Job Discussion Forums

Eager2teach

Hi, I was offered a job at Caledonian School in Prague. Just wondering if any teachers or former teachers would care to e-mail me and fill me in on stuff. It's my first job out of the US and I'm a bit anxious about the whole experience.

thanks,
John

[email protected]

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

What stuff would you like to be filled in on? If you have specific questions, please post them. (It makes it much easier for people to help you if they know what kind of information you need!)

d

Eager2teach · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:00 pm Post subject:

I'm mostly wondering about the schedules that are typical and how people deal with all the time off in between classes. I've never had anything like that before. Is 16,000 crowns/month enough to live on?

thanks,
John

parrothead · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 342 Location: Japan

I can't comment on the schedules at Caledonian School as I've never worked there, but I imagine what you do between classes is up to you.

Just to repost what has already been discussed in other threads, Prague is not that cheap of a city to live in. Schools can pay teachers 16,000kc/mo. because there are hordes of teachers looking for work.

Some possible math:
Base pay: 16,000kc/mo.
Take home: 12,000kc/mo.
Rent (shared flat) - 6,000kc/mo.
Phone card - 400kc/mo.
Food (rarely eating out) - 3,000kc/mo.
Entertainment (+internet) - 2,000kc/mo.
Transportation - 400kc/mo.

Savings = 200kc/mo. (Currency conversion= $8.00USD)

You can do it for less of course, or easily spend a lot more.

zewd · Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Lynchburg, VA, USA

I've heard bad things about Calendonian. I think the only vacation they give you is the week between Christmas and New Years, and you might even be expected to work through the summer, whereas many other schools will give you 4 weeks of unpaid vacation time plus 2 months off in the summer (which can be good or bad, depending on how much money you have.) 16,000 is also quite low for Prague, unless the school is giving you free accomodation. I know that James Cook and IJV (Institut Jazykoveho somethingsomething, sorry, I don't remember the last word in the name) pay around 24,000. I've also heard good reviews of St. James School, but I think they require a year of experience for their hires now.

On the plus side, people at Calendonian seem to be quite happy with their coworkers, and regularly organize group social events.