Job Discussion Forums

[returnee2014]

Because I know some of you are lovely helpful and experienced souls, I'm asking for some tips on my KSA job search.

I have 3 years experience in the Gulf, the most recent (this past year) Iraqi Kurdistan, and before that 2 years in Riyadh at the IPA about 8 years ago.

My BA is in international relations, MA is in modern language (Arabic / Persian), and I have a trinity TEFL cert (long course).

It's been a while since I was in KSA and hoping someone can direct me to the institution that best suits me.

I'm looking for 25 contact hours with young adults, somewhere that isn't likely to drive me completely insane and somewhere that doesn't smell like a refinery or chemical factory. Also want to avoid anything that is a complete farce of a educational institution where the students determine my fate. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Cheers.

[currentaffairs]

Apply for the direct hire university jobs.. However, you probably need some more experience in Saudi because your main quals aren't ESL related. That leaves you with the normal contractors and the Colleges of Excellence.

You might get lucky with the National Guard or something similar but overall I think you will probably have to climb the ladder like everyone else! Good luck!

[hash]

returnee2014 wrote:

I'm looking for 25 contact hours with young adults, somewhere that isn't likely to drive me completely insane and somewhere that doesn't smell like a refinery or chemical factory. Also want to avoid anything that is a complete farce of a educational institution where the students determine my fate. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

"Any and all suggestions", you say? Ok, here are mine.

I suggest you attempt to find a position in Cambridge, Massachusetts or Stanford, California. Either of those places will undoubtedly fulfill your requirements for a job.

Since you're no stranger to KSA, you should have learned that an "ideal" job like you describe doesn't exist in the Kingdom. Never has and never will, at least in the EFL field. They are all a variation on the same theme, which is to say they are all problematic. It's simply a matter of chance whether you land something tolerable or intolerable, remembering that "things change" from one week to the next.

(Some will no doubt jump in and state that their job is/was "wonderful". Don't believe them.)

[returnee2014]

I described an ideal job?

[scot47]

There is a vacancy for Professor of Oriental Languages at Princeton. He could apply for that.

Alternatively, he could try
www.kfupm.edu.sa

30 weeks teaching. Timetabled classes 20 hours a week. 5 hours administration. Salary is enough, if not at the stratospheric levels formerly paid to ARAMNCO and BAe. Students are affable enough.

[FrenchConnexion]

Students are and always will be powerful here. But, by experience, if you are culturally sensitive, not trying to enlighten them with your own Western ideology or view of what is right and wrong, and are professional, and pretty cool (easy going), you will be OK. I teach female students though. I know male students are a bit (much more?) difficult. I do tell off my students when I do not like their behaviour in class, or when I think they are too lazy (it happens once every semester since I have been here, because students become too laid back): I do not appreciate when my teaching is taken for granted, and make a point in telling them that preparing a lesson takes a loooong time. It works with the majority of my students, and you will always have a minority that does not care. This is in the Prep Year Programs though. I have heard horror stories in some of the Colleges of Excellence, where many students truly did not care (and that was on the female side!).
The thing is: apply everywhere, then see how much you'll have to teach in your contract, how many office hours (let's not forget that... you might finish teaching at 11:50, but have to leave at 3 pm). After that, if the contract seems OK, come back here and on other EFL forums to get "reviews".
Direct hire positions are usually better, less stressful in terms of job security, plus tons of paid holidays, and free medical at government hospitals (some are OK... at least for common illnesses), although most teachers just go to the on-campus university clinics, which have several specialists, and provide free medication (I once got medication worth 500 SR for my asthma).
Also, with a direct hire position, you can bring your family, and education is subsidised.

[plumpy nut]