A few thoughts about my job situation

Here are a few observations about my workplace:

• The teachers I've met so far are quite friendly.
• The administrators are nice and friendly in a Russian way.
• The teaching style is completely different from in Vietnam. It's much closer to the CELTA course I took, but in the other direction of more teacher time. The games are a whole lot tamer, as the desks cannot be moved and there isn't a whole lot of space, so students seem to stay in the same place the whole time except for an occasional, slow trip to the whiteboard.
• Students are allowed to speak Russian, especially at the lower levels. The teachers can even respond to a question in Russian. Though a few instances were forgivable, I always understood that this was mostly prohibited in Vietnam.
• In the three classes that I've observed, each at different age levels, the students are very serious and attentive. To an impressive degree, considering they sit in the same place for an hour and a half without a break.
• The resources are considerably more limited. No croquet sticks, mega dice, not even the all-important soft ball.
• The dress code. In Vietnam, men were exempted from wearing a tie only in the very young learner classes (7 and under), and anything other than dress shirts and pants were acceptable during summer camp alone (by wearing the summer camp t-shirt, we helped advertise). Here, the senior teacher teaches in a t-shirt and jeans. This might be a difficult adaptation for me to make.

Immediately after my observations, I thought, “wow, in my experience we had to engage the students a lot more than this. I shouldn't have any problems planning a good lesson.” But this school seems a lot more strict about sticking to the course material. I expect that the pace is a lot faster and we don't have time for many games, especially not my staple games from Vietnam like snatch, hockey, chopsticks, dodgeball, and croquet. To be honest I always felt guilty for using these games because so much time was wasted not learning English, but then again perhaps it motivated the students and helped them to concentrate. I do feel like the Russian students will miss out on a lot by not having mini whiteboards and board races, so if I still feel the lack of them in a few weeks I may look into introducing them.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about this new teaching style. I think it will be challenging to balance keeping the material fresh and interesting with staying on course schedule. Another challenge I think will be getting to know the students with so much course material to cover.

Thinking about reasons I left Vietnam and wanted to consider teaching at an international school:

• Less impact in students' lives, seeing them only twice a week. This probably won't change, but that might be okay.
• It didn't feel very academic with such an emphasis on games. This is definitely not a problem in Russia.
• The administration cared more about keeping parents happy than a student's learning, which was probably more the parent's fault than the administration. From what I've been told, the school in Russia is quite careful about level placement, and the teachers get final word about whether a failing student actually can handle the class.
• There was an emphasis (though diminished at my center, I think) on getting students to re-enroll. As I've heard nothing of this so far here, I think it's safe to say that it's not as important.
• Weekend schedules—nearly 14 hours at the school, two days in a row. This doesn't seem possible in Russia, at least not at my school

Ways this might be better than an international school:

• The schedule is a lot more variable and flexible. I like variety.
• The schedule is also geared toward classes later in the day. I like this especially because in the morning I am typically quiet, contemplative, and focused, an ideal mood for studying and lesson planning, whereas in the afternoon and evening I'm more animated, which is better for teaching.
• All the administration and the senior teacher often talk in Russian, so I'll get more exposure to the language than at an all-English school. Probably significantly more.
• I'm teaching a language, which is slightly more attuned to my interests and expertise than teaching literature.

I do think there are some perks of teaching at an international school that I'll miss out on, such as the stronger sense of community. But on the whole I'm quite glad that things have turned out as they have.