Job Discussion Forums

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

location: the Netherlands

employers: community school

teaching hours/week: 10x70 minutes + add. tasks makes 28hrs a week, (full-time would be 20x70 a week and most other school that is 25x50min. a week.)

pay range: In the state school system salaries start with 2150� gros (with a max. of 3200�) for B.A. graduates and 2170� (max. 4300�) for M.A. graduates. Once a year you get vacation payment which is 80% of your monthly salary + pensions, health care, sick pay a.s.o.

transportation to work: By bike. Cheap, fast and most common around here.

monthly expenses: 750� fixed costs, incl. everything from rent to healthcare. Another 400� for food, clothing etc. and a bit of entertainment, you want lots of entertainment or are a shopaholic add at least another 200�.

how's the market: If you can teach French, German, science or maths it's a piece of cake to land a job in one of the state schools, bearing in mind that you need an EU passport. Schools are still not that desperate to employ teachers from outside the EU. Lots of teachers will retire in the next few years, so the market is only getting better. There are enough Dutch who want to become English teachers, so there is not really a big market (yet).

teacher get togethers: I get together with teachers everyday at work. That's enough.

what kinds of English do you teach: n/a.

how long until you had your first job in that town: n/a

how long will you stay there total: too long, it's time to leave. Hopefully not more than another 1-2 years.

why are you there: once came here cause the economic situation was better, then made a career switch and became a teacher. Now I am here to get a bit more experienced and if I can't move this fall consider to stay 1-2 years longer and get an M.A.

cam · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 124 Location: Maine, USA

location: Switzerland

employers: Private language school

teaching hours/week: Varies. 6 to 20 hours.

pay range: 25 CHF.

transportation to work: Walk to school.

monthly expenses (assuming you have to pay rent): Earning enough to pay health insurance and have some pocket money.

how's the market: Few schools offer full time teaching positions. Hours are uncertian. Require 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. Jobs in the public school system pay extremely well but you need to meet Swiss standards and this requires retraining which is expensive here.

teacher get togethers: None that I am aware of.

what kinds of English do you teach: General and business English.

how long until you had your first job in that town: 9 months to find a teaching job. Also working 15 hours a week as a cashier.

how long will you stay there total: Not sure I'm looking for a job elsewhere.

why are you there: Wanted a change from Asia. Switzerland offers great hiking, skiing, biking and outdoor life in general. Language is easy to learn.

yaramaz · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 8:05 am Post subject:

location: Istanbul, Turkey

employers: Private university

teaching hours/week: 16 hours plus 2 hours of tutorials

pay range: about 2800 ytl/month (I think it's 1.30ytl/usd) plus lunch card and lotsa holidays and private health insurance

transportation to work: Walk to school.

monthly expenses (assuming you have to pay rent): My fixed expenses arent really fixed (winter heating fluctuates a lot, as does water etc) but I can easily put aside about 1000ytl/month for savings after I pay rent on a 3 bdrm centrally located flat (650 ytl) and deal with heat, water, electricity, sattelite tv, phone, and maintenance fees for the flat. It usually comes to about 800 in Summer and 900-1000 in Winter.

how's the market: I'm not sure as I haven't been looking. There seems to be a lot of english teachers swarming about and I've had no trouble getting jobs over the years.

teacher get togethers: We have a huge department, about 100 teachers both Turkish and foreign, and I see a handful of them regularly, socially.

what kinds of English do you teach: General and Academic English

how long until you had your first job in that town: I had it lined up before I arrived from a smaller city in Turkey. My first job in a primary school in Anatolia was arranged when I was still in Canada.

how long will you stay there total: Am thinking of going home after this school year to do my masters. Not sure though.

why are you there: I'm not really sure to be honest. I came here on impulse and stayed because the country intrigues me to no end.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 1:14 pm Post subject:

Izmir Turkey teaching in a private uni between 12 -16 hrs weekly salary above 3000 ytl drive or bus to work depending on what time get up .
Expenses about 1000 monthly,that includes social life. Save most of the rest or buy whatever takes my fancy .Bought own flat 6 years ago ,low cost maintaince,solar energy hot water ,and geothermal heating .the job market very bouyant with more new schools and unis opening up .Why do I need to leave ?Climate great ,women well ,just you know just great thanks !

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 1:17 pm Post subject:

Izmir Turkey teaching in a private uni between 12 -16 hrs weekly salary above 3000 ytl drive or bus to work depending on what time get up .
Expenses about 1000 monthly,that includes social life. Save most of the rest or buy whatever takes my fancy .Bought own flat 6 years ago ,low cost maintaince,solar energy hot water ,and geothermal heating .the job market very bouyant with more new schools and unis opening up .Why do I need to leave ?Climate great ,women well ,just you know just great thanks !
get togethers not really, generally fellow teachers are a bit defensive and standoffish ,occassionally meet one or two for a beer or whatever .

Rin · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 173 Location: Doha

location: Qatar

employers: Private school, and private tutoring for some students.

teaching hours/week: 30/33

pay range: 10,000 Qatari Riyal a month, roughly $2778 USD. More depending on tutoring time. Free Villa.

transportation to work: My brand spanking new Hyundai Tucson!

monthly expenses: Vary. usually about $972.00, but that's the car payment.

how's the market: Lot's of opportunities, not just for teaching English. I'm going to be coaching a girl's swim team too. If you can stand the heat it's not that bad.

how long until you had your first job in that town: 4 weeks

how long will you stay there total: 2 or 3 years, my boyfriend is from Germany and wants to move back. But it wouldn't bother me if I have to stay longer.

why are you there: I left Korea about a year ago and had no desire to return to it, so I wandered around Canada and Mexico for a bit and than my father was suddenly offered a University position here, so I came for a visit and decided to give the job thing a try and was overwhelmed by the response. It's been great.

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

fadedgirl · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 44

Location: Ma�adi,Cairo, Egypt

Employers: Sakkara Language School (private Egyptian school)

Teaching hours/week: 8am � 4pm (as written in the contract), we all leave at 3pm. During Ramadan, it�s 8am-1pm. During the 2nd half of May, we do nothing but sit here and read or whatever since we�re being paid up until the end of May BUT none of the kids are here anymore.

Pay range: 3100 LE/month

Transportation to work: Used to be a minibus, but since all the teachers complained about it being a death trap (SINCE IT WAS)�we have to take taxis and the school pays for them

Monthly expenses: bars, clubs, eating out. About 1500 LE. Shopping can be very cheap if you know how to bargain. The knockoffs are amazing here.

How�s the market: great! Once you get here.

Teacher get togethers: A few�the teachers planned them�think of them as flatcrawls where we all wanted to get buttwasted by the end of it.

What kind of English do you teach: General

How long until you had your first job in that town: Been here since August.

How long will you stay there total: A year

Why are you there: I�ve always wanted to come to Egypt, so I thought why not. Well�if you don�t work for this school, you can get paid more. At Choueifat International School, you get paid about 10,000 LE. At El Alsson (another private Egyptian school) apparently they got paid 4500 LE.

The students: Unless you�re teaching at an international school or you�re teaching 4 year olds, the male students are completely disrespectful because they feel entitled to everything. Their parents teach them no discipline, and when there�s a problem in the classroom, the teacher is automatically blamed. Half of my job teaching the 4 year olds was in discipline because some of them had never experienced it before. Get the 4 year olds. By the end of the year, they�ll randomly shout out things like �I love you.� They�ll give you surprise hugs from behind when you�re putting books away. They want to share their food with you, and pull you down so that they can kiss you on the cheek.

yaramaz · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 11:05 pm Post subject:

The kids sound like the turkish kids I've taught. Hell, even my uni kids shout out declarations of love and dole out enthusiastic hugs and kisses. It's like the cynicism gene has yet to override their systems as it has elsewhere. Mind you, they're a handful to teach and discipline. Who'd have thought 1st year uni kids would need to be disciplined?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

location: the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico

employer: a state university's language department

teaching hours/week: 15 to 20 (+ office hours). Required to be on-campus for 40 hours total.

pay range: about $1300 US/month (includes bonuses)

transportation to work: motorcycle -- about 5 KM each way

monthly expenses: roughly $650

how's the market: very tight

teacher get togethers: often

what kinds of English do you teach: general usage from beginner to advanced, TOEFL prep.

how long until you had your first job in that town: pre-arranged via internet.

how long will you stay there total: probably a few more years.

AND

why are you there: I don't save as much money as Asia, but the lifestyle is much better!

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

location: vladi-vizz-stok, yo.

employer: EF

teaching hours/week: 36 academic hours

pay range: 35-38,000 rubles/month (depending on bonuses)

transportation to work: bus-20-30 min.

monthly expenses: 35-38,000 rubles/month (depending on bonuses)

how's the market: they need native teachers here like you wouldn't believe

teacher get togethers: christmas party. that's it. lots of get-togethers w/students though

what kinds of English do you teach: efl, ielts prep. right now

how long until you had your first job in that town: before i came. is that possible?

how long will you stay there total: indefinitely

AND

why are you there: after living for a year in india this was the most different place i could think of.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

location: Mexico City

employer: A TEFL course provider/language school

teaching hours/week: 10-15 EFL teaching hours per week

pay range: 15 to 20 usd per hour

transportation to work: bus, subway, walking, varies between 5 and 30 minutes

monthly expenses: about $700 usd/month

how's the market: mobile

teacher get togethers: as often as I can arrange them

what kinds of English do you teach: business, general, TOEFL iBT prep.

how long until you had your first job in that town: pre-arranged

how long will you stay there total: leave?

AND

why are you there: Adam and Eve left Eden. I'm not as silly.

paulmanser · Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 403

Mexico City

surpose to be really dangerous is it not?

virtualtourist.com gives alot of dodgy feedback from tourists.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

I read on the Internet that TEFL was a career.