Job Discussion Forums

[Littlebird]

Sorry Perdu a Paris -didn't mean to make you miffed. I 'm not saying you're relying on a man. I'm just horrified that your standard of living is so low. Did you get enough hours to make a full time week ? I just can't believe that if teaching wages are twice the minimum wage you still end up living in poor housing. Cauchmar ! I just wanted to know how it was for you so that I could decide if I can hack it. Do you think people living outside the captital have a higher standard of living ?

No offence intended

[scot47]

The books quoted by the lady with the lips are by MURPHY.

He should get the Nobel prize !

Betty Azhar has something similar but for me Murphy is the best.

Something heavier is the classic "Practical English Grammar" by Thomson and Martinet.

As for living on the poverty line in Paris - no thanks. I will take my chances in the ME where at least I get a living wage. I have had my share of poverty. There are probably more looney Islamists in Paris (or London) than in Saudi anyway !

[blindjackdog]

I would say the original poster to this thread hasn't stayed in Bangkok long enough to assess living/working conditions there. Spending that much is totally unnecessary, but, granted, having western tastes does increase your cost of living enormously.

And in terms of making money, if you're at all a competent teacher and not an offensive person, the longer you stay in Thailand the more you can make. It's a matter of meeting people, learning the systems etc. Someone with their eyes open to opportunities can, after a couple of years on 30 to 40 thousand baht, double this without increasing their workload at all.

Surely Paris is much the same(?)

My point is that any new country - France, Thailand or Cambodia - takes time to get to know, and new arrivals are always the victims of the lowest wages and highest costs.

The question, then, really is: how much will the move cost in the short term, how long will the adjustment period last (and what personal sacrifices are involved in adjusting), and how good are the possibilities long term?

Of course information provided here is not always the most reliable, because often those happily ensconsed in rewarding employment are not about to advertise it, nor are they inclined to read discussion forums dominated by neophytes looking for an easy ride.

As for grammar, the intermediate Murphy - Blue Murphy - is probably the nearest thing to an esl bible. The advanced one is also useful when you're teaching higher levels but it's not advisable to dive straight into it.

Grammar can be a real bitch to get to grips with, and it basically takes long, hard classroom hours before you feel on top of it. Some people never seem to get the hang of it, which is a shame because ultimately one of the most important functions of a good esl teacher is to be able to manipulate, control and most of all anticipate your students' reactions to points of grammar.

[waxwing]

I can't understand how anyone teaches in Western Europe, unless they're funding it themselves. I received a job offer from Ukraine, and at the same time got an advert in my email from a school in Italy - who were offering the same wage as the school in Ukraine!!

Cost of living in Ukraine is anywhere from 2-6 times lower than Western Europe, depending on what you're buying. On average it's 3-4 times less. Oh and of course the Italian job () is higher hours and the contract has a very 'slave' like feel...

[Oh and this particular neophyte will tentatively suggest that Paris is, surely, not the same in that regard - it's a matter of supply and demand]

[Moore]

Hello all, I spent three years in Paris and then the last year living in Madrid, and bizarrely, even though here it's much harder to get "blocked" hours i.e. four in a row, usually it's one and a half then a big gap then one and a half and so on only four days a weeks, meaning you only do about twenty hours a week at 15 euros an hour if you're lucky, I still find myself with much more money getting 1000 a month here than in Paris where I was on 1500 euros net per month salary.
The cost of living in Paris is mad when you consider that a pint of beer is 6 euros and a room was going for 500 in a shared flat over there, compared to 4 and 300 down here. I was ending up in debt there as I was paying the retrospective tax for the previous year that bites you in the a*s there badly. I've taught and lived all over the world and I have to say Paris was very tough, have a look at what I wrote in the Job Information Journal, subject - Life In Paris - a summary, for more details.... it's a truly great place for a year, two max, but long term you'd better be married or on a fat trust fund! It's not about how much you earn, it's about how much you bank, in purely monetary terms, that is - the Lapin au Moutard more than made up for the shocking debt, although my bank manager has sharply differing views...