TEFL

[Sambo]

How much do TEFL courses cost in Cambodia? Where can these courses be taken? Will you be able to get a job straight away? What pay rate should you expect to be on?

[Captain Bonez]

I did my TEFL in Vietnam (1 month course in Saigon) so i cant say much on where to do it here in Cambodia or how much it costs, but...

If you do have a TEFL minimum (uni degrees etc can help you out too) you've got a very reasonable chance of getting a job fairly quickly.

Experience is obviously better, but here in Phnom Penh if you get a job you're looking at about $10 for native speakers per hour, some schools pay the non-native speakers a dollar less or so sometimes, (dont forget you'll probably be taxed)

Receiving your salary varies from school to school, some are cash in hand every fortnight or month, some make you get a bank account or help you get one etc

Average working hours range from 7:30am until 11am with most, if not all schools having a siesta for 2 - 3 hours, school usually starts up again around 1:30pm until about 5pm, then you have evening classes which are very easy to get hours for as theres more demand for teachers around that time, usually from 5:30pm until about 8:30pm

A good way to do it is to go here http://www.eslbase.com/schools/cambodia

That link has a list of a lot of schools in Phnom Penh, but it's best to go directly to the main campuses if you can find them and leave a CV, Cover letter and a passport photo of yourself, you can also email them your CV and Cover letter as well, doing both obviously doubles up your chances.
I've gotten a job before where i had only emailed the school, not handed a CV in and got the job
(try to dress half respectively when handing in CV's, if you look like some greasy backpacker skank then your chances will slide)

A lot of schools arent on the same schedule either, as in terms here all seem to start at different times and last for different lengths, a term is roughly about 3 months long though, so ive found when it comes to hiring they do it more at the end of the term/just before the new term.
Another thing to remember is that some schools after the final exams will have a term break, this can be a couple of days or it can be a couple of weeks, AND like all the other holidays you get here, it'll more than likely be unpaid.

Here in Cambodia there are a lot of holidays that are unpaid with most schools, you also wont get paid for sick days either, there are some schools that have different policies, but usually not being paid for holidays and sick days is the case with most.

Good luck, dress smart for the interview, clean shirt, a tie, pair of trousers, decent looking shoes, try not to be too hung over or blazed out of your mind.
Ask questions like whether they help with visa extensions? do you have to write the exams yourself? how much is the tax? how much notice do they expect if you want to quit?
One school i worked at took $100 from your wages ($25 for your 1st 4 paycheques) i guess in case you decided that you want to do a runner half way through the term, they have $100 of your lovely, hard earned cash to deter you from doing so, its even worth trying to negotiate for a buck or 2 more, if you dont ask you dont get.

Average hours are about 25 to 30 hours a week, if you're lucky and theres no holidays, a normal salary will be around $1000 a month.

[Captain Bonez]

Stay away from a school called "Beltei" they expect you to buy your own books and in some cases ive heard of people being asked to buy certain coloured shirts for different days of the week, i repeat, stay away from Beltei.

[andyinasia]

Stay away from a school called "Beltei" they expect you to buy your own books and in some cases ive heard of people being asked to buy certain coloured shirts for different days of the week, i repeat, stay away from Beltei.

Beltei is the biggest EFL franchise in the country - it has 10 or 11 campuses. I don't think they all have such policies.

[Captain Bonez]

I would still stay away, if not just for the really, REALLY shit books that you have to teach.

try teaching about irrigation systems to a 12 year old girl, its not as fun as you think it is.

[andyinasia]

I would still stay away, if not just for the really, REALLY shit books that you have to teach.

try teaching about irrigation systems to a 12 year old girl, its not as fun as you think it is.

colonic irrigation?

[Captain Bonez]

i showed them that first hand, easy lesson.

this TEFL needs its own forum on good and bad schools

[Captain Bonez]

could throw the staff room section in as well

[unperson]

A good local website to find a teaching job: http://www.camhr.com (and follow the link to Education/Training)

[andyinasia]

A good local website to find a teaching job: http://www.camhr.com (and follow the link to Education/Training)

Maybe, but this is the company that advertises the scam African jobs. By the way, I've forwarded my evidence of camhr's phony job scams to the Phnom Penh Post to investigate.

[Playboy]

shit loads about teaching

Damn, you are a TEFL Jobber !
You just went down in my estimation.

Sent from my LG-P970 using Tapatalk

[Captain Bonez]

You just went down in my estimation.

heres a room full of people that care

[vladimir]

' I would still stay away, if not just for the really, REALLY shit books that you have to teach.'

Yeah, I love some of the book choices and the whacky expectations.Many schools/ unis are guilty of this. Often the people choosing the books have done very little teaching. Especially when they hand you a book like ' Academic Writing' and expect you to finish it in 10 weeks. (In addition to the reading book, 150pp plus)

Totally out of touch with reality.

[hanky]

Stay away from a school called "Beltei" they expect you to buy your own books and in some cases ive heard of people being asked to buy certain coloured shirts for different days of the week, i repeat, stay away from Beltei.

Someone told me they have cameras in the classrooms, so they can berate teachers who don't stand up the right way or whatever. That should vastly improve the level of learning there.