up, you can't afford an extravagant lifestyle, and you certainly won't save anything.

I know several teachers here who teach online for VIPKID and Cambly to supplement their income, which does help, but for the most part the pay is pretty bad compared to the cost of living.

I am sure that it is uncommon for the majority of Hungarians to have had a native-English speaker teacher in the past, but that is probably because they either never had private lessons or there was no native speaker in their high school.
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billbob



Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2017 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Keskaa!

The people I knew a while back, who hadn't had experience with natives, were from Pecs, as far as I know a major town but not the biggest (looks pretty in their photos).

The woman who told me about the Christian volunteer groups, as far as I remember, she went to uni in Budapest and lives there now, but grew up in a small town, the place foreigners would rarely pass through.
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