# Help Much Appreciated..



## samuelTee (Oct 14, 2011)

Hi, my name is Samuel and I live in London. My girlfriend has decided that she would love to experience another European country and has been offered an Au Pair opportunity for a year in Rome which she has taken up, starting in November. I am dying to get myself out there with her as we've been living together and don't want to be at such a distance from her. I've thought that I'd quite like to take up English teaching and have been advised on taking the first steps of doing a CELTA course, which I can start in a few weeks. I've looked at a number of job sites for Rome and the English Teaching jobs that are available seem to ask for at least 6 months experience, which I do not have time to get if I want to be out there sooner rather than later. Would I be able to find myself a teaching job that will support me or is it best to try for another job? 

Any info or thoughts you can give me would be much appreciated.. 

Thanks...


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## Ed in Italy (Feb 24, 2009)

Samuel, I'm an American, living in Italy since '88 and, due to my company closing a couple years ago, have started teaching English. At first I was told I should get the CELTA certification, but I was unemployed and didn't have the money for the course. I also had NO experience teaching English. But a mother tongue teacher - even unexperienced - has a bit more leverage. I have now been teaching both privately and in smaller schools for a couple years now. I am turning students away because I am full of work. So, to get your foot in the door, my advice is to put some adverts around (even online), start with a moderate price and be willing to go to the private students' homes. Jobs will come by word of mouth. Generally speaking, Italians are way behind with English so there is no lack of clients.


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## samuelTee (Oct 14, 2011)

Sounds positive, thanks a lot for the advice, I'm definitely going to complete the CELTA course as I'm lucky enough to have the time and money to do so. I'll put up some ads and hope for the best. Thanks again Ed


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## tricolore (Nov 8, 2011)

I agree with Ed. There's huge demand for native English speakers in Italy - you just need to get out and get yourself known. Use any contact - neighbours, shop keepers, your girl-friend's contacts - tell everyone you're open for business and willing to work anywhere, anytime and you'll soon build up a good number of clients. There's a lot of work around doing "ripetizione", which is basically helping school kids do their homework (or understand what they've been taught at school). Once you get one child, you often find you get more as Mums spread the word. Good luck!


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