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ldragon
Joined: 01 Jan 2011 Posts: 32
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:05 pm Post subject: Teaching w/ BA of English, no TEFL |
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Hello. I am considering teaching English in Costa Rica. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English from a US university, but no TEFL or related certification. I have 2 years experience in education and early childhood care. I have 5 years experience in social work. What are the chances I would be able to find decent work in Costa Rica? Also, what kind of pay should I expect as a base? Are there a lot of opportunities for private lessons? |
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jprimm
Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 91
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Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:35 am Post subject: |
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In my opinion, you really won't find a great job and expect no more than 8 dollars an hour....and have savings as it is not that cheap....just the truth... |
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tuanis mae
Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 34 Location: costa rica
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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the days of just showing up to a country, and just because you speak english, landing a job easily are long gone. There are very few schools that hire without a TESOL or TEFL, and the ones that do are probably not very good schools. I recommend that if youre going to come all the way down here to teach english, do it right and take a TESOL course first. |
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ldragon
Joined: 01 Jan 2011 Posts: 32
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:41 am Post subject: |
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Ok. Thanks people. I've heard Costa Rica is one of the countries that doesn't 'require' a TEFL certificate, but that source is a little outdated. |
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dhsampso
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 Posts: 44 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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I had one friend teach at one or two Institutes in San Pedro/Los Yoses without a TEFL cert, but it is a little rare these days with so many teachers having TEFL/TESOL/CETLA. I think she worked for ProLingua at one point and she eventually landed a job working in a private elementary school. So, she fared very well. However, a teacher in a primary school is also the nurse (no school nurses, so gotta watch the kids all the time) and don't expect to get too much support from the school administration with class supplies and nagging parents (I guess nagging parents is usual, but in Latin America it can get you fired real easily).
I made roughly $6/hr. as a teacher, but I had a salary, so I was lucky not to have weekly fluctuations on my income. Others pay more, but you may have the class-by-class payment scheme where if your class gets canceled you don't get paid. I was also lucky to have almost all my classes on-site at the school where I worked (Maximo Nivel). A lot of people have to travel around and that can get old real quick; especially when going to the beach involves long bus rides. You can definitely make more at other places and with private classes, if you're allowed (some contracts with schools don't allow you. Then again, you're working illegally most of the time, so how is the contract legal, haha.)
Your BA and experience will help, but TEFL lets an employer know that you have methodology to teach English as a foreign language. Good luck! |
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