Job Discussion Forums

[zeppelin]

I'm a UK citizen. I've been teaching English in South Korea for 4 years. I have private academy, Elementary school, and University teaching experience.

My girlfriend and I are considering moving to the UK for 6 months so she can perfect her English skills. While she studies, I'll need a job and I'd prefer to continue teaching.

My questions are:

Are there many ESL or EFL jobs available in the UK just now?

Where is the best area to find these jobs (would prefer to avoid London)?

What are the conditions like (wages/number of classes/business hours)?

Thanks

[TheLongWayHome]

[zeppelin]

Thanks for your response.

I left the UK because of the high cost of living/poor wages. But it'll only be for 6 months so I'd rather build my ESL CV rather than be a cleaner....

Is the South of England the best area to find jobs (we'll probably be there April - October)

How crap are 'crap wages' and how many hours would I be expected to teach on an average day in a private academy?

Cheers

[SueH]

Firstly start saving to give yourself some flexibility! Your main problem is the short period you are over. You aren't going to get any (certainly decent) job from Korea. There are schools all over and local authority provision through FE colleges, but in your situation unlikely to get any of those. Some jobs are part-time or seasonal (summer schools), so that is another factor.

If I were to come back to the UK now I'd choose a place with a reasonable immigrant population (just listen out in the High Street for Polish or Lithuanian etc!). I'd get some agency work for income and then look for teaching work. Being in situ obviously helps. The government can't cope with the demand and are trying to off-load some of it onto the employers of all these new immigrants. When I left the UK (the central south coast) I had a P/T FE gig, and they were investigating doing lessons on-site for employers. So they'd probably charge out at about �45 an hour and I'd have got �25ish. I also charged �25 an hour for some private company work I did, and my student thought I was good value.

So, a few ideas to mull around, most of which involve cutting out the middle-man! I still think it's the 6 month period which is your biggest problem, though.

[Dedicated]

I suggest you check out the website<gumtree.co.uk> which will give you an idea of how much accommodation will cost you to rent somewhere. It also posts jobs sometimes too. Then you can do the maths.

I agree with Sue H that a 6 month stretch will make your task difficult, as any decent contract would be for a year.

[TheLongWayHome]