Teaching English in Russia

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nomadphilippines
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by nomadphilippines »

Ghost wrote:
Tsar wrote:
Hero wrote:
nomadphilippines wrote:especially with the economic collapse there it doesnt sound like a wise place to go
Maybe it will be like the 90's again, when any guy with an American passport could score a Russian babe :D
Hopefully. That's why I hope the overall living standards for most Russians (and everyone in Eastern Europe) collapses.
Part of the problem with hoping for that is the local women won't seek you just because of how bad their standard of living is, but also how based on how well your country is doing. Just about everyone these days knows that the U.S. is in dire straights and has become a shithole of sorts.
lol no, the US is still probably the most desired place by gold diggers around the world

also, as much as i want to have easy girls to hook up with, i dont know that wishing for millions of peoples standard of living decreasing is the best for karma
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GoingAwol
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by GoingAwol »

Ghost wrote:I recall reading a thread (I think it was on ESL cafe) about how although new teachers in Russia only make about $1000 a month (or less), an experienced teacher who was willing to work their way up for a few years could make about $2000 a month. I laughed. There are tons of newbie ass-hats who come to China and make $2500 a month with f**k-all in the way of quals. If anyone goes to teach in Russia, I guess it's because they really want to be there. No one does it for the money.
Actually,
I've been networking with people from ESL Cafe, and they tell me that Russia can very lucrative for esl teachers if you can get private students. Several have told me that they have made $60 USD per hour and more from private students. However, it takes time to build those networks and get private students. Regardless, most standard ESL jobs in Russia pay between $800-$1200 a month and provide free accommodation. That's more than enough to live on in Russia with the low cost of living there. Especially, when you consider that you wouldn't be paying rent. To put things in perspective, the average college educated professional in Russia makes around $500 per month and they are able to live pretty good on that salary. They can go to restaurants, movies, and vacation abroad. So if one were to make around $1000 a month they would be considered well off there. You can't compare the salaries there to salaries elsewhere because the cost of living and economic situation is totally different. Keep in mind that the ruble crashed in 2015 and was devalued by more than 50 percent. So, the average salary was actually comparable to Chinese salaries before that.
Ghost
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Post by Ghost »

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Last edited by Ghost on December 29th, 2017, 3:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
gnosis
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by gnosis »

Private students come and go. If you rely on them for the bulk of your income, your income will potentially fluctuate quite a bit.
yick
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by yick »

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet but let me be the first.

If you are planning on 'killing it' teaching English in Russia, you need to know a few things.

Russians aren't stupid, they aren't paying anyone 60 Euros an hour for being white or a native speaker.

They want you to know your your shit, in class - or a private lesson - they are going to ask questions like...

'Can you explain the difference between a comparative and a superlative adjective?'

Do you know anything about conjunctions, infinitives and prepositions? Because if you don't - they actually do - and if they find out you don't know
they will have you removed from their class (if you work for a school)and if you are going to be taking on private students, they will probably
ask you these questions in the 'interview' if you don't know - they will just tell you to do one.

Russians will pay good money for people who can teach grammar, and the above are the basics in the subject.

And Russian students are the most demanding regarding this - and they won't put up with teachers who don't know what they are doing.

Go back to eslcafe and ask them if I'm wrong.
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Shemp
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by Shemp »

Yick, this is absurd. If Russians want to learn tricky points of English grammar, they can do it from a book (Fowlers English Usage) or Google it on the internet. If they are too stupid to learn grammar from reading, then they are just being pricks by asking all those questions. No one pays $60/hour for such trivia.

The primary purpose of $60/hour in-person tutoring would be to fix pronunciation problems. You don't need grammar, you need a speech therapy background. You probably also need to speak Russian, so you will understand the difficulties slavic people have with English pronunciation, especially if they want RP/BBC pronunciation, which is harder for them than American pronunciation.

Another reason for paying $60/hour is of you are retired from a non-teaching job (international business, diplomacy, military, etc) and they want to learn unwritten customs of your area of expertise as well as the English language.

A final reason for $60/hour is they are rich and like the feeling of control that comes with paying above market wages. They want you to become dependent on that $60/hour so they can abuse you, in so many ways, mostly psychological, and you can't resist. Rich people are often real assholes, especially when the wealth is mostly stolen like in Russia.

(As anyone reviewing my posting history can see, I am very literate I English, plus I speak French and Spanish at the advanced level and Russian at intermediate level, and can read all the other romance languages so-so, so I know my way around languages. But if someone his me with a question like comparative versus superlative, it takes a few minutes to remember what the f**k that's all about.)
Last edited by Shemp on September 7th, 2016, 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
yick
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by yick »

Frank - it isn't about them needing to be taught these particular points - they want their teacher to know everything about this and they'll ask him these questions and if he doesn't know, they'll f**k him off.

Ask anyone who has taught in Russia or taught Russians. If Ladislav checks this post out, he'll tell you - Russian students are a pain in the arse for it.

As for the rest of your post - you're probably right on all that, it is probably about control regards the actual rates.
gnosis
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by gnosis »

I guess Russian students expect Delta-level ESL teachers. I don't blame them. Asians are happy with anything, but it sounds like Russians have higher standards.

My grammar knowledge isn't that bad, but I haven't gotten a Delta.

I disagree with some of the comments here. I think ESL teachers should know their grammar, preferably inside and out. Students have a right to expect that, but not for poverty-level wages :)

If you want top-notch English teachers, then you have to pay them well.
GoingAwol
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Posts: 500
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by GoingAwol »

yick wrote:I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet but let me be the first.

If you are planning on 'killing it' teaching English in Russia, you need to know a few things.

Russians aren't stupid, they aren't paying anyone 60 Euros an hour for being white or a native speaker.

They want you to know your your shit, in class - or a private lesson - they are going to ask questions like...

'Can you explain the difference between a comparative and a superlative adjective?'

Do you know anything about conjunctions, infinitives and prepositions? Because if you don't - they actually do - and if they find out you don't know
they will have you removed from their class (if you work for a school)and if you are going to be taking on private students, they will probably
ask you these questions in the 'interview' if you don't know - they will just tell you to do one.

Russians will pay good money for people who can teach grammar, and the above are the basics in the subject.

And Russian students are the most demanding regarding this - and they won't put up with teachers who don't know what they are doing.

Go back to eslcafe and ask them if I'm wrong.
That's what I hear too. I've been told they are serious students and want a teacher who knows their sh*t. That's one of the reasons I like the idea of teaching there. I'm getting a teaching degree with a minors in esl, so I should be pretty well prepared to deal with students like that.
MatureDJ
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Re: Teaching English in Russia

Post by MatureDJ »

Hero wrote:
September 3rd, 2016, 8:27 am
nomadphilippines wrote:especially with the economic collapse there it doesnt sound like a wise place to go
Maybe it will be like the 90's again, when any guy with an American passport could score a Russian babe :D
I am in St. Pete. I was here for a little while before the "collapse" (it really wasn't a "collapse", but it's enough of a recession that folks understand that the good times of 2001-2008 are over). I have noticed more interest; I have even seen mothers with their 18 y.o. daughters visiting places where foreigners congregate (i.e., basically where it is expected that everyone speaks in English), ostensibly to try and get their daughters hitched. So far, the gals were not quite up to the level that I want, but they seem to be getting better & better.
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