Job Discussion Forums

Ageecee · Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 27

Anyone heard of or had dealings with this school in Jeddah? Its in Shaty district behind Hilton Hotel. It seems to be a private school with elementary-high school kids. Offering 1200-- 1500SAR/mth housing allowance.Is this adequate? salary range is 7500-13000. Whats the cost of living like in jeddah?Basic food stuffs?. Any info appreciated.Thanks
Smile

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject:

Ouch!!!

NCTBA

Asda · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 231

Care to elaborationalise...?

You may not see much point as you warn against the K of SA - seriously, you guys should write a book charting your experiences. I, for one, would probably buy it!!

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:00 pm Post subject:

Asda, it's just the general salary range offered without specifics. I originally went to Saudi earning the lower end of the scale mentioned. Life was tough, but contract after contract got better and better until I got fed up with my last boss and improved my creds. To show a SAR 5,500 pay range tells me that they're throwing a pretty wide net...and for a private school??? I worked for some of the best defense contractors that "used to" exist in the Kingdom and NEVER earned that kinda moola...ergo, OUCH!...someone's in for a world of pain! But, then again, what do I know? I only worked for some of the best organizations that existed there...

NCTBA

FarangFarang · Joined: 09 Mar 2009 Posts: 20

If the pay range reflects the difference between Primary and Secondary teaching, years of experience and qualifications, then that would come as no surprise.

Sheikh Abdullah · Joined: 07 Mar 2009 Posts: 54 Location: California, USA

Does that school hire men and women?

umzakaria · Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 58

Hi, it states male in the application, so it's likely it's a boys school where segregation is observed,no females.

trapezius · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject:

You should only be looking at Saudi private schools if you are very desperate.

Jeddah is cheap. But that housing allowance of SR. 14,400 to SR. 18,000 per year will get you a very small apartment in a cheap neighbourhood (which in this case means very far from the school). You should ask for SR. 20,000 minimum. And if you want to live in a compound, you would need at least SR. 30,000 per year.

muhajir · Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 11

It is a private school near the corniche in a very rich part of Jeddah.

Good points:
- Pay is ok, on average around SR10k base salary + transport allowance + housing allowance.
- Working hours are around 7am - 2pm, with only 3 x 45mins teaching periods/day, rest of time you can chill out/use internet/read etc.
- Holidays, plenty of em, long summer, probably 4 months off in total (paid)

Bad points:
- The kids are mostly from super rich families = spoilt brats and very difficult to discipline.
- Saudi management, they are difficult to deal with, don't understand how to treat their employees (despite many of them holding western phds!). Simply not a professional place.
- You have to go in on a Thursday too for a few hours!
- They don't like non-white westerner teachers.

One story: a British-Asian teacher joined them, as he was told many good things by them. When he arrived at the airport there was no one to collect him. He phoned the principal who told him to get a taxi to the school, upon arrival he was told to start work while he was still carrying his suitcases! For accommodation, he was told he would have to sort himself out (not even temporary hotel accommodation was provided). They also seemed very disappointed that they had hired an Asian teacher (despite him being a native speaker).

trapezius · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:11 pm Post subject:

Racism and discrimination are a part of life for Asians in this part of the world, no matter what passport they hold.

muhajir · Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 11

Perhaps in the general public, but not in most other fields besides TEFL e.g. I certainly do not hear of such discrimination against western-asian friends in the IT, telecommunications, and engineering fields, but perhaps this is more due to the fact that the management are usually westerners or non-saudi arabs.

trapezius · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject:

007 · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:25 pm Post subject:

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Yes, an Asian born in the UK is a native speaker of English under normal circumstances, assuming he or she is brought up there.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:13 pm Post subject:

Dear 007,
You're going to have to be more specific:

"2. Can we say that non-native speakers usually make better English teachers than native teachers (without formal training)?"

Now, do you mean that both have no formal training, or do you mean that the only the "native speaker" has no formal training while the "non-native speaker" had that training?

If you mean the former. then I'd say that the answer is (usually) "No."

If you mean the latter, then I'd say the answer is (usually) "Yes, " but it would be irrelevant to this forum in either case since no one, native speaker or non-native speaker, would ever be hired for Saudi Arabia without having "formal training."

Regards,
John