Teachers' advice Germany

Teaching English in Germany

Germany is a great country to live and work in, IF you are prepared for the rather unfriendly atmosphere, and don't take it personally. Once you get to know the German people, however, you quickly realise that the serious, unfriendly demeanour hides a caring and honest heart. I have met the kindest people in the world in Germany, and the nastiest! It it a country of extremes, but very well-organised, safe and one of the cheapest European countries to live in. Food is cheap and good, as are cosmetics, wine and cigarettes!! (this is liberal Europe, you know!)

You have a feeling of freedom here, eccentrics are well-tolerated ("Naked Jurg" is a Frankfurt character I saw several times, who wanders around town stark naked, and is permitted to ride on buses and trams provided he sits on a newspaper!)

The people in Germany are educated and interested in current affairs, and I had some of the best, most interesting conversations ever during my time teaching in-company business English. Not known for their tolerance in general, German people seem to have rather a respect for English-speaking nations, and a great respect for the English language.

You do need to register at every address you live in in Germany, and they will keep an eye on you. Once you have a job there, it should be easy to get a residency permit, especially for European citizens, but individuals in bureaucracy can make life hard for you, and often refuse to speak English even though you know they probably can speak it, and well!

All in all, if you are resilient, you will love working in Germany and should be able to save up quite well."
Trudy, 28/11/05

Stress the companies that you have taught in (the better known the better) over and above your qualifications. It's taken for granted that you are qualified to do the job. Germans tend to be much more interested in who and for which companies/firms you have taught."
Mark, 16/02/06

My advice is plain and simple. Great place to live and work.

It does, however, take some getting used to at first. Germans tend to have very strong opinions sometimes about things going on outside their country, and it is hard to make them realize that they are not always right with their opinions. Once you learn to just let it slide off your back you will do fine. It is very interesting to talk to people here because they are interested in so many things.

At first Germans tend to be rather distant with people thy have just met and can sometimes even reach the point of being cold. You have to have a bit of patience there, since they do take a little longer to warm up to people, but once they do you can be certain that it is genuine.

I come from a place where everyone is friendly to you right from the get-go, and that kind of "friendliness" makes you wonder sometimes where you really stand and whether or not it is 100% honest. In Germany you usually know pretty quickly where you stand with most people and I think that is rather nice. No grey areas.

Food is very cheap here. Public transportation is very well organized and safe. There are many different types of cards that you can buy depending on how often or how far you need to travel. Most of these cards are very affordable.

The government offices, or rather the government employees, tend to be very bureaucratic so you do have to have a lot of patience there. Whatever school or company you work with should offer help in dealing with all the paperwork pertaining to work permits and/or residence permits.

All in all it is worthwhile to live and work in Germany. You just need a little patience and it will work out just perfect."
Anonymous, 19/04/06

I am working as a teacher in Hamburg and have found it to be very rewarding. German people do tend to be cold and serious, but they are generally very friendly. Be prepared to meet Germans with absolutely no imagination. They even admit that they have no 'fantasy' as they call it.

When presenting activities don't expect them to be forthcoming with ideas. Brainstorming can be difficult, but they just need a little prompting. Once they are used to the fact that you expect them to do some thinking on their feet they can present ideas more easily.

The pay is OK in most main stream schools, but if you want to make money get into a Business English school. Private teaching is also quite lucrative. It is mostly freelance here so expect to grapple with their German tax system. It's best to find yourself a 'Steuerberater' and let them do it. It cost about 200 euro and should be submitted in May for the previous year. You can claim all travel expenses, any materials you've bought and your rent - in most circumstances. Make sure you keep receipts for everything.

The weather in the north is pretty bad in the winter. Expect rain and wind and snow (sometimes all the same day). Summers are great in Hamburg because all of the city likes to sit outside on warm evenings and drink beer and talk about everything.

Hamburg is generally quite friendly and has a unique character of it's own. It is known as the nicest city in the world - to the locals and it's definitely the nicest in Germany."
Anon, 23/02/07

I'm afraid I totally agree with you - most language schools pay extremely badly in Germany... and don't forget that as a freelance teacher you have to pay around 35% of your income before tax for health insurance + social insurance and then you stll have tax to pay. Finally, a lot of English teachers working in Germany are supported by their partners, love their job and are prepared to work for peanuts." Jess, 27/06/08

It's taken a while but I now realise that I'm doing OK here. As a part-time freelancer, my school pays 35+ Euro per 45 minutes and its a nice school in a cheap city. Thinking the grass might be greener, I enquired about teaching elsewhere in Germany. I am disgusted by most of the offers. Scot47 rightly says a family man would starve teaching here. Let me add to that: How can free and easy singles survive on the pittance some schools are paying?

First, I was offered a job at a well-known Hamburg school paying 13 Euro per hour freelance (no extras such as medical insurance) binned. Next, a school in Essen invited me for interview and sent nine pages of information. I was nearly convinced. I could even sit an FTBE exam for free. Just as well the job was tax-free because on page eight was the pay: 10-13 Euro per hour. Teachers are guaranteed 80 hours per month as a safety net. Let's do some sums:

@13 Euro per hour, in one month you'd earn* **
80 hours a month = 1040 Euro Gross (752 Pounds or 1198 US Dollars)
20 hours a week = 1127 Euro Gross (815 Pounds or 1298 US Dollars)
30 hours a week = 1690 Euro Gross (1222 Pounds or 1947 US Dollars)
* plus travel expenses and they pay extras such as 50% health insurance
** minus about 15% for social and health insurance

You could live quite well working 30 hours a week teaching all over some city, but then again, no thanks. I dont know if Germany has any Western Unions but anyone doing 20-25 hours a week at that place can perhaps let us know. You can write how nice your school is, and about the great courses you'll send your valued teachers on, I'd prefer not to live in a lonely bedsit tucking into my beans on toast. I'm an EU citizen and speak pretty good German. I could work in the local McDonalds and make more than 13 Euro per hour.

I once popped into a Thailand branch of inlingua for a chat. For business classes, inlingua Bangkok were offering teachers (qualified or not) 500 baht per 50 minutes, just over 10 Euro. Some of you Germany school owners are paying exactly the same as a very average school in Thailand, where the cost of living is many many times lower.

So, who's to blame, the schools or the teachers? Anyone naive enough to accept 10-13 Euro per hour, McDonalds money, really should be asking questions like, all that money paid by the students or companies, where is it going? As for the schools, my employer charges 40 Euro per hour. I could be totally wrong but I'll assume that's the going rate. So, your teachers are taking home 25-33% of that. I appreciate your admin costs and having to make a profit, etc. The figures, however, dont lie. Ladies and Gentleman, you're paying peanuts.

I get five or six e-mails a week asking about teaching here. I'm normally so positive and hated writing this message. School owners, please prove me wrong or justify these low wages you're paying.

Big Mac anyone?"
John, 27/06/08

The wages are about the same as a labourer on a building site."
Martin, 28/06/08

"Germany is a great country to live in but getting used to the people and the system takes time. I live in Düsseldorf and work for three schools on a freelance basis. I get 20 to 22 euros an hour. It's not great but it's not hard work either. I have recently picked up a contract to teach a company director one to one and that pays LOTS more. I got his name from a student (his secretary), gave him a call and voila! I'll be looking out for more of this from now on. Germany's probably not for the long haul but it is worth a visit for a year or two."
Alistair, 06/11/08

"A lot of English speaking people turn up in Germany, especially Berlin, and decide that they want to stay and turn to teaching (generally) out of desperation (it seems we English speaking people tend to be mostly monolingual). It is this group of people who, bless their souls, continue to drive prices down--especially with private students and private schools.

With companies it is (mostly) a different ball of wax. Basically, they have a greater interest in quality. And if you are able to produce results (their employees are learning from you), then they are more or less willing to pay up. Sorry for the endless Redewendungen.

My experience teaching business english has been essentially positive. The pay is reasonable but only if you are able to get in-house work with a company. I work once-a-week with a company and make just under 40 euros per hour. I started lower and every year have asked for between 2 and 4 euros more per hour. And usually get the increase I request. But I invest a lot of time and money into continuously improving and updating my course. And I have basic design skills so I am able to layout perhaps more interesting lessons than some teachers. I also have a lot of office experience.

German's tend to want to learn English in German. And having at least basic German skills is required if one wants to teach anyone above the age of 18. By wanting to learn English in German, I mean, the students want the teacher to explain everything to them in German and to give them German examples for every grammatical term or phrase you present them in English. It is important to not let the students manipulate you into going too far down that path. You were not hired as an expert on the German language. And in order to give such students what they want, you would need to know German grammar equally as well. Also these students who insist on learning in this fashion, tend not to progress very far.

Ultimately, ESL in Germany should not be taken on as a career. You will never make enough to cover your living expenses, taxes, and save any money. I do it as a way to supplement my income. Plus, I'm married, so I am not dependant on teaching to survive."
Anonymous, 06/04/09