Latin American Links

English Is Your Ticket To Friends and Jobs

By Susan Griffith

Latin America holds an almost infinite range of possibilities for anyone who wishes to share their knowledge of native English. From specialized language training for the business communities of Buenos Aires and Brasilia to informal conversation exchanges with Mexican fishermen and Venezuelan waiters, English can provide a link between north and south and between visitors and residents.

Here you seldom find the glut of teachers you find elsewhere in the world, possibly because South America is perceived as a place of poverty and crime, danger and corruption, dictators and drug barons. But behind the sensationalist images is a wondrous and diverse collection of countries and a staggering variety of people and landscapes. South America is home to millions of charming and generous people eager to meet travelers and improve their knowledge of English.

The stampede to learn English seems unstoppable. It’s gone so far that company employees are often told by their bosses to learn English or risk demotion. Because the whole continent is culturally and economically oriented toward the U.S., there is often a preference for the American accent and for American teaching materials.

Among the most important providers of English language training are American binational and cultural centers. Scores of these centers—there are more than 60 in Brazil alone—offer English courses (see for example IICA in the country-by-country web sidebar at www.TransitionsAbroad. com). Some institutes want a commitment from teachers to stay for two years, others are happy to take a native speaker on for two or three months. While some want teachers with an MA in TESL from a U.S. university, others require only a good command of English and a tidy appearance.

Career TEFL teachers should contact LAURELS, the Latin American Union of Registered English Language Schools, which currently has over 70 members in Brazil and a number of others in Uruguay (LAURELS, International House Goiania, Rua 4, 80 Setor Oeste, Goiania 74110-140, GO, Brazil; 011-55-62-224- 0478, fax 011-55-62-223-1846, www.language-learning.net).

Volunteer Tutoring

Several South American nations have American or British-style bilingual schools and colegios. Although they normally hire accredited teachers, some consider EFL teachers, and a number take on students and university graduates looking for brief periods of work experience. Centro Venezolano Americano, for example, accepts interns for a minimum of six months to teach English to children or teenagers in Caracas.

Voluntary and international exchange organizations involved in arranging for young people to do some English tutoring include WorldTeach, with programs in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico, and Alliances Abroad, which arranges for fee-paying volunteers to teach in various Latin American countries.

An increasing number of language schools throughout the continent offer Spanish tuition to fee-paying foreigners in the mornings and arrange community volunteering in the afternoons. This often involves teaching English to local people.

Even the poorest of Latin American nations offers possibilities to EFL teachers, provided you are prepared to accept a low wage. In contrast to the standard hourly wage of $10-$20 in Europeanized cities like Buenos Aires and Santiago, the wages at language schools in La Paz are 10-12 bolivianos ($2).

Advertised Jobs

The Internet is playing a more important role in the recruitment of English teachers worldwide as it is in every other facet of life. To take just a couple of examples: www.jobsabroad.com, which allows you to search for specific kinds of employment including English teaching, recently turned up organizations with teaching vacancies in Latin America. The Spain-based TEFL Professional Network www.tefl.com also publishes current job vacancies on the net.

Many aspiring teachers find that the response to sending their résumés to addresses abroad is disappointing. The result is likely to be entirely different if you present yourself to language schools in person (although having sent a “warm-up” résumé ahead of you can do your cause no harm).

Finding Part-Time Work

If you are looking for casual or part-time teaching work after arrival, it is only a matter of asking around and knocking on enough doors. Check ads in the English language press such as Mexico City’s The News, the Buenos Aires Herald, or the Caracas Daily Journal. English language bookstores are another possible source of teaching leads. Check the English Book Centre in Guayaquil (Ecuador) and El Ateneo in Buenos Aires.

Many foreign teachers are simultaneously learning Spanish, so a good place to link up with people in the know is to visit the local Instituto de Lengua Espanola para Extranjeros or its equivalent. In larger cities try deciphering the telephone directory for schools or agencies which might be able to use your services. In Lima or Quito visit the clubhouses of the South American Explorers Club. They keep a list of language institutes and are staffed by expats who will be happy to share information with members.

The majority of privately owned language institutes are not looking for advanced qualifications. If you have a good education, are carrying references and diplomas, and are prepared to stay for an academic year, it should not be difficult to fix up a contract with a well-established language institute. Many institutes offer their own compulsory pre-job training (to be taken at the teacher’s own expense), which provides a useful orientation for new arrivals.

Create Your Own Job

The concept of a job vacancy is very fluid in many Latin American language institutes. Provided you are willing to work for local teaching wages, you should be able to create your own job. If you are trying to earn a living with non-contractual work, you will have to patch together enough hours from various sources. Again, it’s simply a matter of asking around and knocking on enough doors.

The academic year begins in February or early March and lasts until November or December. In the southernmost nations of Chile and Argentina, January and February are slack months for language schools; further north in Bolivia, for example, the summer holidays are in December and January. The best time to arrive to look for work is a few weeks before the end of the summer holidays, but many institutes run 8- to 12-week courses year round and will be interested in the services of a native speaker whatever the time of year.

Classes in businesses usually take place early in the morning. Middle-ranking staff tend to be taught before the official working day begins; directors and higher-ranking executives take their classes at a more civilized midmorning hour. People learning English outside their workplaces usually sign up for evening lessons. Most teachers enjoy the novelty of off-site teaching rather than classroom teaching, which tends to be textbook based.

Work visas are invariably a problem for long-stay teachers, though some countries (like Ecuador) make the problem easier to sort out than others (like Brazil). It is standard for work visas to be available only to teachers on long-term contracts after presenting a battery of documents, not to mention a hefty fee. This means that a high percentage of teachers are forced to work on tourist visas. These must be kept up to date by applying for an extension from the immigration department or by crossing back and forth from a neighboring country. (Many of the sending organizations listed in the sidebar can offer useful advice on visas.)

Not only will a stint of teaching benefit eager language learners, it will also give foreigners the chance to experience life in Latin America. Students throughout the region are almost always communicative, lively, and full of enthusiasm for lessons (except when there is a big soccer game or local fiesta). Be prepared to share your culture and to encounter pupils with an impressive knowledge of popular U.S. culture.

SUSAN GRIFFITH is the editor of Work Abroad for Transitions Abroad. See her Bio or Contact her at s.griffith@ntlworld.com.