Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tiger Beer]

Would you ever teach in RUSSIA/UKRAINE/CENTRAL ASIA?

No plans to teach there anytime soon myself, but I am intrigued in general by the region.

[BreakfastInBed]

Why not? I can't imagine falling in love with the place, but it would certainly be an interesting way to spend a year. And who knows... maybe it would be the perfect climate for my compexion.

[Dome Vans]

I was looking at Moscow before I came to Korea. But nothing that really caught my eye. Wages for jobs advertised seemed a little low. But I think once you get there and get your foot in the door then easy street.

Had an interview for a job in Kazakhstan? before as well. But turned that down. Would have been interesting!

[Otherside]

When I originally made the decision to teach overseas for a couple of years, Russia was right on top of my list (specifically St. Petersburg - I had been there before and it is an amazing city, at least from a tourists perspective). When I approached some recruiters/companies involved with Russia, they told me that there were very few positions in St Petersburg and there were no vacancies now (difficult to believe with a city of a population in excess of 3million). They all wanted me to work in Moscow or Siberia.

Now, while I still want to work in Russia, some time in the TEFL industry as made me a lot more circumspect. The horror stories of working in Hagwons in Korea are well-documented and I'd say the majority of teachers in private institutes are atleast screwed over a little. Even some international corporations (i.e. Berlitz) have a pretty bad rep here. I can only imagine things in Russia being a lot worse. The salaries there are also much lower yet from the contracts I've read, the hours/work are similar to your typical "first-year sucker hagwon" . Not to mention, I'm sure getting things done over there (Banking, immigration, cellphone etc) would make Korea look like a cakewalk.

That being said, If the right opportunity in St Petersburg came my way, I'd be VERY interested

[nicholas_chiasson]

Lived and worked there
-Most jobs before the new Russian visa laws were illegal, you bought yourself a one year business visa and paid through the nose for registration and bribes. The pay was good but split shifts were a fact of life, INSANE crush in the metro and the overground traffic was insane. It took 2 hours to go from the center of the city to the cafordable residential districts.
-However
Phones were easy to get, Banking was impossible, and so on and so on. With the new laws nobody seems to know what is going on at all. Oh and they beat an old lad to death at an anti-Putin rally.
-All in all Korea is a nicer place.

[riverboy]

When the time is right, I will find a job next to a prime flyfishing spot in either Russia or Mongolia and teach and fish for a year. It is my parting gift to myself when I retire from Korea.

[nicholas_chiasson]

I thought Idaho was prime fly fishing teritory. I didn't know Mongolia had fish.

[Tiger Beer]

I think if I were to teach in the Russian world and it's greater sphere, I'd probably consider Almaty, Odessa or Kiev.

nicholas_chiasson, did you ever consider any of those places? Why or why not?

Anyone else on Ukraine or Kazakhstan? (Or even Georgia, Amenia, Kygystan, Uzbekistan, etc.?)

[Ya-ta Boy]

I looked into Kiev and Odessa once upon a time. Samarkand would be a fascinating experience. I think Georgia would be, too.

[RACETRAITOR]

Nope. I couldn't imagine finding any skinheads worth hanging out with over there.

[safeblad]

i would love to go back and live in moscow having visited briefly and loved it.

but

Russia is very anti-British at the moment (or at least the governement is) . Putin is trying to forcibly close down the British Council in Russia whilst at the same time Putins thugs harass the BBC.

Its just not heading the right way for me right now. skinheads are running round the place beating on people. there is an aids epidemic nobody wants to talk about and a dictatorship excused because of a fake oil based economic revival .

maybe in another 15 years.

[ddeubel]

I spent a couple years there, writing for the Financial post and supplementing my freelance stuff with English teaching. So many stories. The most bizarre was a job interview at the "leading" business English school in Kyiv. Must have been about the 20th floor of an office building. Interview went okay, was shown the classrooms. Nice board rooms, clean, functional.

The head guy asked me to follow him outside onto a little balcony so he could have a smoke. Brit. We chatted away about this and that, the challenges of the job, home, travels, women. Then leaning over the rail he says he has something "honest" to say to me. He goes on to say matter of fact, that the guy who I'd be replacing jumped over the same rail, just a few weeks ago. He simply walked out of his classroom, mid teaching and jumped.

I didn't take the job.

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[lastat06513]

I think once a person leaves Korea, the world is their playground.
But from what I see on the job section, alot of the jobs in the CIS pay about the same; roughly $1400-1500 a month.

[soviet_man]

Having lived in Russia (Vladivostok) for most of my life, what I can state is that Russia (unlike Korea) cannot be categorised as one homogenous bloc.

For example, there are areas of great poverty and industrial decline (eg. Siberia, southern Russia) and other areas of relative prosperity (eg. Moscow) that would be on-par with western standards.

Wages vary from $500 US a month in a small isolated school on the fringes of Siberia, to $2000+ a month in the elite language schools in Moscow or a petrol chemical English school on Sakhalin. Equally, cost of living varies vastly, as does the general level of corruption.

Many Russian schools operate for 9 months of the year and the other 3 months of the year the instructor is free on vacation time which does allow many opportunities.

I don't know much about Ukraine or the Central Asia republics. But I personally would likely find them isolating places. Tajiks, Azeris and Turkmenis especially - have a very negative reputation in Russia and their countries receive little support from Russia nowadays.

[merlot]