Job Discussion Forums

[troglodyte]

I've been teaching English for 15 year, I have a BA and a CELTA. Now I'm interested in going to Syria for 6 months to a year to learn Arabic and check out the country.

How hard is it to find an ELT job in Syria? What are the general job conditions? e.g. hours, pay, work visa, etc. Actually I'm not really very interested in the salary. Mainly I'd just like to be able to get a work visa instead of constantly renewing a tourist visa. So, I AM interested in whether or not schools get their teachers a work visa (or some other type of long term visa) and how many hour teachers typically work. My main purpose is to learn Arabic plus do a bit if sight seeing.

Instead of getting a work visa, what is involved in getting a student visa? Can you get a student visa if you're studying at a private language school? How about if you're taking a language course at a university? Other than Damascus, in what other cities can you take an Arabic course? How much does a language course cost per month? Is it better quality or price at a university or a language school?


Sorry for so many questions. Actually I have a whole bunch more, but I figured that I'd better limit it to these ones first. If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

[helenl]

If you do a search, you'll find that your primary questions have been discussed before, the most problematic one being the visa - visa runs seem to be the norm rather than the exception. But maybe someone knows of employers who can and do provide documentation?