Teaching English in Colombia. The Book’s on the Table.

OK, so we’ve convinced you to move to Colombia. You’re welcome. Not satisfied with that, we’ve given you some tips on how to stay here longer than a la-a-a-me 3 months. Don’t even mention it. I guess now you want some kind of job so you’ve got a bit of money to spend on stuff like cheese, ants and aguardiente (trust me), hey? OK, OK, quit whining: we’ll see what we can do!

If you’re not lucky enough to be living the glamourous life of an international award winning travel blog writer, with all the money, fame, and ants this entails, you may have to settle for a more run-of-the-mill job. Sorry, don’t hate us – we were once like you. Only, totes cooler.

 

 

Probably the easiest job to pick up over here is teaching English (the Minutos Lady racket is a closed shop, I’m afraid). For some reason, Colombians, like, seemingly, the rest of the world, are going all gaga about our  language – even though there is a ridiculous number of different ways to pronounce the letter sequence “ough.” There is a perception here that learning English will further employment opportunities, so demand for English teachers here is fairly staggering, particularly in the larger cities.

Due to this, there are a number of options for the budding teacher available. Generally, these jobs require that you talk English good, and are a university graduate. Fulfilling these two requirements will greatly enhance the likelihood of you getting some kind of regular job, but I would suggest getting some English teaching qualifications prior to heading over here, as well. The piece of paper which seems to carry the most weight over here (and a lot of the world) is the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (or, CELTA, regulated by the Cambridge University). Having taken this fairly brutal course, I would recommend it if you wanted to actually learn how to teach English well, even after the fairly intensive nature of this month-long course did have me going a bit batty by the end of it. Possessing a CELTA will give you a much more realistic shot at the better jobs over here, as well as giving you a sense of greater confidence in knowing what you’re doing in a classroom.

 

 

I think it’s safe to say that the more coveted jobs here are at the more prestigious universities. Not only are they generally well established, and hence generally more reliable, but you’ll get good, regular hours and pay, and they’ll often help sort out a working visa for you. Working at a university also allows you the opportunity to wear coats with leather elbow-patches and to smoke a tobacco pipe (maybe check building regulations before lighting up inside).

The next tier would be the more reputable language institutions. The best of the these rival the better university positions with respect to conditions and hours. International House in Bogota is well-respected in this regard. The British Council also offers some pretty desirable positions from time to time.

After that, I’m afraid it’s a bit of a lucky-dip. There are a bunch of people claiming to offer English teaching work all over the world, and, while some are genuinely good, it’s not that hard to set oneself up as a teaching company without much experience or skill. There are a few safeguards, though: ask around on Dave’s ESL Cafe, or join this facebook group.

The official line is that informal private tutoring is frowned upon, but it’s still a distinct possibility. Many gringos over here will relate stories of how they’ve been approached on the street by Colombians asking if they’d give them English lessons. Like we said, demand is pretty high here.

 

 

As for myself, I’ve found a nice hybrid kind of model of the last two options that works well for me. With my hectic See Colombia Travel schedule of celebrity interviews in jacuzzis and guest starring in hip-hop videos, I need a bit of flexibility with my bread and butter job as an English Teacherer. I work for a company which sets up classes with 1-4 students, either at shopping centres, students’ offices or homes. Like a lot of the teaching here, it’s either in the mornings before, or afternoons after, general office hours, or on Saturdays. I like the material and the teaching method, and I don’t have to worry about finding my own students. Be warned, though, private-style classes like this often entail a lot of travel; which can end up being a bit annoying after a while. You do get the opportunity for more chicken bus adventures, though…

Whichever way you go, teaching 10 classes a week is just enough to keep the wolf from the door here. Teaching can also be quite the rewarding job. Look at it this way: a good portion of the work is communicating with real-life Colombians, and you’ll learn so much about the way such people think and live just by doing your job. All this, just because you were lucky enough to grow up speaking a particular language. Not bad at all, innit?