Job Discussion Forums

MrWright · Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 167 Location: Arizona

I am a high school teacher in Arizona. I teach history and biology,but my degree is in History. I have a full secondary, 7-12 grades, teaching certificate. I know everyone will say "get an international school job". But from my research those are very, very competitive to get. I'm not saying I couldn't find one, but teaching English might be easier to get my foot in the door. So my question is do,any of you think my qualifications would help me land one of the better esl jobs? If so, what is the most realistic salary I could get, and is that enough to live? I figure I might network once I'm there and maybe move to teaching History at some kind of intl school later on. Also, I have both arms sleeved with tattoos. It's not a problem for me here (it helps that they look like colorful art and not gang or prison tats), but I wonder if that would be a deal breaking barrier there. If I have to wear long sleeve shirts, is that hell in the heat there? I appreciate any advice or insight anyone can offer. Thanks.

The Internationalist · Joined: 26 May 2012 Posts: 110

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

You should also do more research about Colombia.

The two largest cities in the country are Bogota and Medellin, which are up in the Andes mountains. Bogota is chilly year-round, Medellin is 60s-80s year round. Definitely appropriate weather for long sleeves.

Even Cali, the 3rd largest city, is not terribly hot compared to Arizona.

You may do better applying to University gigs. Without a TESOL certification like the CELTA, I don't see why anyone would prefer to hire you as an ESL teacher when you actually have degrees and certifications in other subjects. You would be working for MAYBE $15 an hour. It could be a decent thing to do to get your foot in the door, but ultimately it seems like a waste.

TIE online is a good resource, I have friends who have found jobs through there.

currentaffairs · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 828

Yes, you are better off applying to international schools all over South America to get the best gig possible. Money isn't great at many schools and only the top tier will pay well - for these jobs you can apply from abroad.

If you come to Colombia in the spring/summer and look around you may get something. However, it will probably take a year or two to climb the ladder and get a decent job at a colegio or university.

spanglish · Joined: 21 May 2009 Posts: 742 Location: working on that

You have a terrible plan. Your qualifications and experience are far too good to waste on coming to Colombia with nothing lined up and taking a bottom of the barrel TEFL job. Getting to Colombia and starting to teach English will not help you network in an international school position and if it does you'll have to worse pay and benefits because you'll be hired in-country. Apply to schools from abroad, do what you need to do to get into an international school, but do it from the US.

Teaching English in Colombia will pay very poorly unless you can land one of the few good jobs and that will probably take a lot of time, networking, luck and Spanish language skills.

Your tattoos shouldn't be an issue. I don't see any reason to bring them up in an interview and you'd probably be wearing a long sleeve shirt (in the interview) anyway.