Job Discussion Forums

kshea · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

Hello everyone first post here. Im really interested in teaching in Buenos Aires, but I really need some advice first. Im concerned about the difficulty of finding a job as Im only 18 though I will have an AA degree in liberal arts in december. Ive noticed that schools in other countries prefer bachelors degrees but I havent noticed where Argentinean schools stand on the subject. I was thinking about trying to go in February, would this be a good month? Also I came across the website road2argentina.com; anyone heard of this website? I was thinking it might be a good idea to get my certification while in Buenos Aires to give me time to adjust to the city, but I really dont know which of the tefl/tesol certificates they award and I dont know which would be the best for me. I hope to start volunteering at the tesol department at my college soon which hopefully will give me some good experience.

Thanks in advance for any help

Thailandneil · Joined: 24 Sep 2006 Posts: 7 Location: BsAs

Hey there,

Regarding your degree, they may not even know what AA is which could place you at an advantage (don't worry about deceiving them, it seems to be the national past time here). I'm from the UK and I had to google it to see what is. Here a BA takes around 5 years to complete so they may consider it pretty much the same as a high school degree.

Normally I would not recommend doing a TEFL as most places will accept a degree and expereince in place of it. However in your case a TEFL would probably be a great help.

However!

I would strongly recommend you reconsider teaching in BsAs. It is really, really tough to live decently as an English teacher, in fact it is almost impossible unless you have another source of income or free accommodation. However, it is a (more or less) great place and a cheap place to live (only on dollars though!). So I would suggest you do a TEFL here, sus the place out and then consider teaching in Chile, Columbia, Korea, Taiwan or somewhere else which pays enough to survive.

A note about your age. I'm hardly a granddad at 23 years old, however I do sometimes feel a little awkward as my youngest students are 30 years old and many are 45+. The vast majority of teaching here is with adults. However, don't let this discourage you! Teaching English is a great experience especially when you are in your position. I spent a year teaching English when I was 18 and can't recommend it enough. However, I taught in a high school in Thailand so I was slightly older than the other students. If you can find work teaching in a high school or primary school (probably not in Argy) then I would highly suggest you do that.

Hope this helps,

Neil

kshea · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

Hey thanks for your response. I am not concrete in my decision to move to BA but it would be nice. Although I am not partial to Argentina, I am partial to Latin America; Im from Florida and have been speaking spanish for years, but I want to really perfect it. Argentina seems like a safe and fun country (I actually thought about Chile or Uruguay as well). I was thinking also of maybe la plata or a smaller city. With that in mind can you make a recommendation of a specific tefl in Argentina or perhaps Chile?

Thailandneil · Joined: 24 Sep 2006 Posts: 7 Location: BsAs

Hey there,

Glad to be of some help. Unfortunately I have no idea about TEFL courses here other than there are quite a few. Check out http://www.eslbase.com they have some good info. Also try a google search and then google the potential school to check for disgrunttled students.

Argentina is definitly fun and more or less safe but just very impratical for the teacher. I've heard good things about teaching Chile but the polution might be a bit much in Santiago. I'm also told that Columbian Spanish is the clearest to learn and despite all the drugs/civil war/violence it is actually fairly safe there. Have a look on some of the other forums here and see what you can find.

And who knows, in the time it takes to complete your TEFL you might have enough contacts to make a living from teaching here. Especially if you have good Spanish and can negotiate an apartment for a fair price. As with most places it is all about the connections.

For more info on Argentina check out:
http://suitcaseonwheels.blogspot.com/
http://www.goodairs.com/
http://www.baexpats.com/

Take it easy,

Neil

roro825 · Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 20 Location: potomac, md

hey, i am about to finish my tefl in santiago and would def recommend the school i got it from. it's tefl academy and i def feel like it's prepared me with all of the tips my teacher has given me and practice teaching. there's so much feedback and ideas traded and in a very respectable place. i actually am thinkin of goin to b.a. to try and find work though cause santiago isn't exactly as amazing or culturally awesome as i've heard b.a. is. gl!

sh07024 · Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11

BsAs is definitely full of fun, I was working as an English teacher for a year and in Aug of this year decided to move on and I now live in Madrid. My 2 cents on this , you won't earn a lot as an English teacher but again teaching isn't where you go to for mega bucks! I was mainly working for 2 institutes and I had some privates as well and I earned enough to enjoy my stay. For my TEFL certificate, I studied with EBC and it�s a good place to start your EFL, I was happy with their teaching and job placement help. If looking for work is impt to you, check them out, or look into old posts here, you'll find all sorts of experiences with TEFL schools in BsAs. Suerte.

Shirley