ESL Jobs Forum

[beata]

Hi, everybody,
I was wondering if any of you might give me any advice about finding a teaching job in the Netherlands. I'll be there legally and will have a work permit but unfortunately have almost no knowledge of Dutch Do you know anybody who has actually worked/works there teaching English?
Thanks,
Beata

[perseverance]

Hi there,

Holland doesn't show it but is actually desperate to find teachers. Unfortunately, I don't have much to give you as advice.... It makes it difficult to find information if you don't know dutch as most of the sites (the ones I found in any case) are in Dutch. I have a good site that can find schools for you (it's usually schools that need teachers for some period of time, it can be four hours but it can also be full time teachers) but it's all in dutch. In case you find someone who knows dutch and who could help you, the address is www.docentenbank.nl

Apart from that, I actually found an international school and the site is all in English. It's for international student and is in Amstelveen ( out of Amsterdam, but not much) and it looked good to me - it might look good to you too. If you want to have a look the address is www.isa.nl

It's not much but it's better than nothing - try it out (you could maybe ask the people there by email, they might be able to help you) and see what you think.

Claire
_________________
"When there's a will, there's a way".

[Aloha]

I'm looking as well for work in the Netherlands, as an American with a USA only passport. I don't have a degree, so I'm looking for positions that are just concerned with having native speakers. I use to teach conversational english in Japan, and I was hoping to find some work now in the Netherlands. Have either of you had any luck yet?

Thanks

[perseverance]

the one problem I find with Holland is that it''s difficult to teach if you don't know dutch.

Because of Holland's mix of nationalities, Dutch is the language at school and it happens that students don't have it always as a common language even (one of my TP was in a Maroccan, turkish and dutch school with Dutch as the L1, so most of the students had difficulties with dutch already, imagine their attitude having a teacher that only speak English ! It was really difficult).
Most schools teach English using Dutch most of the time in the classroom, but you will definitely have more luck in trying to find a job in international schools, where Dutch is much less needed. Learning Dutch is a great advantage, but not needed everywhere - you just have to pay attention what your school is like. Once you get in you can teach however you want, but some schools pay attention to whether you speak dutch or not.
_________________
"When there's a will, there's a way".