Teachers' advice / Latvia
I've been working in Latvia as a teacher of English for several months. I quite
like it because the children are very nice and hard-working. There are two main
disadvantages. First of all, the salary is too low, and most teachers have two
workloads to survive, Secondly, there is a lot of unnecessary paper work to do.
Some colleagues I know admit that it is exhausting and do not advise working at
school. I am working in a language centre and it is a much more flexible job.
Moreover, I have a certain freedom when I teach and have time for creativity.
So, for those who would like to try, I advise checking language centres or
private institutions for extra-curricular activities."
The private language schools vary enormously in terms of working conditions,
pay, and benefits. I know, I've worked here for over 3 years now. You could be
earning anything from about 400 lats a month (accomm not incl) to over 700 lats
with accomm incl. That represents a huge difference to your standard of living.
Really do your homework and make sure your school is reputable. There's not much
going on outside the capital, Riga, which has found itself firmly on the stag
and hen party / budget airline trail and prices have gone up a lot as a result.
Official inflation is about 9%, but in actuality the cost of food is going up
much more than this and clothes are as expensive (if not more so) than major
European capitals. A nice place to teach for a year or two, but the winters can
be gloomy and as you'd expect usually freezing cold. The infrastructure is still
a hangover from Soviet central planning."
TEFL jobs in Europe
English language schools in Latvia
Teaching in Europe Forum
Travel information for Latvia
Learn Latvian
The Rough Guide to the Baltic States
© eslbase 2005-2009 - TEFL jobs and TEFL courses, information, advice and ESL resources for teachers - Teaching English in Latvia