Job Discussion Forums

[treasurechess]

Dear ESL teachers and friends,

Unless I am mistaken I have noticed that there is no organized group of teachers of ESL in Costa Rica at present. This is surprising since I am sure the numbers of ESL teachers at any one time in Costa Rica may be in the hundreds.

So this is a call or proposal to form such a group. Please email me back if you think this is a good idea or an important endeavor. Normal post or private message is fine. To form such a group we would surely need the typical expertise: those with experience in running an association or would like to run for office, knowledge re the type of organization and officers that would be appropriate, mission statement, knowledge of legal issues in setting up the association in CR and contacts with attorneys, people with newsletter editing, writing, web design and photo skills, knowledge and information on the schools, professional training and support, amount and allocation of dues, number and times of meetings, etc.

If this is good idea and I receive a positive response, I would like to have an initial meeting for those interested in forming the association at a restaurant at a convenient time-such as a Friday. So please let me know your ideas also on the location and time of any initial meeting. Also, please let me know if you have ideas on the format of this first meeting...and on ideas on how to get such a group going. Once I get a positive response I will think about scheduling this initial meeting and the further steps needed to be taken to launch the Association of Costa Rican Teachers of ESL (ACRTE.)

Thanks for your input!

Raymond Raza
ESL Instructor
Tibas, Costa Rica

[OleLarssen]

I think this sounds like a great idea. I think you're gonna have to go door-to-door with it though, not a lot of people check this board anymore. Though I'm guessing we have readers from more or less every major school here.

[english2go]

Well Raymond I can tell you that I initiated a meeting with two other owners of schools trying to start an association of schools that use native speaking ESL teachers a few years back, so your idea peaks my interest.

My idea was to try to form an association between the schools so that we could do the following:

Standardize the minimum requirements for hiring teachers, as well as fair compensation.

Give teachers real information about the teaching situation in Costa Rica. Many teachers arrive with the illusion of teaching at some small pristine beach town or in a rain forrest village, we all know that's far from the reality of the majority of jobs available here.

Have some type of web-site that teachers could go to to pick up additional hours to fill in their schedule, therefore making it easier for them to stay in Costa Rica due to the extra income.

Allow us to lobby the Costa Rican government for help in making it easier for teachers to obtain temporary residency so that they would be working legally. I believe this would also be in the best interest of the country especially because of the lack of qualified Costa Rican teachers.

Possibly obtain better priced group health insurance.

I am sure there are many other things that I can't think of right now and I am sure that teachers would fill in the blanks.

When I originally posed the question to the two other schools there was definite interest. However, it was basically up to me to organize and I really didn't have the time to dedicate to the efforet because I am busy running my business. However, I would definitely be interested in participationg in such an effort again.

You can post to the forum or PM me to discuss this further.

George Thiess

[spanglish]

Good ideas. You're giving me ideas for Colombia. There's so little solid information out there on teaching English in Latin America. Some kind of co-op could be very helpful to let teacher know what their getting themselves into and help them find a good teaching fit.

[OleLarssen]

A good place to start might be simply renting a house for a day and inviting every English-teaching creature in Costa Rica there, charge a couple of bucks to pay for the rent, get drunk and see what happens.

[OleLarssen]

On second thought, ditch the house, call the PR guy for Little Theatre Group and tell him that we have a huge group of English speakers, could we borrow your theatre for a couple of hours for a meeting, and you could come and plug the theatre.

I think it would be a good idea to start out with two or three of the biggest schools here and get them to cooperate (there's plenty in it for them too) first ... after that, the world...!

Ideas:
- get the Tico English teachers in public and private schools involved too. Opens up new job opportunities in the long run for both Ticos and foreigners.
- establish some sort of cooperation with Migracion for residency permits. We can also sell out those who refuse to join the Costa Rica ESL Association (CREA) and have them deported. It'd be sort of like the ESL mafia - if you're not with us, you're not teaching English in Costa Rica. We could extort a sky-high membership fee, buy mansions for the ruling party, women, booze... it'll be awesome, I'm telling you.
- A web site with housing and job information, info about the country (e.g. living expenses)...

[treasurechess]

Well, I'm getting some great positive responses so I think the time has come to organize the Costa Rica ESL teachers and schools. George's idea of organizing the schools is great, maybe we can have an association for both with 2 sections-one for schools and one for teachers. I like OleLarssen's name-the Costa Rica ESL Association. He has some colorful ideas. Between them I'm sure we can get the association running with George supplying the practical ideas, experience and credibility and OleLarssen the imagination.

Maybe we need some sort of initial organizing meeting to establish some short and long term goals and objectives of the association. It can be either an informal getting together at a bar or restaurant in which we would invite only school representatives and those interested in leadership roles or a more formal meeting at a restaurant or theatre (OleLarssen's suggestion) in which we might invite any Tom, Dick and Harry. I think we need to clarify some basic issues: Do we incorporate? Is it a non-profit? Do we need by-laws? What exact officers do we need-president, treasurer, web site person or designer, treasurer, etc. and should we pay them a nominal stipend? How do we appoint these people? Membership fees for schools and individual teachers...mission statement...
...regular meetings...

I think we need a dedicated leader with organizing skills who would get the association off to a good start. Maybe we could decide upon a person at the first meeting. Maybe George or OleLarssen might be cajoled into becoming the first president.

If OleLarsen could call the pr person at the Little Theatre Group and make a reservation for a meeting that would be great or if George could arrange a meeting at his school that would be great too. I think we should make the initial meeting in a few months to give us time to talk it up and invite schools and others. Maybe September or beyond...

Thanks for all your ideas. Please continue to post...and to think about what sort of venue and location you would like for the first organizing meeting.

Raymond

[OleLarssen]

The idea of the PR guy for LTG is only really relevant if we have a mass meeting. For just a handful of people a restaurant or an apartment/house would make more sense.

I don't see a need to differentiate between the wants of the schools and the wants of the teachers in the organizational structure of the association. Obviously different people will need to front either party, but beyond that... honestly I think part of the goal of the association should be to get the wants of the schools and the teachers in harmony as far as possible.

One long-term goal should definitively be to arrange some sort of "teacher visa" in the same sense you have "student visas".

The purpose of the organizing meeting, I think, would partly be to organize for a mass meeting in which we can invite everyone and their mothers and grandfathers, which we will use for marketing research (e.g. a written survey; how much would you pay, what services/benefits would you expect inside/outside CR) and information gathering (names of schools, salaries, schedules, working conditions)... all of which will need to be compiled and made available here and wherever we end up actually making a virtual home. This research will then be the data further actions are based on.

Finally I believe that whatever we end up with should be completely transparent, first because I strongly believe in that business structure especially when it's a for-profit organization that bases its operation on helping and informing people, second because there is no need to add more secrecy and confusion to an already grey-zone work field.

[treasurechess]

Dear friends,

While viewers seem to be reading the posts, I am not getting any new suggestions save from OleLarssen. So I am concerned that the idea of an association may be good, there may not be enough support and participiation to make it a success at this time. I don�t want to invest time and effort into trying to start an organization and then it slowly dying because of lack of participation and the necessary hard work. I have concerns that once started, one or two people will do the work and there will not be enough people committed to building up the association through its growing process. I am not getting enough interest or firm committments from those who may want to take responsibility or have expertise in the various areas needed such as organizing skills and enthusiasm, web site design or contacts, marketing and generating the necessary funds to keep the association viable, and participation of the schools (except from George.)
OleLarssen has some good ideas and cautions about teachers working in a gray zone and the need for teachers to have proper visas. Working to this end is surely a worthy goal, but the keeping of any lists of teacher members in our records, if the association is transparent as OleLarssen recommends, may have the obvious effect of compromising teacher identitites and providing the authorities with a convenient list of people who may be working �illegally.� With regard to this, having the association primarily for the support and networking of the ESL schools in Costa Rica, may be a better way to approach membership, with teachers offered a secondary or a reduced cost for membership.
I am also not getting any more suggestions for a good venue for our first organizing meeting-at a restaurant, school, etc.
So I think the idea of the association can only go forward with more support, genuine interest, and some commitments for getting it off the road. Specifically we need ideas on the benefits of incorporation, whether to be a profit or non-profit association, ideas on web site design and fund raising, and the specific officers or leaders we would need to make the association a success and any payment to the officers for all their professional participation and talents.

Raymond

[english2go]

I am definitely interested in working with you to try to form this association, however I share some of your same concerns.

First I truly believe this needs to be a organization that is geared toward the non-tico ESL teacher community and the schools that employ them.

I also should bring to your attention that there is an organization in existence already, although it appears that they don't have a web-site, so I'm not really sure how active they are. It's called Asociacion Costarricense de Profesores de Ingles ACPI. There is also the yearly conference which is held at the Centro Cultural in January with support from both MEP and the U.S. Embassy. I doubt they do anything that has to do with helping with the needs of the foreign ESL teacher working here illegally. Although, I must admit that I have never taken the time to attend the conference.

I would suggest that our initial meeting be a fairly small group of school representatives along with a few ESL teachers that have been here for at least a year or two. I beleive these are the people that need to initially decide if there is a true need (I beleive there is) and if they are willing to share in the work to get it off the ground.

As for the concerns over non-profit or not, incoporating etc..., I beleive it is way to early to think about that. First we need to have 5-10 committed individuals who feel strongly enough about the need to put action behind the idea. Without a true commitment from a solid group the thing will die before it gets off the ground as did with my first attempt. Once we have a group in place we can concentrate on creating an identity and agenda to SELL to other schools and teachers. To be followed by a membership drive and eventual first membership meeting. I would also suggest that we create a Facebook page in place of a web-site to begin with.

I would be willing to reach out to some of the other schools, ESL teacher training organizations and some of my current and former teachers who have been here for quite some time to see what kind of interest is out there.

I believe that we should talk by phone or better yet in person to decide if we move forward or not. How about a coffee in the McCafe in La Sabana one afternoon next week Raymond, Ole, other interested parties?

[OleLarssen]

It just occurred to me that I know you, George. I went to an interview to your school a long time ago (beginning of 2007) when I was fresh out of my TEFL training. Finding your office in San J was quite a challenge without any Spanish. :)

Anyway, yes, McCafe in Sabana Sur sounds good to me, it's supereasy to find too (southeast corner of Parque Sabana - the Sabana Cementerio buses drop you very close to there, the Periferica, any Escazu bus and Sabana Estadio as well). I agree with George's idea of basically starting slow to find a group of people that might be the base of this operation and taking it from there. I definitively see the point about keeping a list of illegal workers, but there are easy work-arounds for that and lots of benefits for having one. Anyway, we can talk about all that next week. I'm not really well-connected with the ESL stuff here in Costa Rica (I don't work as a teacher anymore, and haven't for quite some time), so I can't provide much in terms of ESL-related networks, unfortunately.

Thursday next week works fine for me, Mon, Tue and Fri as well (in the afternoon).

[treasurechess]

Hello George and Ole, coffee at McCafe sounds fine, how about Wednesday at 2 pm? I don�t know it but am sure I can find it. Is it far from Universal at the corner of Sabana Sur? Looking forward to our discussions.

Raymond

[english2go]

The McCafe is in the McDonald's right next to Universal. I would encourage anyone else that is following this thread and is interested in participating to come.

[OleLarssen]

Wednesday is the only day next week that doesn't work for me. Also I'm going to Puntarenas with my girlfriend so possibly just Monday or Tuesday next week is OK for me, if not we could wait till after the publich school holidays.

[treasurechess]

This coming Tuesday is ok for me at 2 pm at McCafe, otherwise we can wait until the following week. - Raymond