Job Discussion Forums

[lovehappens]

I like people so don't want isolation. Love cultural differences, like to have a quiet night's sleep, not an alcoholic, love animals, my dog is coming with me, but I hate pollution.

Would love to hear where some of you living there love to live and the cost it might be for me and my little dog to find an apt in a nice place which is not isolated. Also what about buying a car there? Is it possible and what kind of cost would I be looking at?

My fear is to arrive with my dog in my arms and not know where to live for the first month while I apt. hunt. All kind answers appreciated.

ahhh I am fluent in Spanish but not Portuguese. I think I can study Portuguese and learn it roughly and quickly before arriving.

[icehockey23]

It is a little difficult to respond to this. I think you should research a little on the internet first about Brazil and then narrow things down a little. For example, do you want to live in a place that experiences a cool season? What kind of weather do you prefer? Are you coming and expecting to work? Can you give us some idea of your budget regarding what you can afford in rent? It would be like me asking about moving to the USA - which part should I go and live in? How much would it cost?

Maybe I can help a little with your more specific queries.

Buying a car in Brazil should be no problem - there is a complete range of used and new for any budget. I'd say cars are cheaper here than in many places. Like anywhere - you will get what you pay for.

Here is a link with some driver's license info for Brazil:

http://www.gringoes.com/articles.asp?ID_Noticia=1568

In my experience getting stopped by the police here especially in Rio or the Nordeste (what i would call a shake down) is not a pleasant experience when you dont have all of this in order.

If you are fluent in Spanish - picking up Portuguese should be pretty quick and easy.

Regarding your dog, here is some info about bringing pets into Brazil.

http://saopaulo.angloinfo.com/countries/brazil/pettravel.asp

[lovehappens]

I can be more specific. I have a Master's degree in a relevant field, 6 plus years teaching English to college and adult students. In Latin America I initiated a successful adult English program.

A decent paying job which would allow me to save is my goal while living in Brazil comfortable and safely without being decadent.
I lived in Latin America for 10 years and in Arab Gulf for several. Most of my life I have lived internationally.
My thoughts about Brazil have been that it would be a wonderful and exciting place to live for a long time but wonder if I can make an income that would allow me to save.

Weather? it's not a priority although a moderate climate is preferable. I have lived in mega cities and in smaller communities. Right now I would prefer to go where there are better paying jobs in teaching. It seems that most good paying jobs that I have had are not in the best places to live.

[icehockey23]

Hi lovehappens

As i have said before on this forum, Brazil is a great place (IMHO) but making good money in ESL here is challenging.

If you have your masters in a suitable area, e.g., applied linguistics, you can (theoretically) apply to Brazilian Universities but it is a long (probably taking at least a year) and compicated process - everything needs to be translated into Portuguese (including your thesis). It is very competitive - most of the professors in the South of Brazil teaching English are actually PHDs - in the North and West they are not. These jobs are highly desirable for Brazilians and from most of the Uni's point of view foreigners bring no real advantages - there are plenty of Brazilians just as qualified or more (also hiring us is an administrative nightmare for them). If you are truly interested in this you can PM me and i will provide you with further info.

The next best paying option would be to work at an international school. However, unless you dont mind working at a low-paying missionary school, most of these will prefer licensed public school teachers from an English speaking country and usually directly hire from US or UK uni's Faculty of Educations.
Here is a link listing some international schools in Brazil:

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/rio/schools

You can easily google others

After this, making decent money here gets challenging. Probably, your best bet would be to teach private lessons with corporate clients in the city that you choose to live. But this will take time. Networking and having contacts is essential here. Nothing happens super fast. Sao Paulo will pay the best money but living there is also the most expensive.

I know someone who lives in Sao Paulo. He spends his day running around the city doing privates, he is an IELTS examiner, he was able, after years and years to get a job with a local college, he still supplements by working part-time at a small school. He does some translation - He makes good money but he is giving it up to make better money working in the Middle East.

There are many many English schools in Brazil, many small and many chains but they really dont pay very much - I dont think you could expect to save anything near like you could working in North East Asia or the Middle East.

[J.M.A.]

If you have an MA in Applied Linguistics or TESOL then you could network yourself into a management position of some sort in a worthwhile language institute, although it might take some time without contacts. The university process would be more complicated as another poster said.

But do you have a work or permanency visa? Without one of these I don`t see how you could make it longterm or even save money, because the vast majority of foreign language teachers cannot get visas here.

Also, have you been to Brazil before? It`s the type of place some fall in love with, and others do not.

Brazil is a large country geographically and population wise, therefore you will find a wide variety of regional cultures. You could live in any number of relatively large cities, but I think you would have to experience them to decide which is best for you. It depends on what you are looking for: you could go to the South (Florianopolis, Curitiba), Southeast (Sao Paulo, Rio, Belo Horizonte and various other medium size cities), Northeast (Salvador, Recife, Natal) and the list goes on and on.