AMERICAN WOMAN IS LOCKED IN HEATED LEGAL / INTERNET SLANDERING STRUGGLE WITH A MAJOR MCLANGUAGE SCHOOL IN MOSCOW.
She experienced what I, and most people who worked for a school in Russia, experienced -- lack of proper visa support, being told you suddenly have no job and have to leave the country, and failure to pay for medical bills.
(Read my first experiences in Russia TRAVELLING TO RUSSIA FROM PRAGUE, HAVING A CONFLICT WITH MY CRAPPY EMPLOYERS, and TRYING TO STRIKE BACK AT THEM on these links.)
I think we ought to all get together and try to prosecute some of the Russian McLanguage Schools under new international anti-human-trafficking ordnances.
One interesting point, as I found out from my own experience, is that your employers in Russia undoubtedly did not really employ you legally; ergo they almost surely do no have the ability to tell you to leave the country suddenly. (In this woman's case however, she lost her passport, so she did not have the advantage.)
Another thing to note is that your embassy really won't be able to help you get home in a hurry unless you're able to prove that you and everyone you know is destitute.
Most likely, the State Department sensibly feels that anyone who is dumb enough to go work as an English teacher in a country like Russia, despite all warnings to the contrary, probably deserve everything that happens to them, and more.
There used to be a blanket warning against teaching English overseas on the State Department website; I can no longer find it but there is a lot of information about the pitfalls and dangers of teaching abroad there.
I tell you, I'm always fascinated by people who AREN'T drinking and whoring degenerates who start teaching English for a McLanguage School. . . for God's sake, why? Who with any sense would enter a profession with terrible salary, terrible benefits, terrible hours, minimal possibilities of advancement, and no pension plan AND do it working for a foreign employer where you have very little legal protection? It's for fuck-ups, the chronically lazy, degenerates, the insane, and people with no qualifications -- end of sentence.
If you're not a drinking whoring degenerate, there are plenty of charity organizations and international companies to work for. An engineer working in Russia makes 10 to 20 times the money most English teachers do, and an English teacher working for (for example) the American Fellowship Abroad program has both protection from the vagaries of greedy foreign employers and a much better salary. Try the Peace Corps or VSO if you want to "make a difference and have an authentic cultural experience" and all that hippie crap.
So stay in school, kids!! This isn't the 90's anymore. . . it's not even the early 2000s anymore. . .
7 comments:
So what do you figure the endgame is for you, ETX?
That is, if there is one in mind.
I'm sincerely curious.
work here for a couple more years (or until I save 6 figures, whichever comes first) is step one...
ETX, we'd love to get more info on taking some of the international company or charity jobs. Many of us have skills, but they are narrow, pharmaceutical in my case.
Truth is, I've had the jitters to go back to ESL since I left years ago. I'll never do it as a career, but it's hard to revert back to the USA lifestyle. Please help a guy out on the better non-ESL hook ups, whether on this board or by mailing me personally.
jesterpr:
I can speak a bit on your question.
However, your first paragraph is nonsensical.
I assume you mean to ask how you would use your pharmy experience in the ESL world. Well, its just how you think. Try to gain a position teaching pharmaceutical english to foreign pharmaceutical professionals. Your knowledge of pharmaceutical terminology is about the only transferable skill set. Why would ETX, not being in the pharmy industry, have insight on this?
Second, why would you think "charity" work would be desireable? If you work for a charity, it is likely low or non-paying. Most foreign companies that hire english teachers, at least in the gulf, are oil companies. Do your research and find them. The info is out there on the net. ETX hasn't given indication that he works for either a non-esl company/school or a charity.
The "better hookups" are largely public knowledge. Do your research. If you want some cushy company job thats only passed around between acquaintances, then good luck trying to get hooked up without working in the field a bit first. But I would suggest that pining after these jobs is likely not worth any deviation from the tried and true paths. If you come across a better job in your travels, then so be it.
those are links, in the article, to VSO and Peace Corps, which are paid at a rate that is not bad at all.
Main advantage of working McLanguage of course is that positions are plentiful and quick to get.
ETX, the grass is always greener. Your life is so much more interesting than a bored to tears American corporate prisoner with a bitchy wife, in debt up to his asshole trying to make her and everyone else happy. Trust me, I was one. Fuck that. Actually, I have it made now thanks to you and your come-on of a website. I teach at a major Chinese University a whopping 9 hours a week, have a luxury apartment and a hot Chinese fiancee. I have health insurance and am treated very well. Private language schools do suck ass. No doubt about it. But there are a few good jobs in this profession. It ain't all bad...
Charity work is good, if related to pharmacy, because it keeps the resume up. We're slaves to that darn work record in the "civilzed world".
I don't even care about the money at this point, I just want to do something pharmacy (or health care related) abroad.
Any websites on jobs like this? Research, big pharma, hospital, anything?
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