Finding work as an English teacher in Nuremberg

Hi,

I'm a little confused about all the different kinds of language schools here in Nuremberg. I have a couple of friends who are working for Berlitz (they turned me down because they'd just trained new teachers) and I haven't had really positive responses from the other eight institutes I've cold-called. I'm Indian by birth and therefore not technically a native speaker, but English is my first language. I'm working towards a TEFL qualification at the moment, am about halfway through and I'm also a qualified secondary school teacher (PGCE from England). Does anyone have advice/recommendations/suggestions? I would be eternally grateful! I've heard back from some place called Languages and More who are interested in employing me as a freelancer, but I've never heard of them!

Thanks in anticipation!

Cheers,

Kish.

The Wall Street Institute has put on here that they're looking for teachers. They want a tesl/tefl certificate but if you're a certified teacher they might take that too. There's also a company called Datev here in town that does translation work. I've had a couple friend try to get me to put my CV in there because they really need someone who has english as native language. If English is your first language it should be just as good. They have people there that understand and speak english, but they don't really know how an english speaker would say something. It's at least looking into. There's some english teaching places in erlangen too but I'm not so familiar with them.

If you like teaching children you might look into teaching at the international school here in town that is all taught in English. It was established for all the adidas, siemens, and puma workers. They go from age 3 to grade 12 now I believe. They just built a new school too.

Try BFZ. They're at Eberhardshof (U1/U11). It'll be on your right when exiting the U-Bahn. Ask for Herr Dröcker. Be prepared to do a test run on the spot. They operate both a Sprachschule and a sort of high school so your UK teaching cert may be of use.

Good Luck

Lexicon and Tyfani - thanks much for all the leads - one last question for Tyfani - would you happen to have a contact at the FIS? Because I tried cold-calling with no response at all!

Thanks again, you guys have been very helpful!

Cheers,

Kish.

hello ´my name is jerome and i currentlylive in nurnberg, i really need help finding a job i have absoulutely no idea of what to do, ive tried looking english teaching jobs up, but they always want something like a fee, and im currently broke,and i men broke!!..i need a job that will help me get a work visa,cause im not married yet,m im engaged, she is itlian..im american..and i really dont wanna go back to the states jsut yet,could go anyway no money to get there, and i just wanna work and support my family, my germany sucks ass so dont ask, lol..although i am trying if any one has any type of info that will help me plz tell me and im also lookin for freinds to hang with that speak english and live in nurnberg, ive looked at the leads on here for clasifieds but they are all outside of where i live and i dont ahve money to get to them, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks jerome

Hey Jerome, tough situation you got there. Why didn't you find a job first before leaving the states and just coming to Germany? with the economy the way it is things are hard for everyone. My best advice for you would be that you look through the nurnberg yellow pages and search for the language schools in Nurnberg, then you send your CV/Resume to every single one of them and cross your fingers. Some how you have to find a way to be able to get to these locations also. try buying a monthly mobi card it cost about 45euros for a single person. or if you are that broke you could always walk, it might take you a while, but you'll get there eventually. If you do get hired, keep in mind that most of these schools also pay anywhere from 15-25 days AFTER the end of the month. so you might be working for 2 months before you see any pay. Also you can't get a visa without health insurance, and you can't get health insurance without paying for it first. I suggest you try hard and find a job that is willing to write you a letter of offer of employment, (get at least 2) and then take that along with proof of health insurance and you should be golden oh and be ready to fork over at least 130 euros for the fees to get your VISA.

I wish you the best of luck man, but to be honest things aren't looking too good at the moment. Hope things work out for you and you are able to get a work visa and take care of your family. If I hear of anyone hiring i'll be sure to pass it on to you but right now it's kinda slow all over.

Good luck.

Kish,
You are looking for work at a bad time of year. The summer semester started at the beginning of April, so any schools like the VHS, that started courses at this time will not be starting new courses till September. If you are interested in working for the VHS, you should contact the head of the languages departments in Nürnberg, Erlangen and Fürth NOW as they are planning the courses for the next academic year NOW. We are also heading into the summer months, so private courses begin to slow - people going on holidays, etc. I would recommend that you put up notices, e.g. at the supermarket, at the library etc. and offer private tuition as well.

The other problem is, like me, you are seen to speak a "less desirable" type of English - Germans often have a fixed idea about the type of English they want to learn, and it's usually American or British. Most don't realise that a ten-hour session with a teacher from New Zealand or South Africa or Ireland (a) won't influence their English in any significant linguistic way and ( certainly won't "ruin" their English. I know of students who left colleagues' courses because said colleague was American (and goodness knows, some people firmly believe that "all Americans speak bad English". Sigh.) to come to my course because I speak British English (and actually I don't, because I'm Irish, but that's irrelevant to them - same bunch of islands, same difference.) So emphasise your training from a *British* uni

Jerome,
Sorry to hear about the position you're in. Do you have any training or qualifications that might be useful in this situation? As the previous poster said, things are tough over here for well-trained, well-educated, multilingual German graduates, so you will find it tougher. I don't mean to be mean because I do sympathise with your situation but it's not a great time to be looking for a job. Good luck!

im still looking i put my cv in to berlitz and a few other companies, all i got now is to to wait till i get married to do anything, but i am looking for friends to hang with here in germany and just talk to, so if anyone is interested let me know, and my germany sucks so i guess we could work on that

Jerome,

The work Visa usually takes a few months to get it, anywhere between 1montrh (if you really lucky) and sometimes 6months, but being an American citizen you will get it within 3 months. All you need is for the school to "offer" you a job and write a letter saying that they want to hire you, you need at least 2 of those to take the immigration office, to get the process going.

How old are you? I know it's tough being in a place where you can't speak the language and you broke, PM me if you wanna hang out. I'll introduce you to some of my english speaking friends. Just trying to make it easier for you, If it wans't for my girl I would have been lost as hell when I got to germany, but then again if it wasn't for her lol I wouldn't have even considered coming to germany.

Jerome, if you want your English-teaching career to be a success, you're going to have to work on your English, too. I'm not kidding. English teachers are expected to understand and use the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. (Well, maybe not in Berlitz or WSI, but that's another story.) If your CV looks anything like the above, you will never get an interview anywhere, ever.

I'm gonna have to say Ditto to that one also RainKing. Seriously Jerome yeah on the net none of us really use proper grammer or punctuation, but we stay within a boundry, your English definately needs some polishing up.

@medic 82

You're joking/trolling aren't you pet? grammar, boundary, definitely? I ask because having looked at your previous posts you definitely cannot spell definitely. I'm sure Jerome is having a hard enough time as it is without you making him feel worse.

@Jerome you could always try Inlingua - they might give you a chance but will pay you less for having no formal qualification.

im 23,i agree my spelling does need work. thanx for all your advice,and yeah we can hang sometime

Jerome, what about asking for work at the Irish/English pubs in town....???

hey Donkey Punch, come sit in one of my classes that I teach, then tell me about my spelling, like i said in some of my previous posts, this is the net so I could give two shits about my spelling. I'll spell how ever I want to, when I need proper spelling or definitions, I'll seek the help of a dictionary. You know damn well Jerome needs to work on his stuff. I bet you double checked your posts before you even postd it didn't you, just to make sure you didn't come off as the idiot i'm sure you are. I would actually love to meet you so I can give you a nice bitch slap. can we meet up?