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Frequently Asked
Questions
1.
How much does it cost?
$1,500 USD for tuition(this includes books)
2.
What is it?
TESOL is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
3.
Is it difficult?
Yes.
4.
Does everyone pass?
No (see above)
5.
Is grammar tough?
It can be hard for native speakers to wrap their heads around the
Meta language, but a good grammar resource will help. Eventually the logic of
the forms will reveal itself.
6.
Will I get a job?
Most people work soon after graduating.
7.
Where can I work?
Asia, Europe,
Africa, South America and North America
Visas: Visas are required
by all foreigners entering Indonesia although, and can be acquired upon entry.
Once you
arrive in Indonesia immigration forms will be available at the airport. For $25
USD you will receive a one month tourist visas. Longer visas have to be
obtained outside the country. Visas are available from Indonesian embassies and
consulates in most countries.
Health risks: Dengue fever, malaria
and cholera are all present in Indonesia. Immunization against cholera, hepatitis
A and B, and C are good ideas if you decide to live here. We will keep you
updated as to any outstanding health issues.
Time: GMT/UTC plus eight
hours (the whole of Indonesia is set to Beijing time).
Electricity: 220V, 50 AC; plugs
can be three-pronged angled, three-pronged round, two flat pins or two narrow
round pins.
Weights & measures: Metric
Banking
Indonesia uses Rupiah for currency. (see exchange rate)Credit cards are
becoming more common in Indonesia, but cash remains the preferred form of
payment. You can access funds from your home accounts using Cirrus and Visa
Plus ATM cards in the bank machines of larger local banks.
You can transfer money from just about any
bank in Indonesia to your own bank at home. You can get a money order or
electronically transfer up to 100% of your salary.
Opening an account is very easy. Once you
have your Kitas(Work Visa) and registration card, you can open your account.
All you need are the proper documents, which include an employment statement
provided by the school , passport, residence card, and a copy of your contract.
Banks
include:
BCA Bank
Central Asia
HSBC(Hong
Kong bank)
Citi Bank
and many
more
If you don’t
have an account Western Union is widely available here.
If you don’t have your own computer Internet
cafes(Warnets) are readily available.
Generally clean- with a variety of services,
from printing to scanning, available.
International calls can be made easily from
your home or from a Wartel(a telephone center)that has facilities for
local,national and international calls.
Faxes can usually be sent from a wartel,if
not your school should have this facility.
Shopping
Shopping is
one of the major pastimes in Indonesia. If you are an enthusiastic shopper, you
will fit right in. You can shop at street stalls, some of the largest open
markets in the world, big department stores, and small specialty shops. Whether
your looking to shop in an air-conditioned supermarket or mall, or
looking to rough it in a more traditional market, you'll find electronics,
t-shirts, handicrafts or souvenirs. There are better bargains to be had
in the markets, especially with custom-made goods, leather items, knit shirts, and tennis shoes, and knock offs.
Don't be afraid to haggle.
Teachers
always have ideas about what to bring to Indonesia. Shoes were most frequently mentioned - in the form of sturdy
walking shoes, wide-sized shoes, and warm boots. For some overall advice, if
you are happy with the shoes you have, bring enough to last your sojourn. Don't
count on finding the same thing in Indonesia (especially good quality for
reasonable prices). The only exception is athletic shoes; sometimes these are
cheaper in Indonesia.
With regard
to all clothing, "Western large sizes" can be difficult to find,
especially for women, and extra large sizes are non-existent. Women may have
difficulty finding larger sizes undergarments.
However, if you would like custom-made
clothing at affordable prices, Indonesia is a great place to obtain them.
Indonesia
has restaurants. By and large, they sell Indonesian food, but there are alternatives as well.
Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean and Western foods are available, but relatively expensive. American
fast food chains are here. Some hotels and restaurants offer American, French,
and Italian food. Vegetarian restaurants are few and far between, though they
do exist. Most Chinese food contains meat and/or seafood or is cooked with meat
broth, but the amounts used are small and it's easy to ask for no meat.
Generally,
people acquire a taste for Indonesian food; if not, they eat Chinese, Korean,
Japanese or fast food and fantasize about what's not available." Bottled water is cheap and many
teachers have it delivered to their apartments. If you plan to cook Western
food in Indonesia, you'll probably want to bring some herbs and spices with
you. Red and black pepper, garlic powder, ginger, and cinnamon are easily
obtainable. Many Western items are available as special imports, but they are
expensive. If you are used to limiting your intake of salt, sugar, or saturated
fats, you will find it more difficult in Indonesia. Both Indonesian and Chinese
food can be quite tasty, and oily, and fatty and salty. In moderate amounts it
may even be healthy.
If you are vegetarian you should bring yeast extract
tablets with you if you use them, or any form of vitamin tablets. Fruit is not
that expensive. Vegetables are cheaper. Being unhealthy is the most expensive.
Fast food is
readily available. Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Wendy's, KFC,A&W, Subway and Doner
Kebab are the big names
Most of the
necessities are available in some form, including many locally-made versions of
North American brands.
Also, if you are fond of using name brand, over-the-counter medications (e.g., Tylenol, Benadryl,
Rolaids), bring them with you. Those remedies for diarrhea and hacking coughs
are especially useful. Contact Lenses:
Bausch and Lomb, Coopervision, and local brands of contact lenses are
available. Disposable contact lenses can also be found. Alcon (Flexcare,
Preflex) and Bausch and Lomb products are available at some pharmacies, but
usually though the optical stores. These products usually run 150-200% of U.S.
prices.
Chinese
brands of enzyme tablets are available, but their imported counterparts are
expensive. Other product lines tend to be more widely avail able and less
expensive. Many teachers have been quoted as saying, "Oh, I wish I had
brought ... with me." This is usually in reference to board games,
computers, greeting cards, novels, and craft materials (e.g., knitting, and
cross-stitch).
Some
instructors bring enough personal items to last a few months and have the rest
shipped to them. However, mail can be slow and sometimes gets lost.
If you have personal
materials that you are able to bring with you, do so. While there are
bookstores in Indonesia with sections, they are usually quite expensive, since
the majority of these items are imported. Especially useful are game ideas as
well as activities that can be transferred across any subject area and level of
ability. Most schools have such games as Scrabble and Word Up available for use
in the classroom, but quantities are limited and tend to get used often.
Indonesian
mail service is less than good, and rates can be more expensive than North
American postal service rates. Airmail to North America usually takes four to
ten days, but delays are not uncommon. Surface mail can take as long as two or
three months.
Registered
mail and express mail services EMS, as well as private services (e.g., DHL,
Federal Express) are also available. It is best to have mail sent to your
institute address rather than your home address.
Shopping:
Rice 1 kilo 15,000 RUPIAH
Pasta packet imported 12,000 RUPIAH
Orange Juice 1 lt. 16,000 RUPIAH
Coffee jar instant 30,000 RUPIAH
Tea box of bags 30,000 RUPIAH
Can of Coke 3-5,000 RUPIAH
Beer 3-10,000 RUPIAH
Chicken fillets 1 kilo 20,000 RUPIAH
Sliced ham 8 slices 60,000 RUPIAH
Sliced bread half loaf 4,000 RUPIAH
Baguette 9,000 RUPIAH
Pastry 10-15,000 RUPIAH
Instant noodles 2-5,000 RUPIAH
Chocolate bar (western) 10,000 RUPIAH+
Transport:
MiniBus 2,000 RUPIAH
Taxi 4,000 RUPIAH+ 1,000 RUPIAH per Km
Minimum charges(pickup on street) 5,000 RUPIAH (Telephone request) 10,000
RUPIAH
Train to Jakarta 60,000RUPIAH (single)
Train to Yojyakarta 30,000 RUPIAH (single)
Train to Banyuwanyi (near Bali) 50,000 RUPIAH
(single)
Flight to Jakarta 500,000 RUPIAH (one-way)
Flight to Bali 500,000 RUPIAH (one-way)
Eating Out:
Local Lunch Box (rice, meat and two veg) 5,000-10,000 RUPIAH
McDonalds (burger, large fries and coke) 20,000 Rp
Chinese Restaurant (3 dishes + rice for 2) 30,000 – 50,000 RUPIAH
KFC 30,000 RUPIAH+
Drinking:
Beer (depending on brand and venue) 15,000-40,000 RUPIAH
In the
supermarket
Bottled
Local Beer 10,000-15,000 RUPIAH
Canned Local Beer 8,000-13,000 RUPIAH
Orange Juice 30-40 RUPIAH
Most of
Indonesia's sightseeing attractions are accessible to the dedicated traveler.
Singapore, Malaysia, or Hong Kong are not out of reach.
There are
many open air theaters and cultural sites where individual performers and
groups appear, especially in Jakarta. Indonesia has an active traditional
theatrical and musical community.
Home Entertainment
Television
A few good local stations. Trans TV is a local favorite as it has two
English-language movies every night. Cable isn’t needed for local channels. A
cheap rabbit ears device is enough. Cable is available for those who need ESPN,
Star movies/sports, HBO or Discovery channel.
There is at
least one English language radio station.
Swimming is
popular in Indonesia. There are a lot of public pools and most fitness clubs
and hotels have nice facilities.
Hiking
Indonesia is
such a mountainous country that hiking is always an option. There are a number
of trails and passes that you can explore. Early morning is the best time.
Fitness Clubs
There are
some private health and sports clubs.
Atlas,
Tresor, Celebrity Fitness
Books, newspapers magazines and videos
Gramedia,
Trimedia and Gunung Agung all have English language sections. Sogo supermarket
has a fairly swank bookstore.
Bring a couple of novels and swap with friends.
Newspapers and Magazines
Time, Newsweek, the Economist, GQ, Esquire, Premiere and
a few other magazines are available in Indonesia for the English only speaker.
Don’t expect to find Playboy or Penthouse here.
A daily newspaper, The Jakarta Post, published in
Jarkata but distributed daily in Surabaya...
Movies
Movie
going is made easy in Indonesia by the 21 Chain of Cinemas.
You can rent
a wide selection of new and old movies on VCD or DVD. In some stores you will
find a large sampling of Chinese,Hong Kong, and Indonesian. The bulk of the
selection, old or new, is American.
Lots of
bars, discos and cafés and restaurants are available.
Dining Out
There are also a number of nightclubs, discos, café, bars and karaoke
clubs in downtown Surabaya and the surrounding areas.
Leisure time in the various cities can be spent in a number of ways. You could
go native and take to the shopping streets; bowling is another very popular
pastime; there are bars and discos to dance and drink the night away in and
there are restaurants of every denomination. The more up-market western bars
and restaurants can be expensive and dining in these on a regular basis would
be a strain on your purse strings to say the least. However, there are other
western eateries in which one can eat at affordable prices, such as 80RUPIAH
per head inclusive of beer.
Generally
beers are quite steep in nightclubs at a cost of around 60-70,000 RUPIAH and
wine is very expensive and can cost as much as 100 RUPIAH per glass. However,
eating in local restaurants and drinking Bintang beer is very affordable and
living in this way you'll find that your wages will go a long way. A large
lunch or dinner in a local mid-range restaurant will cost from 50-60,000 RUPIAH
per person including beer or a soft drink.
Coffee shops
and café are a major hangout for Chinese. You'll find these by exploring, or by
asking older students,staff or teachers.
A number of
different religions are represented in Indonesia.Five are officially
recognized; Islam, Hinduism,Buddhism, Catholicism and Christianity are the two
most common. Yes those last two are consided quite distict here.
Mosques,temples and churches abound and some services are available in
English.
Applicants
for teaching/or study positions in Indonesia are advised to contact their
Embassy. The Embassy should have an information service for people considering
an extended visit to a foreign country. Don't carry large amounts of cash,
jewelry or your personal ID. Be discreet with camera equipment.Don't use ATMs
late at night if it can be avoided. Be aware of your surroundings. Surabaya's
relatively safe,but it's still a large city with all the good and bad that
entails.
Public
transportation is inexpensive. Indonesia is accessible, and has a fair amount
of cheap taxis and buses. Transportation within Indonesia is cheap and
convenient. Nearly all areas within Indonesia are connected by a network of air
service, trains, boats, ferries and buses.
Indonesian
Lessons
There are a number of schools and there are private lessons available. Ask
around.
Martial Arts
Do you want to study Silat, Tae Kwon Do, Wushu, Kung Fu or Tai Chi. View it as
alternative fitness or cultural enrichment. Take a chance.
Applicants
for teaching positions in Indonesia are encouraged to contact their Embassy,
which has an information service for people considering an extended visit to a
foreign country.
You'll
always here stories about how bad doctors
are, even at home. Indonesian medical care and dental care is clean, prompt, courteous and not at all
expensive