Job Discussion Forums

[mitsui]

Business English is an idea but it comes down to who you know to get the company teaching.

Don't think the UAE is getting better, especially at universities,
but it really depends on where you work.

[dragonpiwo]

Of the 20 years I've been teaching, I've spent 14 of them working for oil companies in the Middle East. That market is hard to get into but the salaries are great. Technically, I'm still employed by one. I'm just looking at Poland, the place where I've lived on and off since 95, to see how feasible it is. I'm not actually looking to make a tonne of money but I don't want to be messed around, work for inexperienced but demanding kieruwniks or provide middlemen's clients with materials that they should be providing. I'm also not into entertaining students like a kind of Rod Jane and Freddy teacher. The vast majority of teachers here have very little experience IMHO, which suits employers just fine. I think it's also fair to say that most of the native speakers I've come across have low expectations and are happy to bumble along in the same rut ad nauseam, earning peanuts and not providing that much of a service.

It's feasible for sure but I think one has to be very, very careful about who one co-operates with and for a whole host of reasons.

Unless you work for a university here, I wouldn't call it a career in the sense of those you can have with oil companies like QP, ADCO, Aramco et al, who all pay $70-100K per annum plus benefits. In Poland it's more of a hustle. Some like that and some don't.

[Infinite]

[dragonpiwo]

Listen to yourselves;' a Zloty a minute.'

That's awful in Europe in 2014.

[delphian-domine]

Don't discount working in ordinary (private) schools as a career too, the holidays are bordering on the ridiculous and they're all paid. Tuesday is a holiday - why? Teacher's day, of course!

[dragonpiwo]

Great tradition. When I worked in Bydgoszcz years ago, an entire adult class each brought vodka to the last lesson of the day for me! Very memorable and the boss condoned it, so we had a drink and then went to a local bar.

[Rusty77]

Yeah, that happened to me in Poznan also, a few years back! Interestingly, it was the one class I had that semester in which a handful of students incessantly complained about my teaching early on in the semester (of course, going behind my back to the director with their complaints). After I had a "frank" discussion with this group about expectations and lines of communication and what not, and we had smoothed things out, we ended up being on such good terms that they were the only group I had that did something so thoughtful . Live and learn (for me), I suppose..
Anyone hear what ended up happening with "Brisket"? Did he take the leap and come here to Polska yet?

[Master Shake]

I used to go out for drinks with most of my groups (generally not teens and YLs though; they never have any money!) at least once towards the end of the semester. During one summer course, I even did 1-1 end of course 'consultations' at an Israeli bar in Warsaw.

I miss Poles' relaxed attitude towards drinking and socializing, and their willingness to mix business and pleasure.

I go out with the Japanese teachers I'm training here in Japan occasionally too, but it's a much more formal affair with speeches, applause and small talk.

[brisket]

I've very reluctantly decided against it. I just don't have the resources (or the right passport). It also sounds like both the availability of work and the bureaucratic hurdles are getting worse rather than better, so there's not a lot of encouragement there... hopefully this board has given me a reasonably accurate picture of the situation rather than deterring me from doing something that would've worked out OK!

[iknowwhatiamtalkingabout]

[dragonpiwo]

'Glad I did it', past tense.

Rules change here quite often and it's actually not at all straight forward even with a British passport if you don't fit very narrow parameters.

Earn the wrong currency? Sorry. Work for a company that isn't European? Sorry. That's just the legal stuff.

Then you have the total incompetence of some of the people you have to deal with, who don't know that a new karta pobytu doesn't have a photo on it and demand an old one, which you can't get.

Then you have the people who just lie, especially in banks as they want you to open an account, so they can get their bonus.

Re the contracts? I've just been offered umowa o dzialo, which I thought was a no go these days.

TEFL is Russian roulette in this country.

[spiral78]

[Louisdf]

[sparks]

I agree with Spiral on the "bring 3-5 k" advice, it may take a while to get any significant pay from schools as they sometimes pay near the end of the month after you've worked. As Louis says though, in Warsaw you can find a steady stream of work all year long, seriously, If I lost all of my classes tomorrow, I'm sure I could have a full schedule again by the next week. Between Nativespeaker.com.pl, gumtree, szukajlektora, etc. It's pretty easy to find classes, of course mornings and evenings are most in demand but it's also possible to find work during those midday and afternoon hours. If you are ready willing and able to teacher kids it's much easier of course as the myriad private kindergartens and primary schools are always looking for native speakers. You can rake in plenty to live comfortably and not work evenings if you are willing to deal with kiddies.

[iknowwhatiamtalkingabout]