Job Discussion Forums

misterkodak · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject: Alliance English Centre

Has anyone seen the ads for the Alliance English Centre online? I think they're in Stockholm. They offer between $8,500-$10,00 monthly salary. Is this firm for real? I only see emails for them. How can I get in touch with them by telephone? It really sounds too good to be true.

jonniboy · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject:

I saw the ad but it didn't say anything about that being a monthly salary. It seems too low to be for a nine month contract and much too high for a monthly salary so something about it doesn't smell right.

spartensky · Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 1 Location: russia 2008

Swede's love degrees and accreditations, they would pass over a native speaker with CELTA for a non-native with a linguistic degree. Yet of course, WHO you know matters in Scandinavia as much as it does down South.

Great Teacher Umikun · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 63 Location: Back in Japan

It sounds like a long shot for me, but I could look into it, considering I�m planning on becoming a Swedish citizen and living the rest of my days there anyway. I have an MA in English with a TESOL concentration and five years teaching experience, including one year teaching science. I�m seeking to leave Japan this upcoming spring. The down side is that I only got United States citizenship. (;_;) Bummer.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Get the citizenship first.

Great Teacher Umikun · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 63 Location: Back in Japan

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I assumed that you had a definite 'in' as you said you plan to become a Swedish citizen.

Work is not easy to land in any Scandinavian country. Lots of highly-qualified and experienced teachers want to go there - competition's high and openings rare...

I keep an eye out myself, and have so far had no luck (I've got 12 years of experience + MA TESL/TEFL from a reputable British uni).

Good luck.

Great Teacher Umikun · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 63 Location: Back in Japan

It's definitely a long shot then. (;_;)

martkir · Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 5

Is it hard to get residence in Sweden?

Basilm87 · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:44 pm Post subject:

Spiral78, thats sounds really strange to be honest...Theres alot of crappy teachers here, sadly Ive bumped into a few during my english training (still reading english atm at university, however the teachers here are somewhat better, and a few from the UK, which is great).

With your experience, finding work as a fulltime english teacher cant be that difficult. I guess you just gotta search around more, or try to learn basic (very basic) swedish, and start searching on the swedish employer sites. Theres ALOT more free teacher positions now, compared to 2-5 years ago for sure.

martkir , about residence, it all depends WHERE in Sweden you wanna live, we might have a small country here, but still quite a big diff here in north Sweden (where the REAL vikings lives...cough...), compared to south swe.

A apartment with the basics, broadband, electricity etc would cost around 250-350 euro where I live, for a 40-55 square meter large apartment.
For that price in Stockholm you would have to live in a nice box in the suburbs. A 'normal' sized apt in stockholm/close to sthlm would go for 500+ euro a month (theres exceptions, but not if u wanna live with a good standard).

If I were you, I would try to find work in mid/north Sweden. Teachers in south doesnt earn anymore than those in north, and its easier to find a NICE place to settle down in north/mid swe.
Some random cities you could check out could be: Ume�, Lule�, Sundsvall, Kiruna, Pite�, G�vle, �rnsk�ldsvik and it goes on.

It all depends on you, on how you wanna live, if you want to live in a "big" place, where you might meet US/UK/AU ppl, then stay in G�teborg, Stockholm, Malm� and closeby districts. (we got alot of different cultures here, and ppl from all over our globe, but so far I only know of 2-3 UK/US ppl living in my harbour city, which last I checked was inhabitated by 25-27k ppl.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Basilm87 - it's got more to do with the eligibility to ger work visas than qualifications. British teachers have no problems - North Americans and Aussies - different story. The point about difficulty on this thread was as regards a North American teacher - much much harder to get any legal status in any Scandinavian country, along with most of Western Continental Europe.

Anyway, my job search landed me a cushy university position in the Netherlands several years back, so I've abandoned the search for anything less. Perhaps there are lower-level openings in Sweden, but that's not what I'd be seeking. And, still, I doubt very much that I'd have any easy time getting legal status in the country as a non-European citizen.

Basilm87 · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:34 pm Post subject:

Oh I see spiral78, only thing I can think about why it would be harder for US/AU ppl compared to UK to teach in the "better" positions, aka Uni with a nice pay, few h and all benefits like that is Unis here want us swe ppl to learn "english", as in british english.
We are taught a mix of "american" and "english", so to say, which uni teachers hates, but teacher up to uni-level doesnt mind it at all, which is confusing.

Im no expert on visa/work permits/how to work as eng teacher here if u aint from the UK, or similar, but those that hasnt already found the site, can read some usefull info (hopefully) here: www.migrationsverket.se/english.jsp

theincredibleegg · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 224

I know that EF is looking for native speaking English teachers in Sweden.

The very home country of EF...