Sometimes You Have To Leave The US To Find A Decent Job: Off To Russia ~ by Jon D. Ayres

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Sometimes You Have To Leave The US To Find A Decent Job
Off To Russia ~ by Jon D. Ayres

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At the first of the year 2003, I was an unemployed college graduate. In my home state of Georgia, unemployment was high. So I started looking on the Internet to see if I could find a job. One thing I noticed on the Internet during my exploration was an ad that said, “Train to become an Teacher of English as a Foreign Language and see the world for free,” so I took a look to see just what this ad was about. I thought it was just some rip off ad, send some joker your money and maybe get a little pamphlet worth nothing. So just to kill time, I started looking for everything I could find on the Internet about TEFL teaching, just to satisfy my curiosity. I had no intention of becoming a teacher, much less an English teacher, but the more I saw on the Internet about this position, the more interested I became. The way things were going now, unemployed, no hopes for a job, the only way I would be able to see the world would be if I won the Mega-Millions lottery. I found on the Internet that teaching English in non-English speaking countries an honest to goodness real job.

The author, Jon D. Ayres standing on a bridge in front of the Kremlin Aug. 2003.

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I started reading the different ESL/TESL/TEFL forums on the Internet about the different schools to get the TESL/TEFL certificate I needed before I could teach English. Since I already had some voluntary teaching experience I decided to get my TESL/TEFL certificate from an online school, ICAL. This course cost me $265.00 and took me two months to complete. The ICAL ESL certificate enabled me to work at several good English Language schools here in Moscow, Russia.

I looked around on the Internet to see which countries would be the best countries for me to work as an English teacher. I tried to take everything of importance into consideration, salary the school paid compared to the cost of living, how much an apartment would cost for rent and utilities, groceries, medical care, pharmacies, leisure activities, site seeing, TV, everything I could think of I tried to take into consideration. After thinking it over for a couple of months, I finally decided that Moscow, Russia was were I wanted to teach English. My friends all thought I was crazy as you know what to take off to Russia, not knowing how to speak, read, or write Russian and only $2100.00 to my name. But a person has to be willing to take risks if they want to succeed in life. So I bought me a roundtrip ticket for $600.00 from Atlanta to Moscow, with a stop over in London and took off for my new life on the other side of the world.

One of the reasons I choose to teach in Moscow was that English is in great demand here, most people here in Moscow want to learn English. I have had people try to hire me to teach their children English after hearing me talking with a co-teacher on a bus after class. There must be at least 200 private English schools here in Moscow, with maybe only half worth working with. I have been lucky in that I have only worked at good schools so far, one reason is that I read what people post on the various Internet forums about these schools. British Council, Language Link, and English First are considered the top three schools, if you can get a job with one of these schools, you can probability get a job with any school in Moscow or St. Petersburg or any where in Russia or Eastern Europe with no trouble at all. The downside of teaching in Moscow is that most of the schools are only interested in hiring part time teachers for Native English teachers already in Russia. In order to make a decent salary that lets you enjoy life to the fullest, you have to work at two or three schools at the same time. That plus the fact that most of your classes will be at different areas of Moscow which means traveling around to different places most of the day. My schedule was generally one class in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. During my year here in Moscow, I have worked at four schools, and just fixing to start work with a new school in August. I also work on weekends at home as an English language translation editor for a translation company. I also work teaching my own private students, I am able to make good money and enjoy life very much. I have more work than I could possibly do, but then after being unemployed, it kind of feels nice to have all the work I want or need for a change.
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The author standing on the Kremlin wall in Oct. 2003

The Tzar's Stables before it was badly damaged in a fire last December. This building was where the Czar's kept their horses and was used as a exhibition hall before the fire.

Also it depends on whether or not the school is good or bad as to what qualifications they demand of their teachers. Every school I worked at had at least three requirements for teachers, be a college graduate, have a TESL/TEFL certificate, and have some teaching experience. Because English lessons are in such high demand now and there are so few native English-speaking teachers, some schools are willing to let you gain experience while working at the school. If you come here to Moscow to teach, you will find that experience means a lot and being able to say that you have taught at one of the big three schools here will mean that you will find getting jobs easier. So you may wish to consider taking part time jobs at a couple of the smaller schools to get experience, then you will find it easier to find better jobs with the better schools as I did. Just because the demand for English teachers is high here, it does not mean that schools will except every native speaker that walks through the door, some will accept anybody they can get, but the best schools have standards that they stick pretty close to. You have to remember the schools that accept anybody who apply, are the ones that give their employees a lot of heartache. Sorry to say it, but there are some schools like that here in Moscow that will rip off their native English teachers. You should read the various Internet ESL forums and see which schools are good and which ones are bad. Dave’s ESL Cafe is one of the best web site forums there is..

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Red Square, a very impressive site to watch.

One of my favorite photos I took, night time in Red Square This is the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed and Spasskya Tower of the Kremlin.

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One word of warning, you will find that dealing with government agencies as much of a pain in the butt here as in the US. I have seen on the various ESL/TESL forums that getting a visa to stay in Russia can not be done without letting the school do it for you. It can be done on your own, I know because I did it myself, but it is a lot of aggravation. It probability would be best to find a school you are interested in teaching at on the Internet and applying online. Then if they are interested in hiring you, let them do the visa work and pay for your trip to Moscow or St. Petersburg. I choose to let a friend I had here in Moscow get me a personal invitation good for three months. Then when I got here, I looked around, found a few schools I was interested in working for, and started working. I been here a year already and liked it so much that I have applied for temporary residence which means I will be able to stay for three years. I strongly recommend if you want to come here to teach English, you let the school handle the entire invitation, visa and work permits before you get on the plane. Because once you get here and want to stay and teach more than likely you will have to make the so-called visa run. But that really has been the only trouble during my stay here in Russia.

You maybe wondering how did I get around find a place to live and find a job without knowing any Russian? Easy, I met and got to know people from Russia on the Internet and made good friends that helped me when I got here. I always enjoyed exchanging email on the Internet and made some good friends that helped me out in many ways. One of the ways was to help me find a job as a teacher here. I found several jobs the old fashion way, by looking in a Moscow telephone book and calling them or by sending the schools my resume by email. One of my friends had a spare apartment that I could stay at very reasonable. This is where planning before hand is very important. Before leaving the US, look on the Internet for language schools in the city you are interested in going to and email them your questions and resume. I waited until I got here before I contacted any school, but I also before hand had the resources and friends to help me get settled and find jobs here.
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One of my favorite parks in Moscow where the ruins Catherine the Great's palace is. To walk around this park is really something else.

A winter time photo of the park and woods next to my apartment in the southern district of Moscow. See the people walking their dogs?

The Russian people are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Warm and friendly, you will find both good and bad Russians, just like you will find both good and bad Americans. The women are some of the loveliest ladies I have ever seen and like Americans as long as you act decent and respectful. Most of my students have been very serious about their studies and this helped to make teaching both enjoyable and satisfying. My co-teachers have been some of the nicest, helpful ladies I have ever worked with, and that helped make my teaching enjoyable too. One of the things I enjoy about Moscow is it is kind of like going back in time. People here can go out at night, children can walk to school by themselves and play in the park. There is so much I love about Moscow.

One of the things I love about Moscow is that it is over 850 years old. I love history and Moscow is a historic city. To walk down a street that is older than my home country of the US, or stand in a church built in the 1300’s or walk in the Kremlin and the museums is something else. I love the outdoors and Moscow is a city of parks, parks are every where, many that are historic like the park where Catherine the Great built her palace, or a military park where you can stand where Napoleon stood as he watched Moscow burn. To walk through the Kremlin where royalty once walked is something else. There is so much to see and do here, that it will take me the rest of my life to see and do it all. Today on my way home I stopped at a monastery built in the 1490’s, this monastery was built when Columbus sailed to America.

Living in Moscow is only expensive if you choose for it to be. I have a modest apartment for myself in the south of Moscow. My total apartment costs are $200.00 per month or less. I have cable TV with 60 plus channels and a lot of English channels, Turner Movie Classics, Cartoon Network, BBC World, CNN, BBC, three Discovery channels. I have unlimited Internet access that goes with my cable TV, telephone, a balcony on my apartment and a big park and woods next to my apartment, and plenty of stores close by, including a nice grocery store open 24 hours a day. One thing that comes in handy is that there are ATMs here all over Moscow that use the ATM card from my hometown bank. I have a bank account here, but I also transfer money to my bank account in the US too.

Since I am from the US, I find the food interesting. All sorts of cheeses, fish, sausages, seafood and my favorite, beer. Maybe I never ate real cheese and drank real beer before in the US, but now I can say that I have now. I enjoy cheese and love beer, Russian beer is something else, a lot stronger than US beer. You should try the caviar, it is something else. Of course there are the old US standbys here, McDonalds, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Louisiana Steakhouse and TGIF to name a few.

If medical care is a concern for you, you will find that to get the better medical care, you should have your own medical insurance. My medical insurance costs me around $10.00 per month and will allow me care at the good private medical clinics instead of the free public clinics and fly me home to a US hospital if the need ever arose. There are many pharmacies here in Moscow, but some medicines can be hard to find at times, such as insulin may take going to three or four drugstores before you can find insulin made by a US firm. But from my experience, medical care here is as good as it could be in the US as far as minor illnesses and aliments go. Hopefully I will never have to find out how good Moscow medical care is for something serious. To be able to get a Russian visa, you do have to have medical insurance.

If you enjoy the nightlife, then Moscow will be your town. There are night clubs of all types here, discos, bars, theaters, operas, circuses, cinemas, casinos, game rooms, bowling alleys, just about everything you could want is right here in Moscow.
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The Historical Museum in Red Square

Moscow is not only a very old city, but it also is one of the world’s largest cities and that in itself can cause problems for a person like me from a city with a population of 160,000 people. Were as it only takes me ten minutes to drive through my hometown, it normally takes me two hours to get to my classes. In my hometown I had a car and drove myself where I needed to go, but here in Moscow I have to ride on public busses, trams, trolleys, public and private taxies and subways for the first time in my life. Of course it would be nice to have a car, but it really is not needed here in Moscow, the busses, trams, trolleys, public taxies, subways and private car owners who give rides is all that really is needed to get anywhere in Moscow. But still it takes me two hours to get to a class, sometimes can be discouraging at times. Crime is not really a problem in Moscow. Talking loud in English in certain places, and going to the seedy parts of Moscow is asking for trouble. During my year here in Moscow, I have never had any trouble. I never had my passport checked by police, except when I am going into the Kremlin or in some museums or for classes in certain buildings. But since I look just like your average Russian male, I have never been stopped and had my passport checked by police.

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There are a lot of Gypsies here in Moscow that hangout around the train stations that you have to watch out for, but I have never had any trouble with them. I never saw a dead body until I came here to Moscow, so far I have seen three, but I think it is just a part of living in a big city.

I have enjoyed my teaching experience here in Moscow so much, I decided to apply for temporary residence, which should be approved any day now. That will give me three years before I have to leave. Considering all the new experiences I am having here and the things I would have never seen if I had not looked on the Internet for a job. If you are looking for a new career or job, or looking for something new in your life, then consider becoming a ESL/TESL/TEFL teacher and see the world, sometimes for free. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would become a teacher here in Moscow, Russia and having the time of my life. If you’re tired of a hum dum boring life in the US, then consider becoming a TESL/TEFL teacher and see the world. It will be an adventure and choice you will never regret. I love it and will never regret all the things I have seen and the wonderful people I have worked with and met.
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