Job Discussion Forums

[Junaid]

I would like some info on ELS Riyadh. I may be offered a position for commencement in January 2007. I have never worked in KSA before.

For a newbie, is Riyadh really as bad as the topic threads have led me to believe? I�m currently under the impression that it should be avoided at all cost, so my question is, even for getting one�s foot in the door?

I am a single guy, mid 20s, non-white European. I have 1� years teaching experience in the UK;
MA in Linguistics; BA in English Language & Linguistics and will be completing a Cambridge CELTA in December 2006.

Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Best,
Junaid

[Van Norden]

Riyadh is hell but that needn't put you off. You can live a life here despite the shittiness of the city if your accommodation and job are good.

ELS? Isn't that a crap job? How much are they offering? If less than 10k don't take it. Be patient and try to find something better. Embellish your CV to include 'teaching Arab students in UK.' Check out the SDT ad on tefl.com. You might not qualify for it but I'd try anyway. Or get a bit more experience and come to Saudi next year. DON'T TAKE THE CRAP JOB UNLESS YOU'RE DESPERATE.

Being non-white isn't a problem where I work.

[Abba]

Go for it, at least for a short period, for the following reasons:

1. Riyadh is the one of the best places in SA (facilities, people, near to UAE and Oman, etc).

2. You still young, and you will have the chance to evaluate your experience during the second semester. Even if you want to resign you will not loose anything, but it will be experience (good or bad).

2. You will get new experience in the Middle East, which you will add to your CV. and help you to look for new jobs around.

2. The period from December up to March is the best weather period in Riyadh , where it is cold, especially in December-January.

3. Being non-white European, will help you in the sense that you will get used to the mix Arab/Pakistani/Indian environment, especialy in some areas of Riyadh, like AL-BATHAA which famous for non-white european and will not be noticed from the "fanatic people".

4. get extra cash for your black days in UK (to pay for your taxes and opther depts if you have any!).

Good luck for your new job .

Abbas

[veiledsentiments]

No one with an MA in Linguistics should be working in these marginally abusive language schools in Riyadh or elsewhere. Do some research here on the better employers and apply to them.

VS

[Junaid]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[Cleopatra]

As I've said before, Riyadh gets a bad press. That's not entirely undeserved, but it's not so bad once you find your niche. People go on about how 'conservative' Riyadh is, which is of course true, but then again it's not as though Khobar or Jeddah is Paris or London. As a capital city, Riyadh has a lot to offer compared to other parts of KSA: the embassies are there, and there is a big choice of shops, transport options and other facilities. Of course, there is much you won't find here - but that's a feature of KSA in general, rather than Riyadh in particular.

[Bebsi]

I've always preferred Riyadh, funnily enough!

I know, by Saudi standards, Jeddah and Khobar are more cosmopolitan, and Khobar for its size has an exceptional array of restaurants (the main socialisation venue in KSA), but they have their limitations. Khobar is actually quite small, and I think of it as more of a big town than a city.

Many wax lyrical about how cosmopolitan Jeddah is, but it is certainly not Vienna or Prague. It is actually quite a dirty city, with appalling driving standards and roads that for KSA, are pretty bad.

Riyadh, on the other hand, is much cleaner, and has better roads and drivers (my opinion anyway), nicer architecture which is unashamedly ultra-modern and a lot of other services such as embassies and, yes, nicer shopping malls.

On a more abstract level, Jeddah gives off an illusion of liberality and 'cosmopolitan-ness', but it is, essentially a Saudi city. It tends to survive on a few myths. Riyadh, however, is an unpretentious expression of what it represents, and this honesty gives it an integrity that Jeddah appears to lack. OK, OK, I'm starting to sound like Joan Didion on a really bad day!! But you get the gist, I think.

[veiledsentiments]

[Junaid]

[veiledsentiments]

I'm speaking of language schools in the Gulf in general (as I said) and No, I was never desperate enough to take a job in any of them because I arrived in the Gulf with my MA in hand, and could get one of the good university jobs.

If you do a search of ELS on the Saudi section, UAE section, and Oman section, you will find that they have a pretty bad reputation in the Gulf. Some individual branches have been decent enough places for beginners with no degrees for as long as they managed to hold onto a good manager. But there seems to be quite a revolving door to language school managements in the Gulf. Good people tend to move on to something better as soon as they can.

That is just what I have learned over the last 20 years teaching in the Gulf and reading this board. If you are desperate for a job and this is the only thing you have on offer... then maybe...

VS (yes, 'edit' is our friend. )

[scot47]

A few years ago I did some moonlighting in the evenings at ELS Jeddah. It was fine. Word reached us that ELS Riyadh, a franchise run by someone else, was not the best place to work. It was disorganised. Salaries were late. Management was incompetent.

For those slow on the uptake' not the best place to work' is figurative language, a Briisih understatement. It means that ELS Riyadh was AWFUL.

The set-up may have changed. It might even be worse now.

[Stephen Jones]

Bradley used to moonlight at ELS Jeddah before he fled the Kingdom. He reckoned it was great.

[Cleopatra]

[scot47]

So where is Bradley now ? And what about the vile and slanderous allegations that were made about him ?

[Stephen Jones]

Bradley has written a book and is a member of a far-right, probably israeli funded, think tank.

Not sure where he's living.

And I don't think he was ever enamored of the Saudi government.