Job Discussion Forums

[raquelt]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I am looking for advice that is specific to Ecuador. I did a year of university in Ecuador and I would love to return in may to teach english. I know my qualifications aren't great but I'm looking for honest advice at my chances of getting a job in Quito. I have an honours BA in international development and environmental studies. As part of my university program I spent a year in Ecuador where I worked in a hospital teaching pregnant women about nutrition and at a school with children with downs sydrome. While I was in Ecuador I privately taught and tutored high school and univeristy students in English. While i was teaching I really loved it!

These are my questions:

Will I be able to get a job?
Will it be hard to find a job in may since school starts in september?
Is getting on online TEFL worth it?
If I teach at a lesser quality school for a few months in the summer am I likely to find a job at a better school in september?

Sorry for all the questions. I would really appreciate any answers and advice you might have.

[Justin Trullinger]

Hey Raquelt- Are you planning on staying in Quito, or willing to travel? Just curious- jobs would be available either way. Where was it you volunteered?

Anyway, to answer your questions:

Will I be able to get a job?

Probably. The MArket for native English teachers here is much greater than the supply- so you can almost certainly find something. Exactly what will depend on a few other circumstances, but there's always work.

Will it be hard to find a job in may since school starts in september?

It may take a little longer- but mostly the school year doesn't affect the hiring season in private language schools, which is what you'd most likely be looking at. I'd say that fewer schools are hiring in May, but some always are.

Is getting on online TEFL worth it?

As a personal opinion, no. Most are truly useless as far as training goes. As a practical matter, to help find a job, well, maybe. Some schools insist on some certificate, but don't much care which. And if the DOS is clueless enough, it might sway things in your favour...but is this where you want to work? Probably a much better idea to do a four week onsite course- it'll help you feel better prepared for the work as well, though I understand that cost may be a factor.


If I teach at a lesser quality school for a few months in the summer am I likely to find a job at a better school in september?

Depends on what you do in terms of training. Honestly, the experience in the lesser quality schools won't usually count for much- and probably shouldn't. Because you won't get anything in the way of teacher training- and the quality is so low in some of these schools that a lot of directors will find it hard to believe that you got much of value from them. If you start at a crappy school, because it's what's available, you could move up later when more stuff is available, IF you have the minimum requirements to do so. But experience in a lower tier school probably won't waive any requirements.


Good luck, and PM if there are any details you need about QUito.

Justin

[raquelt]

Thanks Justin, I was actually hoping you would reply! You seem to have alot of good info about Ecuador.

I'm planning on staying in Quito. I love the city and I have people who are practically family there. When I was in Ecuador I volunteered at Hospital Raul Maldonado Mejia and a school down the street from it for children with downs syndrome. I can't remember the name. You might not have heard of either because they're both in Cayambe.

Thanks for your answers to be questions. It makes me feel a lot better that someone else thinks I could probably get a job there. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions for you when it gets closer to the time I go (april/may).

[Justin Trullinger]

Feel free to drop me a line as the time approaches- I've been here for a while, and probably will be for the immediate future.

On a fairly personal note, I would encourage you again to get some on-site formal training. It's a personal crusade of mine to challenge the image of English teachers in Ecuador as unqualified backpackers. English is so necessary to so many people here that giving them a good service in exchange for their money and time seems to me to be the least we can do.

I'm being honest and saying that you could probably find a job, with or without training- but I hope you decide to go for a good cert.

All the best,

Justin

[MELEE]

I also agree with Justin on the training. And I have personal experience. My first teaching job was an exchange English classes for Spanish classes in Ecuador of all places!
I didn't have any training and I'm not sure what the school was thinking with this program that they've since discontinued. I had a really really hard time and felt like a fraud. I was assigned some students who could speak some English, but not a lot and had access to a shelf of English text books and had to try to figure out what they need and how to give it to them. I had a wonderful experience in Ecuador, but dreaded teaching and didn't think I'd do it again after that experience. When I was back in the US after six months as a bilingual telephone interviewer (YUCK!) I met someone who was a TEFL course trainer. After talking with her, I signed up for the course and went to Japan. The school I worked for in Japan had a very structured program with preplanned lessons for me to follow, that coupled with the TEFL course made a world of difference. The school I worked for had ongoing training and while teachers didn't have a lot of freedom, I made mental notes of what worked well and what didn't, the more I learned about teaching languages and the English language the more I enjoyed the job. I'm still at it 10 years later and I'm still learning more and more. I can't believe I ever dared to do the job untrained, the difference is night and day. But I chalk it up to the program that brought in recent college grads as cheap (practically free) labor.