How To Find A Good Tefl Job In Ba?

[Natasha_1234]

Hi, I'm Natasha from the UK and I'm desperately trying to find a TEFL job in Buenos Aires. I've got over 6 years teaching experience so thought it shouldn't be so hard but I've found it really hard to find jobs in BA, especially ones that are full time and ok paid. Does anyone have any advice on where to find jobs other than tefl.com and eslcafe. I'm hoping to head out there in August 2014 - would prefer to have found a job before then online, but worst case scenario I would have to find one out there which is a pretty scary thought as wouldn't even know how long to get a visa or where to stay.

Any advice, greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Jaredberryman]

You are looking to teach english, or teach TEFL?

 

[PhilipDT]

I would be looking at the private schools although most of them have already hired for a year. Generally the best paying full time employers, if you have 6 years of experience that's where I'd be looking.

 

[RichardP]

I'd say you are about 15 years too late to find a good paying job teaching English. There are jobs, but few pay well enough to

support a decent standard of living in BA right now unless you are willing to live an extremely spartan life.

I taught from 1991-1996 and got by very well working part time.

The people I envied at the time worked at International House and were well paid and had benefits and housing.

 

[ArielFabian]

I am a Software Engineer who is interested in taking English classes with a native English teacher on Saturdays during 2 hours and seems to me there are no many "real" native English teachers here. I have been working for an american company from BA serving as a Project Manager/Developer during the last 7 years.

I doubt you are going to get a well paid full-time job in an Argentinean English Institute, also bureaucracy does not help for foreigner workers. I took lessons with an English teacher from California, she did not get as many students as she wanted, however your advantage seems to be that you own a TEFL degree.

I hope you find a full time job soon, but unfortunately most likely you will need to head out by August because our economy is not going well and not many will be willing to afford native English lessons. My recommendation is you to try looking up well paid part time jobs and focus in the most richest Argentinean class only, interested in having children educated by English native speakers or middle/high class Argentinean professionals that want to improve their English skills and also can afford few expensive hour lessons a week (It is still difficult since you will need to get more than a few contacts and you might need to organize a schedule, also I have seen ... that there are fake native English on the Internet who can speak English very well, much better than me of course, and say they are native, and then they say they are native because they have lived 2 or 3 years in the US; I came across with a woman that said she was born in the US, she could speak really well but I could detect a slight Spanish accent, and I could verify she was Argentinean and lived in the US for many years .

 

[Girino]

Try to look on the International House job board. They have offices in Buenos Aires and San Isidro and maybe elsewhere in Argentina, as well.

 

[internationalguy]

Natasha, other than the rate is so low it hurts... don't be discouraged. Schools here tend to prefer to hire people who are already here. Hiring someone in advance is almost unheard of in B.A.

I'm CELTA certified. I've chosen not to teach because the hourly rate is just sad. I'd take the private school suggestion if I were you.

 

[fairchildwrites]

Ok, so all of the threads on teaching seem SO negative. I am moving to Argentina for love, but also to kick off a new career in ESL - I want the Cambridge CELTA, and since I'm coming to Argentina anyway, it's $800 cheaper than if I take it in San Francisco.

How does one work in Argentina otherwise? I do not speak Spanish...yet...

Does anyone know if things are any different in Cordoba?

Thanks, Allison

 

[ARbound]

Ok, so all of the threads on teaching seem SO negative. I am moving to Argentina for love, but also to kick off a new career in ESL - I want the Cambridge CELTA, and since I'm coming to Argentina anyway, it's $800 cheaper than if I take it in San Francisco.

How does one work in Argentina otherwise? I do not speak Spanish...yet...

Does anyone know if things are any different in Cordoba?

Thanks, Allison

The reason things are so negative is because it's the reality. I was optimistic and thought people
online were just old burnouts complaining.

Welcome to the reality: if you don't speak Spanish, don't have savings or income from abroad
or aren't being relocated by a company you're going to have a terrible time.

I work at a call center and I work 45 hours a week and make about $550 USD a month.
In about 10 days of work at minimum wage in many states you'd make more money.
Yes, costs are lower here but only if you're paid in/have usd in savings.

For example, the government strong armed the unions in to taking around than 28% pay increase
for inflation. With annual inflation officially in the high 30% range and real inflation around 40%-50%
you're going to get poorer every month and pay more for the same things.

I started working in October 2013. My salary then: $600.00 USD/month. Now: $550.00.
This is also considering I got a "raise" for inflation

My rent will go up 25% in October (and trust me, that's low). The bus was $1.25 ARS when I moved here,
it's now $2.50 ARS. A bottle of soda and a alfajor at a kiosk? $8 and $4. Now? 12 and 8.

I'm leaving, either next month if the devaluation happens or when my roommate moves in early 2015 so I can
pay for the plane ticket and still be able to leave the airport when I land.

Last thing, we get a bonus here paid out twice a year at Xmas and now. Guess what peso slaves like me and
the Argentines are buying with it? Not tango classes, not going out to restaurants, not a tv, not nice things:
Dollars, just so we can try and fight the inflation.

TL;DR

Beautiful country, people leave much to be desired but unless you're coming with lots of dollars you're gonna
have a bad time.

 

[Davidglen77]

Ok, so all of the threads on teaching seem SO negative. I am moving to Argentina for love, but also to kick off a new career in ESL - I want the Cambridge CELTA, and since I'm coming to Argentina anyway, it's $800 cheaper than if I take it in San Francisco.

How does one work in Argentina otherwise? I do not speak Spanish...yet...

Does anyone know if things are any different in Cordoba?

Thanks, Allison

The only way you can make a decent (halfway decent) wage teaching English is if you are registered with the tax authority AFIP to issue (monotributista) invoices. You can work in corporate settings at multi-national companies, such as IBM, KPMG, Microsoft, etc and charge upwards of $120 pesos per hour for individual students, a higher rate for group classes AND have continuous, long term work. If you are here in Argentina without residency, this is not possible and you will end up working for institutes who will pay you peanuts. Also if you don't speak Spanish that is a huge disadvantage, I do a lot of translation and interpreting work (I am fully bilingual) and that pays much more than teaching and many of those projects pay in USD.
Expecting to come here and make a decent living by teaching English, without being bilingual and not having residency you will be disappointed as your earning power will be VERY low.