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Best bets for Eastern Europe

 
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Latvietis



Joined: 20 Sep 2011
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:51 am    Post subject: Best bets for Eastern Europe Reply with quote

Cheers,

I'm Canadian with a TEFL/TESOL/TESL, an M.A. in history and a year's experience as a T.A, as well as a year teaching ESL here in Saudi Arabia...

I'm open to just about anywhere in Eastern Europe (non-eu citizen), mostly because my background is European and I love the culture - however, money is playing a part. I need to be able to save some coin for grad school...I know Asia/Middle East is a better choice financially, but if anyone has advice on:
1) Best salaries in East/Central Europe
2) Lowest cost of living in East/Central Europe
3) any other advice regarding my concerns!

I'd really appreciate it...there's not an east european country out there i'd decline (and my heart is pretty much set on this part of the world) but i'm really hoping for some feedback on which one would leave me in the best financial situation...

All the best I do appreciate it, thanks!
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spiral78



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

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My experience is in Central Europe. I'm sure people who know more about the East will be here soon.

Your qualifications are essentially entry-level for the region - an unrelated MA won't get you much extra from a newbie level of pay, nor will one year in what is a very different kind of teaching context (Saudi, and as a TA somewhere).

Honestly, salaries are really basically subsistence level here. A pair of jeans requires some budgeting and a new bike or a holiday abroad requires some serious scrimping and saving. Saving money for grad school isn't really a feasible option, unless you can afford to save up for a decade or something!!
Flat-sharing will help, but housing can easily take up to half of a teachers' salary.

To use Prague as an example (because I am in touch with the teaching scene there), when I started back in 1998, my monthly salary (gross) was 28,000czk. It's really about the SAME now, though costs of everything have obviously risen.

I was lucky to get a great flat-share and paid only 4,000czk/monthly, and was able to live all right and take a couple of short, cheap European holidays. I couldn't have saved more than a couple of thousand CAD in the year, though.

As one stays in a city/region and builds a local reputation, contacts, and language skills, it's possible to move up to 'better' jobs. However, these are very rarely lucked into at the onset, and they don't necessarily pay very much better.

The general answer is that for Central Europe, it's not really feasible to save money much. Come for the experience - you'll make enough to enjoy the region, but if you need to amass funds for grad school, this really isn't the place.
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jonniboy



Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked in Latvia for 6 years and that's not too bad. Very few native speakers there so once you've got a couple of years experience and contacts you can cherry pick the best classes and privates. Going rate there was about 14 euro an hour in hand and you could have as many hours as you wanted. Additionally there was work about in the summer so there was no need to do summer camps. Europe in general though isn't the place for saving money.
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Latvietis



Joined: 20 Sep 2011
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for all the advice guys...unfortunately i'm gonna have to agree that you're right haha, though i'll be teaching in europe later on, i think asia is looking like a better option financially, and that's the first priority right now...thanks again
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General Disarray



Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 58
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I live in Hungary at the moment.

You will earn roughly 600-700 euros a month (its dropped due to the Forint not doing so well lately). About a quarter of that will go on your rent/bills and the rest for living which you can do comfortably (especially if you don't drink too much).

Clothes here aren't too expensive if you go to the right shops, you can get jeans for as cheap as 5euros and decent shirts/t-shirts for 3 euros. Good quality as well (they ship clothes from England over that didnt sell in the English shops, out of season clothes).

Holidays will mainly be train journeys to nearby countries (Hungary boarders 7 countries) so you get a lot of choices anyway.

No chance for saving for grad school, but I don't think the situation is as bad as Spiral says in Hungary. I realise that Italy/Spain/Germany is a different ball game though.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Come to Russia! Tough setting up with a bucket school at first. But private lessons can be quite lucrative. Charge something between 50 to 100 EU if you can, and you'll soon equal a Hungarian salary after just 10 lessons monthly.







Massively higher costs too though....
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