Job Discussion Forums

[seriousgirl]

Dear All,

Yesterday, I was offered 3200 usd (12 000 aed?)and sharing a new beautiful villa (utilities,furniture, transport, medical included,of course) with 5 other instructors (?), teaching ESl 20 hours a week to Emirati teachers. Nice western company...just been contracted by ADEC. 11 months of pay, renewable next year.
They would like an answer ASAP, and I should come in a week or so...

Usually, the sharing thing is an absolute no-no...no? Why do I feel tempted?

Why? Because in May was offered about 42 000 us per annum(with overtime possibilities),big townhouse, 2 year contract at 'nice' UNI in Saudi near Bahrain...who have still not arranged flight,etc, being slow and aggravating, but will probably do so soon.

Am wondering at last minute if higher quality of life in Abu Dhabi could be worth it right now? But is that salary much too low? And the villa thing much to silly? Yes, I do want to travel a bit, and save some money.

Please advise. I must decide soon, and my brain is rather addled...

Thanks, serious

[wajela]

Saudi companies are still interviewing since most are not employing until after Ramadan around 6th October. Your prospective employer possibly feels there is some time left to oganise things. As long as you have completed the comprehensive and expensive medical that the Saudis require before leaving then the rest of the visa process should flow.

Abu Dhabi versus Saudi. If you are a single female then perhaps a UAE lifestylle would suit, particularly if this is your first foray into the Gulf.Find out the location of the villa . If you are on the island (not in Shahama or Khalifa City) and feel you can share with so many teachers then consider it an option.

You will get invaluable information from the forum.

[seriousgirl]

Thanks for your reply!

The flight has now come through for Saudi for end August, so I assume all my papers are in order.We will do business visas in Bahrain...

(The villas in Abu Dhabi are in an area called Khalifa, indeed. Is this bad news?)

Frankly, the idea of sharing makes me rather nervous. The cost of living in AD I am still not sure about...

[helenl]

I'd be more concerned about an 11 month contract - sounds like they're trying to avoid the 1 month gratuity for every year worked that is enshrined in UAE labour law. If they`re trying to scrimp there, I`d be worried about the size and type of villa they will house you in. Employers in the UAE who are trying to scrimp to this extent are not usually the most desirable. Even those with dubious reputations (Sabis Chouifat etc) usually offer shared accomodation with one other person.

[uaeobserver]

Khalifa City is a newer development - almost all villas --- out near the Abu Dhabi Airport.

You'd likely have your own bedroom, but you're sharing the villa, itself.

These villas are usually very big (over 2,000 sq feet, easily). You might even have your own private bath.

HOWEVER, shopping stinks (groceries, food delivery, taxi). That's the bad news. Good news is --- you'll save a lot of money --- and you'll be near the airport when it comes time to spend it.......

Khalifa City is also a half hour or so closer to Dubai and Al Ain.

There is a beach club across the highway (takes awhile to get to -- no direct route).

[Sunburnt Individual]

I've been to Khalifa. It's really close to Abu Dhabi. It took me about 15-20 minutes in a cab outside of central Abu Dhabi to get there. Ya, there's nothing there, and you're probably sharing accommodation because villas are the only things there. SABIS staff out in Ruwais shared a villa for the same reason. The staff in Al Ain had only one person to share with.

Prod them for information about having en ensuite bathroom. The salary is normal range and unless you live extravagantly, you should be able to save a good bit.

I would say your quality of life would almost certainly be better in Emirates.

Good luck

[seriousgirl]

Thank you all for your feedback!(Sorry guys my server went down 2 days ago, and am now in a cafe...which I hate. So more hectic messages...)

Yes, everyone has private bath, cleaners for common rooms, internet, tv and all furnishings, bedlinens, plates, etc, included.There should be 2 drivers employed and security guard at this set of villas which are exclusively for this company.

Maybe this is my imagination, but will there be opps for doing radio in English, voiceovers, a bit of theatre, etc., things that would make me happy that I have not done in years,in Abu Dhabi, more than in Al-Khobar?

I never considered going to the Emirates before, as I assumed the salaries without an MA would be too low to justify living there....could other, better jobs come out of of it later?(Plan to do the MA in the next couple of years, but...) I suppose I could try Saudi another time...

And yes, the company is avoiding that 12 months. They expect teachers to renew, hopefully, every year for 3 years, with 10 months of work and 1 month yearly bonus or something. And they would like me to decide by tomorrow if possible. And come lickety split next week.

Are we generally welcome in the schools to 'teach the teachers' in these programs? Or are we resented...

[veiledsentiments]

You did do a search of ADEC here didn't you? These programs have received scathing reviews here... and it seems that 'resented' is exactly what you are in most places by most of the teachers.

Though we have no proof, I suspect that these new "11 month" contracts (apparently 10 months of teaching and one month vacation) are a way to screw you out of the bonus pay required of 12 month contracts. Personally I would ask them directly about the gratuity required by Emirati labor law.

You may very well be stepping into another snake pit, but you can always leave at the end of the first truncated contract with your 11 months of pay.

VS

[Sunburnt Individual]

I wouldn't write off all of ADEC based on the PPP program, but I would write off some of the PPP providers. We all know SABIS is crap, GEMS forgot to pay people, CfBT changed a lot, but I haven't heard anything negative from Moasica staff or from some of the providers that work directly for ADEC like Cognition. All of the people for Cognition came back.

Canada English is a new one though, so it's an unknown quantity.

[Sunburnt Individual]

Regarding being welcome in the PPP schools:

In the beginning, yes, the VAST majority of teachers (across all subjects) were not happy to see us, but most of them didn't know how to speak English and that was the biggest problem. The English teachers were... not unfriendly, but they were wary I guess would be the best way to explain it. They helped us whenever we needed help, even from the beginning. The MOE teachers were a great group to work with overall.

The administration, however, was a different matter. From day one until the last day, there was open hostility, and this was in the boys as well as the girls middle schools. The boys principal wouldn't even allow extra English lessons for kids that were behind because he didn't want to "encourage work." The principal of the girls' school made it very personal against the SABIS admin who went there and was pretty mean to the teachers. She was especially hostile to the American teacher there, and it was implied that her nationality had more to do with being singled out than anything else, which is too bad.

However, by the end of the year I was closer to the teachers than I think I've ever been to my co-workers as a group. SABIS was very disorganized and screwed up a lot of stuff, and thankfully they understood that we, the teachers they'd put on the front lines, were not the source of the disruption.

The good news is that I've yet to hear anyone from a different provider who encountered such hostility for the entire year. Even with SABIS, the kindergarten and elementary schools didn't have that much trouble as far as hostility goes. Most of the other providers' teachers had some friction at first that got better fairly quickly.

[Zoot]

Where do we find 'Cognition' on the web? Sounds like they have it together as far as a PPP is concerned!