Job Discussion Forums

[MikeySaid]

I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to be able to pay off my student loans when I finish school. I'm a senior finishing up a BA in Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures, and I'm minoring in Global Studies. Here in California, even state colleges are getting really expensive, and i've built up a decent debt to where i'm looking at monthly payments of around $200. That said, all I really want is to live abroad. I need a real change of scenery, and to get some good job experience. So... for the last few years, TEFL/TOEFL/TESL/TESOL has seemed to me the best avenue to do what I want.
Latin America seems a natural fit given my course of study, but it seems like the money is all in Japan and S. Korea. I'd love to work in Spain, but as U.S. citizen, it looks like that could be a bit difficult. Reading some of these threads gets a bit disheartening. So i'm wondering, what are the best options for TEFL teachers? Obviously, everyone wants to get paid well, but for me this isn't just about travel, I want to make a career out of teaching, and my goals include going to several places (Japan, China, Italy, Spain, others), paying off debt quickly, and being able to save so I don't have to work until I'm eighty.
Any thoughtful input would be appreciated.

[ls650]

[joshua2004]

Talking about Mexico:

I found it difficult to find a job that paid enough to get ahead. But, it is very possible to do this. From what I know, university jobs pay the most and that is a matter of timing. I know people that got a job at the Tec the Monterrery a week before classes started, full-time, because of their need to fill the slot. I would post your resume to the Tec de Monterrey people or other big big universities. On top of that, of the people I know that work there, many of them are not teachers by trade and have business degrees and such. When I tried to get a job at the universities, I was told "ah yes, I am sure we can get you some classes when classes start in a month" You will get told this by all the schools. Thing is, they tell you that so that you will hang around and teach a class if THEY need you. If they don�t have enough students, then the classes will go to the full timers and people with more seniority than you. That's the way any university or college works. If you get in when they need someone, you could be garaunteed a full-time job and all the perks. Apply as far in advance as you can, like January for the fall.

[moonraven]

Most entry-level jobs in Latin America will not permit you to pay off your debt. Here in Mexico, that means taking off 2,300 pesos plus the cost of transfering money from your net salary. That totals close to 3,000 pesos. You need to have a net salary of at least 8,000 pesos to live and do ANY traveling here, so if you add another 3,000 to that you're talking a net of 11,000 or gross of just under 15,000 pesos. I don't think you can hope for that here. Central and South America pay VERY poorly unless you are darned lucky and have a PhD or other terminal degree plus 15 plus years of experience to offer a private university.

I'm with Is650 on this one--for probably the first time ever--pay your debts first.

[ls650]

[Carina_Cisneros]

I cannot speak for Mexico or Brazil or Argentina, but almost every other place I have been in Central or South America, I would say this is not a good idea - not at all. In Central America, even the best jobs are low paying. In South America, there is a little more money, but even there it would be a tough go of it, especially if you do not have much ESL teaching experience. Part of the benefit of being abroad, is getting around and seeing things when you can, and this, next to rent, can be the next biggest expense. You would almost surely have to forgo travel to try to pay off loans; you might also have to share living quarters with more people than planned, not go out very often, etc., etc., etc., and all of this might tend to make the experience less of an "experience" you care to remember. If possible, try to get debt free and have at least 1500-2000 in savings before you go - to account for anything for which you are not now accounting, so to speak. This is porbably not the news you wanted, but I tried to imagine the people I have known in Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, etc., trying to do what you are describing, on the salaries they had, and .... well, I just can't do it.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[pirateinpanama]

probably not.
In Panama, we probably make more than most in this part of the world. Depending on the job, but people I work, with will make about $1,000-$1,200 per month. American dollars. After you pay rent, utilities, and food, there isn't very much left over.