Job Discussion Forums

[FloridaTEFL]

Okay, no its not. But will it ever be in regards to pay? If any continent could use English training this is the one. I'm hoping to get there sooner or later w/o regards to pay...but it would be nice to save a little while I'm there. Wishful thinking perhaps?

[DZNZ]

Hello,

You had better not ask any questions about money! Apparently, die hard "educators" like stillnosheep and moondog scoff at any person who attempts to make a semi-decent living (see previous posts of mine). They are above reproach and your question only offends their sensibilities!

Good question and I would (persoanlly) like to know what people think about this . . .

DZNZ

[ls650]

I can only speak for Mexico, not the rest of Latin America. I've found that wages are better than Asia - but living costs are also much higher.

(shrug) I doubt it will change any time soon: it's very easy for Americans/Canadians to come here and find an entry-level teaching. With that many more instructors available, the market won't give a higher wage.

If banking some savings is a priority, you are much better off to stay in Asia.

[Justin Trullinger]

It depends on what you mean by "save." I have accumulated considerable savings since I've been in Ecuador, by local standards. That's to say that an EFL teacher can earn/save enough to go to university, take a long vacation, buy a car, or perhaps even a house. Someday, but it will take a while. And all the things I've mentioned, you could only do locally. Trying to do them "back home" on what I earn here would be a joke.

But thats the thing about EFL savings- the country you're in determines the economy that your savings could work in. You can't expect to save for a first world economy when working in a third world economy.

Regards,
Justin

PS- I don't think anybody is offended by your question. If there were a place in SA that I could make more money, without sacrificing quality of life, I would be there. But experience seems to show that I'm doing as well here as I'm likely to on this continent.

[Flo]

I worked in Peru and was able to save a lot of money. I was paid very well at the University I worked for and it was extremely inexpensive to live there. The school paid for most of my plane tickets. In the end I saved well over $2000 or $3000 USD (maybe more, I can�t remember) traveled extensively, and lived very well by Peruvian standards. The problem was the "life" lacked "quality".

Now I am in Mexico and I make less money than I did in Peru, and I spend every peso of it. It is at least 3 times more expensive to live and travel here than it was in South America. I have spent all the money I saved while in Peru just to be able to survive in Mexico.

There are jobs in Mexico that pay better than what I make now. Perhaps I will work someplace else next year. The quality of life here, however, is not too bad. I definately wouldn�t consider Mexico as a "third world economy". It is a developed nation and some individuals here have a lot of money. The problem is that the wealth isn�t distributed very far into the community.

[matttheboy]

Cost of living adjusted to PPP (Purchasing Power Parity)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America#Living_standards

Economist Big Mac Index:

http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4065603

Here in Buenos Aires, you won't save much, if any money but you'll have a high standard of living (food, drink, cultural activities, sporting facilities, nightlife) comparable (and better) to many European cities for what you earn. Providing you come with a couple of grand in savings to tide you over in the short term and during the summer you'll be set.

[moonraven]

If you have excellent qualifications, there's no reason for you not to receive a salary that alows you to save. I have typically saved 50% of my salary--in a dozen years in Latin America--mostly in Mexico. That has allowed me to work about half of each year, and to travel and do projects the rest of the time.

If your qualifications are not competitive you won't receive a great salary in your home country, so there's no reason to expect you should receive one here.

[vivaBarca]

Here's another good cost of living survey, it was actually just put out on Monday by the Mercer HR group


http://www.mercerhr.com/summary.jhtml/dynamic/idContent/1142150

[MELEE]

There are all extremes in Latin America, in just about every area I can think of, including English teacher salaries.

Years back in Ecuador I was making less than I was spending (but I was having a great time )
Now in Mexico, I've made enough to buy a car (paid in cash), a house (with a loan) and have two kids (by far the most expensive of all!).

[MixtecaMike]

Latin America may one day be the New Asia, but not for a while.

However, if anyone is interested in a job in the Old (Original) Asia where one can EASILY save US$1000 a month PM me ASAP.

[Luder]

Back in the days of Domingo Cavallo and "convertibilidad," I made so much money teaching English in Buenos Aires that, now, more than five years later, I'm still drawing on the money I made there to get me through the dry summer months in Europe. The Argentina racket turned into a meltdown, of course, and you can no longer make there the money you could, but it was kind of sweet while it lasted. And sometime or other you can be sure some Latin American economy minister will peg his currency to the dollar at some unrealistic rate (Cavallo was hardly the first Argentine to do so; in the 70s, under Mart�nez de Hoz, there was the "plata dulce," which soon went bitter, of course), maybe just so he can attract more money-hungry English teachers to his country!

Panama might be a place to consider teaching. At least your earnings would be in dollars. How many of them I don't know. An interesting (and perhaps disturbing) thing about Panama is that there's a perfectly bilingual underclass of black West Indians while the Creole elite is, on the contrary, solidly monolingual.

If you're American, you could also try Puerto Rico. The people are friendly and it's more of an exotic experience than a first glance (highways, traffic, suburbs, Taco Bells, and so on) might lead to you to believe.