RUSSIA
Looking for a unique cultural experience where East meets West?
How about visiting Red Square and The Kremlin this weekend? They may be a long way from home but not when you find a teaching job in the bustling and vibrant Russian capital, Moscow. As an alternative you could head further north and work in St Petersburg, where you can marvel at the grandeur of the summer palace.
Russians are known for their hospitality, generosity and party culture. Although this country is also known for its bitter cold and limited daylight, the harsh winters do bring with them the opportunity to partake in a lot of vodka drinking as well as the local stew-like dishes to ward off the cold.
Russian culture has a long history and tradition and Russians are very proud of it. Russians consider themselves a well educated nation. They read a lot, books are cheap, and one can afford to buy 5-10 books a month without serious damage to the budget. Russians are also fond of live performances at theatres and since tickets are affordable (prices in cinemas and theatres are comparable), they enjoy attending theatres, operas, musicals, ballets, and dramas. Russians are considered cultured people as education is highly regarded, and knowledge of other cultures is viewed as being important.
The dramatic changes which took place in the former Communist state following the quiet revolutions of 1989-1990 prompted a huge influx of native speakers of English as teachers and entrepreneurs. Thousands of joint ventures were launched and academic alliances forged between East and West, most of them underpinned by the English language.
The mainstream academic institutes and international language chains continue to recruit native speaker teachers despite an ever-increasing availability of trained Russian teachers of English. Most language schools are sounding more upbeat in their appraisal of the future than they were a few years ago when Russia was experiencing an economic crisis and, once again, they are looking to employ expat teachers. The growing and prosperous middle class in Moscow, St Petersburg, and other cities still clamour to master English for business and also as a status symbol. Education is highly valued in Russia, so university graduates with a TESOL or TEFL qualification are in demand. Few schools can afford to advertise and recruit teachers abroad, thus Internet advertising is becoming increasingly important. The most popular sites among Russian companies are www.visarus.co.uk (which has a forum for EFL teachers in Russia), www.tefl.com, www.eslcafe.com and www.teachabroad.com.
Getting a visa is still notoriously difficult, especially for the sponsoring school, which is why a number of them offer only to get their teachers a student visa (which is illegal) or a multiple entry visa. Companies with the right to invite and employ foreign teachers in Russia can arrange for a three-month single or double entry visa. The employer then has a further three months to fill in all the documents necessary to have the visa converted into a one-year multiple entry visa. Companies without prior permission to invite and employ teachers can facilitate their teachers getting a 12-month multiple entry visa; however these teachers are required to leave the country after six months on a "visa run" (typically to Estonia) to have their passport stamped on re-entry.
But, whatever the technicalities, Russia is a really great option for the adventurous ESL teacher looking for a more unusual destination, and Teach International has had several grads find work in Russia in recent years. The ESL industry is seeing amazing development and, with reasonable salaries and mid-level costs of living, Russia could well be the destination you have been looking for.
