Job Discussion Forums

[matttheboy]

Hello there,

I'm planning to go to Ecuador in September and was wondering whether anyone out there could answer a few questions for me...

First, a little about myself: I'm 25, hold a Ba(hons) Management Studies degree (degree class II:i) from Leeds University in England. I completed the Cambridge Celta last year and now have 8 months teaching experience working in Australia and England. A lot of my work involved teaching South Americans. I have 2 very good references from the places i have worked.

OK, question time....

1. What is the job situation in Quito at the moment? Is there enough work to go around and how much of an advantage will having CELTA be (given that most people have it nowadays)? Can i expect to earn enough to live off (ie-board and food, fortunately i'm not totally destitute and have enough saved to go travelling and go out if i want to)?

2. My Spanish is, to say the least, pretty poor. Half the reason i'm going to South America is to learn the language. I speak French and am picking up Spanish fairly quickly through self-learning, but how much of a disadvantage in finding work and general living will not speaking Spanish be?

3. As i mentioned, i'm going over in September; what would anyone recommend doing first- travelling for a while to get a feel of the country or finding a job first, picking up the language a bit and then travelling?

4. How much of an issue is having a visa? I'll be in Ecuador on a tourist visa. Do most schools simply turn a bling eye?

5. Finally, what can i expect from Ecuador- It's my first trip to South America? I've travelled pretty extensively in other parts of the world- i'm good at meeting new people, not afraid to spend time on my own and pretty open to new experiences. What are the highlights of the country and what are the must see's/do's?

Thanks very much in advance for any advice you can give me. I hope that i'll be able to give something back to this forum in the months to come. I'm not including my email address in this post beacuse last time i put it on a discussion forum i was inundated with a multitude of, shall we say, 'inappropriate' and frankly unnecessary offers of surgery not to mention links to wholly unsavoury websites...if anyone wants my address then you'll have to run the risk of putting yours on the forum and i'll write to you...sorry!

Thanks again,

Matt Ridgway

[grahamb]

Have you looked at the Ecuador Job Information Journal on this website? You�ll find some first-hand information there.
Vacancies in Ecuador appear from time to time on the various TEFL websites, so it�s worth browsing through them.