Quote:
Originally Posted by Popfizz
I am open to anything really ... Im tech savy and a fast learner. Im also coming with about 30k in savings.
I just figured Teaching english would be a natural fit for a nativr
speaker. What are the required cert's ?
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I got you, man. I´ll give you the ins and outs. Depending on where you´d feel most comfortable teaching, your Colombian ancestry can be either a pro or con, you´ll see what I mean in a minute. I´ll start with the least coveted jobs and work my way up...
1.) Language institutes. I say don´t even bother with this option, as I have seen the instructors hanging around outside of the school, and they´re none too impressive. To be fair, some highly-motivated Colombians who got ahead and got proficient in English might be working there because they don´t have a university degree in education or they´re trying to put themselves through school in the meantime...but usually anyone working there from the United States is either a deported piece of trash (you will see those guys eventually, my advice is to stay faaaar away from them) or some old burn out who just drifts from place to place and does jobs like this because they´re easy. Also if you work in an institute you shouldn´t be tutoring anyone privately, as it´s a conflict of interest and you´re supposed to not "scalp" any clients from the language school. Tutoring is a great way to put cash in your pockets, and if you´re working anywhere else BUT a language institute, it´s a viable option. So forget the language institute altogether.
2.) There is a "volunteer" program where you can placed in either public schools or SENA (the national community college), you get a housing stipend and an ok salary, maybe 2 million pesos. The lure of this is that it´s super laid-back, you always have a local co-teacher with you, you´ll have plenty of free time. Just doing that though you´ll probably only break even and might even have to use your savings. You´ll be working with poor, working and middle class students so you probably won´t build up a network of kids or adults to tutor, as families with money are the ones who can actually pay good money for your time. It is a fun job though, you may want to start there to enjoy a soft landing and make friends.
3.) Many, many private schools. The highest tier of private school is a little different, I´ll mention them later on. I don´t want to name any names on here (PM me if you want), plenty of private schools all over the country would love to employ a native English teacher in the classroom. You may want to play up your US Citizen card here, as they tend to recognize that if a gringo leaves his family in the US/Canada/UK etc. he should be entitled to a housing allowance and other perks. Depending on the city, you could make a salary of 3 million or more, many are fine if you´re not a teacher so long as you have a college degree in ANYTHING. Also this social class will allow you to work up a huge pool of families to tutor, but to do all this you obviously have to like kids. Adults always flake on private classes, they talk and talk about wanting to learn English but barely come through. When parents force their kids to do it, they always follow up and pay well for it.
You can easily ask 40,000 pesos an hour, and over time that adds up.
4.) Universities. Most of them will do part-time only, but there are exceptions. Not to brag, but I have a K-12 teaching certificate from the US and a Master´s Degree in Linguistics, so when I heard that universities in Manizales (a small city with something like 8 unis) would "share" me and all give me a few courses so that no one had to spring for my visa and give me full-time benefits, I passed. If you really want to be a college professor, I say get citizenship ASAP and then figure out what else you need to get on board, qualifications-wise. A lot of universities outsource their language depts now, making them glorified language institutes, and those won´t ask much of you other than having a pulse and knowing English. The professional atmosphere certainly is different there, at least in some universities. It may sound tempting to have a bunch of pretty 18-23 year old students flirting with you, but when it comes to my job, I like to keep it as professional as possible and not even entertain the possibility of any misunderstandings. I´ve heard the way some of the local HIGH SCHOOL (not even college) instructors talk to their female students, and I stay out of it, but I wouldn´t act that way if I were them. You´ve been warned.
5.) Top-tier private bilingual schools. There are about 15 in the country. All certified in the United States, a few more in England. You generally need a K-12 teaching certificate in these, as well as teaching experience. Schools get in a pinch and take people without a teaching cert, but it´s not amateur hour. The expectations are the same as any school in the US, and if you´re not experienced, the support will be slim to none, they hire and pay you assuming you´re an expert already. You get paid very well, both dollars and pesos, tons of benefits like housing allowances, visas, tickets back home every summer, etc. I started at a Tier 3 private school like what I described in #3, but I jumped to one of these, and for the last 5 years it´s been good to me. I´m only leaving because we want to be closer to my parents and have my daughter go to school in the USA. This option may be out of reach, but maybe if you start in another tier you could work your way up It depends on who the school does and doesn´t recruit that year, they may need you in the moment.
So you see that you have choices. What gets my attention though is you said you have experience in luxury hotels and tech...that may be needed in Bogotá or MedellÃn and possibly even Cali or Barranquilla. I don´t mean you get on with one place full-time, because the pay may not be great, but maybe you could go to various places and start training their employees in hospitality English or something. There may be something else in tech, but I know very little about that field. Colombia is a land of opportunity for native English speakers, let me tell you. If I were to stay I´d start tutoring my ass off and I would also get in with businesses and see how I could help them with whatever. My time has run its course here though, but I do admire this dream you have. You can get a lot out of living there.
I don´t know how thick your skin is, but you might want to prepare yourself...if you´ve fancied some sort of "finding your roots", "ancestral homecoming", etc you may want to tone that down or erase it from your mind altogether. Colombian passport or just US, you´ll be just a gringo to a lot of people. The rivalry between different regions is so intense and people are so quick to find division that often foreigners never stood a chance, Colombian blood or not. You should play that up and make good money off it instead of feeling excluded or disappointed. Let them point out the differences...the differences in pay, benefits and opportunities are what you can point out to yourself every time you count your stacks of Jorge Isaacs and Gabos at the end of the day.
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