Teaching English In Ba

[Christopher.delapp]

Hi all, i am twenty two years old and have just graduated from university with a degree in English Literature. I'm enrolling on a CELTA course in july, my dream is to teach in Latin America, ideally Buenos Aires and I was just wondering if anyone had any advice about obtaining work, accommodation, visa etc. Cheers, Chris.

 

[PhilinBSAS]

Yes I'd certainly recommend CELTA. Whereabouts are you doing the course may I enquire?

but I'd certainly not endorse a choice of Buenos Aires at the moment as a place to teach EFL professionally other than if you have other compelling reasons to be here and preferably this compelling reason is with someone who can give you connections to get you started!!

Do your research and read up what others have said about teaching English here and issues around employment either legitimate or 'in the black' - and likely pittances.

There are many earlier threads relevant to this here on the board and it is simple enough for you to do a key word search - top right of the page

 

[internationalguy]

I would take CELTA in your destination city if possible. It might open some doors, since many of the IH schools who do CELTA often have open teaching positions.

Buenos Aires is not at all a very good place to teach right now. The rates are insanely low.

 

[ElQueso]

We just went through this with someone else wanting to come down and work and study here: http://baexpats.org/topic/28886-cost-of-living/page__st__90#entry259010

As far as teaching English, you wouldn't be the first one to do it here, by far. I know a couple of people who make decent (for here) money but I know more that struggle.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Suggestion, 1st do a couple of years teaching and earning respectable sum then hording your Dollars in countries like:
Japan, Korea, PRC before coming to Argentina. Least when you go over to Argentina, you will have enough dough to survive
before you start earning decent money teaching English..

 

[ARbound]

Suggestion, 1st do a couple of years teaching and earning respectable sum then hording your Dollars in countries like:
Japan, Korea, PRC before coming to Argentina. Least when you go over to Argentina, you will have enough dough to survive
before you start earning decent money teaching English..

Do this, otherwise you'll have to take any job that will hire you. You'd be surprised by the number of people who have degrees
or even English teaching certification that have to work in a bar, call center, restaurant, hotel, etc. and when you do that you
don't make much.

 

[DontMindMe]

Do this, otherwise you'll have to take any job that will hire you. You'd be surprised by the number of people who have degrees
or even English teaching certification that have to work in a bar, call center, restaurant, hotel, etc. and when you do that you
don't make much.

I don't think it's surprising at all. Anyone who does the slightest bit of research comes down here to teach English because they want to live in Argentina, not because they think they can actually earn a good living. They don't even give English teachers work visas here, and the odds of getting a job at a private school or something are laughable for someone with no residency. English teaching certifications are great (I got my TEFL certification here and worked as an English teacher for a time), but they're not gonna get you more money. They'll just get you jobs with institutes that pay next to nothing, and the payments are frequently late. I imagine that if someone went to an Asian country such as Japan, where they actually give you a visa and good pay, that person would come down to Argentina, take one look around at the opportunities for teachers and be on the next plane out.

OP should decide if the primary dream is to teach English abroad or to live in Buenos Aires. Just for a point of reference, if you go through a program to teach in Colombia, you get a work visa, a contract, private health insurance and a livable wage. Some programs even arrange housing. In Buenos Aires there are no such perks, because you're working under the table, paid in cash, on your own and immediately replaceable by the tons of other tourist English teachers. I lasted six months before I actively started looking for a non-teaching job (being replaced at my favorite job the day I came down with the swine flu and had to go to the emergency room was the last straw--I called at 8 a.m. to explain and was replaced by the end of the day), and that was when things were a lot easier than they are now.