Country info and advice - Libya
The following comments are from teachers who have taught, or are currently teaching, in Libya. If you are a teacher and have some advice to share, please add it here.
Libya is a fantastic country
to work in. The people here are so keen to learn English: students are committed
and friendly. The weather is scalding though! I can highly recommend Libya as a
place for EFL professionals who are really dedicated to delivering what it
takes! You have to be well-qualified and well-experienced and you have to not
mind working 6 days a week... come to Libya, you will be amazed!
Be prepared for some major
shocks as Libya is VERY conservative! The cost of living is very low and of
course you'll save all the money you won't be spending on alcohol :) On the plus
side, the Libyan desert is stunning... as is the driving!
I've been teaching in Libya
for about six years now. It is really rewarding as 99% of students really
appreciate you. They are friendly and always ready to lend a hand. Libya itself
may be very different to what you are used to but is ok as long as you don't
expect nightclubs etc. Saying that there are plenty of expats working here who
make their own "social clubs" I agree with the fact that driving in Libya is
pretty scary!
Anyone coming to Libya needs
to think very carefully about it. I personally love this country, but have
worked extrremely hard to adapt to it. The biggest difference is that of Arab
countries, where male and female lives are separate to a large extent and the
public spaces belong to men. As I've said, I love the country and have hundreds
of Arab friends, but women need to know that all women, local and foreign,
experience a lot of sexual harrassment on the streets from certain men who hang
out there. I know many Libyan women who never step outside, not because of their
families, but purely because of the harrassment. I have changed the way I dress,
so as not to stand out, as foreign women, in relatively revealing clothes are
subject to worse treatment. Some women who come here become virtual recluses,
and some have been made ill by it. Please know this before you come, as
companies and organizations, such as the British Council, are guilty of not
preparing women for this, and not taking seriously the difficulties. I will say
again though, the majority of Libyan people are generous and hospitable and
humorous, and teaching here is very rewarding.
I was teaching in Sabratha and
left just before it blew up. People are wonderful - there was no indication of
what was to happen. These are good people, regardless of the regime. I would
like to go back when it sorts itself out. Doesn't matter which way, it's the
people that matter. They will always endure. I encourage all teachers to go back
when it's thought safe.
Thanks guys for the most
beautiful feedback on Libya generally and on people in specific, I am so proud
of having been thought of us as generous, hospitable and more importantly, is
that we are extremely friendly and outgoing. I am a non-native speaker of
English, yet i love English to the core and I always try to pass it onto my
students since I am myself a language teacher, but the impression most of the
employers have when recruiting a language teacher is that you should be a native
speaker which is not always a case. I have been teaching English for the last
five years and I'm getting more experienced every day, along with the fact that
my language command helped me get a job as an Arabic teacher and I did it so
well and the feedback of my students was so encouraging and positive that it
made me reconsider teaching Arabic long term. Thanks a lot for your beautiful
views and I am so glad of having been invloved in such a forum.
Libya is an amazing country
and the people are the warmest and most hospitable that you could ever hope to
meet. They certainly didn't deserve the recent NATO bombardments and massacre of
innocent civilians. The country will now take years if not decades to recover
from the NATO onslaught in the name of the people's liberation. I am not Libyan
but I am truly disgusted by NATO aggression here having lived and worked for
many years in Libya I witnessed the growing prosperity and true freedom of
Libyans before the massacre by NATO. First opportunity I get to go back there I
will use to collate evidence of NATO atrocities. God bless all Libyans
I'm originally from Libya and
i want to thank you all for your great comments about my home country but what
morgan said made me laugh. I've lived in the UK all my life so when i first went
to libya i too was shocked at how the guys on the street treated girls but i
wouldnt say its harassment its just flirting most the time and this stuff is
present in most arab countries. It took me time to get used to it and all you
need to do really is just ignore them and not even look at them and they wont
bother with you oh and yeah try to avoid the revealing clothes! lol anyway i
think Libya is a beautiful country to work and live in and im not sayon that
because im libyan but because i've experienced living in many countries but out
of all of them i saw libya as the most welcoming one. Teaching there was very
easy as the students highly respected the teachers and were keen to learn the
english language. So if anyone was thinking of what country they should go and
work in then id encourage them to go Libya 100%!
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