Hi.  I finished the 120 hr online i-to-i course in October.  I'd really like to work in Indonesia but I'd prefer to be away from the capital city.  My prefered places to work are Yogyakarta and Padang.  I'll be doing a CELTA course in Jakarta in May.

I've contacted Real English and Elite English Institute, and I've applied on the English First website and given them my prefered cities.  Does anyone know of any other schools I can apply to there?  I am still looking online but these are the only ones I can find so far.  Has anyone any experience working/living there?  Any advice to give?

Also I've been told that my lack of degree and the fact that I'm Irish could cause some problems, as Ireland isn't always considered a native English speaking country.

Thanks guys, like I said I'm still doing research myself but any help from real people is always appreciated :)

Hey Red,

That's great you're heading to Indonesia - seems like you've made a good start with looking for jobs. Make sure you keep us updated on progress! The best person for you to talk to is Robert Clarke, as he's teaching in Indonesia at the minute (works for an EF school in Gading Serpong), so should be able to give you some good advice about teaching in Indonesia. You can also check out his blogs which give a good insight into what life out there's like: http://www.tefl-chalkboard.com/robertclarke

Good luck!

Hi Red,

firstly you're lack of degree for Indonesia will not cause a problem, there are many teachers who teach here without it (including me). Working in either of those two cities I'm afraid I'm not too sure, the best thing would be to just google 'English schools in xxx', I would recommend you try and find the EF schools and apply directly, the EF main site is very strict and they say you must have a degree and blah blah blah. example; I work for EF now and I applied on their site for China, I got a reply saying I didn't meet the requirements (degree) yet I already have experience with them. The schools themselves are all franchises so going direct they will relax the BIG rules.

Being Irish isn't a big deal either, I know of one Irish teacher at another school in our group and I think she stayed for two years.

Myabe you can try Surabaya too, there are at least 4 EF's there that I know of (and it's very close to Bali, 30 min flight or 10hr bus).

If you have any other questions let me know and good luck!

Thanks Robert,

I've now applied to some Sarabaya schools as well.  Going to apply to more schools and not be so picky with location otherwise I'll just end up never leaving!  Thanks for the advice about going to EF schools directly.  It was encouraging espeically after I got a rejection e-mail from the main EF website right away due to my lack of degree.  Hopefully I'll have something sorted before I head out.  Thanks again!

Red

I am doing something a little crazy. My SO and I are going to Yogyakarta on tourist visas in 8 days. We have the multiple entry visas which are good for a year. We have been planning this for some time, and I have been looking for jobs for some time, but have not been able to find anything.

I applied to EF and a few other places. The other places either did not respond or responded that they didn't have anything open in Yogya. At the time that I applied to EF, I did not have certification and they just replied with what read like a form letter saying that they will keep my resume on file for four months.

We really want to be in Yogya, so if anyone has any tips on how to find a job in a city (preferably Yogya) when you are already in the city, I would be super grateful!

I am doing something a little crazy. My SO and I are going to Yogyakarta on tourist visas in 8 days. We have the multiple entry visas which are good for a year. We have been planning this for some time, and I have been looking for jobs for some time, but have not been able to find anything.

I applied to EF and a few other places. The other places either did not respond or responded that they didn't have anything open in Yogya. At the time that I applied to EF, I did not have certification and they just replied with what read like a form letter saying that they will keep my resume on file for four months.

We really want to be in Yogya, so if anyone has any tips on how to find a job in a city (preferably Yogya) when you are already in the city, I would be super grateful!

I used to work in Jogja for Real English. It's probably the best school but it's also the most picky and prefers teachers who have experience elsewhere. A lot of the teachers there have held their roles for 3+ years. It's a great school to work for but they only consider applicants with a degree and ideally some teaching experience. If you can convince them to talk to you then you have a chance, of couse. Real English is a break away from EF as some teachers were unhappy with the EF methods and wanted to open their own school. 

EF Jogja is less strict than Real English and despite a few knocks in the past now have a comparable reputation and are more visible famous due to a higher advertising budget and more school locations in the city. 

I"ve also worked for EF Jayapura - now that was certainly an experience but it was more like being a passenger on a sinking ship. The EF books for adults are much lower quality. They're self published and full of errors and uninteresting topics (Real uses Longman books) so you need to think more on your feet when teaching. However EF excels in additional resources, also their books for children are very high quality and they have their own books that fill the publishing void between teaching for young teens and teaching for adults. 

As far as being Irish goes it COULD be a problem depending on the immigration official. It's just one of those things - they list certain countries as being native speakers and Ireland isn't always on the list (but Northern Ireland is by default). Indonesia is a country of contradictions, for example I had a colleague from the Philippines at EF. 

If I didn't have any restrictive student debts I'd move back to Jogja without a second thought.