Teaching - the upsides

The greatest thing about teaching in Prague is the students. Depending on how well you choose your school, teaching in Prague can bring you into contact with some amazing people. You may teach some 'public classes' of six or so people within the school itself, but mainly you'll be travelling to the workplace of individuals who are often heads of industry or successful in whatever field they work in. I taught a newsreader, the director of a film studio, directors of the national bank to mention but a few. Even those who are less 'important' can be equally fascinating and a rich source of Czech history, Prague culture, local information and general good advice. Many become friends.

You'll quickly get to know Prague in a way that people with conventional office jobs never do. Armed with nothing more than an address and a map, you'll be expected to locate your next job and calculate the quickest and easiest route with only minimal help from your school. You'll see parts of Prague that no tourist or ordinary expat ever will.

Though you will work bizarre hours - often early mornings and early evenings with nothing in between and lesson planning till midnight - you will have free time when others are stuck in their nine-to-five. You'll learn more about your own language than you ever did at school and probably learn to love its richness and complexity.

So long as you are prepared to face the downsides, teaching can sometimes feel as though it's not really a job at all - just a pleasant way of meeting new people.