|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
EddieO
Joined: 31 May 2007
Posts: 5
Location: Florida
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:50 am Post subject: Vsetin - Edcentre? |
 |
|
Well, I have been offered a position and I just wanted to see if anyone had information, comments, or opinions about the town or school.
If someone could help, I'd also like to run a contract by them. This would really help me out. Also, don't most schools offer housing? The school offered to help with housing - expect to pay CZK 3,500 � 4,000/mo. for rent. The pay will be CZK 200.00/hour with a formal review and possible pay rise after 3 months (25-30 contact hours)
Any help would be greatly appreciated... |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
Eddie: it sounds like you're trying to land a job from abroad. If that's the case, you're not likely to get the best jobs in any case. You really need to be here, on the ground, to screen out dodgy schools.
No, most schools don't offer housing in the CR. 3,500 - 4,000 sounds quite low - I would ask a LOT of questions about exactly what this proposed housing is like. In my small town of Sobeslav (two hours from Prague), an unfurnished flat goes for at least 5,000 monthly, rental.
Finally, 25-30 hours weekly is a pretty heavy workload. 25 is probably doable, but 30's quite stiff. I would ask lots of questions about the percentage of these classes that are:
in-house (meaning taking place at the school)
one-to-one (can be more intensive than small groups)
Also:
what times of the day does the school expect you to work (you may be expected to start at 7am and finish up at 21.00 pm or something)
Exactly who are your students? Usually most are businesspeople, but it may be that you'll have kids.
Are they guaranteeing any set minimum of hours? 200kc X 25 hours weekly is gross 20,000 per four weeks. That's reasonable for a small town. but if all of your businesspeople cancel, for example, are you going hungry?
Finally, I'm not familiar with this particular town,but you will want to know if it's on major transportation routes (train line is probably best) or whether you'll be spending hours on a creeping bus if you want to go to Prague or Brno or somewhere bigger for a weekend. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
Ok, I've googled the town and school -it's a Caledonian operation. That's a good thing in that the school's well-established. I expect the housing will be a shared flat - you'll want to ask about that.
You should also ask to be put in touch with teachers who are currently at the school. Caledonian shouldn't have any problem with this. You can ask about lifestyle and opportunities for socializing other than sports. Also local travel and interests. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johnnyappleseed
Joined: 26 Jun 2007
Posts: 89
Location: Vsetin Czech Republic
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
| spiral78 wrote: |
Eddie: it sounds like you're trying to land a job from abroad. If that's the case, you're not likely to get the best jobs in any case. You really need to be here, on the ground, to screen out dodgy schools.
No, most schools don't offer housing in the CR. 3,500 - 4,000 sounds quite low - I would ask a LOT of questions about exactly what this proposed housing is like. In my small town of Sobeslav (two hours from Prague), an unfurnished flat goes for at least 5,000 monthly, rental.
Finally, 25-30 hours weekly is a pretty heavy workload. 25 is probably doable, but 30's quite stiff. I would ask lots of questions about the percentage of these classes that are:
in-house (meaning taking place at the school)
one-to-one (can be more intensive than small groups)
Also:
what times of the day does the school expect you to work (you may be expected to start at 7am and finish up at 21.00 pm or something)
Exactly who are your students? Usually most are businesspeople, but it may be that you'll have kids.
Are they guaranteeing any set minimum of hours? 200kc X 25 hours weekly is gross 20,000 per four weeks. That's reasonable for a small town. but if all of your businesspeople cancel, for example, are you going hungry?
Finally, I'm not familiar with this particular town,but you will want to know if it's on major transportation routes (train line is probably best) or whether you'll be spending hours on a creeping bus if you want to go to Prague or Brno or somewhere bigger for a weekend. |
I'm new to this board. So, uh, hello. 
First of all, Spiral, let me say that you have given the original poster really excellent advice with real knowledge of how things in the Czech Republic really work. I have a few quibbles with it, however, though on the whole it seems like really sound advice to me given the information known to you...
I work for the school in question, the Edcentre in Vsetin. I've been working here for four years, now, and am pleased with the job.
The Quibbles:
First of all, it's not really accurate to call it a "Caledonian Operation." Rather we are simply on Caledonian's "Index of Satellite Schools". This means that Caledonian, to put it simply, doesn't really have a presence in the neighborhood and, so, if someone from these parts was interested and Caledonian and looked it up on the Internet he would see us listed as a "satellite" school.... That's all. NO money is exchanged and the Edcentre is a privately-owned SRO without any real connections to the Caledonian School.
You are quite right to say that most schools don't offer housing in CZ; usually, from what I've seen, a flat is found for the teacher; but the teacher has to pay the rent for it. 3500-4000 does sound very low I agree. Nevertheless, it's possible here. I have an American colleague who is living in a studio apartment(CZ-speak: 1+1) for 4000. It is furnished by the school. The school is able to do that due to business and personal connections to a prominent businessman in town who owns several properties, I understand.
AT any rate, I have a 3+1 apartment (with my girlfriend) that was only 6500 kc/month. Cheap housing can be found here.
25-30 hours is a heavy workload, especially when you are new to teaching, I agree.
But a teacher at this school needn't worry about not having enough hours due to cancellations etc. We do teach a lot of business-people, but we also have public night courses that would easily make up about half of the hours taught.
A 20-hr/week, 34-week state-accredited in-house "pomaturitni" intensive course for gap year students is also taught here and provides hours...
Cancellations are fairly common among the business lessons, but after four years here I can say that the problem is not having enough hours--indeed, if anything, the problem is rather the opposite!
For example, I am contracted for 30 hours a week(1020 hours/ten month year. At the beginning of the year, my time table usually starts off rather slow, with 24-27 hours. By the end of the year, I'm always scheduled for well above 30 hours. (The extra hours worked are tallied up every three months and paid as a "bonus"--and there are always extra hours!) They usually pay a set salary every month: the same in October(maybe one extra day off) as in December (sometimes up to ten days off) I've been told by my bosses that should they not be able to meet my requirement of 30 hrs./week that they would still pay me the same salary, reasoning that they had agreed to give me these hours, and would therefore give me the salary for it. I doubt if they are legally required to do this; and besides, like I said, it's never been an issue--I always end up working more hours than agreed.
The school also gives performance bonuses of 3-6000 a year.
I think you have to be dead in order not to receive this bonus, by the way. 
The school has both in-house and out-house(  ) courses; it's true that the courses at firms do take up travel time and are generally less pleasant to teach in; however, the school does reimburse teachers for travel expenses, at least.
Classes range from one to twelve students.
The hours are indeed long; often starting at 700 and ending at 2000 at the latest. Perhaps not every day, but most teachers do have a day or two a week like that in their schedule here. It's my understanding that that' pretty much the business in the CZ though--especially for newbies.
There are several hours off during the day, but such a timetable can get exhausting nevertheless, it's true.
The school has a few classes with kids, but the native speakers generally don't teach them--most of us refuse to do it! 
Finally a word about Internet-offered jobs: you're right to advise caution on these; it's fairly obvious but necessary advice.
However, it's more or less the only way this school can hire teachers from abroad.
You see,there is not a large English-speaking expat presence in this area at all: IN Vsetin proper there are only six native English speakers. (And four of them work at this school.)
The entire Wallachian region(Okres Vsetin) counting people in the countryside and villages has perhaps a grand total of thirty NESs, and most of them are not pounding the pavements looking for work.
The Internet, unfortunately, is the only way this school can really get teachers(unless someone just happens to move to the area with a Czech spouse.) Note: even CZECH teachers of English are hard to come by in these parts: they've already got jobs--and young people want to go to Prague or London or something...
Of course, it's an issue of trust: the teachers can never be sure what they're getting; and the school is never sure what it's getting as a teacher.(I'd say the ratio of quality teachers the school gets to, er, non-quality teachers is about 50-50.)
It's a less-than-ideal situation for both parties, to be sure.
Although the school does advertise on Prague message boards, hoping that a teacher will come down here and teach a sample lesson(and check out the town/school in the process), we never get any response from those message boards!
People in Prague want to stay in Prague and be exploited, I guess.
Maybe not a fair comment, but that's my impression.
Vsetin is about as far away from Prague as you can get and still be in the Czech Republic--we are right on the Slovak border, really. There is train and bus services here. Prague is about a five-hour train-ride away; and other towns(Olomouc, for one) can be reached in one-two hours(depending on which train you take.)
So the school and the teacher alike are forced to rely on good faith out here; and that's just the way it has to be, I'm afraid.
The OP did contact me through my myspace account and I did tell him this, and answer his questions about the town, etc.
Anyway, I have to say that this is overall a good school to work in; I trust my bosses, which is saying something, and think they are less exploitative than a lot of the schools in Prague; and they really do take pains to try to accommodate their teachers from abroad as much as they can. They are a business, of course, but they really have a committment to education and quality that I think a lot of language schools lack.
Thank for your time. I'm looking forward to future discussions on this forum...
(sorry for any typos/errors in the post: it was very early when I wrote it. )
Our website address, by the way is www.edcentre.cz |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
johnnyappleseed: thanks for the extensive reply! I hope I hadn't come off as negative in my earlier two posts: as you note, I think it's important to provide objective info on the 'in general' situations. Obviously, I haven't any personal knowledge of this specific school.
It sounds to me as though you have grounds to be quite satisfied. I think the only caveat for the OP I might have is to ask whether he's likely to be content with just six native English speakers with whom to socialize, initially, and how eager/able/willing he will be to work on his Czech so that he can begin to extend his social circle. If you're married and live in the area, or are there with a girlfriend, this is less of an issue - I myself live in a small town two hours outside of Prague, but because my Czech's functional, I have some options for socialization.
However, I once interviewed for a job in a very small town near Karlovy Vary. The school employed just one language teacher. The guy who'd had the contract before me said that the hill walking was excellent and he loved the surroundings, but that the only two other English speakers living in town were a total loss for him socially and he'd spent too many lonely evenings. I can see how this can happen.
I myself am entirely content to visit Prague a couple of times a month. But it's important to have some social network to help support you, and if there are only six native English speakers in your area, this can be tough for some people.
I also get it about the internet advertising now. Sure, I agree that in certain situations it's necessary for some schools. But I think you'd agree that there are few schools in the CR that fit your case, so when giving general advice, I'll stick to my guns on this one.
In any case, thanks again for your thoughtful response. If I were Eddie, I'd be quite happy to come to work there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johnnyappleseed
Joined: 26 Jun 2007
Posts: 89
Location: Vsetin Czech Republic
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
No, I did not think your post was at all off-base or harsh or negative; on the contrary it was very well-thought out and knowledgeable; and I would, in fact, give the same advice about a school and a town in the CZ that I knew nothing about.
I have to say you are quite right about the social scene. There are native speakers here, and there is a sort of "expat scene", if six people make a scene, but it can be lonely for the newbie, especially during the winters, which, as you know are very cold and dark(especially for Americans from the South, as the OP is.) Even for us old hacks, a new face is always mighty welcome.
I tell any potential teachers that contact me(as EddieO did) the truth, which is: if you make it through the winter, you'll love it. But the winter is a tough one to get through. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
