Teaching in the UAE - pros and cons?

launcue

I am looking to teach English in the UAE and trying to find some information about life there. I have listed some info about me and then my questions below. Thanks for any information you can provide!

My info: I am an American currently living in Seoul, South Korea. I have a Masters in Education with distinction - TESOL. 6 years teaching experience. 2 - Elementary teacher, 2 - curriculum developer, 2 - Teacher Trainer - In Seoul, South Korea. I have no dependents (but I do have a dog). I am NOT a drinker so I know that it is a dry country so no worries there.

questions:

1. What are the pros and cons of living in the UAE? besides alcohol

2. Do you know anything about having pets there?

3. What is the standard pay for a university professor of English language?

4. What are the standard vacations? 2 months? and when?

5. Any areas to avoid or aim for?

6. Do I need a car?

7. Do most teachers live in "compounds"? If so, what does that mean exactly?

8. How much do you need to live on? I am not really a cook so I eat out a lot.

9. Any tips for finding good jobs or questions to ask at the interview?

10. LAST QUESTION - Is travel cheap?

Thanks again for your time and answers!

Answer
I've tried to answer some of your questions, because I know answers to those.

1. What are the pros and cons of living in the UAE?
The biggest plus is "No Income Tax". Other pros are: Almost zero crime rate; Modern excellent infrastructure like the Metro and expressways; cosmopolitan city, since there are nationals from over 200 countries here (like New York); International cuisine available to suit every taste. In my opinion, the only con is the temperature (phew!)...

2. Do you know anything about having pets there?
You can have a pet, but you need to get the pet registered, with a government authority alongwith proof of all vaccinations and stuff, and probably they give a collar to be placed around the dog's neck, for identification. (choke!)

3. What is the standard pay for a university professor of English language?
I've gone through your profile, and as a rough estimate, you could earn in the region of AED 30K - 40K a month.

4. What are the standard vacations? 2 months? and when?
NA

5. Any areas to avoid or aim for?
NA

6. Do I need a car?
Fuel is really cheap, so it depends upon the distance you have to travel everyday. However, now there is the Metro too. So you can dump the car for public transport.

7. Do most teachers live in "compounds"? If so, what does that mean exactly?
NA

8. How much do you need to live on? I am not really a cook so I eat out a lot.
If your package includes rent, or atleast partial rent, then food should not cost a bomb. You'll end up saving a good amount.

9. Any tips for finding good jobs or questions to ask at the interview?
http://dubai-forever.com/jobs-in-dubai.html

10. LAST QUESTION - Is travel cheap?
The Metro, the bus transport, and the taxi cabs are pretty cheap.

Hope this answers some of your queries.

Info about temprory license in Dubai and is it for ages 17+?

Steevo

is it true there's something called permenent license for ahges 17+ and what makes it diffrent from the normal license and where can i get it????

Answer
IT"S POSSIBLE THE ISSUANCE OF TEMPORARY DRIVING LICENSES IN DUBAI HAS BEEN SUSPENDED. UNCONFIRMED REPORTS SURFACED IN DEC. 2006. UNKNOWN IF CORRECT OR FOR HOW LONG!

A temporary driving license is issued if you want to drive a private car in Dubai but don't have a residency visa to be able to obtain a full UAE driving license eg. visitors on visit visas, expats waiting for residence visa processing. You obtain it from the police station and it's valid for 6 months.

Bring:
Your home country passport, driving license and copies, copy of whatever visa you have for the UAE (or passport if it's stamped, or e-gate card if not)
Intl. Driving permit from the same country as your license (if you don't have one, try and obtain a temporary license anyway, unknown how essential this is)

Note that if you want to drive a rental car, you don't need to apply for a temporary license. Just go to the rental car agency with your home country driving license.

For more details please check out the link giving below:

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/driving-licence-in-dubai.htm

Take care and be save!

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can I drive my car with my American driver license in Dubai even if i have a Visit visa?

car info uae image

REEM

Some of friends told me that i can drive rent a car if i want to drive with my American Driver License if i have visit visa, Is that right? But i don't want to rent a car i already have my husband car

Answer
International Driving Permits and overseas driving licences are not valid for driving private cars in the UAE.
A temporary driving license is issued if you want to drive a private car in Dubai but don't have a residency visa to be able to obtain a full UAE driving license eg visitors on visit visas, expats waiting for residence visa processing. You obtain it from a traffic police station (there's one next to Mall of the Emirates in Al Barsha) and it's valid for six months. Bring:

Your home country passport, driving license and copies - your licence and passport are supposed to be from the same country.
Copy of whatever visa you have for the UAE (or passport if it's stamped, or e-gate card if not) - if you have a residence visa you are not supposed to be able to obtain a temporary driving licence.
International Driving Permit from the same country as your licence. As of early 2007 this appears to be more necessary than previously but you never know if/when rules or interpretations of them change.

More info:
http://www.dubaifaqs.com/driving-licence-in-dubai.php#temporary

Can you people please tell me a career that 1. Doesn't have a boss 2.Doesn't involve sitting at a desk?

Stray Melo

3. Is fun and interactive 4. Pays too
I have a very restless nature and I am unable to work a desk job for more than 5 months max and I need some purpose or sense of having a purpose while working and I have been unable to find it so far. Please guys & gals help me out here and tell me some fun careers.

Answer
Hi, I happen to have experience in both issues #1 and 2 you have. I get wanderlust after about 2 years and need to travel. I am also my own boss with my own business. So, you do have two choices. You can make your own business from scratch, living off practically nothing for a year until your business becomes profitable - IF it ever does. What you put into your own business is directly proportional to what you get back for that first year. Gotta do a lot of advertising.
That's what I did for 5 years. Maintained a reasonably head-barely-above-water business for 5 years. But damn that wanderlust was killing me and the economy turned so I couldn't travel like I did in year 3 of my business.
So, I went to craigslist and saw this ad called "teach in china". I thought it to be a scam, turns out it wasn't. I looked up my info, found other countries pay people to teach English to young students. You basically get to play all day long with elementary school students or have fun with middle school students (Depends on the job. Most times, you'll get a mix of both. Rarely, high school is available but really, don't count on that or teaching adults.) You can find jobs teaching at schools (30 students or sometimes more) or after school acadamies which have 8-12 students per class.

So, I packed up my apartment, sold my car, and got my butt to Korea, where I'm teaching middle schoolers. I LOVE it and it pays decently enough that you can save up money and every 6 months, go travel somewhere for a week or two. And you can travel at your leisure on the weekends. Other countries are similar - paying less or more and benefits are always different too (example: some provide apartments, some don't but help you find one and the apartments are cheap as hell in that case usually, almost all give health benefits, etc).
After one year's contract is done, you can simply pack up, go to a whole different area, city, or country, and start a new contract and travel your butt off. You DO have a boss, many whom leave you alone cause they can't speak English. It is common to have a co-teacher who speaks at least basic English, they will help you get set up and all that.

Okay, sounds too good to be true, right? Yeah, thought so too. There are a FEW requirements to get jobs most places, but some don't even need those. So, here's the basics.
-You have to have a bachelor's degree for 95% of the jobs listed on the below website. It doesn't matter what degree you have. It could be in basket weaving or pottery. They don't care.
-It is HIGHLY recommended you earn a 100-120 hour TEFL certificate. They are cheap, generally under $300 for an online one. If you're in a larger city, see if your local community college offers a course - those are considered better than online ones and for some jobs, offer better jobs and benefits for one that has "20+ practicum hours" of teaching. But a 100-ish hour one will give you access to a good 95% of jobs that ask for a tefl.
-If you don't have a bachelor's degree (Or only a partial one, associates or otherwise) there are quite a few programs, or jobs in general, that only ask for a TEFL along with whatever college experience you might have. I'd estimate that about 15% of all jobs are like this, and only in certain countries at that. China being one, perhaps Vietnam or similar too. There are a few that don't require college at all, but only about 5%.
- My advice: Make sure what is most important to you is what country you go to. Money the BIGGEST issue you must solve? China, Korea, Taiwan, or UAE. Wanna live somewhere with no snow and lots of paradise-looking land? Thailand/ Taiwan/ Lower China. Meeting different people and learning about cultures? Job hop every year to every country.

You can find jobs and info and FAQ at the below website. Hopefully this helps you a lot. Teaching English is a good sense of purpose as you are teaching students a language that they absolutely need for their future. I love my job btw and intend to do it as a career in many countries :)

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How does one get a job abroad in the MiddleEast?

car info uae image

night_lion

Hi, I live in Canada and would like to get a job teaching in the middle east, although I would like it to either Saudi Arabia, UAE or Egypt. I have my bachelors and a tesol/tesl certificate. Could someone please let me know of the process to follow.
Plus, does anyone know who to contact or send my resume to? Please also, if you have any contact info. for anybody to reach, then please let me know. I know that sometimes they are gender specific and I am a female.
Thank you for any information you are able to provide.

Answer
Being a female - you are not allowed to work in saudi Arabia
You can work but you only deal with female matters.

You are also not allowed to even drive a car!

You have to wear those burqa, only your eyes can be seen

Please do not go to a country where you are not even considered human! You are just a property there!

And if you a Christian and bring a bible with you, you can face death sentence

Please read these small articles

Dec 3, 4:01 PM (ET)

By DONNA ABU-NASR

(AP) Employees walk among new cars Nov. 29, 2006, at the first showroom in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi women still can't drive cars, but they can sell them. Potential buyers can go to an all-women showroom where, for the first time, other women will help them choose a car and answer questions about horsepower, carburetors and other automotive features.

Women visitors and residents are required to be met by their sponsor upon arrival. Women traveling alone, who are not met by sponsors, have experienced delays before being allowed to enter the country or to continue on other flights.

And this article from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1012.html


Women considering relocating to Saudi Arabia should be keenly aware that women and children residing in Saudi Arabia as members of a Saudi household (including adult American-citizen women married to Saudi men, adult American-citizen women who are the unmarried daughters of Saudi fathers, and American-citizen boys under the age of 21 who are the sons of Saudi fathers) are considered household property and require the permission of the Saudi male head of their household to leave the country.

Married women require the permission of their husband to depart the country, while unmarried women and children require the permission of their father or male guardian. The U.S. Embassy can intercede with the Saudi government to request exit permission for an adult American woman (wife or daughter of a Saudi citizen), but there is no guarantee of success, or even of timely response. Mothers may not be able to obtain permission for the departure of minor children without the fatherâs agreement. Americans entering Saudi Arabia on visitor visas normally do not need an exit permit but may be prevented from departing the country if they are involved in a legal dispute. American citizens involved in labor disputes or employment dismissal will not be granted an exit permit prior to court resolution or abandonment of the case by the American citizen. Saudi sponsors have substantial leverage in the negotiations and may block departure or bar future employment in the country.

Is there anywhere more peaceful and arabian like that you can travel to from Dubai?

steve h

I have a hire car and looking for other interesting places to go when I'm in UAE.

Answer
You should absolutely drive to Fujairah and even stay the night, it's on the coast and the drive from Dubai is very nice through mountains and parts of the desert.

For a real Arabian desert drive take a trip to Liwa Oasis. The UAE has some of the most beautiful desert landscapes in the world and it's a shame because nobody usually takes the time to go see them and you can't really see it from the cities.

Both of these places are well worth visiting and far away from the crowds of Dubai.

Check website below for more info on the UAE.

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