Job Discussion Forums

[Nicola H]

Hey,

Think I may be moving to Surabaya in summer and hope that you guys can give me an idea of what to expect- job situation, social life, fun things to do on days off, nice places to visit for day trips...

I've had a look at other posts and get the impression that it's, well, pretty grim out there? But i'm guessing that there must be some good stuff to do and nice places to visit in the surrounds.

Job wise: I've got 2.5 years experience, degree, TEFL cert and am about to start a DELTA (fingers crossed about passing). From looking at other posts i'd say that i'm not qualified to teach in a National Plus (no PGCE), but that language schools aren't really interested in further qualifications and certainly wouldn't want to shell out any more than the minimum wage.

Bearing this in mind, can anyone either tell me where they have worked and had a good experience (nice co workers, good management), or if they've worked in any well paying place out there- read a post about a place called KELTS I think, but there seemed to be some scepticism about the salary that was stated.

I'm trying to be organised for once, so could you guys recommend a time for me to approach the schools, or is all the hiring done in country?

All replies appreciated.

Nicola

[TEAM_PAPUA]

SBY rocks - it has everything & anything I did 2 years there and I would love to do it again for the first time....go for it!




T_P

[twinkel]

Kelt can be a good place to work.they pay you more and provide good house and maid.
my bf worked in there before.tell you honestly that surabaya is a boring city but maybe for some people it isnt.
in here there is nothing interesting except some shop center and some restaurants,no park.you have go out side of the city for sight seeing. you can go to batu or tretes whiches about 1-2 hrs from surabya.or you can go to mt bromo ( 4hrs frm surabaya) or fly to bali.
summer can be very very hot in here. anyway,if you really came to surabaya and need any help than you can contact me.
HAPPY EASTER

[bayabule]

If Kelt are offering you 9 mill a month salary (plus increments for experience) then that's what you'll get. I can vouch for that as I've worked here for almost 4 years, and that is what the salary is at the moment. You also get put in a shared teacher's house for as long as you want to. You don't pay rent for a teacher's house and your only outgoings are drinking water, gas, non local phonecalls and a weekly sum to feed the maids, pay for your food (if you have them cooked for you by maids) and any other minor household expenses. Kelt has 4 branches in Surabaya, three with native speakers only and one with only local teachers. Kelt is 20 years old, previously it was part of the ILP franchise but broke away several years ago and is now independent. We teach EFL to children from Kindergarten age, teenagers, adults and business.
The main complaint people have about working at Kelt is the DoS, who has quite high standards and can be a bit set in his ways at times.

Also the other major drawback is that you have to live in Surabaya, which is not exactly paradise on earth. However, it's not the complete dump that people make it out to be. For one thing it's really easy to get out of town. Flights to Bali and elsewhere are pretty cheap, you can take trains to Bali, Yogya, Jakarta and anywhere in between. The traffic and pollution are quite bad but nothing like as bad as Jakarta. There's not a lot in the way of museums and art galleries here but the people are down to earth and, on the whole, honest and friendly. If you make the effort to get out and about you can have plenty of great experiences in Surabaya.
Again, the social life isn't great but there are several bars, clubs, hotels for drinking, malls for shopping (Pretty good but huge and busy), restaurants for eating in, cinemas etc. There are lots of weekend trips you can do to Bali, Lombok, Yogya and closer places like Malang (town), Sendang Biru (uninhabited island with beach and lagoon), Bromo, Semeru (volcanoes) National parks, temples. A lot of the teachers find they need to take up hobbies to keep them from getting bored and the most popular of these at my school are surfing, diving, climbing and getting drunk.

All I know about EF Surabaya is that the teachers I know are mainly very happy with the school, the owner's a pretty good guy and the salary's better than most EF schools. I think Kelt and EF Sby are much of a muchness really as far as pay and conditions go. We get a bigger salary but EF get an extra month's bonus, flights and fiscal at the end of contract, whereas we just get our flight and fiscal paid.

Good luck with the job hunting.

[bayabule]

If Kelt are offering you 9 mill a month salary (plus increments for experience) then that's what you'll get. I can vouch for that as I've worked here for almost 4 years, and that is what the salary is at the moment. You also get put in a shared teacher's house for as long as you want to. You don't pay rent for a teacher's house and your only outgoings are drinking water, gas, non local phonecalls and a weekly sum to feed the maids, pay for your food (if you have them cooked for you by maids) and any other minor household expenses. Kelt has 4 branches in Surabaya, three with native speakers only and one with only local teachers. Kelt is 20 years old, previously it was part of the ILP franchise but broke away several years ago and is now independent. We teach EFL to children from Kindergarten age, teenagers, adults and business.
The main complaint people have about working at Kelt is the DoS, who has quite high standards and can be a bit set in his ways at times.

Also the other major drawback is that you have to live in Surabaya, which is not exactly paradise on earth. However, it's not the complete dump that people make it out to be. For one thing it's really easy to get out of town. Flights to Bali and elsewhere are pretty cheap, you can take trains to Bali, Yogya, Jakarta and anywhere in between. The traffic and pollution are quite bad, but nothing like as bad as Jakarta. For example, most of the teacher's houses are within the minimum Rp10,000 taxi fare from the school, about 20mins.
There's not a lot in the way of museums, theatres and art galleries here but the people are down to earth and, on the whole, honest and friendly. If you make the effort to get out and about you can have plenty of great experiences in Surabaya.
Again, the social life isn't great but there are several bars, clubs, hotels for drinking, malls for shopping (Pretty good but huge and busy), restaurants for eating in, cinemas etc. There are lots of weekend trips you can do to Bali, Lombok, Yogya and closer places like Malang (town), Sendang Biru (uninhabited island with beach and lagoon), Bromo, Semeru (volcanoes) National parks, temples. A lot of the teachers find they need to take up hobbies to keep them from getting bored and the most popular of these at my school are surfing, diving, climbing and getting drunk.

All I know about EF Surabaya is that the teachers I know are mainly very happy with the school, the owner's a pretty good guy and the salary's better than most EF schools. I think Kelt and EF Sby are much of a muchness really as far as pay and conditions go. We get a bigger salary but EF get an extra month's bonus, flights and fiscal at the end of contract, whereas we just get our flight and fiscal paid, so it kind of balances out in the end.

Good luck with the job hunting.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

KIA Wrote:

[AsiaTraveller]

One wonders how he'll find his own way out of Canada. Will he stop every few moments and post an emergency question to the ESL Cafe???

[AsiaTraveller]

Next time write what you mean, oh Teacher. All you asked was "how far?" That means distance; it's geographic, and can be easily answered by looking at a map.

On the other hand, you can easily consult train and air schedules online. You remember how to use Google, right?

[marblez]

[route67]

Careful now - you could have somebody's eye out with those...

I don't think it's a good idea to antagonise kia, 'cos trolls are well-known for throwing hissy-fits. You could be injured by a nasty adjective or two. Ask yourself - is it REALLY worth it...?

kia = killed in action, ya? I still think it should be mia. Muppet in action.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

[Cardinal Synn]

Us mere "morons" could never hope to understand.
I think Jak & Sby are on some other planet, along with the poster. Hope so anyway. There is no such thing as geography on that planet. Distance is measured in flambles and neeyupcrimbons there. Also on that planet, "moron" is a word used to praise ones betters. Its greatest export is dental floss, something all inhabitants are addicted to.

[route67]

Shame they only use it to clean the gap between the ears, though.

[Cardinal Synn]

Oh thank the Lord! kia has been booted!

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Pity - s/he was good for novelty value at least. I was looking forward to reading about his/her exploits in the real world. No doubt there will be several buddha like reincarnations.


T_P