English Language Assistants in Switzerland, Germany, Austria - share your experiences

kateling

Hi all,

I'm a final year German and English student who is hoping to work as an English Language Assistant in Switzerland, Austria or Germany next year. I'm just wondering if there is anyone who would like to share their experiences or offer me some advice before I apply - I have spent a lot of time in Germany but not in Switzerland or Austria, which are the two countries that I am really keen to travel to.

Any insights would be appreciated!

Thanks.

roe_cat

Hey - I worked as a language assistant in Switzerland - far better money than Germany. I was in a French speaking area so language wasn't a problem, but for German-speaking areas just be aware that Swiss German is very different to high German - as far as I know this will also be an issue in Austria but perhaps less so. Apart from that - Switzerland is a lovely country- great for travelling, great for sport. I was in a small town but with German you're more likely to get somewhere larger if that's what you want.
Overall Switzerland is great - better money and from what I hear more independence as a teacher - but that varies from school to school. Be aware - It can be a rather quiet place to live - but certainly worth considering

kateling

Thanks for the reply, that's just the kind of advice that I'm looking for

I've heard about the difficulties with Swiss German, but I'm hoping that since other people who have done my course have worked there before that I should be able to manage... we'll see!

Also, did you do a TEFL course? For the positions I'm applying for it's not a requirement to have one, but I'm thinking of doing one this summer anyway.

kateling

Just realised that the post title said Spain instead of Austria - whoops!

Toto Wolfcastle

I have changed the title for you and deleted your other thread as it's not needed now with the title change.

Fuinseog

kateling wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm a final year German and English student who is hoping to work as an English Language Assistant in Switzerland, Austria or Germany next year. I'm just wondering if there is anyone who would like to share their experiences or offer me some advice before I apply - I have spent a lot of time in Germany but not in Switzerland or Austria, which are the two countries that I am really keen to travel to.

Any insights would be appreciated!

Thanks.

switzerland is not EU so there mind be more bureaucracy ans switzerland is supposed to be expensive.

the advantage of language assistant is that you can work from 8 till one and then teach adults after that.

Síle28

I was a language assistant for 2 years in Switzerland and one in Germany. Switzerland was by far better, much better paid and a beautiful country and excellent for travelling from as it's so central. Swiss German is handy enough to pick up, at least to understand it, in a month or so. Just a note re the above post, when I was an assistant in Switzerland I worked up until 4pm not until 1pm and NO other paid employment is permitted under your contract.

Fuinseog

. Just a note re the above post, when I was an assistant in Switzerland I worked up until 4pm not until 1pm and NO other paid employment is permitted under your contract.[/QUOTE]


that is interesting. I had to work 12 hours a week. i told them i would not be available in the afternoon and they did not have a problem with that. I did however work some saturday mornings but not every saturday.

you can just about get by on what you make, which is why if you work for a language school as well you will make enough.

Síle28

I also only had to work the 12 hours a week but up until the end of the school day, I could be timetabled in for some classes in the morning and some in the afternoon, no Saturday work though, yuck!. We weren't allowed any other paid work at all under our contract but some of the assistants were giving grinds privately cash in hand...

kateling

@janeybabe - thank you for your help, I'm not very experienced at using boards.ie I'm afraid!

To everyone else, thanks for the replies - I have heard about Switzerland being expensive, much more than most places in Germany for instance, but I reckon that it can't be too bad in comparison to Dublin... although how did you all find the general cost of living, e.g. what kind of price was accommodation and also was it difficult to find?

From the salary that is being offered for the positions I don't think I'd need to take on any extra work but it's interesting to know in advance that you're not actually allowed to do any other paid work.

Oh and did any of you use Mitfahrgelegenheit to travel while in Switzerland/Austria? I've used it a lot in Germany, and hope to travel to Italy and other countries if I'm living in Switzerland/Austria so I'm just wondering what the travel options are.

roe_cat

kateling wrote: »

Also, did you do a TEFL course? For the positions I'm applying for it's not a requirement to have one, but I'm thinking of doing one this summer anyway.

Hi - didn't have a TEFL course - doing one at the moment though - and would definitely have found it useful. Definitely if you think you might do more teaching in the future you might as well do it before working as a language assistant.
As for hours - it's 16 classes a week - depending on the school you can get a really good timetable - but hard to know in advance. I was in a few schools so my timetable was a bit all over the place, but most people had a Monday or Friday off which comes in very handy.
Money is plenty to live on - I did a few private classes and I know others who did hours in language schools, but it's certainly not necessary.