Teachers are overworked and underpaid throughout the world. That’s a sad fact.
We’re not rock stars or sports heroes. We are not in the much-needed medical profession. We don’t invent new technology. We simply teach English and help
shape new generations.
boss can promise you a language school and give you a home business run
out of his apartment. He can say he’ll pay you $900 a month and give you $300.
Turkey is better. You can be part of a nice private language school with modern
facilities, good textbooks, computers, and overhead projectors. Language
schools even have a cantina with free tea for teachers. But your Turkish boss
will work you long hours (35 or more teaching hours a week on mornings,
evenings, and weekends). You’ll get only one day off a week (unless you work
at English Time in Izmit, where you’ll slave for seven days because they can’t
keep teachers).
If you have outstanding qualifications, you can work at a university in Turkey.
They pay pretty well ($1300 a month) and give you health insurance (which
the private language schools should but don’t always do). You will work only
8 months but get paid for 12. I enjoyed my time at Kocaeli University and
should have renewed my contract. A friend of mine quit the university
because he could make more money working seven days a week at English
Time ($2000 a month is possible). But the stressful environment at English
Time (where teachers end up yelling at each other) is not, in my opinion,
worth the extra money.
The downside of working at a Turkish university is that getting a contract can
take four months or more of paperwork done through Ankara. Even then, the
university could begin its September semester, and you may not have your
contract yet and therefore be unable to start working or get paid. This
happened to me at Akdeniz University in Antalya, so I bounced back to Izmit
to look for another private language school job that does not rely on
semesters or contracts (contracts are often optional, and you can start
teaching without one at a private language school in Turkey).
The problem with a private language school is that it can let you go if it
suddenly doesn’t have money to pay you. It’s best to get a contract, but even
that does not completely protect you. The pay for the hours is not good, and
you might not have health insurance (or a work permit). So I have been
looking for a new job overseas and have found out some interesting things
about the teaching market.
Europe won’t hire American teachers. They want someone with a European
Union passport. Japan won’t hire someone who is living outside of Japan.
They want someone with a Japanese work permit. South Korea requires a
strict background check (and I don’t have a perfect driving record). Taiwan
also has a long list of required documents that makes it difficult to get started
teaching there. China is willing to take just about anyone to teach their billion
students, but the pay can be low and the teaching hours long. Saudi Arabia
pays the most ($4000 a month is possible) and gives great health coverage,
free housing, and round-trip tickets home. But who wants to wear a veil, have
no social life, and live in the desert?
Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, offer more freedom but
fewer teaching opportunities. Other Arab states such as Oman have strange
rules such as allowing a married man to bring his wife with him but not
allowing a married woman to bring her husband. Mexico and Central and
South America may offer a teaching job, but for low pay (and the air ticket
there could be expensive). India and Africa may want you to volunteer your
services in difficult conditions.
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