Job Discussion Forums

[presentlyhere]

Hello ColdRodear and others who wish to offer advice,
I am also an Australian living in the States and hoping to go to Russia sometime this year. I`d like to spend just over 6 months in Saint Petersburg simply to learn Russian. I do not have a large budget for this project so I am interested in ways to fund my classes. I read that you will be teaching to cover costs. I spent 5 years teaching English in Japan, though I do not have any actual teaching credentials. Would I be eligible for this kind of program? I am interested in your impression of this arrangement and the school itself. How much time will you have to spend teaching compared with hours of Russian classes? Also, which company did you use to get your visa registered in St. P? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[ColdRodear]

[Eugeniusz]

I was in St. Petersburg attending a school as a student. It wasn't easy. 20 hours a week of intensive language classes ended up being 4 days of 5 hour classes. Each student did at least 2 hours of homework just to keep thier heads above water. That's 30 hours a week to take one class. You said you will be teaching 12-18 hours a week. Now expect up to 42-48 hours a week working/learning. Not to mention you also seem to have little to no teaching experience. Your first year of teaching is the hardest. While you are in the classroom teaching 12-18 hrs. You will need to prepare materials for each class. Having little or no experience will mean taking extra time especially if you have no idea what type of classroom you are expecting relating to ages, skill levels or perhaps mixed ages and skill levels. As for time management, St. Petersburg is a large city. One block is equivalent to I'd say 5-10 US blocks. Shopping and getting around takes a lot of time. I was taking other classes as well at the time so I barely had time to get out. If you start to fall behind in classes it will be hard to catch up so expect to stay inside studying on the weekends playing catch up if you don't keep a steady regime. One last thing. If you decide to forget the school and quit and use the visa for your own personal uses for the rest of the year, you may have problems. How it works is whoever sent your invitation letter is sponsoring you. If you loose your visa while in Russia and have bad relations with that school, you maybe stuck in Russia.

[coledavis]

From my experience as an FE teacher, I'd agree that 20 hours is pretty full-time if you're in your first year.

[ColdRodear]

[presentlyhere]

thanks for the replies.
18 hours a week of working on top of studying does seem quite alot. Studying a language, especially one as demanding as Russian, takes so much energy in and outside of the classroom. I feel that exhaustion would overcome me before a command of Russian. I wonder if it would be better to save money beforehand and find a much much cheaper course? Though, that seems to be difficult, most that are advertised on the internet are incredible, plus, who knows the quality of the school until you get there. Surely there must be some university students wanting to making a little extra money teaching a foreigner russian? Alternatively, has anyone had any experience with language exchanges? Any ideas are welcome.

[coledavis]

Ok, I know it means money up front but it might be better to do a decent and internationally recognised CELTA course back home and then be in a better bargaining position when you go abroad.

[ColdRodear]

I attended a CELTA course for 2 days before I quit and got my money back. You could learn more on the job in one week than they can teach you. I am not interested in financing the CELTA Machine. The 2700 bucks I would have spent on it are going into my Russian lessons and anything else I need while there. Keep in mind that EFL teachers are generally teaching people that already have a good basic knowledge of English. Why do you think the English course book is only in English and not Russian? My Russian text books are printed in English. Listen, the students they brought me to learn how to teach on, spoke better English than I do Russian. Beginners are taught by Russian speaking teachers. Having a CELTA with no teaching experience does not necessarily make you a better teacher than just having no experience. It gets you in the door faster. True, I will have a tougher time getting a good teaching job but that is not why I am going to Russia. I could be a sucky teacher with or without the CELTA. Personally I think I would make a good teacher if I choose to take on and commit to that profession but for now I am just testing the waters.

[rusmeister]

[ColdRodear]

[coledavis]

While I'm glad you got your money back, I don't think you're in much of a position to judge the benefits of the CELTA course. I learned a lot of useful techniques some rather excellent teacher trainers which I doubt I'd have had otherwise.

[ColdRodear]

I didn't mean to say that CELTA was completely and utterly worthless, just over priced and too much emphasis put on having one and too many people thinking that having one means that they are now "real" teachers. I suppose if I had the money to blow i would have finished it anyway, if for nothing else, just to have the piece of paper. I'll bet you could have learned many useful techniques from just auditing other teachers classes, though. I have been a volunteer teacher's aid in a local school where I live, in their ESL/ELL classes, and have learned a lot. (working mostly with Russian kids that speak little English).

I have my own thoughts on teaching, just from my own experience as a student, in college Russian classes. Mostly, because I was not impressed with their curriculum or text books. IMHO Too much teacher talk in general and not enough time spent speaking Russian. Too many cute and dumb games. Textbook exercises that were boring and I think the teacher failed to generate excitement about learning the language. Perhaps some of that was the student"s fault because they had taken the class only to fulfill a Credit requirement. Anyone serious about learning a language must be prepared to study on their own outside of their formal classes.

[coledavis]

Sorry. I hadn't realised that you had given it so much thought. Cole