| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
To contact
Jay Click Here
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