Job Discussion Forums

[Rock1984]

Hey boys and girls, I'm new here, I'm from Australia and I'll be travelling South/Central America and Caribbean with my girlfriend late next year for about 12 months and would like to stop somewhere (ANYWHERE) to teach English for a while and stay longer if we can. I know a lot of schools would be hesitant to take on backpackers for short terms so we're flexible with the amount of time we would stay.

Neither of us have teaching experience nor have we done any TESL (etc) courses yet, this is mostly because we don't know where to start.

Acquiring information on the actual prerequisites to successfully teach english in the Americas has been difficult, as I've found that the information out there differs greatly, especially when it comes from organisations who have a financial interest in getting you to do their courses, which most of it does.

So I'm after specific information on giving myself and my girlfriend a good chance of picking up some teaching jobs.

We've both got professional backgrounds, I've worked 5 years in government/law enforcement departments, in varius roles from project manager, policy writing and strategic analyst, she has worked mainly in acounts/book keeping. Quite irrelivant to teaching but shows we can both take a job seriously, or at least make it look like we do, hehehe.

What courses are required, what courses are recommended and what chance do we have of getting a job with one, two or fifty of these courses?
We lack any/all experience, do these courses compensate for this?
Are online courses any good? It seems they are acceptable for some parts of the globe and not others.
Chances of both of us getting work close by, at least in the same town?

We are trying to avoid forking out thousands of dollars and blowing our travel budget admitedly, but at the same time we don't want to be half assed at this and wind up doing a crap job of it.

Hope to hear back soon, so thanks in advance.

Rob

[naturegirl321]

There's always Peru. Just need to be a native speaker and willing to work split shifts. ONly advice would be to NOT say "hello boys and girls" when you met your prospective bosses.

CELTA; Trinity, or SIT are the basic courses. Chances of getting a job are supberb, chances of getting a visa are probably smaller. Lots of people work under the table here.

If you pick a big city you should be fine.

[Atlan Training]

Hi Rock 1984

You can find a bit of work in some countries solely on the basis of being a native speaker but it's really not a very good option. The pay will be miserably low, you will work odd hours and have to travel around a lot. It would be a good idea for you to get your teaching certification. I run a CELTA center in Ecuador that has courses that combine life adventure and travel with your certification.

If you are qualified, particularly with the CELTA, you can get high paying jobs, work without stress, and enjoy a high quality of life in many countries in South America, Ecuador in particular where the cost of living is low and the pay for CELTA qualified teachers is relatively high.

Good luck!

[Justin Trullinger]

Work without stress for CELTA grads? WHere do I sign up for the course?

Just kidding, Atlan. But don't you think you're exaggerating a tad bit? Maybe work with LESS stress would be a place to start. Teaching wears me out sometimes, and I'm quite a few years and qualifications past the CELTA.

[Justin Trullinger]

PS- You mention that sometimes it's hard to get good info from organisations with a financial interest in training you.

I won't mislead here- I work for the SIT TESOL center in Quito.

But I've also got a decade of EFL experience, more than half of it in Latin America. The benefits of a real cert are real. The benefits of "less" cert are less.

J

[Rock1984]

Hey guys thank you so much for the info, plenty to keep me busy, it pretty much covers all my concerns, Justin especially. Atlan, thanks for the link, and Naturegirl, thanks for the PM.

I guess a follow on question is, is it better to do the certificate in my home country or in the country(ies) I would like to work in? I'd imagine organisations in SA would have a lot of teaching contacts which would make it easier to get work there.

I definitely see the appeal in doing a CELTA cert, especially if teaching is something I'd like to do long term or later in life in a different country, or even back here in the 'real world', and I also understand the students' perspective on this, like I said, I want to walk away knowing that I've helped someone.

[Justin Trullinger]

Hi Again,

[Rock1984]

Hi again guys, I've had some problems logging in here which is why I haven't been around.

It's looking more and more appealing, and certain that we want to teach English abroad, however, it may or may not end up being in the Americas, Europe is a posibility too.

I've got a bit of free time at the moment and have decided to get my certificate here in Australia for a range of reasons. I'm just wanting to know what the practical difference is between CELTA and TESOL? - Or if there are any other courses I should consider doing?

I know that at the end they are both reasonably similar and sit within the Certificate IV level but I don't want to get stuck somewhere down the track where one of them is not recognised in a particular country (Americas or otherwise).
CELTA, by definition sounds more specialised and aimed at teaching Adults, does this prevent one from teaching children, and by contrast does TESOL not qualify you to teach Adults?

Obviously I want to get a qual that will cover as much as possible, giving me the option to specialise later on if I wish but allowing me to teach pretty much anyone, anywhere.

Thanks again,

Rob

[naturegirl321]

[Rock1984]

Naturegirl, sorry if I got mixed up with terminology, but you've pretty much answered my question anyway. I just want to be sure that CELTA will be recognised not only in Sth Am, but elsewhere in the world, and of course, allows me to teach kids, despite the "A" standing for Adults.

One more issue is, neither of us have anything close to a Uni qualification, I've seen it mentioned a lot that most places are more concerned that you have degree or bachelor in something(anything!) than the fact that you are qualified to teach English. Is this correct? I don't really understand the logic behind it. If I'm going for an engineering job, the employer doesn't start asking me about my experience as a bar tender...

Thanks again!

[Insubordination]

I'm guessing from the username that you're under 30, you should look into the Working Holiday Visa arrangements Australia has with many countries (including Chile, Canada, Japan and more).