What is your profession or job

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Wise owl chick, May 25, 2014.

  1. Wise owl chick

    Wise owl chick Active Member

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    What is your profession or job? Maybe some are more common, like on the other forum many are programmers.

    I haven't a job, but in the summer I'm a gardener, i work with a gardener who has his company. We visit some gardens when the people want that we mow the lawn and remove some weeds, make the flowers pretty etc.

    All the time I care for my dog, who is, of course, an apricot standard poodle (my nick on this forum).

    I want to be a doctor, but they don't allow (parents and teachers) that I study in the uni, but in the future I will do this. In my family are mostly lawyers but my brother is a mechanical engineer and a pilot (study this).

    And you?
  2. Stelle

    Stelle Active Member VIP member

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    I'm a teacher. I taught children in public schools for 8 years, and for the past 3 years I've taught French to military members on an air force base.
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  3. Wise owl chick

    Wise owl chick Active Member

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    Hi Stelle

    Were you a French teacher in the schools also? How many people were in the class?
  4. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    I graduated as a mechanical engineer, but I ended up designing airplane parts for a career. I'm retired now, I guess.
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  5. Wise owl chick

    Wise owl chick Active Member

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    wow, what a coincidence!!! My brother want to be a pilot, mostly, but this studies have included mechanical engineering also. He has the bachelor, now study the master. I don't know why not aeornautical engineering, or maybe this is the doctoral subject?
  6. Stelle

    Stelle Active Member VIP member

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    kids: 25. I taught French immersion, which is basically normal school, except that it's all in French and the kids don't know how to speak it before starting first grade.
    adults: anywhere from 3 to 10. My current contract is a full-time one-year course (35 hours per week) that takes adults from zero to B2 or C1. (They're testing this week! And they're all very tired.)
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  7. Wise owl chick

    Wise owl chick Active Member

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    Wow, it seems great. I hope that yoru students will pass their tests :)
  8. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    Aeornautical engineering has a very difficult curriculum, and it's mostly about defining the outside shape of airplanes, spacecraft, etc. I's a relatively small field = not many jobs.
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  9. Cainntear

    Cainntear Active Member VIP member

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    I'm not sure I'm allowed to discuss my job in this forum, because I'm currently teaching English, so it's not off-topic! ;-)

    I'm just past halfway through a four month contract in a private language school in Palermo, Sicily, and last year I taught in the university of Corsica (hence the current avatar).

    When the current contract ends, I'm planning to go freelance and do a small amount of teaching face-to-face and by Skype just to keep a bit of money rolling in while I work on a software project that's been a bit stop-start for the last couple of years. I now have something very nearly ready to put into beta (and I'll be advertising for testers here if Big_dog doesn't mind).

    I'm planning to do less English teaching, though, and try to get into teaching Scottish Gaelic as although it's a smaller field, there is possibly more money in it -- in Skype teaching, open competition in the major languages seems to be driving down prices (good for the student, bad for the teacher) and in face-to-face teaching in Scotland, most English students are unemployed or work as kitchen porters, whereas a lot of Gaelic learners are middle class parents. For Gaelic, I also have a secret marketing weapon that I'm contractually obliged not to mention, so I need to grow my beard back so that others will notice it. Oh, and buy myself a very specific type of hat....
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  10. tastyonions

    tastyonions Member VIP member

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    If I can manage to finish up these final two summer courses, I will be a computer scientist. Well, I suppose I could still try to get software engineering jobs without the degree, but it would certainly be a bit harder!
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  11. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    Looking forward to it!

    This is true. I know it's a major language, but it's interesting how French is significantly more expensive than English, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. Fewer teachers, higher prices.
  12. Stelle

    Stelle Active Member VIP member

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    Fewer teacher, higher prices - and also most French teachers are in Europe or in Canada, where they're used to commanding a higher wage (and where the cost of living demands a higher wage). I currently charge double for my French lessons what I pay for my Spanish lessons (when I have time to teach over Skype - which I don't at the moment) - and it's still quite a bit less than I make when teaching in person, especially when you take into consideration italki's 15% cut. There are very few people living in less expensive countries offering French lessons, so there's no one offering lessons for ridiculously low prices and driving down the market.

    My teachers in Spain have to charge a lower rate than I do because there are community tutors in the Americas charging as little as 4 dollars an hour. And even if teachers in Spain triple that, it's still not enough to feed themselves. The internet is flooded with English teachers in the Philippines tutoring for 4 or 5 dollars an hour. There aren't as many French teachers living in places where it's worth their while to work for less than half of minimum wage (which is currently a hair over 10 dollars per hour where I live, and which doesn't provide a living wage).
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  13. biTsar

    biTsar Active Member VIP member

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    Thank you for this. I favor paying a higher rate, and look for some good to come of these relationships.

    I have a tutor in a fairly remote region of Africa and pay $20 USD / hour. This has broadened this person's horizons. I've sent links showing tutors in other countries earning similar amounts, the hope is that my tutor will be bold in setting the fee if the plan is to become a part of italkie. I met this person privately so there is no 15% cut in our transactions.
  14. Stelle

    Stelle Active Member VIP member

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    I keep trying to convince my Spanish teachers to increase their prices. One of them did, by 3 dollars an hour. She lost a few students, but then gained new ones. I'm suggesting that she increase her price again after a few months. We'll see if she does!
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  15. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    I know a French lady who started a language school in Thailand. She keeps her Thai staff fairly busy teaching Foreigners Thai and Thais English. I asked her if she personally just teaches English. She told me that she teaches French practically all the time, and she's fully booked by all the Russian tourists. Now prices are low in Thailand, but I paid $18 for a 50 minute lesson from her. One could live high on the hog in Thailand with that hourly rate.

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