Job Discussion Forums

[Travels]

I have recently got it into my head to go to Saudi to finally take a stab at paying off my school loan.

Do you think I will be able to get a contract somewhere without too much trouble? Do you think it is realistic to think that saving around $40,000 in one year is possible?

My qualifications:
-6 years full-time teaching experience in private language schools and companies in Germany, Australia, and New Zealand
-I am an American woman
-I have over 1 year experience as a Senior Teacher, with experience in staff training and materials and assessment writing
-BA in English, MA in Cross-cultural Communication, and an Oxford TEFL cert.

Thanks in advance.

I've started looking on Dave's job board and TEFL.com - any other leads?

[nomad soul]

There's no guarantee you'll be able to sock aside about $40K in a year, but you'd obviously save more in KSA compared to other countries. By the way, your qualifying degree will be your BA in English; your MA wouldn't be considered as TEFL-related.

You're likely a good a match for the Colleges of Excellence. You'll find CoE ads on the Cafe's and other TEFL job boards. Start applying to see what you'd be offered.

[cnthaiksarok]

[Travels]

Thanks for the replies. I've just got in touch with a CoE recruiter - so we'll see where that leads.

I'm pretty bummed to hear about the Masters not counting - does that mean most universities won't consider me? The MA's in Cross-cultural Communication which was run by the Linguistics Dept and was mostly linguistics classes with a couple Anthropology ones thrown in. Wonder if I could convince them to consider it....

How common is it for teachers to do private lessons in their free time? Wondering if that's a good way to try to reach my target.

[nomad soul]

[nomad soul]

[currentaffairs]

I just saw a CoE posting on the Prime Teachers job site that is for female teachers and is paying 14-18,000 SAR per month plus accommodation.

[Travels]

Good question, NS. I don't really know, though. I received an offer from Jeddah for 14,500 SAR, not sure if that took my Masters into account or not.

I might do a little better salary-wise with the CoE's - I've got 2 prospective jobs in the pipeline (hopefully). Things don't seem to move too quickly. Seems like a Masters isn't a prerequisite for those CoE jobs so don't think it has affected me.

I also interviewed with KAU and Uni of Dammam but haven't received any follow-up. Will let you know if I get any indication if it's accepted as TEFL-related or not.

[Hatcher]

Is the OP a licensed teacher?
Is she white?
How hard is she willing to work?
Say it doesn't matter and I say you haven't been to the KSA.

[veiledsentiments]

[nomad soul]

[Travels]

Just received an offer from the Uni of Dammam (after a few weeks of hearing nothing) and they offered me 11,800 sar - pretty disappointed and can only assume they didn't count my Masters.

White, yes. Licensed teacher, no. Willing to work, of course

[nomad soul]

[I-forgot]

Actually, they probably did take your MA into account. Other people have been offered 8500-9000 with a BA, CELTA and 5+ years of experience (2-3 years of which was Saudi experience) by the University of Dammam.

Salaries are dropping!

PNU cut salaries dramatically at the end of last semester - some people went from approx 17,000 down to 12,000 after having taught there for three years.

Dropping like a rock!

[danshengou]

Too bad you don't have experience teaching communications-related university courses, because that might actually work out better for you in the long run. And if you aren't desperate, I would just stay put and work a second job rather than deal with Saudi.