Hi. My situation: I'm an American who moved to Thailand a couple of years ago. I came in through a TESL program, completed a 3-week course in Bangkok, and I've been teaching ever since. I'm interested in making the move to Prague and I have some questions:
1. I'd love to come into Prague the same way I came into Thailand - through a TEFL course, but all of the ones that I have seen are about $2000US (including housing). It seems like too much money (especially since I already have a TEFL). So should I just come to Prague on my own, or is there some other program you can recommend?
2. Do I need to be in Prague to apply for jobs, or can I do it online?
3. What are my chances of getting hired at a high school vs. having to work at a language center? What are the chances that I won't be able to find a job at all?
4. What's the peak hiring time? Should I wait until August to start applying?
Thanks!
Some questions about teaching English
If you have both TESL and TEFL, you really will be wasting your money doing TEFL again. Prague is a popular place to take TEFL courses, so you do see some quite inflated prices.
You really need to be in the Czech Republic in person to find teaching work anywhere in the country; no language school worth working for here will hire you without an in person interview and demo lesson. It's still very much a country where schools have their pick of native speakers with TEFL certificates walking through their doors, so they don't need to hire from a distance.
I can't really answer your question about high school vs. language centre as I've never tried to get work in high schools; in fact, I've been actively discouraged from trying to find teaching jobs in the state school system.
As for your chances of finding work at all. I think your chances are probably good if your approach and attitude are positive. I've not worked the Prague teaching market, but most I've met who have tell me that it is quite saturated and you'll likely need to take work from several language centres as well as private students to make ends meet.
The best times to go looking for work in the Czech Republic are late August and early September as the school year starts towards the end of September. Otherwise, late January and early February; when the new semester starts.
Important to remember is that you can't apply for a working visa without a promise of employment and you can't apply for a visa to the Czech Republic inside the Schengen Area. You need to apply at a Czech embassy in a non-Schengen country.
Getting a working visa in the Czech Republic can be a very bureaucratic business that you have to factor in time for. This link is for the visa information section of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who oversee visa applications:
http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/information_fo … index.html
There's lots of good information there to get you up to speed on what's needed in the way of documents and such.
I hope that's helpful to you.
Very helpful. Thanks!
If you are serious about teaching at a language school, or even a state high school (which is where I teach), make sure you have rock solid references and come with a professional attitude, as schools here are quite frankly sick of native speakers who come over to the Czech Republic to teach but then turn out to be unprofessional.
Sounds harsh I know, but believe me, if you come with a professional attitude, you'll be ok.
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