Job Discussion Forums

[jasonconga]

location: Germany

employers: university, technical university, companies, quasi-alternative university that teaches culture management, the local "night school" for the people in town (called VHS)

teaching hours/week: high 35 low 15

pay range: 15 (quitting that bitch soon!) to 29euro/teaching unit. there are better paying jobs but for some reason I'm not so motivated to go out and get them, I guess I have things good enough

transportation to work: car one day a week with other teachers for the technical university in the mountains 45 minutes away, bicycle and tram and once a week train for 10 minutes.

monthly expenses: roughly 750euro/month

how's the market: somehow I keep hearing of other jobs and teachers I'd never heard of before and I think, damn, things must be pretty good because I thought I was one of the better-connected teachers in town

teacher get togethers: only on Sundays for NFL at the Irish bar and it's only 2-3 of us anyway. There's no sense of togetherness or an association to speak of

what kinds of English do you teach: business english, information technology, newspapers, american history, conversation, ranging from one beginner class to a few advanced conversation classes

how long until you had your first job in that town: 6 weeks

how long will you stay there total: 5+ years, already almost 3 here and my girlfriend has a couple of years left

AND

why are you there: I have a German girlfriend, we met in Greece and I had to make a decision about leaving southern California and so far it's been the best decision of my life!

What about you?

[Spinoza]

[Super Mario]

Location: Australia

Employers: Government

Teaching hours: 22x45 mins a week. Office hours, meetings, take home work.

Pay range: USD equivalent 40-60 k/year. 12 weeks paid vacation leave, 10 sick days, 5 family care days, 9% employer contribution to superannuation.

Transportation: Car, about 10 mins. Could do it by bus, but why bother?

Monthly expenses: Depends. Housing costs USD 500 p/m upwards, depending on where and what.

How's the market?: There is a steady and growing market for ESL teachers. Most jobs appear on www.careerone.com.au A non Australian permanent resident [visa class, that is] would need to find employer sponsorship. Growth areas are the international student market and government funded migrant/refugee classes.

What kinds of English?: I'm mostly involved with 17-19 year olds from East Asia looking at going on to further study in Australia, so its quite academic. Government and private providers look after the adult migrant/refugee sector. These can range from Sudanese straight from an African camp with no English through to Chinese Ph. Ds facing a life as a taxi driver unless they can bump their English sufficiently to gain university entry. There's also work in new arrival centres for school aged children, K-12.

Why am I here?: After several years in China, my [Chinese] wife wanted our son to grow up and be educated in Western society. Personally, I loved China, but them's the ironic breaks.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

location: USA

employer: University Intensive English Program

teaching hours/week: 17 (+ event planning, office hours, meetings, etc.)

pay range: about $30/hr

transportation to work: car--5 minutes

monthly expenses: roughly $750

how's the market: tight

teacher get togethers: Occasional school-sponsored events

what kinds of English do you teach: EAP

how long until you had your first job in that town: 4 weeks

how long will you stay there total: indefinitely

AND

why are you there: After being abroad for two years, coming back to the states to settle down sounded like a good idea. Plus retirement benefits, health insurance, and free tuition.

[khmerhit]

location: canada

employers: a school board----i am a volunteer

teaching hours/week: none

pay range: none

transportation to work: public transit

monthly expenses: 15 dollars

how's the market: up and down. this piggy went and found nothing much

teacher get togethers: quiz nite down the local

what kinds of English do you teach: esl to chinese immigrants

how long until you had your first job in that town: still looking--4 yrs

how long will you stay there total: hmm. 29 yrs all up..

AND

why are you there: i am stuck in the reverse culture shock unit

What about you?
_

[Cdaniels]

[guangho]

Khmermit, I thought you couldn't go home again? And what happened to Finland? Oy, have I got a headache.


Location: outskirts of Albany, NY

employers: There is a local school board. I should check them out sometime.

teaching hours/week: nada though public schools are 8:30-3:30

pay range: as little as possible, minus tax and medicare.

transportation to work: public transit if I time it right.

monthly expenses: Prisoners get 3 free meals a day and a bunk.

how's the market: Public school is the way to go but this part of New York State is not exactly an immigrant stomping ground.

teacher get togethers: I am most empathetically not a people person. Wasn't there a guy working in the Canadian Arctic? Can he pm me about opportunities there? I'm better with whales than people.

what kinds of English do you teach: None, but from what I have seen "may I install your roof Sir?" would be handy

how long until you had your first job in that town: Job? Heee......I just got back here a week ago though.

how long will you stay there total: Purgatory is indefinite

AND

why are you there: Maschoistic tendencies.

[JZer]

location: Yesan, South Korea (country side)

employer: Kongju University

teaching hours/week: 25, 50 minute classes a week

pay range: Salary equivalent to $2000US per month + free rent

transportation to work: walk, there might be a bus but I don't know how to use it yet

monthly expenses: On average about $500. Not much to spend your money on unless you go to Seoul every weekend. You can eat most asian food in resturants for $3 a meal and you don't have to pay for a beverage like in the west.

future plans: No idea. I am debating staying in Korea or going to Central America. I like the club scene so the Korean country side is a little boring.

[Gregor]

location: NE China (Dalian)

employers: EF - branch of a franchise language school (often known as a "language mill")

teaching hours/week: 12 maximum (I'm the director - teachers have 20/week max)

pay range: (In Chinese RMB) 5000/month to 6000/month for entry-level teachers; 9000/month for entry-level directors (I make 12,000/month)
transportation to work: Foot

monthly expenses: Survival - about 500/month Comfortable, but chill - 1500-2000/month Enjoy yourself a bit but not be stupid - 3000-3500/month Go nuts at clubs every week - pretty much the whole salary

how's the market: Tons of jobs. Most are not really teaching jobs, but of the "dancing bear" variety. Still, good pay. EF in this area pays about upper-mid range
teacher get togethers: Possible. There are other expats around, and they are easy to find. Within the school, can be done easily. I work with six other teachers, and they are generally keen to get together occasionally. Nothing formal.
what kinds of English do you teach: You name it. Kids, mostly, but we go to middle schools and colleges and do business courses, both on and off site, and some test prep.

how long until you had your first job in that town: ZERO (I lined it up before I came)

how long will you stay there total: One year. I'm not fond of Dalian (preferring Shenyang), and I plan to go back to the U.S. soon, anyway.

AND

why are you there: Came to China to work on my diploma. Came to Dalian because I wanted a change and so did my wife.

[Teacher in Rome]

location: Rome, Italy

employer: training company (languages, IT, managerial, offline and online courses)

teaching hours a week: I work a 40-hour week, of which most is "project management" with about 6 hours a week dedicated solely to teaching. The rest of the time I liase with teachers and clients, develop materials, do admin, help out with new projects, etc

pay range: I get a 14-month salary, holiday and sick pay, luncheon vouchers, and contributions to the Italian state pension system. It's more than enough to live on, but I supplement from other (personal) online work. Having said that, I haven't had a decent pay rise in three years...

monthly expenses: with rent and bills, I pay around 500 euros a month. Food / going out is another 300 euros.

what kinds of English do you teach: it's all business and corporate where I work, with some Ministry and public institution contracts. No kids, and no privates. OTOH, there's still occasional grief from clients.

how long til you had your first job: Zero (I got the job through tefl com, and the job has changed in scope since then.)

how long until you stay there in total: I finished my contract end December because I'm moving to the middle of the countryside. No more regular paychecks for me! It's a bit scary, but I need to get out of the city and I've long wanted to be my own boss. Wish me luck!

[Mike_2003]

location: Bucharest, Romania

employers: Own company set up with colleague focusing on training courses for international firms in the country.

teaching hours/week: Varies. When on an out-of-town contract I tend to teach a full 40-hour week. Other weeks I�m free. Averages about 20 hrs/wk.

pay range: About 13 Euro/hr as DOS/Senior tutor.

transportation to work: Depends. Sometimes a dirty old public transport bus, sometimes a gold chauffeur-driven Merc supplied by the company we are training.

monthly expenses (assuming you have to pay rent): Survival - about 400 Euro/month. Comfortable but not saving � 700 Euro/month. Drunk nightly and still saving money � 1200 Euro/month.

how's the market: Rubbish for language schools because locals don�t have the money to spend and the BC covers those few who do. Some private secondary schools pay around 1000$ a month for a native speaker. Universities and state schools pay very poorly.

teacher get togethers: Lots of pubs, clubs and restaurants to cater for all preferences and budgets. Quite a few expats although some seem to be of a dubious nature. Less teachers around (see above).

what kinds of English do you teach: General and business English to small groups of adults or 1-2-1 to the top management.

how long until you had your first job in that town: Had it lined up before I came.

how long will you stay there total: Could be a while. Work going well and also some other projects in the pipeline, making good progress with the language and the social life is decent, so no immediate reason to pack up and leave.

why are you there: Wanted a change from Turkey and fancied Eastern Europe. Romania seemed the most challenging and the language is easier to get to grips with compared to Hungarian, Polish, Czech, etc. Got the job offer and that sealed it.

[mick_luna]

So it sounds like you lucked out then, its generally hard to find teaching work there? you like the social life, does that mean Romanian girls are friendly? I only know the Czech Rep. in Europe, but would like to try somewhere less exposed to tourism and such. I do freelance journalism and cartooning/graphic art as well, and am ultimately looking for somewhere with cheap real estate, some tourism, and an artist community where i could open a bar/cafe/gallery/emporium.
cheers
Mick
www.portfolios.com/exotica

[Sweetsee]

location: Saitama, Japan

employer:Private Sr. High School

teaching hours:19 50-minute lessons/a week, 2 weekly 50-minute meetings, a monthly staff meeting and as much basketball club as scheduled

pay:15 1/2 months salary(spring, summer, winter bonuses- 3 1/2 mos.)

transportation to work: 1 hour drive or train/walk

expenses:huge but don't know for sure

teacher get togethers:a couple times a year, don't go anymore

kind of English:conversation using student-centered muti-skills text

market:very tight

why I'm here: For the money and to bring a ray of sunshine to my students' lives

[guangho]

location: Polska

employers: private uni on work-study gig, language school for money
teaching hours/week: approximately 30-35 combined

pay range: works out to an average of 0.75 zlotys/minute

transportation to work: feet.

monthly expenses: Low.

how's the market: Next to naught in my little town except language schools

teacher get togethers: I'm a hermit, so wouldn't know

what kinds of English do you teach: mostly conversation classes with some teacher training work thrown in

how long until you had your first job in that town: 3 weeks counting from the time my classes ended.

how long will you stay there total: Unknown

why are you there: For da pierogies. Sweet, bountiful, coal-dust sprinkled pierogies.


What about you?

[woof]

Location--Southern Indiana

Employer--local community organization

Pay range--volunteer. Only the director is paid.

Transportation to work--car, about 6 miles away

Monthly expense--pretty low but not low enough to subsist on nothing. I also buy books for my classes because what we get free is just way too boring for my tastes. Life's too short not to have fun.

How's the market--there is no market as far as I can tell. It's all volunteer, through this organization and most of the churches, except for a few ESL teachers in the schools who show no sign of leaving to make openings and the county is too financially stressed to pay for more. With everything being free now there's no incentive to pay to learn English.

Teacher get togethers--my organization has occasional events for volunteers and board members but generally I only see other tutors if we run into each other in the office.

What kinds of English do I teach--I have two students right now although I did sub three weeks for a group of Mexican students which was much harder because it was for such a short time using another teacher's materials. My two are wonderfully smart, quick and motivated. One is a Vietnamese young lady who's had 11 years of English in Vietnam but when she came here she was barely understandable and resorted to her computerized translator and writing words down to get ideas across. She told me one year she had a teacher who taught incorrect pronunciations, which her brother pointed out to her! She also struggles with simple sentence structure. The basic rules of grammar are familiar to her, though, which is a big help. She gives me gifts and food and I give her eggs from my chickens. My other student is a Mexican young man who is the complete opposite. His English is entirely nonacademic, having picked it up on the fly. He is quite fluent within a limited vocabulary but he wants the nuts and bolts of grammar that he's missing. He has also learned cursive with me, which he said was stopped in the third grade. (The young lady from the opposite coast of Mexico who volunteered to teach a Spanish course couldn't read my cursive so I wonder how pervasive that is.) These people are the reason I want to make a major change in my life. I was SO lucky the first time out! A tutor who trained with me got a middle-aged Japanese woman whose husband's company forced her to take classes and she resisted it to the point where the tutor had to give up. The woman wanted to go back to Japan, period.

I hope to keep doing this until I'm ready to leave the area. Right now I'm staying for the sake of my elderly dogs and to prove to myself I can get some sort of halfway decent job although at this point I'm wondering if resistance is useless and I should just try for something at the Walmart warehouse. The best paying jobs, which isn't saying much!, seem to be for high school grads. I'm beginning to suspect I'm overqualified with my college degree. I'm preparing my students for a better life than I have, an irony that isn't lost on me. I was employed for seven years as my father's caregiver, including finishing my degree and enduring a year working in the library under Cruella Deville, until he died last April. It's been rough sledding but I'm determined not to let this place beat me. My tutoring is what I do for myself, to keep alive the dream of living abroad and doing something that really matters to me.