Job Discussion Forums

Yenifer_LA · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:01 am Post subject: Eager to teach in Latin America

I am new to dave's ESL cafe and would like to gain some valuable opinions on teaching in Latin America!

i don't have a certificate but i do hold a BS and a MS degree...i have experience in a classroom but not teaching ESL!!

I was born and raised in El Salvador, therefore i speak spanish really well!

what are the chances of someone like me gaining a job teaching english in Latin America??

I've looked at the job opportunities on this site but it seems that alot of the jobs being offered are from either agencies or certificate programs where i need to pay for them to find me a job or i have to get a TEFL/TESOL certificate in order to get a job!!!

any helpful information will be awesome....I don't feel like teaching in Los Angeles anymore!! There is a strong desire to go back to Latin America!!!

Gracias!!!!

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

YOu might be able to teach at an international school if you have a license.

If not, then you could get a job at an institute. Are you a native speaker?

Don't pay to get a job. YOu might try www.tefl.com or pick a country and look once you arrive.

Yenifer_LA · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

thanks for the info!

yes i am a native speaker...english and spanish

that is one of the reasons that i feel i would find a job much eaisier in latin america (with the exception of Brasil, but i also know enough portuguese to survive)

the agencies that i have come across require a service fee in order to place me in a teaching job BUT i'm sure i could attain a job without having to pay!

what about a certificate? is that really essential to get a job? will a bachelors and a masters be just as good, if not better?

stillnosheep · Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe

Do not pay agencies such as i-to-i to get you a job. It is totally uneccesary. A TEFL qualification such as a CELTA or CTESOL, although not always strictly necessary to get a job, opens up more jobs and is always useful as it provides a bit of knowledge about the language and teaching methodology as well as observed practice in teaching English, which is different to subject teaching in various ways, including the fact that primarily one is trying to facilitate and encourage the development of a skill, rather than imparting information.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Certs aren't that important for jobs, but they help you in the classroom. Paying for a job is when you want to have something lined up before you go. If you don't mind arriving without a job, and knocking on doors, then don't pay. I'ts probably better that way, you can meet the employers and other teachers first.

ajarnlilly · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 35 Location: Managua Nicaragua

My experience in Ecuador:
Firstly, Ecuador changed its visa laws, after I got here relying on the old ones. If you arrive on a 90-day tourist visa, you may NOT renew it. Nor may you get another such tourist visa for at least 9 months. You can get another type of visa, covering tourism and other activities, for $230, plus notarized documentation that you either have the funds to live here or a notarized document that an Ecuadorian will support you. You cannot know beforehand how long this visa will be for. It can be for 30-90 days. Yes, you can pay $230 for a 30 day extension! Plus the documents you have to have notarized at a minimum of $10 each and any fees you may pay to a lawyer. The range of fees I have been quoted for that is $250-1500. A friend here had to pay a $200 fine for overstaying his visa because his lawyer did not submit his application in time, AND he had the time he had already been here on the tourist visa subtracted from the time left on the new visa. He ended up paying over $800 for a 60 day extension. Why did he want this extension at this price? Like me, he came here to take a job in Ibarra. That story below:

I was offered a job at the Universidad Tecnica del Norte in Ibarra. The director of the language institute there told me I would receive the documents to get a work visa. Based on that, I flew to Ecuador and attended about 6 hours of training plus other meetings required by this director. He kept putting me off on the documents. Finally, he gave me a "work contract" and said take it to Quito and get the work visa. In Quito, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs laughed at the illegal "work contract" and gave me a list of what docs they require. I gave both the director and his secretary the list. They denied that these docs are required and refused to respond to my request. I got a lawyer and she called and explained the process. They agreed to cooperate. The director also told me he would sign "a waiver" allowing me to work legally in Ecuador once my application for work visa was submitted. No such waiver is possible.

I arrived a month early to take the training sessions they required and to lease an apartment for a year, with all the money that requires. The University, to this day, has not provided any of the native speakers they enticed to teach there with any docs for a work visa. I quit teaching, not wanting to work illegally. Others continued and to this day have not received the docs, nor have they been paid. The U also requires a bank account here in order to be paid and you cannot get one without appropriate docs.

In looking for another job here, I find the language insitutes and government schools are unaware of the law change and still think they can get people to teach on tourist visas. They may be able to do that, but for no more than 90 days, with a fine if they catch you, and with the delays in pay days, you may not be able to collect if you do work here. I have not received my pay for the time I worked at the U in Ibarra and I will have to leave here in less than 3 weeks, or pay that $230+++ cost to stay an unknown length of time. Not worth it. My landlord is also keeping my $200 deposit because I am unable to stay the year.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Sorry to hear that things didn't work out. Seems like places all over are cracking down visas.

light sweet dude · Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Posts: 5

Hi Yenifer,
Being curious. Were you in Costa Rica in Sept.? I met a woman there on one of those day tours that was teaching in Los Angeles and had family in El Salvador.
LSD

john_n_carolina · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: n. carolina

..Ajarn, that's too bad -- wish i could've helped you with advice a little. i taught at P.U.C.E. Ibarra for a year.

i would've stayed but my girlfriend was in Latacunga. so i had to take the midnight bus every Sunday for 5 hours to get back for classes. arriving at 130 AM in downtown Ibarra is extremely dangerous, including the taxis. even the busses were being pirated on that route. so, i left and we moved to Quito.

send me a PM, i could help if you need something in Quito.