Job Discussion Forums

[rotemmay]

Hi all,
I'm interested in hearing from people who are working in Israel and giving private lessons in English. I've been hearing several things about this and wanted to see what the situation was. My understanding is that it has become a very competitive market, as the supply has exceeded the demand (i.e., many English tutors and not enough people who need it ). I see that there are several English Tutoring certification programs in some colleges in Israel (the one at the David Yellin Teaching College in Jerusalem comes to mind) but I'm wondering if that might limit me in terms of job prospects and if it's better to go for a TESOL certificate or degree instead.

Also, I'm interested in knowing how those who are tutoring in Israel got started. Back in the 1990's my sister did some English tutoring when she got out of the army. Back then it was quite easy - she put a few ads in the local newspaper and that was it. She had no formal training but she did very well and students liked her. She had a lot of students who were coming in order to raise their level of English in school, so they were very motivated and hard-working (i.e., not pushed by their parents because they weren't doing well). But I'm guessing it's a whole different situation now, since that was roughly 15 years ago.

Any help would be most appreciated!

Rotem