Teaching English abroad
Posted on: Sat, 2007-05-26 00:38
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Teaching English abroad
I taught English to adults in the Czech Republic before they joined the European Union. It was a rich, exciting experience because everyone was so eager to learn. I was wondering if anyone had taught there since the Czech Republic has gone EU. Did they have a similar experience? Had they noticed any changes? Did many people seem happy to be part of the EU?
Hi, Lindsey -
Have you taught English anywhere else? I taught in Japan, and did some substitute work in a couple of other places. I haven't been back to Japan since I worked there, and I'm thinking about visiting. Have you considered going back to the Czech Republic to see how things have changed (or not)?
I met people in Prague who had taught English in Japan. They said the pay was good but the hours were long. I think we had a little more freedom in the Czech Republic. I'd love to go back, but family obligations have prevented me. there were so many language schools hiring a few years ago that English teachers probably felt like kids in a candy store.
When I was there, the standard was 25 hours, with only 20 contact hours. Unless you worked for Nova, which expected you to be in the school 40 hours per week, with 25 class hours and the rest admin or conversation lounge. Someone told me he loved conversation lounge because he was scheduled for reallly unpopular hours and got to read and get paid for it.
I worked a second job on one of my evenings off, so I did a total of 28 1/2 hourse per week, with only 23 1/2 contact hours.
What were hours like in the Czech Republic? I hear the winters are brutal.