English-Teaching Jobs

I have watched this forum but not until today did I register. I am retired in BA, and a retired High School English (and other subjects including business, a MBA, and law a JD, but never practiced) teacher. I am fully credentialed in 3 States. My dilemma is as follows.

I arrived here 4 months ago. I thought I could just leave it all behind and be comfortable "retired". I can't. I have sought and received various teaching offers, mostly through craigslist. My question is this, "Is there any such thing as a legitimate English school/institute/business in BA"?

I accepted 3 offers to teach so far and both have gone poorly. I would categorize them as somewhere between deceptive and outright BS/fraud. All the principals were not "locals", one an ex-pats and I definitely got the sense that they're objective is to publicize that they have well skilled, well trained, well educated native speaking teachers and nothing more, and then once they get you a student(s), they treat you like crap, make apologies to the student, and then throw a local "native level" speaker at the student. I do not mean to be offensive, and please take none if you are a "local", but reality is there is a great expanse between someone who has "lived" English all his life, and someone who has "learned" English for a part of it.

In the first case, I am still arguing for the money owed me. I am told that because the student is a month in arrears with the school, I must wait for my cash. I have a feeling I may be waiting quite some time!

In the second case, I was told that while the school pays a basic rate of AR$200 per hour, there are premiums paid for group classes and specialized classes. It seems however, that 2 or 3 people do not qualify for as a "group" although each pays a separate fee for a total well in excess of the individual fee. Post facto, I was told that a "group" is 4 or more people and pays a premium of only AR$50 per hour more, despite having determined for a group of 3 the "school" collects 250% of the individual fee in total. I saw no premium! It seems that they always find a way to justify that the class is a "routine" class and that 2 or 3 do not constitute group.

In the third case, I was told that the hourly rate is a factor of the amount the student pays. Essentially, we form a partnership and split the fee 65/35, going to 70/30 after 3 months, with a minimum of AR$200 per hour. Made sense to me on the surface. As it turns out I was given a series of "special travel and meeting preparation" classes, a series of 6, 3 hour sessions. When I was told that my 65% cut netted out to be (after transportation which was supposed to be paid by the student, and was not) below AR$150 per hour, this was justified by the quantity of hours and the fact that this was a "long time student". This case, by the way, is an experience of a U.S. Ex-pat running a side business. It is not an insitute or school. Subsequently, having met a teacher who does a weekly group class, I was told that she has a group of six and receives the same AR$200 (2 hour session, a total of AR$400) nonetheless, although the students pay AR$150 to attend the group class (a total of AR$900 received by the "school owner")

What I am doing is three fold. One, a little bit of venting, admittedly. Two, I am curious to know if there are such things as "reputable, honest, sincere, and teacher friendly schools and "class brokers" in BA? If so please, PM me or whatever one does on this site. Three, is there a board or forum where people who have been "screwed over" by such disreputable and unethical tactics and treatments can post the names of the perpetrators? If there is not, perhaps we could/should start a forum or thread for that here as well.
 
have you considered going on yr own and trying to get students?

Open a facebook business page. put a nice video of yourself there, explaining why someone should hire you to learn English?

Prepare a creative ad ( use fb ads) and publicize it to target audience ( people whom you think are your ideal students) at 5 usd/day or if you are struggling at 2 usd/day and await results.

Meanwhile, open a you tube channel. Get a huge white board. Start giving daily lessons on you tube and let people see your unique methods of teaching. Interact with your audience both on you tube and face book.

Put link of you tube videos on face book page.

Invest in Google ad words sponsored ads for key phrase "English teacher in BA" or " English teacher in Argentina" "Native English teacher in Buenos aires" etc..maybe 5 uds/day. results wil depend on competition for this key phrase.

Open a account on "Italki.com" and offer your teaching services via skype initially at a low rates of 5 usd/hour till you have good reviews and satisfied students. Then you can hike up the rates.

Go to meet ups such as Inter-nations, expat meet ups, meet-up.com etc etc ( in BA) and offer your services in those meet ups. Maybe prepare a cheap business card with yr contact no and email and hand it to everyone.

Go to expat forums on s.media and and offer your services and ask for references.

Call up local schools ( if you have a DNI) and ask if you can come for a interview for possible opening as Eng teacher.

talk to your local neighbors and ask them if they have references for you?

You got to hustle hustle hustle!!!! Nothing in this life comes easy!
 
have you considered going on yr own and trying to get students?

Open a facebook business page. put a nice video of yourself there, explaining why someone should hire you to learn English?

Prepare a creative ad and publicize it to target audience ( people whom you think are your ideal students) at 5 usd/day or if you are struggling at 2 usd/day and await results.

Meanwhile, open a you tube channel. Get a huge white board. Start giving daily lessons on you tube and let people see your unique methods of teaching. Interact with your audience both on you tube and face book.

Put link of you tube videos on face book page.

Open a account on "Italki.com" and offer your teaching services via skype initially at a low rates of 5 usd/hour till you have good reviews and satisfied students. Then you can hike up the rates.

Go to meet ups such as Inter-nations, expat meet ups, meet-up.com etc etc and offer your services in those meet ups. Maybe prepare a cheap business card with yr contact no and email.

Go to expat forums on s.media and and offer your services and ask for references.

Call up local schools ( if you have a DNI) and ask if you can come for a interview for possible opening as Eng teacher.

talk to your local neighbors and ask them if they have references for you?

You got to hustle. Nothing in this life comes easy!
Gosh! All very sound and good advice. The posting wasn't so much about asking for help in finding students and starting a "business". I am afterall pretty much retired and don't want to take on burdens, nor, thankfully, do I have to "hustle". What it is more about is the legitimacy of the existing "hustlers", their treatment of teachers, and if there is a need to "out" those who do mistreat ex-pat community members who do "teach".
 
well, there will always be people who will exploit others especially business owners looking for cheap labor. There are only 2 ways...way no 1..bypass them as explained above.

way no 2..try many of them till you find one who treats you and pays you well. Look for reviews on them online. Lot of positive reviews could be a good thing but not necessarily.

Regarding "outing" them..if they work online and if they dont have a registered company in Argentina , it will be hard to oust them!

what you could do, if they have a facebook page for their business or a google my business page...go and write nasty reviews...these nasty reviews will come back to bite them! Also go on expat forums and out their names that they dont pay well..but you may get banned on the page or may face a rebuttal.

All the best.
 
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You are not going to change the mentality of the owners of these schools (businesses really). Some are better than others but you seem to have found a bad one. Look around for something better and don't expect to be paid the money you are owed.
 
The posting wasn't so much about asking for help in finding students and starting a "business"...What it is more about is the legitimacy of the existing "hustlers", their treatment of teachers, and if there is a need to "out" those who do mistreat ex-pat community members who do "teach".

If you have not yet seen it, I think you will find this thread interesting:

Indemnizacion
 
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