Freelance Teacher in Vilnius, Lithuania

From 2008 autumn DELTA certificate course is going to be
modular. There will be 3 modules, each certified seperately,
and a certificate for a full DELTA will be given after completing
the three modules.

The website of Cambridge DELTA says it will give teachers
more flexibility and fit in with their career plan, but I disagree.

First of all, there is no centre for DELTA in Lithuania, that means that
I will have to go abroad for it. The nearest centre is in Poland. That means,
should I want a full DELTA (and not a modular one cert.) I will have to
travel three times. Also, the pay is different for modules and
now one module costs an arm and a leg! Plus, I will have to pay for
my accommodation, food and other stuff. What is more, I will
not be able to work during that time, so I will not earn anything.

To my mind, this is another money scam. I really wanted to do a
normal DELTA and was even saving for it but now I don’t see a
reason. I’d rather enter for a second Master’s degree. I already
know what I’d like- the faculty of Educology, Andragogics studies.
Now I have tod ecide whether to make it day or distance studies.

Even though everything I did during this weekend was to sit
with my bandaged toe up and watch TV (I am a proud
addict of Criminal Minds, the Foxcrime TV channel), the
world seems to turn quite the other way than I was
asking for.

First, from the 1st July my self-employed certificate will
double in price. With inflation as this, that will also mean
my school room’s rent will go up and the bills as well. Taking it
all into consideration, I will have to readjust my rates. I will
give up those students that attend only once a week in search
of those who can attend more. I will not raise my lesson fees
(though I’m charging way less than other schools) but I will
introduce a fee for photocopies made. I will also
advertise more to compile at least one group per term, then
4 daily private students will be enough. I am buying
stationery supplies in bulk.

The good news is that I have two ideas to work on.
The first idea is mine and evolves around a day centre
for children. I was surprised by the lists of the enrolled
students to the basketball summer camp (37 kids per group!)
and that hints at the new market. I imagine there kids would
be kept busy with lessons of English or French, music,
art, crafts, or something else until their parents pick them up.
The centre is packed with such places but the new districts
are bare. However, I don’t like kids (it’s mutual mutilation)
and as my old friend says’ there is a kid-there is a problem’.
Hopefully, those problem’s parents pay.

The other idea is that of my friends. He is suggesting starting
a course of distance online learning. It is all in a plan phase
and there are many things to look into, so I won’t talk more
about that.

All I know is that the next time I go shopping I will
not look into the price of bread or else I may get a heart
attack, and I am not covered for a sick-leave even though
I pay my taxes. Welcome to Lithuania.

So, today I had a mole on my toe removed and sent
for a biopsy. I have to keep my leg up for some time,
so I had planned this surgery before St. John’s
festivities that account for another extended weekend.

I still have my two summer contracts and a couple
of old private students. I get some call about July
lessons so I take it my business is going well.

I bought New Headway Advanced all set and with this
I completed the set of my coursebooks. I was
interested in getting Aviation English for my own
pleasure but it was too expensive, 80 litas! With
inflation up like this, I think I do need to obtain as much
books and materials as I can before they become more
expensive in autumn. When I leave for August holidays,
I will have time to spend at the bookshops and
screen for good investment.

Now, have fun searching for the blossom of
‘papartis’! Fern blossom is said to bring extreme luck
to the person who finds it. However, this plant never
blossoms. However, this is not a hindrance for a try!

(Original picture location: http://www.gamtosproduktai.lt/lt/info/alb/2007/2007_II)

Well, just thought to update the world about my life.
First of all, my summer camp for kids is halfway through.
The kids are a noisy lot but we are managing so far. I
feel bad about using too much paper with them as
they use up five or six handouts per lesson and there
are 30 of them in each group (I’ve got 3 groups). I
would love to make them do something but they just scream,
run around,throw pencils at each other and leave a mess
after them. I try not to take things too personaly as
it’s just a summer camp and I’m not expected to teach
anything, just keep them from killing somebody.

Next, my work contract at a rehabilitation centre for
disabled people was signed and I strated my work there.
Transportation to and from leaves a lot to be desired.
They try to support me with copies and equipment, so
I can’t complain about that. What I don’t like is what
turns out to be a free attendance system. Today I had
one person in my group in their third lesson who came
for the first time and we dealing with irregular past.
Moments like this I feel I am not made to teach.

My plans don’t change: two contracts and many individual
students. My June is filled in so much that some students will have
to change their timetables because I cannot take them at their
usual time. July is also half-filled owing to the two contracts.

What bothers me at the moment is that I went to a plastic surgeon
for a third opinion about a mole on my toe. He recommended surgical removal
with testing it for cancer. That’s 500 litas (1/3 of my salary) and it’s on
June 20th. So, cross your fingers for me!

And so, today I signed a contract for a summer camp.
I will have two groups of 7-9 year olds and one group
of 10-12 year olds. What bugs me most is that these
are mainly boys and there will be 30 of them in
each group. But considering the fact that each
lesson is 60min long, I think I will survive. I have armed
myself with a CD with songs and loads of printed material
for thematic lessons (animals, fruit, numbers, etc). Also,
the company will buy stuff for making posters, so I guess
that’s what I-I mean, they- will be doing most of the time, LOL.
Another good news is that another company that I rejected
the offer from called me today. I will do a placement for them
this Wednesday and then will see if I take them. Some old students
are still holding on, some new are making calls, so June is more
or less settled, as is part of July. What bothers me most is money for
rent, that is fixed for every month, my pension installments and
my holiday money which I’m trying to save for August.

Next, I am so tired and bored out of my mind that I have no words
to explain. I am very happy that I am what I am but I do need
a long break for recharging my batteries. But it’s good to know that
I have a profession that will feed me.

It’s a weekend and I finally had time to go through my wardrobe
and donate 1/3 of it to those who need clothes. I bought
some new outfits as well. Also, I had time to visit
my cosmetologist and now my face aches a lot, however,
it needed to be attended for my skin is problematic.

As far as my employment is concerned, I sold myself to
a local summer school for children. I already hate it but
it’s better than nothing. It is very difficult to organise
intensive courses for adults on my own so far, but
I’m also trying that. The good thing is that I will be
teaching children for 1 or 2 hours daily only, so
I got my hands on several photocopiable books for
primary school with activities like numbers, colours, fruit, etc.

I have been to several job itnerviews by now, but no luck.
Some offers I declined (low pay, lots of travel) and some
I’m waiting to hear from. Will keep you updated.

After spitting much poison about the manner of interview
conducting as seen in a cerain UK company, this week I
have two local job interviews to attend.

I have just returned from one. The pay is very little but
they will employ me with social security. This is a temporary
project until the end of July, just when I have planned my
holidays. I will be teaching General or ESP English for
people who have physical disabilities in their day centre.
Funnt I should mention but after receiving my cv, they
also conacted my former students at another company
for a reference. Vilnius is such a village!

I have one more interview on Friday. I had a call from them
and they seem to be hiring me already. I am really happy
because my students drop like flies until autumn. I did not
expect May to be a month that hard!

Tomorrow I’m going to a conference about teaching
Business English. So, teaching life seems to be a good
thing, after all.

As the summer approaches, I am trying to sort out my
timetable for it. I have sent dozens of cvs to the
schools that advertise for summer camps. I’ve got a
few replies only because -I take it- I am not a
native speaker.

I have just had a long time ago arranged phone
interview with a person from the UK. It took about 15-20
minutes and I was asked different questions.

The basic idea I got from this interview was that the
school decided to call me and make me understand
that I don’t fit by asking disturbing questions instead just
telling that they’d rather hire a native speaker and
only if there are vacancies left, they’d take somebody
else.

The person asked me questions (after commenting that
I had a strong accent when a few days ago I received
compliments for my excellent English from another
person!) like what do parents expect by paying this much
to send children to a school in the UK, what do parents think about
this, that and the other, and more beginning with ‘what do
parents think…”. As If I could read minds, you know!
I told him that parents want their kids to learn English when kids
want to make friends and have fun. The teacher has to
find the golden middle and make the kids come next year.

I didn’t have a chance to ask the questions I wanted about
the contract, travelling and some more. He didn’t even ask
if I wanted to ask anything, only if I read the papers they had
sent to me, which I did, but still I wanted to clarify some
places.Oh, well.

I have one local job interview on Wednesday and I emailed
for more information about one more. I don’t think it
will be difficult to sell myself for a company here
during the summer. The man seemed to be surprised when
I said that I wanted only new experience from this post.
That nearly made me laugh. Why else would one travel to the
UK to work in a summer camp, for MONEY? He said he
had a few reservations and he’d let me know in a few
days. I think I already know MY answer.

Anyway, comemnts, please. Or I’ll start thinking this forum board
is dead as a doornail.

Today was a lovely, warm and bright spring day. Many of
devoted teachers (most presumably, those without
summer houses by the lake as myself LOL) gathered
at ILS for a conference.

Each session was 45min long with 4 topics to choose
from. Refreshments were served in between, which was
really a big plus!

The first session I went to was about using songs. We
had so much fun and the activities were really very
practical (in terms of application, not sure about the
end result). I really liked the ideas but the amount
of preparation time is really demotivating

Next, I went to an ESP workshop. The lecturers
shared their experience with aviation English,
the name of which gives me creeps! Makes one
really thing well before going in for ESP. That said,
it was an interesting workshop.

My third one was kinaesthetic activities. The lecturer
demonstrated several handy activities for which they
need sticky balls and rods, respectively. She said the
ball could be obtained from a certain shop but I did not
manage to get them. I will try next time. I also had to
order rods online from UK because Amazon.com has a limit
on countries toys can be sent to (makes me really say
*Americans* again with eyes upward). Amazon.de did not
have the rods themselves, perhaps, it is even wiser than
just make people log in to delete their shopping cart content
continuously. Deutch gemacht, eh?

The fourth session was about marking IELTS. I do not
want to do this exam preparation course because it
is highly time consuming and not very economically
beneficial as for a freelancer. However, it was really
interesting, the one minus was seeing that people with
poor English got 6 out of 9!

Tomorrow I will be actively using myself as an interpreter
for a project about stone sculptures. I volunteered
(I am surprised myself that I did!) to help meet
several foreign artists at the airport because the
organisators speak very little English. Then, I will
be working Monday-Wednesday and leave for
our extended weekend to Poland.

Not bad for one day.