Job Discussion Forums

[Plisken]

[spiral78]

If you're going to go for the on-site cert, I'd recommend doing it in-country if at all possible. The advantages are many - including that someone probably WILL meet you at the airport

Training centres usually arrange for your housing during the course, offer local orientation, and can give you invaluable advice concerning local employers. It's a way to make some useful contacts in the area before you get started job and flat hunting.

Your practice teaching students will be really representative of one's you'll be working with - if you take an on-site course in the US, your class is more likely to be of mixed first-language students, whereas if you end up in Ukraine, for example, they will all speak the same first language, obviously. This does make for different classroom dynamics.

Finally, you could be really certain that your cert would be recognized by local employers.

[spiral78]

By the way, I'm not entirely sure how much you'd need the cert. in Ukraine. However, for Slovakia or the CR, definitely you would...Hopefully ecocks or some other Ukraine-based poster can tell you more about this important issue.

[Kootvela]

In Lithuania, IH or ILS do hire people with CELTA. I'm not sure about EF and American English school.

[ecocks]

Apartment rentals

$450-600 per month for a one-room out at the end of the lines. Conditions vary.

Certification

Come on. The cert means nothing really. ANYWHERE. All it does is get you into the interview group if you are local and occasionally a long distance offer. However, without a classroom presence, you won't last the probation period even if they give you a position based upon the certification and your CV. In the end, you HAVE to be able to teach English. You actually have to be able to do the work. I have met some CELTA cert holders that I would not leave alone in a room with any of my children, much less trust them to teach them a language. Even the online cert will give the employer something to submit with your work permit documentation. In Ukraine, you can get the interview by showing up at the door and competently presenting yourself during hiring season, BUT you still need to demonstrate competence.

If you have an undergraduate degree, almost any kind of certification and a solid classroom presence, you can get a decent job in Ukraine or build one from 2-3 companies. Reasonable monthly income expectations would be $1200 or so and if you hustle you'll pop up to $1500 or more after a few months of learning the ropes. There are some folks in Kyiv who pull down $3,000 and more after a few years, but they are entrepreneurial and not afraid to charge premiums for delivering what the customer wants.

[Plisken]

[Plisken]

[Plisken]

[spiral78]

Well, ecocks belongs to the faction that posits 'natural teacher' skill is both necessary and sufficient. I personally agree that some innate skill is necessary, but training is needed to make it sufficient.
That's an argument that won't ever be resolved.

However, it's irrelevant here. To compete on the job market in Slovakia and the CR, you need the cert to get interviews at reputable schools. Whether the course has made you a good teacher or not doesn't much matter.

The thing is that Prague has become a training centre mecca, and 90% of the newbies here on the streets have the on-site cert with the supervised teaching practice. Directors are going to ask you if you have this, and, if not, you are honestly facing low-end schools. The salaries are low enough already without starting out at the low end of the market!

I think the i-to-i thing has an iffy rep, but I don't have any direct info, so I don't want to sling mud. Just be sure that you are 120 hours on-site and have the teaching practice. A couple of training centres that I personally know are solid in Prague include TEFLWorldwide and Caledonian. There are others as well, I hasten to add! Just that I have personal knowledge about these two. Both have been around a while and have generally solid reps. Any good training centre will pick you up at the airport, arrange for housing during the course, and give you some local orientation. They also have contacts at reputable schools in the region, which can give you a good head start on employment.

[ecocks]

A solid certification (like TEFLWorldwide) certainly will give you training, methodology and the refresher grammar necessary. My only point was that the cert has no magical, mystical properties. If you are not effective in the classroom all the degrees and certs in the world are not going to mean anything. Contract or not, you'll be on your own in a month or so if you can't do the job.

I definitely, unequivocaly recommend taking a good training program. I don't find the CELTA to be anything special although any on-site course with supervised practical experience would seem to be better than an on-line course. Especially one without a practical component.

That said, there are several companies in Ukraine which will hire you off the street without a cert and throw you in a classroom. A good teacher (good due to prior experiences/training, personality, natural affinity, etc.) will survive and prosper but marginal and poor teachers will get stuck in the $600-900/month range.

I was a little surprised at the rejection of Ukraine because everyone I know that is competent is working and making living wages.

[spiral78]

Yeah, so ecocks and I are on the same page. I agree that CELTA's not vital - and I know that TEFL Worldwide are a good, solid generic cert.

The best quality of a cert course is that people who really have serious issues in the classroom SHOULDN'T be passed. My generic course only passed 3 of 12 of us But I admit that most of my peer trainees were serious examples of social misfits. The rate is usually MUCH lower!!

[Plisken]

[Plisken]

[spiral78]

Plisken, you may seriously want to consider Caledonian's course. Not that I'm saying it's better than anyone else's, but they run a very large school with satellites in other cities in the CR and they hire their own grads. You might approach them, explain your situation, and inquire whether, if you made the investment in their course, performed in a satisfactory manner, they would then immediately employ you full time. I believe they also provide arranged housing for their staff who want it. In the past, I've understood that salaries were closer to the low end of the scale, and I've seen their housing in Prague (though it may have changed) and it's pretty basic, but you might really need to start out with some assurance that you can work immediately. Then, in year two, when you have local experience and your feet under you, you'd be in a position to negotiate with any school you chose.

[Plisken]