Job Discussion Forums

[Jechaca]

Hey there.

After teaching in Asia for a couple years, I've taken a short break to travel around the U.S. a bit, and I've decided I would really like to head to a large Spanish-speaking city next. I studied Spanish in high school, but I've since failed to keep up with the language, and I'm very keen to study the language seriously.

After reading numerous articles online and perusing these forums for information about teaching in South America, it's clear to me that jobs are certainly not as high in demand as in Asia, so I'm looking for some input on my chances of landing a job that will provide me with a decent wage, provided I fly down and take a CELTA course in the next couple of months.

My quick bio:

27 years old, male, Caucasian
Master of Science in a field unrelated to language/teaching at a mid-tier United States university
Very basic Spanish
Two years experience at private academies in South Korea, mostly primary-aged students
No TEFL certificate currently, but will take CELTA

In terms of what I would like in a job, I'm not opposed to odd hours as long as they don't total more than 40 a week, including prep. I prefer high school, university, or adult students, as most teachers seem to from what I've read. Vacation time is highly valued.

One little wrinkle here is that I fly for 10% of the cost of a normal fare due to my wonderful sister's connections (I'm morally obligated to write that considering the amount of money she has saved me the past year), but I've not yet figured out a way to use this particular benefit beyond choosing the cheapest South American country to take a CELTA course in without worrying about flight cost.

My impression right now is that Santiago and Bogota are my best bets. Most people suggest simply flying down, taking the CELTA, and then knocking on doors, but that's a bit more complicated since I speak a very low level of Spanish. If I can't build up a bit of confidence about going to Latin America through reading articles and talking to people in ESL about their living conditions, I'll probably end up going to Vietnam instead.

Thanks for any input you can offer.

[Prof.Gringo]

[Jechaca]

[BadBeagleBad]

But the OP said South America and Mexico is not in South America.

[Jechaca]

[MotherF]

What is your MS in?
You might find a Mexican university where the students are studying that or something similar and need English for academic reading and writing and profesores who publish in your field and need help cleaning up the English in their papers.
I find myself doing that a lot and my degree that is relevant to EFL teaching doesn't really help me with that.
You'd expect 10,000 to 20,000 a month at a Mexican university.

[Jechaca]

[naturegirl321]

Are you interested in Peru? I still have some connections at language schools in Lima and a university in Piura. The latter will get you a year long visa. You can PM me if you want.

I'm in Seoul now and I can tell you its a heck of a lot more than 7k you would be sacrificing. We get housing and flights. Maybe severance as well. Housing and flights are 7k alone. In Peru you're looking at about 500-1500 a month. Id say 700-1000 to start. No housing. No flights. Maybe a visa.

Ask about visas and housing and flights since those aren't as common in LA than in Asia.

[Prof.Gringo]

[Jechaca]

[esl_prof]

[Jechaca]