Job Discussion Forums

[rorymoylan]

I am leaving for Buenos Aires in March but do not have the time or money to complete any kind of TEFL etc course I London before I leave.

Has anyone completed a TEFL course in the city? Any problems/benefits? To be honest there are so many out there (I have posted some websites of ones I have come across at the bottom if anyone wants to look) that it is hard to see what each is offering and how transparent the qualification you come away with will be.

Any reports/tips on finding work in Buenos Aires once qualified. Did anyone find work without a certificate of any kind?

Im lost in a sea of TEFL info and need help...what more can I say!!

http://www.travellingteachers.com/TEFL_Courses/Country_Argentina.php

http://www.learn4good.com/tefl/tesol_training_courses_argentina_buenos_aires.htm

[vivaBarca]

Hey. I completed the EBC course in September, and have mixed feelings about it. I�m going to post a much longer, in depth response detailing my experience soon...but I know it�ll be a big undertaking and right now it�s WAY too hot to do anything of that sort!

Short answer: don�t do it. I have friends who don�t have any experience and they seem to be finding work - although not much of it - just as easily as anyone else.

[amy1982]

do a tefl course if the thought of stepping into a classroom and teaching english makes you dizzy... (what do i do? what do i say? where to begin? how? etc....)

that's why i did it. because i didn't have any teaching experience and i had no idea where i would begin. i took the ebc course, which includes 8 hours of teaching practice to argentines, and i felt MUCH more prepared upon completing it. to be honest, i don't use any of the lesson plans i made for that course because my students are different and most are one-to-one classes. but it gave me the chance to try teaching in a "safe" environment where people weren't paying for the classes and i wasn't risking getting fired.

the most valuable lessons i learned through ebc were how to go about planning and executing a lesson plan and what does and doesn't work when teaching. like i said, the teaching practice was really helpful.

that said, you can definitely get jobs here without a certificate. and if you feel confident enough that you can go in and start teaching, do that! you'd have to work A LOT of hours to make up the $$$$ it costs for a course. and some (if not most) institutes will hire native speakers even without a certificate. and as they get good feedback from your students, they'll give you more and more hours.

my only caution is that some students do complain and institutes will take your class away from you and not give you anymore if they believe that you're a bad teacher. so whatever you do, even for "conversation" classes, come prepared with some materials and a definite topic to discuss... if you've got that and you're friendly, you'll do fine.

[YanquiQuilme�o]

I can understand where Amy is coming from. If you're in the same boat that she was in, then you might want to consider a TEFL course.

The reality is that if you are a native speaker, you don't need qualifications of any kind. You will find work here ... especially if you leave the posh parts of the city (i.e. Palermo), and head for the parts of Argentina that aren't full of Anglophones.

If I were you, I would try to find some volunteer work in London. There are tons of immigrants in London who need to learn English or improve their English. Get involved in a volunteer program. That will give you loads of real-world experience.

[Ackerley81]

Here's a deal for you...Give me $50 and I'll teach you everything I learned in EBC and you'll save about 1200 I was in the same boat as Amy..I took the course because I had no idea what to expect in the classroom. But I think if you ask enough people who are living and working down here in BsAs you can get a pretty good idea of what it's like. And hey, if you screw up big time at your first institute there are plenty of fish in the sea-- BsAs is swarming with English institutes. Another thing I got out of EBC is a nice list of all of them. Again, give me 50 dollars....

Sarah

[rorymoylan]

Hmmm...cheeky touch Akerely but if your in BA in March/April I may consider buying you a Quilmes for it. Thanks for the help all. Booked my flight today so I'm definitely going...