It appears you have not registered with our community. To register please click here ...

!!

Welcome to Russian Women Discussion - the most informative site for all things related to serious long-term relationships and marriage to a partner from the Former Soviet Union countries!

Please register (it's free!) to gain full access to the many features and benefits of the site. Welcome!

+-

Author Topic: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)  (Read 5818 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline johnwilder35

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 12
  • Gender: Male
Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« on: September 15, 2009, 10:48:14 PM »
Anyone have any connections to a job agency or english teaching jobs in Poltava Ukraine?

Could use any leads and contacts.

thanks
 

Offline ScottinCrimea

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3573
  • Gender: Male
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2009, 11:04:23 PM »
If you are looking to make a living teaching English in Ukraine forget it unless you have great credentials and are contracted with some large corporations.  Realistically, the best you can hope for is $10 an hour teaching privately (after you build up a clientele) and you would be lucky to get 30 hours a week, so you're looking at about $1,200/month (if you are lucky, if you have some command of the Russian language, if you have a means of marketing yourself and if you can successfully compete with those locals who teach and have excellent English skills)

Realistically, you would have to start working part time for a language school teaching vocabulary to intermediate to advanced students at about $5 an hour and then work to build a private clientelle without your employer finding out about it.

I taught there for a couple of years teaching English part time solely because it was a way for me to meet new people and to improve my own Russian language skills, and because I enjoyed teaching.  It was never about the money I made and in reality, most of that was put back into teaching materials for my students.  I can't imagine trying to make a livable wage teaching English there.

Now with the economy as it is, fewer Ukrainians have the means to pay private English tutors.

Offline ECOCKS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3589
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • To those who deserve it, good luck.
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2009, 01:47:59 PM »
Poltava would be tough but not impossible. Unrotunately there are no chain schools with Poltava operations. You're pretty much going to need to head there and sign up with a couple of places as THE NATIVE SPEAKER, then work like crazy to build a clientele. If you managed to make $1200 a month, I'd be surprised but if you have the right attitude, you could possibly do this after about a year of working really hard at it. Look inside yourself and ask if you can really make it in an area with this drastic a cultural and language changes.
Pick and choose carefully among the advice offered and consider the source carefully. PM, Skype or email if you care to chat or discuss

Offline tfcrew

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5877
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • North Texas... Married 21 years
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: 4 - 10
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2009, 03:28:41 PM »
Quote
author=ScottinCrimea .., if you have some command of the Russian language,  

In Ukraine, one needs to know Ukrainian do they not?
Read and write?
« Last Edit: September 16, 2009, 03:30:30 PM by tfcrew »
~There is no one more blind than those who refuse to see and none more deaf as those who will not listen~
~Think about the intelligence of the average person and then realize that half of the people are even more stupid than that~

Offline ECOCKS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3589
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • To those who deserve it, good luck.
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2009, 07:59:51 PM »
Russian works everywhere in Ukraine.
Pick and choose carefully among the advice offered and consider the source carefully. PM, Skype or email if you care to chat or discuss

Offline ScottinCrimea

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3573
  • Gender: Male
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2009, 01:17:07 AM »
In Ukraine, one needs to know Ukrainian do they not?
Read and write?

I reality, a higher percentage of Ukrainians speak and understand Russian than those that do Ukrainian with the percentages varying by region.  Poltava, being in Eastern Ukraine, would have a higher percentage of native Russian speakers.  From my experience, I could be understood using Russian almost anywhere in Ukraine but there are many areas where Ukrainian would not be understood as well.

When given the choice to learn either Russian or Ukrainian on moving to Ukraine, I chose Russian and it has proven to be the best choice for me.

Offline tfcrew

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5877
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • North Texas... Married 21 years
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: 4 - 10
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2009, 06:33:46 PM »
I understand that as a spoken communication, Russian is still very widely used there in Ukraine.

http://www.tryukraine.com/info/languages.shtml

As much as Spanish is used here in Texas where I live...it would be quite impractical to try and get a teaching job [even as a Spanish teacher]  and not speak, read or write in the official state language ...English.
~There is no one more blind than those who refuse to see and none more deaf as those who will not listen~
~Think about the intelligence of the average person and then realize that half of the people are even more stupid than that~

Offline Boethius

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3072
  • Country: 00
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: No Selection
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2009, 08:52:31 PM »
Ed, you lived in Kyiv, where Russian was always widely spoken and Scott, Russian is the predominant language in the Crimea.  Poltava is culturally and historically very much a strong Ukrainian centre.  Yes, people can speak Russian there, but it is not a "pure" Russian, it is mixed, more surzhik than Ukrainian.  Further, Poltava has a lot of people from smaller centres and villages, and virtually no one in Poltava villages speaks Russian until they leave the village.  If you've ever heard Andrij Danilko's Russian, you will hear strongly those Ukrainian influences in his intonations and some letters (e.g. "h" instead of "g").

There are lots of Ukrainians in Kyiv who grew up not speaking Ukrainian at all.  That would be rare in Poltava, or most of Western Ukraine.

Notwithstanding all the above, nobody there will be out of sorts if you speak Russian.  If you are in Western Ukraine, they will ask why, as a foreigner, you are not learning Ukrainian.



After the fall of communism, the biggest mistake Boris Yeltsin's regime made was not to disband the KGB altogether. Instead it changed its name to the FSB and, to many observers, morphed into a gangster organisation, eventually headed by master criminal Vladimir Putin. - Gerard Batten

Offline ECOCKS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3589
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • To those who deserve it, good luck.
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Seeking an English Teaching Job in Ukraine (prefer Poltava)
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2009, 10:28:06 PM »
Actually, my wife grew up in Kremmenchuk, Poltavska oblast amd moved to Kyiv in her 30's. She says yes, about 50/50 Russ preference/Ukrainian preference over in Poltava. In three years of living in Kyiv and half a dozen visits to Poltava oblast, I encountered no one who even pretended to have a problem with Russian. The bottom line for a foreigner deeciding to pick up a language though is that Russian is spoken by around 350 million plus people and Ukrainian is spoken by maybe 44 million or so. Most folks will understand the inherent utility for a foreigner. Russian is well understood by the citizens and you shouldn;'t encounter any significant problem in commuications.

That said, not speaking Russian won't hold back the teaching opportunities and many ESL teachers end up with only a smattering of the language. The biggest impact in a place like Poltava will be in the markets and dayy-to-day living situations. Learn your nymbers and basic phrases though and you should be fine. Your students will be willing to help and you'll be highly motivated to build a support network.

This is not going to be easy but if your attitude and expectations are reasonable, you can do this. Be sure to take along enough money to get yourself started (I'd suggest $3k as a minimum) and then get yourself prepped for the trip.

PM if you want advice or help regarding TEFL or living in a place like Poltava, we'll be happy to do what we can to help.
Pick and choose carefully among the advice offered and consider the source carefully. PM, Skype or email if you care to chat or discuss

 

+-RWD Stats

Members
Total Members: 8883
Latest: Leroy14
New This Month: 1
New This Week: 0
New Today: 0
Stats
Total Posts: 540999
Total Topics: 20849
Most Online Today: 2013
Most Online Ever: 12701
(January 14, 2020, 07:04:55 AM)
Users Online
Members: 11
Guests: 1972
Total: 1983

+-Recent Posts

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Today at 07:00:25 AM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Brillynt
Today at 06:16:36 AM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 09:20:42 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 09:12:54 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 09:02:12 PM

American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 08:45:42 PM

Re: What to do by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 07:59:27 PM

Ukrainian refugee working for me now by ML
Yesterday at 07:04:53 PM

Ukrainian refugee working for me now by ML
Yesterday at 06:59:45 PM

Re: What to do by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 06:57:42 PM

Powered by EzPortal

create account