Job Discussion Forums

[mikeisquixotic]

I'm coming to Prague for a week in October for the MOFFOM Festival and I'd like to get out and do some first hand research for teaching opportunities while I'm there because I figure Prague would be an excellent place to start my TESL journey/career or what have you.

I'm a 22 year old male from the States with a Bachelor's in Business Administration as well as some formal training and in class experience of TESL. I'm in the process of gaining EU citizenship by way of my Irish heritage so I suspect that getting working papers won't be much of an issue. I'll be arriving October 15 and staying at a rented flat in Prague 1 with friends.

Can anyone offer any tips on where to start in my search? I'm interested in hearing about any job leads, recommended institutes, or even to meet in person to talk TESL. Thanks in advance!

-Mike

[spiral78]

Prague is a TELF training centre mecca, so there are tons of new teachers hitting the streets every couple of months. This keeps salaries relatively low. You can expect to make enough to live fairly well in the city, and to travel within the CR, but the money won't translate to much outside of the CR.
You don't mention what kind of certification you have, but you'll need to be sure to have some documentation of your training in ESL/EFL to compete against all those new certificates from training centres in Prague.
The standard certification required is 120 hours including a minimum of 6 hours of supervised teaching practice.

In terms of job search, you really need to be there on the ground, and visiting schools in person to land job interviews. This is also because of the strong market of available teachers. It's very rare to set up interviews from abroad - this is because people very often don't bother to show up, or when they do come in, they sometimes have misrepresented themselves in some way. This is pretty standard throughout Europe, in contrast to Asia, where you can often land a contract from abroad.

The standard contract period is September - June, but with some iniative you should be able to find jobs even in October.
You might check out the Prague Post online (www.praguepost.com) for job openings. They also used to have a list of schools, but you will be able to easily find schools to contact when you are in the city. There are 60+ private language schools, and they are almost all within a standard range of salary and benefits. There's not a lot to choose between them for a newbie.

The typical work day in Prague starts early and ends fairly late, with a break mid-day. You can expect lots of time spent traveling around the city to the offices of your students.

Enjoy your time in Prague 1! Housing is pretty expensive for teachers, and most people end up flat-sharing. But the experience of Prague is really pretty unique, and you're right, it's a good place to start a career in TEFL/TESL.

[Joeldew]

Mike,

I am heading to Prague this weekend for a holiday (and Budapest the following week) but will spend some time visiting some of the schools to see how fertile the employment opportunities are for language teachers.

Incidentally, I also possess a Business degree (plus cert TESOL and MA � applied linguistics) and have some teaching experience in Australian educational organisations.

Nonetheless, it would be interesting to see.

Spiral78�s post was very informative and helpful � many thanks.

Best regards.

[mikeisquixotic]

JoelDew, how was your weekend visit to Prague? Which schools did you check out? Any recommendations?

[Joeldew]

Mike,

Whilst Prague is an extraordinarily beautiful city, I have decided to settle for Budapest.

I have been offered a position in Hungary but I�m still researching for more (and better) options.

There are many reasons why I chose Budapest and not Prague; one of which has already been noted by Spiral �Prague is a TELF training centre mecca, so there are tons of new teachers hitting the streets every couple of months. This keeps salaries relatively low�

(Sorry but the �Business degree� education hasn�t been completely diluted)

I�ll PM my personal details to you.

Best regards