Job Discussion Forums

[Psaeragh]

I am aiming to get my CELTA sometime in Spring 2007. I'd like to get my CELTA in the country that I'd be teaching in, just to keep things simple. I'm leaning towards central Europe/Russia (CZ, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Croatia....) I do have some savings to put towards it. I am Canadian and I have a BA.

My priorities:
1)To make just a little money for weekend travel (Is this possible?)
2)To be in a town/city that could allow for said travel (so not necessarily a capital--just accessible so that I can do the tourist thing when I want to...)

[spiral78]

Yes, you can make enough to travel around (in the countries you named) on the weekend in most places.
Georgia's not the safest of destinations, at the moment, I believe. There is some current unrest between Georgia and Mother Russia, and I am told by my oil-employee students in Russia that kidnapping for money of foreigners has become rampant. Whether that's spread to the level of poor English teachers or is confined to the (more lucrative) oil industry staff and families, I don't know.
Otherwise, it looks like your choice. The Czech Rep is a training centre mecca, so there's a lot of competition for the better jobs there - however, that said, there is always work. You could look at Ceske Budejovice or Tabor in the Czech Rep - they are smaller, less crowded, interesting, and connected to a main train line (Budejovice is just a few hours from Vienna).
Then there's Tallin, Gdansk, Bratislava....you've got lots of great choices available for living/working - and the occasional visit, provided that you live modestly.

[Psaeragh]

Yeah, I kind of threw Georgia into the list at the last minute and I had not done much research on that one.

CZ attracts me because of the course at MUNI in Brno. It's a semester long, so it might alleviate the sometimes-reported pressures of CELTA. I can't seem to find anything like it anywhere else, so CZ gets top of the list. However, I'm accustomed to heavy workloads and I can't really see myself having major issues with a regular 4 week course. So, sometimes I think that I could just do the 4 weeks, save a little more cash and make considerations outside of CZ...I dunno. I want to travel, and I want to be a good teacher. So, tentatively:

1) Brno Feb 2007-May 2007. Summer: Search for job beginning in Sept, travel. Sept 2007: Begin contract/work.

2)4 week contract, flexible timing, offered in most countries. Possibly lose my sanity, regain lost sanity whilst travelling, Sept 2007: Begin contract/work.

I do have savings put aside to travel for some time before teaching. What I do not have, however, are connections in Europe, or a firm grasp of any languages other than English and French. This university CELTA concept seems more conducive for establishing contacts and learning the local language.

Thanks so much for your input so far Spiral! I can't say what the outcome is going to be, but it's granting me some peace of mind and allowing me to decompress a little. I don't want to make any decisions for the sake of deciding....