Job Discussion Forums

[dialogal]

Hello all--

I have decided to make ESL teaching a long-term career move, and am having trouble making heads or tails of my prospects...

I currently have a BA and no experience or credential...

I have decided to pursue a CELTA as my first step, and this is really where the subject of this post begins...

I have read that IH Bogota offers work permits for all of its hired teachers... Can anyone verify this?

I have been looking at the CELTA offered by Southern Cross in Ecuador and IH Bogota as my CELTA options... The course in Ecuador is significantly less expensive, though I have been reading that the work-visa situation in Ecuador is becoming rather difficult...

If the CELTA in Bogota would lead to employment and a work-visa, it would, in my estimation, justify the additional expense...

Am I thinking along the right lines here? Is the work-visa very precious, or is the hassle of border runs not so great that it should necessarily put me off??

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I have read that an income of 2 million COP is required for a reasonably decent life in Bogota... Does this jibe with your experiences??

Is this a reasonable salary to expect with a CELTA and no experience in Bogota?

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I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to offer some one on one communication (PM or Email) with me where I can ask a series of questions based on feedback... The static nature of posting in forums can sometimes make asking the obvious followup, or making the immediate clarification cumbersome...

Thanks for any and all help!!

[spanglish]

Yes, get your CELTA. That will put you on the right track. Yes, IH Bogota will get you a work visa. It generally takes a month or 2 to make everything happen (involves driving to Venezuela to apply, IH pays for travel expenses and visa application fee; you pay for everything else like food on the way and pictures).

If you're going to work for IH Bogota, I don't think doing the CELTA in Bogota will help you anymore than doing it in Ecuador. Why not go there, save the money, look around and try to get a job in Ecuador once you finish the course (definitely try to find something at a private high school; these jobs are a bit tough to come by, but beat teaching for an institute). If you don't find something you like in Ecuador you can always apply online for a job at IH here in Bogota or you can come over here and look around for something else as well.

You can do okay on 1.5 million net, but it's not much fun. 2 million is possible as a new teacher, but you will be working a lot of hours and putting in a lot of travel time to teach in-company classes, particularly if you're with an institute.

[windowlicker]

pretty much agree with everything spanglish said.

dialogal, it looks from your post that you think IH Bogota offers the CELTA course...this is not the case. The British Council does, and yes it is much more expensive than the course in Ecuador.

If you're working in Colombia, border runs aren't an issue if you don't have a work visa...to my knowledge there is no way to work on a tourist visa in Colombia for 6 months, leave, and then come back and get another six months. You get 6 months in the country as a tourist every 365 days. period. Your other option is getting a student visa and working illegally on that, which would allow you to stay longer. You have more rights and security on a work visa...plus it's nice to know you're doing things by the book.

1.5 million is definitely liveable in Bogot�...with 2 million I'm saving money every month.

[dialogal]

thanks for the feedback...

so if I understand you correctly, there is no way to work for longer than 6 months in Colombia short of work or student visa (not counting business or marriage, etc.)

is this a major problem? how common is it for english schools to hire teachers for 6 month contracts?

[windowlicker]

correct, and I think even student visas are usually only for 6 months, except they are renewable (after six months on a tourist visa there�s no more renewing).

this isn�t a major problem exactly...some schools will help you get a student visa, others might just hire you anyway on the tourist visa for six months. In therms of whether a school will hire you on a 6 month contract...I assume there isn�t any contract involved unless you�re getting a work visa, and that will almost always require a contract of a year or more. To my knowledge, if you�re working on a student or tourist visa there won�t be a contract, the school goes by your word, and you go by theirs...if either party breaks their part of the bargain you can quit or they can fire you, but there�s no contract to go back to that you can throw in their face to force them to live up to.

[dialogal]

understood on the contracts... that sounds ok to me as i have every intention of showing myself to be an asset...

window, sounds like you are currently working there now... as an esl teacher?

spanglish, if your still here, do you have a sense of the starting salary range for IH? I saw a job they had posted for Cali for 1.3 million... I assume the economy is sufficiently less costly that the above would be enough to live??

thanks again for the info...

[spanglish]

The way IH generally works is they give you a contract that guarantees you a minimum of 60 taught hours a week. They'll pay you 25.000 pesos/hour for classes taught in businesses and 22.000 pesos/hour for classes taught at the school in Bogota. If you're teaching the minimum 60 hours/week your take home pay will be a little over 1.1 million. They generally have plenty of hours, so you can take more if you want (if you initially sign on to an hourly contract at less than 60 hours/month), they will want to bump that up to the 60 hour minimum as soon as possible).

You'll probably want to make 1.5 million/month. I probably make around 1.7 or 1.8 million because I also have privates. It's not hard to get a few private classes, but it is hard to sustain yourself exclusively on them.

[dialogal]

Hey Spanglish... Quick clarification? You twice said 60 hours/week, and once said 60 hours/month...

I'd like to assume you mean the latter, 60 hours/month, but will double-check anyway...

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When you say they generally have plenty of hours, so I can take more if I want... Does that mean I could choose to take on a 'constant' stream of 80 hours/month for example? Or even as high as 100??

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One more question to any who may have some info...

Currently my spanish is intermediate, and as I would surely take it upon myself to improve it, would there be any opportunities to make some additional money teaching computer skills??

I am a long time desktop publishing pro, and could easily teach the basics (Windows, Word, Excel) as well as some more specialized applications...

As usual, much thanks...

[spanglish]

Sorry, typo - definitely meant 60 hours/month. 20 hours a week is probably the maximum you'll want to teach, though I think some do 25 hours/week (the reason this is difficult is the travel time to company classes).

I don't know about teaching computer skills. If you were to stay here a while, you might be able to carve out a niche and advertise your services as, "learn computer skills in English." Combining English is probably the only way you'd make any worthwhile money down here with that skill.

IH offers free Spanish classes to teachers if, A. they are already offering your particular level to a paying student and B. the class does not conflict with your teaching schedule.

Good luck

[windowlicker]

I think life with 25 hours a week at an institute would be really unpleasant...including travel time and lesson planning that's at least 40 hours a week and probably more, and given the hours available at institutes, there's probably no way you'd be able to do it without working 6 days a week. you'd come here, work all the time, and never see anything outside of Bogota. if you're really serious about it though, there's definitely enough demand to get that many hours. including privates, I was doing 22 hours/week for a while and clearing 2 million pesos/month, but I was so miserable I quit my privates and cut back to 16 hours/week. I make waaay less money now, but I'm so much happier...at least I'm not working 6 days a week or having to travel a total of two hours to make it to a two hour private class up in the north part of the city.

if you've got computer skills you'd be so much better off contracting yourself out over the internet if you can, rather than teaching computer skills...you'd probably make more, and at least there wouldn't be any travel time involved.

[dialogal]

Hello all...

Just finished my CELTA in Guayaquil (PHEW!)... I will be traveling around Ecuador for a few weeks, and will likely look for work in Manta...

However, I am still very interested in work opportunities in Colombia and have noticed some openings in Bogota...

Does anyone have a sense of what the market is like there now? In other cities like Cali for example?

Thanks...

Seth

[samadablam]

Hi Seth,
Just wondering if you ended up finding any work in Manta? Would be quite interested to work there myself.
Thanks for any info.
Sam.