News from our grads
Linda in Bosnia
TI graduate Linda Parkes writes about her adventures in Bosnia-Herzegovina
"I moved to the UK in April 2005 and was employed by Berlitz Language
College in Brighton, on the South Coast of England.
I was employed from June on a part-time basis, but was given all the
work I could cope with over the summer. I taught all levels from Intermediate
up to IELTS, individuals to groups of 15 and all ages from 12 to 50.
The work was so varied and I met people from everywhere: Russia, France,
Libya, Hungary, United Arab Emirates, South America, Switzerland, Germany,
Italy, Poland and more; it was fantastic!
During my time in England I travelled through Europe regularly and fell in love with Eastern Europe. As winter grew colder and darker in England, I knew I needed to move on. So I began to search the ESL job sites for a job "somewhere" exciting. Whilst searching an ESL website, I saw a position advertised by Seal School in Bijeljina and Brcko in the north-east of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I applied for the position and then at the invitation
of the owners I flew to Sarajevo two weeks later
to check out the school. I was impressed by the
excellent resources, the professionalism of the
owners and the attitude and dedication of the
students. Here was a school in a country with little infrastructure that
was still suffering and damaged from the war only ten years prior, that
was offering a service to the local community equivalent or better to
any other language school I had seen anywhere in the world; a real credit
to the owners. So I accepted the position, flew home to Australia for
six weeks, and returned to Bosnia-Herzegovonia in January to commence
work.
Seal Centar za strane jezike (Seal Centre for Foreign Languages) has four schools in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bijeljina, Brcko, Sarajevo and Zvornik. They employ local teachers for the Elementary to Pre-Intermediate classes, but are committed to offering classes from Intermediate and above with teachers who are native English speakers. So at the present time there is a teacher from Australia, one from Canada and two from England. They also offer classes in other languages.
I have now been in Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina for
a while and I am really enjoying it. Bijeljina
is in the agricultural area in the flatlands
where the Sava and Drina Rivers meet about 15 km from the Serbian border.
I share a flat in the middle of town with another teacher. The flat is
a two-minute walk from the Bijeljina school. I travel to Brcko two days
a week to teach. Brcko is 40kms away and is situated on the banks of
the Sava River and also on the Croatian border.
Bosnian people are very friendly and welcome you into their homes with open arms and lots of food. I have travelled to Sarajveo, Jahorina Mountain (1984 Olympic site), Belgrade and other villages around here.
One last comment: I am attempting to learn the Serbian language. As you may know it is similar to Russian and very difficult. I am also learning to read in the Cyrillic alphabet, as ALL signs are written in Cyrillic in this area. It is a little easier than what I first thought.
I have a contract for one year and look forward to what the year will bring. I hope other graduates are also having good experiences."
Linda Parkes - Teach International Graduate
