Job Discussion Forums

[Wanna Go Away]

My partner and I are both considering entering the field of teaching English abroad. We have settled on Indonesia as a desirable location.

She has an bachelors degree and a masters in special education. I have a bachelors in communications with a minor in English, 3/4 of an unfinished masters in English education and a masters in higher education administration.

So here are the questions:

1 - I have read here that the online TEFL courses are not recommended. What is the general consenus here... Do we need TEFL to get started? Which program is recommended? CELTA?

2 - What are the more/less desirable locations to work? We are both older (36 and 44) and live pretty quietly. I think we would prefer small city/town to larger city.

3 - Is Indonesia female friendly?

4 - I know salary depends on location, but what is an "acceptable" salary to live comfortably?

5 - What are the more desirable companies to work with?

6 - Is it reasonable to think we can work together with the same company?


Thanks in advance for any and all advice...
Bob

[travelNteach]

i dont think that u will be many replies because most of the questons have been answered a million times before. take some time and read some of the old postings. i will pm u so u can ask more specific questions directly.

1. Yes, CELTA is the most recognizable and sought after TESL qualification

2. Bandung, Malang........... try reading lonely planet for specific cities that might appeal to u. then u can come back and ask for specific feedback on a particular city or school.

3. what exactly do u mean? friendly or treated with respect? i think most women do ok. a teacher in bekasi about 7 years ago frond the local population a little too friendly.... she was sunbathing in the front yard and looked up to see a man sitting on the curb across the street pleasuring himself. so do use some caution. also see madam J's experience with a tour guide. most people are great but u have to use a little extra caution, like a woman on the trains in tokoyo.

4. completely unanswerable. depends on your lifestyle, bills back home, expecatations,...... again read old posts for clues and come back with specific questions.

5. international schools, nationalplus, and language mills, generally in that order. it is difficult to say which language schools is better than another because they change so frequently depending on the dos and owners. some EF are good while others are terrible. tbi used to be very highly regared, but have begun to franchise and have local center managers and they dont seem as good as before. also the benefits package varies greatly. come back with specific schools and i am sure people here will readily offer experience/advice.

6. a lot of schools used to like hiring couples, but i am not sure this is still the trend. if u go to a big enough city, bandung/jakarat/etc u should both be able to get jobs even if at different schools.

not much of a market for special education here, so it will depend on what your partner's BA is in. if u have experience in school administration, maybe u should try SIS or another small international school that hires expat admin staff. if not, focos on the English aspect of your BA and see where that lands u. good luck

[Wanna Go Away]

Thanks for all the info! Much appreciated...

[Madame J]

Female friendly? Hmm. Indonesia certainly has its share of sex pests, who do seem to crawl out of the woodwork when a western girl is in the vicinity. However, a lot of said pestering tends to be annoying rather than threatening (like blokes on buses who I've managed to get off my back by simply pretending to be asleep). A lot of it comes down to being a bit more vigilant than one probably would at home-try not to display your phone in public too much so potential stalkers won't grab it and call themselves (this applies equally to both genders, mind) and yes, be wary about going on a one-on-one tour (applies more to women, but it seems foolish for anybody to go on a night tour, for example, with a stranger who they're relying on to get them back).

It also depends on the area. Most Javanese cities seemed okay. I had no issues walking around my neighbourhood at night, as even though it was impossible to do so without being stared/whistled at the attention was always benign. I would never dream of doing that in my own country. However, I felt quite unsafe when in Banjarmasin, Kalimantan (Borneo), though that could have merely been one isolated incident that scared me off. I was also thinking of accepting a job in Batam island, but declined due to the DoS informing me of the misogynistic nature of the location. My own city, Surabaya, was fine.

As for schools that hire couples, I know EF does. Small schools may be unlikely to if there's only one in a town, or if they do then it may be difficult to get joint leave. It's worth asking each school.

[olly.w]

I lived in Bogor... worked for EF.. they definitely hire couples... Get a Celta...Indonesia is a great county... enjoy yourself

[travelNteach]

the only reason why i said it might be hard to get hired on as a company is that i dont seen nearly as many job listings as i did a few years ago. either people are staying put or not a many jobs on offer. therefore, i think it will harder to find a school hiring 2 people at the same time. can still be done, but much harder