Job Discussion Forums

pingouin59 · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 20 Location: Lima, Peru

Hola,

i will be coming to Peru around september. My fiancee lives in Lima. I have been a teacher for many years. I taught English in France and Spanish in the US. I am issued from a bilingual family. Father American and mother French. I have a Master's degree and I would like to knock at the doors of the Language institutes in Lima...after I passed a TEFL certificate in Peru. I have read so many tons of threads and posts and TEFL/CELTA web sites that my head is dizzy. I Would like to be able to work with students as well as adults and I am looking for a company well regarded by the Instiutes in Lima. Any idea where I should invest my 2000 bucks?

Gerard

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Nope, no CELTA unless you work at Britanico for a year, then you can take it. They only offer it to their teachers.

If you're a qualified teacher, forget the institues, go to www.tes.co.uk and www.ibo.org and start applying to schools there.

Institues pay about 10 bucks an hour, Schools pay about 3k a month, dollars, plus benefits and flights

If you've got questions, email me at [email protected]

See my PM too

pingouin59 · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 20 Location: Lima, Peru

Thank you for your answer Naturegirl, you are always so quick to answer any kind of questions asked by newbies like me.
Yes , I do have teaching experience and I know that many institutes don't even care about wether you have a certificate or not.. or at least this is the case in Peru. As far as the other schools where they pay so well, what kind of credential do they expect you to bring on the table when you apply?
I believe a TEFL certificate plus my experience and fluency in English, French and Spanish would open more doors and if it does not here in Peru, it would in other part of the world when I decide to leave Peru.
I have browsed through many TEFL programs run here in Peru. Many of them offer the requisite 120 hours plus 6 or more hours teaching and practice and I really have a hard time making up my mind. Is there one or two programs that stand on top of the others? Are there places that you should avoid ? I would love to hear your feedbacks and if you don't want to criticize or praise openly any institution, please write me at [email protected].

Thank you

pingouin59 · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 20 Location: Lima, Peru

Naturegirl, what do I do in order to see your pm?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

See at the top where it says Dave's ESL Cafe and to the right are blue words, like FAQ?
THe second line says you have X new messages, click on that.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Schools that pay well, I can only really talk about LIma, usually pay 6 to 10 an hour. They ask for you to be reliable, willing to work strange hours, think early morning, late at night, travel to classes and be prepared. Many don't care about working visas. See my PM, I send you a list of places.

Doors will be open to you, but you have to work a lot of hours, I've never worked so hard, had so much and been so unhappy, which is why we're leaving Peru soon.

For the TEFL programmes, they're all pretty much the same and should stand up to scrutincy.

I just emailed you too.

gungediana · Joined: 06 Apr 2009 Posts: 82

Naturegirl it's sad that you're leaving Peru and that you feel you're not happy there.

Will you still be posting on this forum and helping newbies out etc?

Luna Chica · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 177 Location: Trujillo, Peru

Hey there,

Why don't you do CELTA before you arrive? I am sure you could do it where you are and the price would probably be much the same.

CELTA imo has the best name.

As far as working in schools is concerned apparently from 2010 the ministry of education will require new teachers to have a proper education qualification. I was told yesterday by the headmaster of my school. They don't know the details yet though.

I am sure you will find plenty of teaching work here in institutes though, or you can offer private classes.

When you get married you will be able to get your carnet independent of the schools and avoid border runs.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Luna Chica · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 177 Location: Trujillo, Peru

Yep they do. That is the beauty of doing CELTA rather than another TEFL, the quality is stringently checked by Cambridge and results and lesson plans etc have to be sent to England and the marking standardised. The cert is then issued by Cambridge - and everyone knows Cambridge! I don't know about TEFL, but when you do CELTA you get issued with the cert. as well as a synopsis of the items assessed and how you fared on each part of the course.

Anyone in the ESL world running a school should at least be aware of CELTA. If they didn't recognise it I would consider it a cowboy institution.