Life in Prague is amazing so does teaching English in Prague is. I loved my time there and I loved being able to teach English there. As someone who has learned Spanish and is learning French, I am thrilled to be able to spread my love for languages. I was also happy to mimic my language teachers’ styles in my own classroom.

Here is a comprehensive guide to teaching English in Prague. If you would like a more in-depth analysis…if you are very interested, check out my post here.

TEFL Certification

However, I didn’t major in languages or teaching or English literature. I actually majored in Marketing, but I wanted to travel and I decided a good way to do so would be through TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language).

I picked Prague because there are so many TEFL schools! There are actually so many job opportunities for teaching English in Prague and the Czech Republic as a whole.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t speak Czech, I didn’t and here is why:

  1. It forces the class to be held in English instead of 60% or 40% or whatever in English.
  2. If you are teaching children (who need a bit of Czech) there is a Czech teacher in the room for any translations or bathroom needs.

Visa Options for Czechia

Before jumping into teaching English in Prague specifically, let me go over visas in the Czech Republic. Please consult your own government’s website for more specific questions and information.

For most non-European citizens such as American or Canadian here are the options:

  • Work Visa/Permit
  • Working Holiday Visa

There are certain rules in regards to the work visa and permit in how many hours you can work and what types of jobs you can have. I was fortunate enough to have the working holiday visa where the restrictions are less.

I didn’t even need to have a job if I didn’t want it.

Because employers are more familiar with the work permit, they hire foreigners based on part-time schedules. Even with my working holiday visa, they still gave me part time. Due to this, I was able to work for two different teaching schools, which offered me different classes to teach.

Paths for Teaching English in Prague

There are a various paths of teaching English in Prague:

  1. Teaching Business English
  2. Teaching Scientific English vocabulary (like health related)
  3. Conversational English
  4. English to Young Adults
  5. Kindergarden Teacher

I worked with Threshold and Caledonian.

With Caledonian, I was given a young adult class- they just graduated high school and took a year off to work on their English before arriving in University. I was the “native” teacher and was supposed to be more fun and conversation practice. I was provided materials, but I could also change things around if I wanted.

For Threshold, I was given different classes around the city. These classes were paid for by the different companies so their employees could practice their English. It wasn’t straight business English per se because they didn’t need English in their work. Often, they just wanted to practice because they had no other opportunity.

Other Information

Some other friends worked in similar classes or they were kindergarden teachers. Some stayed in Prague and rose the ranks from assistant teacher to main teacher, but for those who are looking to just do a year like me, they remained assistant teachers.

Assistant teachers are native English teachers and do projects in English with the students, but there is a Czech teacher there that is there for the other subjects and any translation needs. As with children, they either do not have the English level or the patience to speak in English.

However, these teachers are not in any way saved from cleaning up after the children- either be via toys or in the bathroom.

Since I speak Spanish, one of my schools offered me to teach a Spanish class. I didn’t need to be certified to teach SPANISH. They said my TEFL certification meant I could teach no matter the language. However, due to lack of students they had to cancel the class.

This is also another option for those who speak other languages. If your language is desired and you have the TEFL, the school you work for might be open to having you teach a class or two.

Let me know if you have other questions in regards to Prague and teaching English!

Other Prague Jobs

If you would still like to work in Prague, but don’t think teaching is for you, there are an assortment of other jobs available.

One job I applied to and even received a job offer to was tour guide.

Though there are many English tour guides, the tour guide operation I applied to was in dire need of Spanish guides and other languages. If you speak other languages than English, this can also be an option.

I decided not to take this job offer because I had my English teaching jobs, but also because I managed to find a marketing job with an American company.

Due to visa restrictions some jobs are more cautious with who they hire. I went into a job interview for a hotel and they didn’t want to hire me due to my work permit. Even though they could have because I didn’t have a work visa, but a working holiday visa, but they were being cautious, which is understandable.

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