Viewing topic: St. Petersburg universities

Can anybody give me informationa about working in the universities in ST.P? Also, what are the students like. I teach "lovely" japanese high school students at the moment and it was a shocker after teaching uni at home. Any advice, stories information. Thanks.

I hope somebody else can jump in here with more first-hand experience, but what I know second-hand from other teachers:

University students are used to native Russian teachers.

The standard of teaching isn't usually particularly high (i.e. often the teachers' level of English isn't great, and lessons are largely lectures with little student input). The students will be very pleased to have a native speaker, especially if he/she is a serious and proficient teacher.

The students (on the whole) wouldn't otherwise be able to afford private lessons with a native teacher, or with a private language school. Attitudes are pretty good.

If you have any experience of teaching business English you'll go down a storm. If you organise some informal social events (especially if you bring along some English-speaking tourists you'll be a major hit and you'll drink for free.

I taught a group from a Moscow university on a camp in Finland, and they were over the moon at being made to do roleplays and give presentations. Bringing any kind of interactivity into university lessons goes down great.

Money isn't usually good, but all three teachers I knew who did university stints were provided with decent accommodation and were well-treated. Two were kept provided with student cards and one (at least) was given free Russian lessons by the staff.

I'm all ears. Any suggestions as to how to go about trying to get a job at one of the StP unis? I did look at their websites but without much success... (Possibly I wasn't patient enough while looking through their web pages )

Sounds good, yes I do have both experience teaching Managment/English (at uni) and a whole raft of friends who want visit once I am there. hmmm will I be sober enough to teach? ha Not seen any jobs advertised, just sending my cv at this stage and hoping for the best. If anyone knows a useful strategy - please help. E