Job Discussion Forums

[chuchaqui]

Greetings everyone. I will be embarking on my first TEFL experience in January when I go to Cuenca, Ecuador to get my certificate. I will thereafter be staying in a Spanish-speaking Latin American country to teach Spanish. My question is this: where could I go that would be (mostly) free of tourists? Or would any smaller city thats not close to a beach, mountain, or fantastic ruins do the trick? I am open to any city in any Spanish-speaking country. I lived in Madrid for a year getting an MA in Spanish and was appalled by all the English I heard on the street. I know there is virtually no money to be made in LA. That is OK by me as my goals are mainly to see if TEFL is for me, to live there and to perfect my Spanish. Is it easy to get part time (10-15 hours a week) contracts in LA? Any info would be appreciated.

[shebab]

Hey!

The only country in the world that is almost completely free of any English speakers or tourists of any kind is Colombia, and within Colombia, the city of Medellin. The Binational Center is very large and well developed there at www.colomboworld.com, and they could arrange your visa and air tickets. You'd be making about $1000 a month to work 30 contact hours a week, which is pretty good money there.

Medellin is a fantastic place to pick up Spanish, and as a foreigner, you would definitely be a novelty that people would flock around! Most of the gringos who work in Colombia have sucessfully assimilated into the local culture. If you want to learn more, please PM me.

[dduck]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[shebab]

[jg]

Hey,

You wanna avoid English or just not see any gringos? There is a diff... as one of the other posters mentioned, most of L. America sports cities that are both touristy and places where you can speak only Spanish if you want to.

Primo example - Cartagena. I doubt there is another city in the Andean countries more assocatied with tourists, but I spent last summer there, and it was VERY rare for me to see another gringo. In two months of constantly being in the streets I saw maybe 9 gringos, two of them nappy-ass backpackers who had probably forgotten how to speak English anyway... my purpose was to go and speak only Spanish and thats what I did, 24/7. I had no choice! Colombia's troubles scared off most tourists, except for Colombian tourists of course... you could go to Santa Marta and do the same thing. Both these area were safe and I felt cool being there. I joined a gym, took guitar lessons, smooched my neighbor, and all in Spanish.

Other good bets

Loja, Ecuador - smallish city with nice parks and not a lot of tourists go there, but they have places where you can arrange some lessons, enough to buy an almuerzo and maybe a jugo to wash it down with.

Cuenca, Ecuador - a cool city that is sort of touristy but still at the end of the day good if you only want to speak Spanish this is a great place and you can find plenty of work. Stay away from three or four cafes/restaurants (Cafecito is gringo central) and you can bathe in the Spanish...

Lima, Peru - all the white folks LOVE that one tourist district - I forget what its called but there was a Hard Rock Cafe there, its not hard to avoid really... I rented a flat in Barranquilla and spent a lot of time there and in Chorillos, another beachfront neighborhood. Again, no English! Just chatting up my neighbors or Peruvian 20 somethings at restaurants and bars.

Its really on you. Get away from the tourist areas and its Spanish time. Good luck!

[chuchaqui]

Thanks for all the info. I don't want to permanently, completely isolate myself from gringos, but obviously, for a cultural and linguistic experience, it is the best way, perhaps the only way, so I guess I just want to avoid the English language as much as possible, especially considering I will be using it daily on the job. I really have no clue when it comes to LA, as I have never been there, and only have Spain as a reference point (SWAMPED by gringos 24/7, except in smallish cities). I never really had considered Columbia before, but it seems like a safe and viable option? I might give that a look. I am leaving in December for a TEFL program in Cuenca, Ecuador (CEDEI school, if it rings a bell with anyone) and was wondering if visas are problematic in LA, or is it independent of what country you are in? I have read that generally, either visas are not essential, the authorites don't care, or you can just make a border run every 3 months. Also, the reason why I asked about part time work is because last year I worked 20 contact hours a week teaching Spanish in the USA and, having no prior teaching experience, nor training, my free time was slim to none that year. I would say I had to spend about 2 hours per every actual teaching hour as far as preparing the lessons, grading papers, etc. I guess what I am getting at is, do you have enough free time, at the end of the day, to devote to personal interests and endeavours, like learning the language, travelling, etc, if you are working 20-30 classroom hours per week?

[MELEE]

I worked at CEDEI in 1995, just after graduating from Uni. I loved it and had a great time, but CEDEI (and in my opinion all of Cuenca) are Tourist and Gringo central, maybe it is not so bad post 9-11. One of the biggest problems was that you couldn't get the local price. Once in the market, I overhead a local women in front of me buy a kilo of potatoes for X price, she walked off and I asked for a kilo of potatoes, I was quoted a price four times as high, I said, X price, and the seller turned her back on me and refused to sell to me. At the time I was making US $2.50 an hour and woking seven hours a week so, while I certainly come from a rich and priveledged background compared to locals, I really didn't have much cash.

Cuecna is on the "gringo" trail through South America, so there is a constant stream of tourists. CEDEI is also a site for various US University study abroad programs so about four times a year it is invaded by 30 or more US college students.

The Center of Cuenca is increadibly quaint, and I loved living there, I lived in an apartment above a German run place call Wunder Bar. The builidng is more than 300 years old and it was the most amazing apartment I've ever lived in to this day. But if you are looking to be away from the tourist trade and all that is associated with it, you might not be happy there.

On another note, if you are looking to get away from English (and immerse yourself in Spanish) you might not want to be teaching English as you may find that you need to work many hours to support yourself and working as an English teacher means speaking English.
As someone who already has some command of Spanish, why not contact your Peace Corps recuiter and ask about non English teaching assignments in South America? And see what your chances might be. I know they have sort of youth center type positions in some locations in Ecuador.

[Mark-O]

I can only comment on Cuenca as a destination. A poster mentioned 'quaint' and I'd definitely second that opinion. Whilst travelling (July 2002) I spent some highly valued time there and was stunned by its beauty and charm. The buildings there are particularly impressive. The Ecuadorian government was really trying to sell it as an ultimate tourist hot spot - propoganda posters everywhere. That said, I saw very few gringos there, but I recognise that it's certainly on the aforementioned trail!

It would be a great place to spend some extended time, though I spoke to several Ecuadorians and they all stressed the fact that the dollar was crippling the local people. I believe prior to the introduction of the dollar, the currency was that of the Sucre(?) The dollar had the effect of rounding everything UP to the nearest dollar such that cost of living inevitably went up, but this was not in correlation with the wages that remained the Sucre equivalent. Like much of South America, poverty is an issue but not akin to that of Bolivia, for example.

I found Ecuador (and Colombia) to be noticeably more cosmopolitan compared to the Southern countries of Peru and Ecuador - which was refreshing. Safety-wise, we just had to watch our backs in certain areas at certan times of night - common sense prevails.

Good luck with the course and I'm sure you'll love Cuenca - who wouldn't?