ESL Teaching Jobs - Important Questions To Ask The School

As noted in the previous post http://eslresourceworld.com/esl-teaching-jobs-3-important-questions.html, there are some crucial questions you need to answer for and about yourself before selecting any of the ESL teaching jobs available to you. There are also 7 crucial questions to ask the institution that is considering you (or that YOU are considering) before or after you have made contact with them.

1. Does the institution cover your flight or reimburse your flight costs before or after your contract is finished?

Some institutions will pay for your flight to get to the position. Most Korean jobs are like this. Others will cover the cost of your flight (to a certain dollar value) AFTER you have finished the contract. But beware of this one. Sometimes they will try to find reasons to keep the money, similar to your landlord trying to find reasons to not reimburse your damage deposit. But don’t let that deter you from your dream of teaching overseas. Most institutions are honorable.

2. How many hours per week will you be expected to teach?

Be very, VERY clear on this one. Make sure you KNOW exactly how many hours you are required to work each week. I know of MANY teachers that have been USED by the administration where their contract said 25 hour work week and they ended up working 50. Your time is YOUR TIME! If it is not something that YOU decided to do, then that time just became THEIR time and your pay won’t go up any higher than what the contract said. Make sure you know HOW MANY HOURS and What the hours are.

3. Are you living on or off campus?

Living on campus can be convenience or a nightmare for you and/or the school. By living on campus you usually have a 5 or 10 minute walk to or from class BUT this could also make it too convenient for your students to come knocking on your door. You will get no privacy and are totally bound by their rules. On the other hand living on campus usually will consist of covering the cost of the accommodations, electricity, water and food. That could be a big savings in itself.

4. Are your accommodations shared or private?

As you can probably guess, living with a strange person could turn ugly or you could become best of friends. But if you prefer to live alone, then do not even consider the postings for ESL teaching jobs that only house you with someone else. They are now OFF your short list.

5. What is your compensation for overtime?

Make sure that your overtime rate of pay is WRITTEN DOWN! Don’t just go on what the ad says or what the administrator you talked to said.

6. Does the institution cover the cost of your housing/food/transportation?

This one is self explanitory. If they cover it, you save money.

7. MOST OF ALL…What is your pay?

With ALL these things, make sure they are on the contract you get sent to you from the school. Then when you get there, make sure that the contract on their end is the same as the one YOU have. There have been stories that after something has gone wrong and they check the contracts, it turns out that they are different. Something has been changed without the teacher noticing it.

All in all, its just a case of common sense and using your head. Most teachers, after finishing one contract, end up going on and signing another contract. If not with their existing boss, then with another one.