Job Discussion Forums

[jonniboy]

[Kootvela]

It might be so that both money and motivation factors became important.

I've also heard of companies covering only part of language courses fees. That'd add to motivation, to my mind. Once a person is willing to invest, he/she cares, once it's free, they couldn't care less.

As far as government funding institutions is concerned, it's more got to do with EU funds that either have to be taken or given back, so teachers end up having large groups of unmotivated, sometimes unteachable, students with 'don't want to be here' faces. Just don't talk about that the teacher has to motivate students- it's high time students strat motivating teachers not to have a career change.

[gaijinalways]

We have the same problem here in Japan where some students are not very motivated until the company 'forces' them to pass. Even then, I'm not sure who is more pathetic, the company who insists they need to reach a certain level to work overseas (even when it's obvious they haven't ) or my company that rubber stamps the level completions .

That being said, our business is still booming, so perhaps some of the reasons for company people studying are unaffected (oer just simply our company branch as some of the branches are not doing as well as we are over the last 2 years)

[booty]

Things have really slowed down here in Madrid. I arrived in the beginning of October, only to find myself without work for two weeks. I got let down by one company who cancelled two of my classes at the last minute and blamed it on the economic crisis.
At one point, me and my girlfriend got so desperate that we ended up doing jobs like counting cars, buses and taxis driving into Atocha station for 7 hours until 1 in the morning for peanuts.
I have some work now. However, it has been a real struggle as I have only 13 hours teaching, barely enough to live on. I�m digging into my savings at home to pay the rent. Hopefully, things will pick up in November!!!

[Serious_Fun]

What is this "e c o n o m i c -s l o w d o w n" of which you write?

[jonniboy]

So looking at my exact budget figures compared to last year, I'm up by 35% compared to October 2007. Part of that is accounted for by a 20% increase in my rates but still I can't say I've had any problems. If anything students are more interested in learning English in order to make themselves indispensable in their jobs at a time of job cuts.

Where it has affected me is that I'm taking on more classes than before in order to insure myself against any future downturn and the weekend breaks to Vilnius, Tartu and Stockholm that I treated myself to in the past are firmly on the backburner. So all work and no play - not fun but if it keeps on then I'll be able to afford three months off next summer.

[Kootvela]

I joined evening courses for guides. Vilnius is to be the European capital of culture in 2009, so they expect many tourists. By April I will be a certified guide to work in Lithuanian and English. I hope that will boost my income during the slow summer months.