Aaaaargggghhhh! (Oh no!)

Stanexpat said:
I am sympathetic to any person having trouble finding work, but in this case I would have to say I am in agreement with steveinBsas. I assume most of the people trying this are young early to mid 20's. What on earth are they doing in Argentina? Shouldn't these people be a home getting a real job and starting their adult lives? Isn't a lot of this just people trying to extend their adolescense years. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe other people see this the same way.
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What on earth are they doing? Heaven forbid that they are getting to know another part of the world and trying to make a peso while doing it. Shouldn't they be waiting in line back home to become a part of the rat race, you ask? Yeah, sounds thrilling. Jumping right on the bandwagon.

I also think many come to learn and/or improve their Spanish in hopes of using it in their future "real job." Some of them don't achieve that since they end up spending all their time with other English-speaking expats, but there are many exceptions. And there's no way they leave without learning something...even if that is "Sí, una copa de vino tinto por favor."

Mind you that it is possible to make a "real job" out of this ridiculous English teaching gig. One can take it as seriously or as light-heartedly as one likes.

What is a "real job" anyway? A 9 to 6? With benefits? A 30 minute lunch break? A cubicle? Deadlines? Maybe even a corporate car someday?

"Real" or not, a job that pays the bills, leaves some money left over for life's simple pleasures, and allows that I do not leave my house with a "cara de culo" on Monday morning is a job for me.
 
Teaching English -- or doing any other work -- in Argentina is indeed reasonable employment (provided, of course, that it's done legally; more than one poster here has indicated that he's not bothered to obey Argentine law but, instead, simply pretends to be a tourist). As "allcraz" points out, many native English-speakers here come from poor or parochial families which never afforded these young men and women the opportunity to travel or otherwise learn more about others. A year's stay in Bs.As., especially if combined with a bit of sightseeing outside the C.F., should help open their eyes.

But Steve's observation is wise, too: unless gifted (not simply trained) in teaching, why make a career of it?
 
Plenty of people teach as means to sustain a life here that they enjoy. Its challenging work, sociable, enjoyable & reasonably paid. What is about this combination that people find so objectionable?

Some very old fashioned views here.
 
My guess is 95% of these people are in Argentina on tourist visas. I also suspect that most don't make enough to cover their beer budget. If they are not earning enough to live on how do they do it?

My guess their money comes in many cases from very indulgent parents. Is this objectionable?

No it's not to me particularly. I just wish people could be honest and admit what they are really doing there. Most are having a good time partying for a year or two, delaying their entry into real adulthood.
 
Wow guys! Isn´t the point of gathering an expat community to help, not tear each other apart?
I arrived here in my early 20´s, not trying to extend my adolescence, and began to teach english. This was two years ago, but even last year I was still getting new teaching jobs.
I hope I don´t bite the hand that feeds but I got hired by Wall Street. Teaching in the centers does not provide you enough to live on but teaching their in-company classes does. Grab a list of institutes and hit them all up. I got hired by several, and with a pretty week resume.
I had a lent CUIT, but the companies knew it was not mine. Seek a friend who doesnt mind lending it to you (making sure to pay the taxes on it for them).
Good luck!

Other professions:
-Get creative. Many expats here have started their own business. It is a huge city and with thought you can carve your own nitch
-Work at a bar for awhile, even just until you get on your feet
-Try englishtown.com. This is an online school. It serves pretty well for some here.
-Sell tech, translation, or design services abroad online.

??? The world is your oyster. Hopefully you are an expat because you can think outside the box!
 
kateg said:
Wow guys! Isn´t the point of gathering an expat community to help, not tear each other apart?
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Myth busting isn't the same thing as tearing someone apart. It's really great that a few individuals HAVE "made it" teaching English here, but it also appears that others have not done so well.

Perhaps I am now old enough to have the "old fashioned views" that jp mentioned earlier in this thread.

Nonethless, I admire ANYONE who has the initiative to "make It " here, including those who teach English.

I do think that it's a lot tougher to do so if you are looking for a JOB in a country where your employment is, in many cases, ILLEGAL.

How can you possibly expect to be paid enough to live well?

IF you are just here for the "foreign experience" then, by all means, go for it!
 
As a fellow expat in his mid-twenties who moved to BsAs alone a few months ago with very limited spanish and having never visited before, I have to applaud anyone who decides to move out of the country for whatever reason. I realize some people on the forum have issues with those working illegally (which is fine), but I must disagree with how some characterize and insult other's motives.

I worked in the "real world" for three years after college - a great job with great benefits, but I needed something more. Why would I move here to make 15% of what I did in the US? Leave my family? People thought I was crazy (and probably still do). Simply put, I'm investing in my future and this experience will be worth its weight in gold.

I'm the type of person who seeks a challenge and I've certainly found it here. The daily struggles provide an environment that forces you out of your comfort zone and allows you to learn constantly, every day. Even if someone comes for three months or three years, the cultural experience in invaluable. It's impossible to discount the doors that can be opened in the future by spending time abroad.

And hey, if this experience does nothing for my future, I'll still have a hell of a lot more stories to tell than joe blow nine-to-fiver.

So to those of you who took a chance in life (or are considering it), I'm proud to be a part of the conversation.
 
Good post, "Popper". I do hope you're working -- if you're working here -- legally. A search for stories to tell is no justification for deliberate violation of the law of your hosts, especially when it's so easy to comply with it.
 
jp said:
. . . . Personally I think the academically exhaustive method of teaching a language as an abstract collection of rules and irregularities to be memorised goes against the way the brain manages verbal communication . ...
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My thought, too. One learns a language best, I think, by listening to, speaking with, and reading the most skilled users of that language, much as one best learns to play an instrument first through emulating the best players of the instrument. Afterward, the new master can brilliantly develope in different directions -- think of De Kooning!
 
kateg said:
Many expats here have started their own business. It is a huge city and with thought you can carve your own nitch
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This is wonderful news! Could you please give a few examples of those who actually found their "niche" here?
 
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