Teaching Positions in Yangon, Myanmar

Hello, I am an American who owns a small school in Yangon, Myanmar.

We teach English and some academic and professional courses. We are currently focused on helping students come to study in the US. However our long-term goal is to become an accredited university. We are adult education with the exception that we do have some very overpriced tutoring services for children. (It is overpriced because customers demanded I provide this service which I did not want to offer, as I enjoy adult education).

We have both classroom courses and private tutoring. You could expect half of your time to be spent on each of those.

Currently I have one fellow American teacher and one Filipino teacher. I need to double my staff.

I hire professional teachers. You may develop your own curriculum so long as it is reasonable. I hire professionals, not people who need to be micromanaged. We all have valuable experience and unique styles. In fact, you may be more qualified than me for the subjects you teach. Personally, I teach courses which I also studied in college, so I use those curriculums as they are exactly what is taught in the US and designed by great professors. Other courses I teach based on my many years of work experience.

I am a for profit business but profit is not the whole world to me. I don't like the regulatory requirements on non-profits so I went with this model. But, I am not rich nor looking to get rich. I love Myanmar and want to provide them with the best education I can. But, because of that I cannot afford a grand salary. It is however a very cheap country and I cover the most important things.

-Salary: Base salary is $1500 per month for a 40 hour workweek. 
Expect 15-18 hours of classroom time and 5 hours tutoring. If we get more tutoring demand though we can decrease courses.

-Bonus: 50% of tuitions in excess of 200% of your pay. 
After the income from your students reaches $3000 per month, then you will start to keep 50% of those extra tuitions. I have alot of expenses to cover and it will take months for me even to make enough to cover your salary. I actually take alot of risk to ensure your salary. But if you are successful and make us successful I believe in compensating for it.

-Apartment: you have free board for 1 room in 2bed/2bath apartment shared with another teacher. If you want a private apartment then I would need to reduce your salary by $250 per month (which is half of what I would expect to pay for the apartment). Apartments are to US standard; but not luxury apartments. You get private room, air conditioning, hot water. Since I'm American I understand how important these things are. Not like if you were working for a local who will not care if they got broken.

-Travel Reimbursement: I will reimburse 50% of your travel expenses up to a total of $800 at a rate of $100 each month. Other people come and quit just to use someone for free travel. I want people who are serious to stay and teach.

-Pension: I contribute to a small pension. After you complete 1 year you will be eligible for pension contributions. It is a small pension, but I have not seen any competitor offer this. I want people to work for me long-term.

-Transportation: just like in the US, your daily commute is on you if you wish to take a taxi, but if I send you somewhere (for example tutoring) then I cover your work-related transportation expenses. 
-Maid: I used to include a maid for cleaning, but lately it has been very hard to find people to do this job at a reasonable price. I intend to fill that opening as soon as I can though.

-Holidays: We recognize standard holidays and it doesn't count against your salary. Myanmar has alot of holidays.

-Vacation: you will earn one day off each month. Keep in mind each day you take off means that students miss their classes unless you can arrange swap with another teacher, which I hope you do. I will not dictate to employees though that they MUST swap. Keep good working relationships!

Other considerations: 
I am looking for people who want to live and work in Myanmar long-term. We are a secular academic school. We are non-political and non-religious. I cannot have staff with political or religious recruitment mentalities. There are plenty of other options for you if that is what you want to do.

Likewise, as The American Institute, we are a niche for American English so I am looking for other Americans. If you are British or Australian my competitors would be happy to utilize you.

I am a combat veteran. If that is not okay with you please don't apply.

If you are a family, I am fine with that. I'm not the kind that only wants single people. But, be aware you will have extra expenses in managing visas.

I am also not looking for young people. If you are retired, that is great, the more qualifications and experience the better.

Notice that I did not specify education and experience requirements. I will look at the whole picture. I am however not looking for recent graduates with no experience. My current teacher applied with Bachelors on his resume. After he worked for me I found out he has PhD. He was afraid of being overqualified. I would have been even happier when I hired him had I known that prior. I'm not some big corporation with HR assumptions. I'm a small business.

Myanmar is not an easy country to live in! It is not Bangkok! It is a newly opened democracy of people who don't know what democracy is. The city is safe, much safer than US cities, but such a big change is having social strain. There are many inconveniences. But, those are in exchange for an extremely unique cultural experience. I look at it, 6 out of every 7 days are very stressful. Then on that 7th day something happens that blows my mind, in a good way.

Also, don't listen too much to the news reports, they are biased and I have seen outright lies. Keep in mind that other countries are trying to delegitimize the government for their own economic and political agendas. This isn't the place for me to explain the details, we can discuss in interviews.

I am flexible in your start-date.

Email - matthewortiz@theamericaninstitute.org