Job Discussion Forums

JacobTM · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 73 Location: New York

OK,

I live in Bogot�, and I have worked for Petersons, International House and Verve. Petersons and IH have always paid me on time. Their may be errors in the pay (keep copies of your timesheets), but they fix them without complaints. Verve is not always as prompt...

You need about 1.5 million Colombian Pesos to survive here, minimum.

The thing about Bogot� is it's huge and traffic can be a bitch. All of these companies require that teachers travel, and sometimes it's alot.

Most teachers end up living in 1 of 2 neighborhoods, La Candelaria or Chapinero. They are both on the eastern side of the city, Chapinero about 20-40 blocks north of La Candelaria. Most classes are either in the North of the city, or the West. Also most classes are in the morning or late at night, when there can be a TON of traffic.

Anyway, onto the companies:

Petersons was the first company I worked for. They paid $35 mil pesos for 1.5 hour classes. They have a different pay-scale for CELTA and non-CELTA teachers. I had a CELTA. When I signed up, they promised me that they could easily get me a full schedule, but that took some time. They will sponsor a work visa, but will lower your salary to compensate for the money they have to spend on the whole process. They pay an extra 5 mil fee for classes that are far away, which is nice. Their classes are varied, potentially all over the place, or potentially close to you. Luck of the draw.

International House is currently changing all the contracts, so this info may not be valid for long, but as of now, I am paid $56 mil pesos for 2 hour classes as an hourly worker. A 16 hour schedule (2 different classes, 4x a week) will get you 1.5 million pesos a month after tax. They don't pay extra for travelling to far away classes.

They don't hire non-CELTA certified teachers.

They paid for my work visa, but expect any teacher that they get a visa to work for them for a long time, or else pay back the costs associated with teh visa, but there was no direct cost to me involved in getting the visa, they even paid for the plane to and from Venezuela.

Most of their classes are in the morning in the west, in La Zona Industrial, in big corporations.

VERVE apparently hires anyone, and pays $40 mil for an 1.5 hour class if it's private, and $48 mil for a 1.5 hour class if it's a group. Their classes are almost all in the north, but from north-east to north-west. You can spend ALOT of time travelling to get to the north (it takes longer than to get to the west, usually), so take that into account. The company hasn't yet paid for any visas, but is supposedly considering it. I wouldn't trust that until I hear an account of someone who's actually gotten one.

Hope this helps

G22 · Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 89

make 1.5 million pesos and my daily commute is 20 minutes from Candelaria to calle 45. No way would I ever work for IH.

JacobTM · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 73 Location: New York

Share some info Chris, where do you work, what do they pay, how many hours a week are you working etc.

Obviously lots of options here, and it'd be great for people planning to come to be able to see some straight-forward comparisons of different companies.

G22 · Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 89

Wall Street, they pay 15000000 a month, you work 30 hours a week, all the classes are held in their building which is at calle 45 and carrera 7, 20 minutes from candelaria.

Higo · Joined: 25 Feb 2010 Posts: 26

G22 · Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 89

I should also point out that you can choose your own hours. I work 3pm to 9pm, no 6:30 am classes unlike IH.

windowlicker · Joined: 05 Jun 2008 Posts: 183 Location: Bogot�, Colombia

I had a really weird experience with Petersons about two and a half years ago. They wanted me to teach a two hour, five day a week class in Guasca (about 45 minutes outside of Bogota...total of about a 1 1/2 hour commute) for 750,000 pesos/month. For some reason, this class was on some sort of different contract and paid differently than their normal classes. I never had the reason fully explained to me.

I was new in Colombia and a little unsure of whether to take it or not as I had no other job offers at the time. They said they would take me out to Guasca to meet the students, which would convince me to take the class. On the way out there, the dude said some pretty sketchy things about jews and underage girls. After meeting the class, he took me to a bar where he proceeded to try to hook me up with a 15 year old high school chick (he called up his 16 year old girlfriend and asked her to bring friends). Thoroughly sketched out, I did my best to make it a short night. On the drive home, he looked over at me about 10 minutes into the journey and said with a crazy grin on his face, "I'm driving drunk!" I was absolutely terrified. He then began turning the headlights off and on to show me how dark it was outside. Luckily, I got home safe.

I did not take the job.

I do hear from other people who have worked there that they pay a decent salary and pay on time.

Higo · Joined: 25 Feb 2010 Posts: 26

Only 2 words.
Wow.
and
Yuck.

Glad you dodged that weirdness.

JacobTM · Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 73 Location: New York

CountBassD · Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 33 Location: Bogota, Colombia

Working for verve is really just working for one person. So make Camilo like you and just be willing to go where the classes are. If you are willing to do that little bit extra, you can make 2.5-3 million for verve once you get on contract. Just be aware work visa isn't an option and if you speak Spanish you are valued much higher since Verve let's clients dictate what they want from the class whereas IH tells clients 'this is how we do things.' Clients often ask for someone with spanish.

fladude · Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 432

For every guy who hears this story and is repulsed, someone else is like "Yeah that's where I want to work."

Martillo · Joined: 03 Oct 2010 Posts: 10

G22 · Joined: 25 Oct 2010 Posts: 89

Ravenswant · Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 3

Thanks, Jacob, for adding some useful and seemingly unbiased information about teaching in Bogota and the companies you have experience with. When I was considering coming to Colombia I was dismayed that one valuable source of information, Poor But Happy in Colombia, was discontinued because of petiness on the part of some participants. My experience with schools in Bogota? Surprise, there are no perfect schools here. If I had been swindled out of honestly earned wages I'd probably have a serious ax to grind and would work unceasingly to smear their name. If this is the case with anyone PLEASE come forward. However, I'm not aware that any of the schools mentioned have been accused of such behavior, not even IH, yet I still hear the unmistakable sound of the ax wheel grinding. Really, it's tedious.

kakki81 · Joined: 06 Dec 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Suwon, South Korea

Thanks to all of you for the info. I'm planning on coming to Colombia to teach in June, and it's nice to get some current info. I was wondering if you guys think I should go ahead and send my resume to these places or just wait till I get there to take it around in person.

I don't have a Celta but I have a TEFL and 2 years experience teaching English at a public high school in Korea (as well as a Bachelor's and Master's from the states). Do you think I'll be able to pick up enough work coming in mid-June?

Also, how much on average are you able to save a month, if any?