Job Discussion Forums

[Solar Strength]

Most of my teaching experience has been at the university level at Thai universities with some teaching in Korea and Japan.

I'd like to get out of Bangkok and I'm considering eastern Europe, possibly Slovakia or Czech.

How do the two compare in terms of social life, salaries, hours, etc.?

Also, a fellow American once told me that as he passed over the border into Czech it was like going into Tansylvania or something, everything got really dark and gloomy and sort of depressing. Mind you, this was in the early 1990s when he was there.

Any info or comments would be apprecaited, also are U.S. citizens able to secure work permits in Czech or Slovakia?

[spiral78]

Between Thai and Central European universities there is basically almost zero similarity in terms of the EFL job market.

State run universities firstly usually hire (qualified) locals; there are relatively few jobs for foreigners.
Pay at universities is generally LOWER than that at private language schools.
Your experience in Thailand, Korea, and Japan will not give you much credibility with employers in this region because the students and learning/teaching context are apples and oranges - what worked for you in Asia is unlikely to translate here. There is a thread on this in the General Europe forum.

US citizens are eligible for legal work permits for CZ/SLO, but it's a hassle and most employers, given the very numerous EU teachers around, won't go through the hassle.

Timing is important - if you really want to come here, plan to arrive at the end of August, giving yourself 90 days in the peak hiring period to land something that will give you legal papers.

Don't bother with the very few and seriously underpaid state university jobs around (not that it would be likely to find one at all). Go for your only real option - private language schools, or maybe if you can demonstrate experience with children, an 'international' kiddie school - but these are highly competitive and usually want paper qualifications related to working with children.

Keep in mind that this job market is very much in favour of employers -there are simply lots of teachers around. They'll often opt for a brand new CELTA or equivalent cert holder over you, because your experience is with very different student types. A newly certified teacher who at least got a cert in the region will have at least a month of practice teaching with European students.

If you haven't got a cert yet, consider getting one locally here to help give you a better start into the country/culture. As 99% of new teachers on the job market here have a CELTA or equivalent, anything less will put you at still more of a disadvantage.

No, the CR is not 'Transylvania' - although Transylvania happens to be extremely beautiful in many ways. Prague is the Paris of Central Europe and hosts literally tens of millions of tourists every year. You've been preceeded
Keep in mind that simply being from the US is not cool here (this is a common misperception among teachers with experience in other parts of the world) - zero points socially just for being American. Way too many around over the years, from tourists to EFL teachers to many thousands of exchange students, to the upper echelons of the international business crowd....

[Solar Strength]

[Kofola]

Spiral has already summarised the problems with universities in the Czech Republic. Asia cannot be compared with Europe - most people here work much harder for much less (teaching English).

Just to give you an idea of state university salaries in Slovakia. The figures for 2012 were 1198,76 euros for a lecturer rising to 1761,63 for a professor (gross monthly). (The figures are for 2012 as the statistics website is down this morning.) 805 euros was the average salary in Slovakia in 2012 and 824 in 2013, so the university salary will have risen a little. You can earn 1000 euros a month in a private language school here if you have experience and more if you freelance.

The problem is not specific to TEFL but to state funding of universities and the public sector generally, where salaries are low across the board.

[Solar Strength]

Kofola,

Iron Rice Bowl is what Asians call university teaching and government jobs. It is essentially retirement on the job.

Thanks for the additional information.

[scot47]

The European tradition of teaching English Philology at university level is light years away from what happens in Asia.

[Coolguy123]

[Sashadroogie]

Look at the students' relative achievements to answer that question...