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[Tarrasque]

Hi all,

So I've been contacted by a school located in Jundiai (N/NW of Sao Paulo city), and was wondering if anyone might happen to have lived/worked there before, or even currently?

[Thomasmc89]

Hey,

If it's Oxbridge you're talking about then I worked there for 3 and a half months this year. It's a super lovely school with really nice staff and a nice family feeling as it's not a huge school. It's a great experience to get to know Brazilian life in the businessy area that is Sao Paulo state and get to learn some Portuguese while you're there. The students are very friendly and interested in getting to know more about you as a 'gringo' teacher from far away. Mostly you work early in the mornings, have the afternoon free and then work again in the evenings from about 18:00 - 22:00.


The only downsides are:

-the wage isn't great (as you can expect, it being Brazil) but it is more than enough to live on and save a bit on. Expect to earn about R$2,300 a month. Accommodation costs around R$500 a month.

- The area you will live in doesn't have much around it and the streets become literally deserted after sunset. The reason for this being that it's a bit dangerous to walk around alone after dark. Having said that I never saw even the slightest hint of danger during my entire time there, but then again i'm a tall(ish) man. Most people drive or get uber (the taxi app) from point A to point B after dark as it is safer. You can use uber once you get a Brazilian SIM card and it's cheap.

- Until you make a friends group of your own it can be quite lonely as most of the other foreign teachers are married or in relationships and tend to stay at home with their partners in the evening and/or at weekends. They're friendly people, just have their own lives in Brazil as you can imagine. Some of the ways I made friends was through couchsurfing, Brazilian teachers in the school and talking to friendly looking people in the street. Most people don't speak much English, even young people, so learning a few basic words is a necessity.

- Some of the evening classes are 3 hours long with a short break in the middle. In my opinion a 2 hour class is the maximum a student should have, as humans simply can't concentrate more than this. The students are ok with it but often the last hour can drag as you see their minds are simply saturated with information.

- Sao Paulo is quite a distance away. You can take the CPTM train for R$3.80 but it takes about an hour and a half and sometimes the train is full and you must stand. The other option is the Cometa bus for about R$17. It takes 40 mins. The train is more interesting though as you see many different types of people from different economic backgrounds and ages. Buskers, guys selling water and snacks walking up and down the train etc.

If you need any more info, just ask