Job Discussion Forums

[been_there]

Just a general shout-out to all the adventurous: Kosovo is opening up language schools like bottles of Crystal at a Bad Boys after-hours. The war has been over for 4 years now, and things have stabilized to the extent that three schools have opened up in the last two months. The boom-era has begun....

Advantages: The locals LOVE foreigners (thanks to NATO), the cost of living is cheap, plenty of opportunities for the individual entrepreneur, NO VISA NECESARY (technically, Kosovo is not a country, but a UN protectorate), good base for travels in the region, the outlying cities (Peja, Gjakove, Prizrin) are GORGEOUS.

Disadvantages: Pristina (the capitol) is dirty and boring, pay is from 10-20 Euros an hour (not exactly a gold mine), and the old soviet teacher-centered mentality still applies and is tough to counter.

Just a notice from the front-lines of language teaching. Be seeing a few of you soon�

[Mosley]

Kosovo is still TECHNICALLY( de jure if not de facto) part of Serbia, isn't it?

[been_there]

Ahh yes, thank you Mosley for uttering the single sentence that is SURE to enflame any Kosovar. If my students ever appear sleeping or bored, I simply say, "Hey, is this a country, or is it a UN protectorate? Aren't you all technically Serbs?" or, to make it shorter, "Is it Kosovo or Kosova?" (the nationalists spell it with an "a" on the end). Hours of andrenaline-fueled conversation...

The short answer is "Yes, technically it is." the Kosovar answer is "We will die before we let Belgrade rule us again." *My* answer is that the UN is hip-deep here, has been for four years, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Kinda makes you wonder why Bush mentioned Kosovo(a) as a model for what they are doing in Iraq, eh? Better get comfortable, yanks.

[been_there]

One more thing, Mosley, you don't need a visa to get into Kosovo. Yugoslavia will claim that you do, but it's not true. Just fly into Pristina airport and present your passport for an intresting little UN stamp.

[Mosley]

Well, hell's bells -I just might zip over to Kosovo. Why the hell not? It seems more exotic by the minute.... Bye the bye: is that Andre the Giant in your avatar?

[been_there]

See you there.

Yes, it is the Giant. He has a possee...

[dyak]

What's the 'official' language called now? Will I be frowned upon (or worse) for speaking Croatian?

[been_there]

I don't know about worse, but certainly frowned upon.

The official languages are: Albanian, Serbian, and English. The only problem is that NO ONE will speak Serbian. I went to a MoE roundtable discussion where there was one Serbian lady talking about education in her small Serbian enclave out in the sticks. She spoke in Serbian, and the translator translated her into English, but no one would translate her speech into Albanian.

[MELITTA]

My roots are in kosovo, so i felt this moral obligation to go there and contribute. i ran a google search on international schools in kosovo, and was happy to find out that my search returned tons of results.
been_there is right, international schools are popping out of nowhere in every corner.
to make the long story short, here is my experience.
i got several job offers, decent salary(considering kosovo's cost of living), all expenses covered, and a roundtrip ticket usa-kosovo-usa. so i started considerng this one school, based on the salary they were offering and the classes i would be teaching. after several days of phone conversations and emails, their headmaster emails me and tells me that there's been a change of plans. without appologizing even once, he says he can't really pay me for my expenses or return ticket until my semi annual evaluation. not only this, but here is a quote from his email
"...So!!! take it or leave it!!! if yes great to have you if not good luck!!! that's all we are offering you! once again take it or leave it!!!"i am thinking how unprofessional. this guy tells me he is an english teacher, and yet uses no proper punctuation. i don't know if he thought that rudeness is the language they speak in kosovo, or was he just trying to put some pressure on me?
anyways, all i could tell them was "good luck to you"
googled some more, and found out that most of these schools are not even accredited, they have low enrollment, no experienced teachers, still just stuggling to keep their heads above water.
it turned out this particular headmaster, runs a motel business in midwest, and has no teaching experience here in the states. he taught english in some other eastern european countries, married a teacher and off he began his selfmade principal adventures.

i hope your experiences with schools in kosovo are better than mine.

m.

[gugelhupf]

been-there, Surely it isn't that long ago since you were posting on this forum about how ordnance was flying around the streets as the locals and the UN bods were having, shall we say, a difference of opinion.

Sounds a bit Dodge City to me.

[been_there]

Well, the return of the thread I though long gone.

Gugelhupf: yes, this thread pre-dates the unpleasentness of March 17 (which I have on video, if anyone is interested), a fact indicated by Mosly's reference to Adre the Giant (two avatars ago. Anyone recognize this new avatar?). Currently, things have settled down and, thanks to Boris Tadic's election in Serbia, I think relations might start to improve between Kosovo(a) and Serbia-Montenegro, but don't quote me.

MELITTA: I would not take ANY job from some nut who said "take it or leave it, if not good luck!!!" especially something as important as airfare and expences. I'm guessing you applied at the New Age school (I think he married a teacher). If you want to PM me, I know a couple of things that might help you out.

At any rate, there is a LOT of work if you are a native speaker of English. with the UN and NGO's on every corner, I know several people who are doing independent work and making a living. Now, if your motivation is to "Give back to my motherland," why not just show up and give lessons out of your apartment to Serbs whose homes and mosques were burnt down three months ago?

[MELITTA]

been_there

i pm'd you.


m.