Job Discussion Forums

ruthybaby · Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 2

Anyway have any information about working with the SABIS educational programme in or near Abu Dhabi?

Anyone know the basic salary?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Did you do a search? Sabis has a rather dreadful reputation and there have been many threads.

VS

ruthybaby · Joined: 10 Jan 2010 Posts: 2

ah i just read some..boo to that , wont be going there then!
Do you know much about getting work in the UAE?
Myself and my boyfriend have been in South Korea for over 2 years and would love a change but we have only a degree and the teaching experience.!

any help would be grateful

MsParker · Joined: 29 Oct 2008 Posts: 39

Even to teach in the public schools here (I think Teachaway.com is the main recruiter), you will need to be a qualified teacher with at least 2 years' teaching experience. The experience would, I believe, need to be in a real school, not a hogwan.

I know of quite a few people who came from South Korea to the UAE (myself included), but they already had a teaching degree or an MA and lots of international or pre-Korean teaching experience.

The UAE is not Korea, where blue eyes, a smile and a soju with the director will get you a University job....

MsParker · Joined: 29 Oct 2008 Posts: 39

Also... unmarried couples need to be married before arriving in the UAE.

You'll need to get the information from your specific Embassy, but it can be done in an afternoon: fill out the forms at the Embassy, take them to the Jongno Gu (I think) office to be stamped, then to the UAE Embassy (there is one in Seoul - on the same street as the South African Embassy, just a 5000 won ride from the Yongsan train station) for stamps there. Not the most romantic process, but it gets the job done!

Once you actually arrive here, there will be more stamps and such to run after before you're all visa'd up, but it means being able to sponsor your spouse with no problems.

BrownSauce · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Posts: 87 Location: Fantasy Island

Sabis has a reputation on a par with dog-sh*t in the UAE - perhaps the whole Gulf region. There are quite a few anti-Sabis/Choueifat blogs out there. Here's just one...

http://choueifati.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Just to make clear, by "qualified teacher" we mean a certificate/license from your home country. If you are American, it would be the state certification to teach in the public school system.

And yes, you would need to be married to live together in the Middle East. There are some that are cohabiting, but it is illegal... so if you make the wrong enemies, the jails are not pleasant places (no air conditioning I hear) and the prescribed punishment is the whip followed by deportation. (though thus far, the few Westerners merely end up being sentenced... and then they are rather quickly deported)

If you just want the Middle East experience, I would suggest that you think about North Africa or the Levant. With your limited credentials, you won't be able to find very good jobs, but you should be able to live on the local economy and add private lessons.

VS