Job Discussion Forums

ian2007 · Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 2

hey everyone,
my girlfriend and i are planning on arriving in buenos aires at the end of august.we both have tefl diplomas with some limited teaching experience under our belts. so good so far,except my girlfirends polish. although she is fluent in english,and understands its complexities and structure better than i ever will,she has been disheartened by most schools seeking of only native english speakers.
my question of course is f this is the case everywhere or is there schools who are willing to take on someone who is a great english teacher,but hampered by her birthplace?
she even got better grades on the tefl than me...!
cheers anyone who replies,
ian:)

bejarano · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 67 Location: South Korea

ian2007 · Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 2

id hardly be going out with an ugly girl would i? Wink

so you reckon it'll be okay for her getting work?thats good news...now to practice how to say " back off man" en espanol...
cheers
ian

pbsotto · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

I'm originally from Russia, but have been living in the States for a number of years and of course have a slight accent when I speak English. I've been working for two weeks now in BsAs after finishing the EBC course and haven't run into any problems...I don't think it matters here if you are single or in a relationship. They don't ask, because it seems irrelevant, wouldn't you agree? I find people here are very professional, they want to learn the language so if she is a certified English teacher who does not have a heavy accent then she should be OK. Also I got a very good support from EBC as well. If you are a good student they will actually talk to some employers who pay the highest rate and voila, your weeks are filled...Good luck!

cwwander · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Buenos Aires

I've been teaching in Buenos Aires since 1996 and believe that there shouldn't be any problems that your girlfriend is Polish. In fact a few years back I met a couple like yourselves. I can remember clearly that she had nearly 38 teaching hours a week (more than him!). Shame I can't remember the institutes she worked for. Beckett Studio rings a bell.

mndking · Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

I've just started working in Madrid after finishing the EBC program but sudden personal changes (BF, to be exact!) has pointed me towards Buenos Aires Argentina. I'd like to hear from teachers who've done this relocation, Madrid - Buenos Aires - EBC grads, other English teachers. I've never been to South America, so I have no clue how it's out there. Work, housing, etc, etc. Thanks in advance.

pbsotto · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

The housing and everything else is MUCH cheaper...but the food, in my opinion, is better in Madrid. Here, it's just all meat, pizza is awful and don't try seafood...Plenty of work though.

sheena maclean · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:40 am Post subject:

Wow things must have really changed in the 6 months I've been away, because housing was always the most expensive part of life out there. that could take up almost half your wages. I never understand when people say Buenos Aires is a cheap place to live because at the end of the month I could very rarely survive on my wages which I definitely couldn't say about living here (Scotland) and at the end of the day thats the ONLY way to know if a country's cheap enough to live in if you are living on a local wage.

pbsotto · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Happy St. Patrick's day to everyone!

Well, mndking was trying to compare Madrid and BsAs and in BsAs you can rent a decent place for US$300-500 (I'm still paying much more for mine, but not for too long) and you can easily make US$600-700 by teaching... Oh, and you can of course share the apartment with someone if you want and it'll be even cheaper. Some of my groupmates are sharing a big apartment and are paying around US$150 each and it's a nice place! I haven't taught in Madrid (just visited), but know that everything is much more expensive there, just like everywhere in Europe...I think most people that come here to teach English come for an experience and thus have an extra income coming from somewhere else or use their savings, you can't possibly hope to make a career out of it or save money or any of these crazy ambitious ideas...

sheena maclean · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:21 am Post subject:

Yes but the in Spain the pay is also better comparable with the cost of living. I don't think that can be said for Buenos Aires. The cost of living is definately higher in BsAs. Surely the idea of having any job is to be able to live in it and enjoy it not and not just using the majority of your 1000 odd pesos an month earnings paying 'gringo' rent of 7-800 pesos a month. We should be able to live on out wages after all Argentines dont't have dollars or Euros to fall back on to live on so why should we.

mndking · Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

Hi pbsotto,

That's funny, the BA transplants I've met in Madrid said the food here doesn't compare at all with Buenos Aires ... oh well, I'll let you know how things are in a couple of months.

One thing's encouraging , there seems to be work in both cities, I've had to turn down lots of work in Madrid so I'm glad Buenos Aires seems to be good as well. I guess its the way EBC gives their graduates support, our class was all set up with hours, 2, 3 days after the course. I wasn't too surprised though because even during the course you could hear the staff asking academies to wait because we haven't graduated yet. Well... here's to the best in Buenos Aires!

mndking · Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

My resume has been sent to around 150 + schools (institutos?) and some have emailed back saying I need to be in BA before they can hire me. Can anyone tell me about two schools in particular ? - IBL and Bespoke English. They were the ones who seemed the most professional in the way they responded to my questions. I asked them at EBC about these schools and they said lots of past graduates were hired by them. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

pbsotto · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Bespoke is good. I'm currently working for him, James, is his name. He has tons of books available for the teachers to use and he pays well. IBL is AWFULL, just awfull. They pay 15 pesos/hour and they ignore your emails etc, they SUCK, don't even waste your time for an interview with them!

mndking · Joined: 10 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

tx pbsotto, its great to hear from you guys already in Buenos Aires. I'll let you know who the other institutes are, I've been getting a lot of emails from BA schools but I can't give them a definite start date, of course they want to do a personal interview which is understandable I guess. out of curiosity, do they prefer American English or British English in Argentina, sounds like a silly question but in Madrid, some "academias" prefer one over the other. because we're just waiting for some stuff from the states, i'm doing short intensive courses, at least i've got some savings when i get there, even only for the fact that the euro is soooo strong. that said, i'm sure i'll still be left with no savings ... well, you gotta have fun when you still can! Cool

amanda

pbsotto · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Anytime Amanda. I'm happy to help if I can...Some institutes prefer one over the oher here as well, but most of them don't care. I'm not even a native speaker, but have only a slight accent. I think, just like everywhere in life, your personality is important, especially here, they are such nice people, very warm and you need to show them that you can have fun while teaching and of course be professional, etc...Anyway, sounds like you have the right attitude...you'll be fine!