A salary of around $80,000 per year plus free housing and yearly air-tickets home are among the benefits offered to English teachers by certain U.S. companies doing business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not all organizations are as generous, but most offer salaries and perks far better than what are available in the rest of the world.
The downside is that one may have to put up with difficult conditions in Saudi Arabia. Temperatures in Riyadh can reach 55° C in the summer, whereas the climate of Taif (altitude 1700 meters) is delightful all year round. One employer may have a reasonable teaching program while another may be utterly bizarre and impossible to carry out. One housing compound may impose complicated, highly restrictive rules on swimming-pool use while another may have no rules at all.
Because of the unpredictability of it all, the Golden Rule for working in the Kingdom is: research Saudi living and working conditions thoroughly. Assume nothing and ask plenty of detailed questions to people already employed by the organization you are interested in.
ESL-EFL Jobs for Women in Saudi Arabia
Women may not be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, but this does not mean they can’t teach. There is, in fact, a great demand for female English teachers, who are hired to teach women and girls.
Below is a list of organizations which employ English teachers in Saudi Arabia. Email addresses are given when possible, but may no longer be valid. Google the organization’s name for up-to-date job offers.
Saudi Universities/Institutes Seeking English Teachers
- English Language Institute, King Abdulaziz University Jeddah (elc@kau.edu.sa)
- English Language Centre Al Baha University (elc@bu.edu.sa)
- Jubail University College (ucjjobs@gmail.com)
- University of Ha'il (jobs.elc@uoh.edu.sa)
- King Saud University, Riyadh (hmansour@ksu.edu.sa )
- King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran (recruite@kfupm.edu.sa)
- Saudi Institute for Public Administration, Riyadh, Jeddah (esl@ipa.edu.sa)
- National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jeddah (jobs@nit.edu.sa)
Companies Looking for English Teachers in Saudi Arabia
- Raytheon Company, Jeddah and Taif (search for Rayjobs)
- ELS Language Center, Riyadh (taha.els@gmail.com)
- Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Wall Street Institute, Taif (prof.alaali@gmail.com)
- Booz Allen Hamilton, Jeddah, Riyadh and elsewhere
- Vinnell Arabia Employment, Riyadh (vinnell.resume@ngc.com)
How to Research Teaching and Living Conditions
Teachers who plunge into a radically different culture from their own will find that new doors have opened up in their lives, inviting them to explore universes they have never dreamed of. On the other hand, they may not be able to handle some customs, concepts or laws which contradict the assumptions they have grown up with.
For example, they may find themselves in a situation where the curriculum, the materials or the classroom organization seem unreasonable. Such problems, however, can be avoided by doing proper research before signing a contract.
Websites for ESL Job Information
Fortunately for English teachers investigating jobs in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, the internet makes this kind of research easy. Excellent websites such as Dave’s Internet Café and Joey’s ESL Room have been created by Globe-trotting English teachers who know what they are talking about.
The Saudi Arabia forum at Dave’s, in particular, is a gold mine because it allows job-hunting teachers to ask specific questions to people working at a school under consideration.
Teachers who find the right job and the right living conditions in Saudi Arabia are often delighted with their situation and frequently renew their contract over and over, sometimes right up to the day they retire.
