9684 Teaching English in Italy

My wife has started teaching at a secondary school (13-14 year olds)as an assistant. This is only given as temporary position, but she may get this slot regularly from now on. No special teaching qualifications were required, just being a native speaker was enough. She was paid pro rata better than the teachers for an 8 week spell 10 hours a week. The teachers were in the class with her, so she had no hassle with discipline or parents evenings or marking papers or any of that. All that was expected of her was to speak English to them and encourage them to speak.

[quote=Heiko;90620]My wife has started teaching at a secondary school (13-14 year olds)as an assistant. This is only given as temporary position, but she may get this slot regularly from now on. No special teaching qualifications were required, just being a native speaker was enough. She was paid pro rata better than the teachers for an 8 week spell 10 hours a week. The teachers were in the class with her, so she had no hassle with discipline or parents evenings or marking papers or any of that. All that was expected of her was to speak English to them and encourage them to speak.[/quote]

This sounds great! I'm actually a qualified teacher, but this would perhaps be a good way of getting a foot in the door at a local school. What is the exact title given to your wife's position?

[quote=rosie A;90627]This sounds great! I'm actually a qualified teacher, but this would perhaps be a good way of getting a foot in the door at a local school. What is the exact title given to your wife's position?[/quote]

It;s called lettrice. Just get yourself a list of your local schools and put in your CV. They were asking for some qualifications, but never wanted to see them in the end as they were quite desperate to find a native speaker. Also no Italian was required at all, which was just as well as Susan is still struggling with the lingo.

sorry the full title was lettrice madrelingua inglese...

I was both pleased and astonished at the same time when reading this thread. Why? Well in my part of Umbria near Perugia, teaching English, especially if you are "of a certain age" in order to earn a living, would be near impossible. For a bit of pocket money perhaps but those far younger, with excellent degrees from UK universities find it very hard indeed to both find and keep "proper teaching" jobs (that includes language schools and the 2 Univerties here). Most are paid a pittance. My advice would be to at least pick a part of Italy to the far north of Umbria.

[quote=Noble;90649]I was both pleased and astonished at the same time when reading this thread. Why? Well in my part of Umbria near Perugia, teaching English, especially if you are "of a certain age" in order to earn a living, would be near impossible. For a bit of pocket money perhaps but those far younger, with excellent degrees from UK universities find it very hard indeed to both find and keep "proper teaching" jobs (that includes language schools and the 2 Univerties here). Most are paid a pittance. My advice would be to at least pick a part of Italy to the far north of Umbria.[/quote]

Well, I'm afraid I am "of a certain age" and will be trying my luck further south - in Puglia. I'll let you know if I get lucky!

Ciaio a tutti, I received a private message which directed me to this thread.
[URL="http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/gen...ta-course.html"][COLOR=#00002e]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/gen...ta-course.html[/COLOR][/URL]

Hmm, Interesting reading. Seems that the prospects are there but the pay is not so good. I did a bit of arithmetic and found that the total cost to me to gain a CELTA qualification is the equivalent of six weeks' take home pay here in West Australia. All for the chance to collect a few Euros an hour in a not very enjoyable job with lots of unpaid preparation to do. Not a fair proposition,

Thanks to all who posters here who helped me make a decision not to take the course to teach English.

Meanwhile I am considering other options to earn a few Euros in Italy so that I can hurry up my move there. Anyone need an odd-job man?

Phil.

I've been debating what to do for the summer as there is not much demand for teaching English over the next few months. Instead of going back to the UK to do a summer school I think I'm going to say yes to driving a minibus plus the odd chore, on a 9-5 basis, which should pay as well as teaching, but less stressful!

Hopefully I'll pick up some lettrice work in the autumn, like Heiko, but I've been here 2 years and haven't yet.

The problem is that every school in Italy has English as a mandatory course, from primary school to high school, so all of the teaching positions have already been taken. Besides, people who study Languages at university here in Italy have little choice in jobs, and most of those who cannot move in another country decide to try their hand at teaching. Being a 'lettore/lettrice' does not require any qualifications beside English being your mothertongue, because they don't "teach", they either read or talk with the students to give them a better understanding of the language and its pronounciation. I took PET and FCE courses in my high school two or three years ago and I had first a British then an American teacher, but I'm quite sure that they had both studied Italian at university before coming here to teach.
You said you were already a teacher, right? You could always try to teach your own subject in Italy, your knowledge of Italian wouldn't matter that much if you found a job as an university teacher.

Hi Heiko,
I am interested to know whether your wife sent a CV writtem in English or Italian,
Thanks,
Ziggy.o.

Probably would be better in Italian. Always best (and realistic) to assume that most of the school staff doesn't have a clue about English. Eventually you could write it in English, have it translated and then send both to the school, or even better, go there and speak with the headmaster before doing all of the above.

Hope this was useful :)

Technically under a new Italian law you have to have a degree to work in an educational facility, even as a lettrice. Some places seem to be enforcing this whilst others aren't. I think that if a school knows you you are ok but they are being funny about taking new people in without a degree (in this area at any rate). You can still do after school classes as an "external expert" so it's a way in, but in my experience you need to know someone for this to happen

Many thanks everyone for your replies to my question.

You may be interested in the saga of Teachers of Italian at our high school in West Australia. I originally posted this......

[quote=Chaib;90615]I
At our school in West Australia there is a rapid turnover of teachers of Italian, the last teacher quit after three days, the one before her quit after two weeks.
The one before lasted about eight weeks. ......
Phil.[/quote]

Since then someone has managed to recruit another Italian teacher to our school. I found out today that he lasted three weeks after phoninig in sick for four days. This makes the tally to date, four italian teachers in 15 weeks.

Currently there is a job opportunity here for an Italian speaker with the charisma of Lucius Vorenus or Tito Pullo, with a teaching degree and membership of WACOT, a police clearence and a current "Working with Children" licence,

They are desperate now to the extent where the position was offered to me. But I declined as my Italian is weak. and I am only 5 foot 11 and a half tall.

Phil.

[quote=ziggy.o.;91376]Hi Heiko,
I am interested to know whether your wife sent a CV writtem in English or Italian,
Thanks,
Ziggy.o.[/quote]

She had a neighbour help her translating it into Italian.

[quote=HelenMW;91579]Technically under a new Italian law you have to have a degree to work in an educational facility, even as a lettrice. Some places seem to be enforcing this whilst others aren't. I think that if a school knows you you are ok but they are being funny about taking new people in without a degree (in this area at any rate). You can still do after school classes as an "external expert" so it's a way in, but in my experience you need to know someone for this to happen[/quote]

You're quite right, they did want someone with a degree. My wife does have one , but hasn't got a clue where the written proof for this is, as unlike in the UK, potential employers ask to see this. However they were so desperate to find someone who could do flexible hours that she was the only candidate for the position in the end.

If you have the CELTA, you shouldn't have too much problem getting a job in a private language school. Problem one is pay. You'd get something like 900 to 1300 euros a month in your hand depending on the location, but renting even a small studio apartment could cost almost half that. For much less than that you could be billeted in "the school flat" with a bunch of (probably very young) colleagues. Not every 62-year-old's ideal situation.

Problem two is that contracts almost invariably run from October to May/June. The chances of getting work though the summer months are slim.

And problem three is the visa - but I've met Australians working in private language schools here, so it must be possible.