| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Gamajorba
Joined: 03 May 2015
Posts: 357
|
 Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 3:27 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| spiral78 wrote: |
| Brit-speaking Irish teacher? My Irish colleague snorted at the notion and mumbled something about plastic paddies...which of course I don't get, being North American myself. |
Passports and parents kind of define one's identity, no? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 3:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Do they? I have always thought that it is a little bit more complex than that. Especially if language is thrown into the mix. Accents make it even harder, particularly when it is the 'wrong' one... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
When I was teaching in eastern Europe in the 1990s there was still that lingering "respect" for RP from those generations of English Philologists who though that the Royal family in Buck Palace were the only linguistic model to follow. In this of course they followed their Soviet role models who thought everyone should speak, use and understand only RP !
Professor Jana Molhova and the rest of that school are now dead and gone, and the influence has waned.
Having seen what has replaced the old orthodoxy, I wonder if perhaps they were right !
I mean like you know, innit ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stirlitz17
Joined: 11 Mar 2015
Posts: 14
Location: Russia
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| spiral78 wrote: |
| I work with some Scots; their in-class English is perfectly clear, but if they natter together over a pint, it's another language. Fair enough. |
Well, I've got a quite a strong Northern English accent, which I have to tone down in class. One of my former colleague's parents came to visit from America and they couldn't understand a word I said. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
Americans are not very good at decoding other forms of English. An American colleague from Oklahoma visiting me on Bute needed my services as an interpreter ! Not for Gaelic speakers but for those using Modern Colloquial Scots !
Last edited by scot47 on Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:46 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Forms of English with a wider lexical base, eh, Scot? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jpvanderwerf2001
Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:24 pm Post subject: Re: American, Bachelor's degree, TEFL, considering Russia |
|
|
| Gamajorba wrote: |
| tommyp32 wrote: |
So, as my thread topic suggests, I am an American with a bachelor's degree and a TEFL. I am considering applying for positions in Russia.
I am wondering
1. What is the current climate like towards Americans primarily and then expats in general? Sometimes the political situation makes me uneasy so I am wondering about that and how it has effected people.
2. Where are places to consider going aside from Moscow or St. Petersburg? (not saying I wouldn't teach there, but if there are other good parts of the country to consider I'd like to know about them.)
3. Who are the more reputable employers?
4. How does pay/ cost of living in Russia compare to that of other Eastern European countries?
Thanks for any advice. |
1) Russians prefer Brits over Americans. Sorry, we're just better  (plus we're closer physically!) Plus a vast majority of Americans (and Brits for that matter) tend to go to Russia expecting everything to be the same as their own country...and this is coming from Russians themselves!
2) Anywhere west of the Urals
3) Well...
4) Moscow and St P are obviously far more expensive than anywhere else |
I'll take slight exception to the "Anywhere west of the Urals" recommendation. As a matter of fact, I would recommend foreign teachers consider the east of Russia, as there are far fewer foreigners there; this can be quite advantageous in regards to professional opportunities (very easy to get tutoring and in-company gigs) and social life (there is arguably a greater curiosity factor involved).
I happen to find the people in Siberia and the Russian Far East to be friendlier than in Moscow as well, though that is of course only my experience.
Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Sakhalin, Kamchatka...there are so many options "out east"...I can't imagine why someone would suggest one stay only west of the Urals. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I suspect it was just a provocation... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
