TEFL Around The World: July Bloggers

TEFLers around the world is a chance to highlight blogs by TEFLers around the world. It’s a chance to get insight into countries that you may not have thought about teaching English in, but now you can read the writings and musings of teachers trying to make a go of it in a foreign country.

This week I will be highlighting two bloggers. Amanda’s Azerbaijan Adventure describes a woman named Amanda as she embarks on a Peace Corp tour to Azerbaijan. It’s a nice read trying to get to know a little bit about Azerbaijan. I hope the posts keep coming.

Peter is Avoiding the Race. It’s his blog about his life teaching in China. It’s not been updated in awhile, but there’s some good content and a good look at China and living in China from the perspective of a foreign teacher.

If you’ve got a blog to add, just add it to the comments here and we can add it to a future edition of TEFLers Around the World.

Destination TEFL: Paraguay

Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America sandwiched between Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. It’s notorious for its smuggling, fake good and lawlessness around Ciudad del Este. It’s not known as a TEFL Destination. Not very many adventurous English teachers decide to move down to Paraguay to teach English, but after researching this, I’m rather surprised they aren’t.

Andrea DiBenardo wrote an article for Transitions Abroad on Teaching English in Paraguay. It gives an overview of teaching in Paraguay.

Teachers looking for a comfortable environment should focus on the private sector, which caters to the small but very influential Paraguayan elite. The capital, Asuncion, provides the most job opportunities, but you can also try key cities like Encarnacion or Ciudad del Este. Private schools boast attractive, gated facilities with air-conditioning, cultural activities, stocked libraries, computer labs, and English-speaking staff. Class sizes range from one to 15 students and discipline is generally not a problem.

Nice places to work.

However, arriving with just a few hundred dollars will allow you to lead a glamorous life. Imagine renting a modern, spacious apartment with views of the city for $100 per month or paying a dollar to dine out on hearty meals of fresh vegetables and fine cuts of beef. You can indulge in luxuries a teacher’s wages usually can’t afford: therapeutic massage, visits to the salon, sessions with a personal trainer, tailor-made clothing—all for under $5.

Low cost of living….

Check out the article for a full run down on what was discovered in Paraguay.

Some other links to find out more about Paraguay:
Any ‘Guay You Want It
ESL Cafe Discussion on Paraguay

Realities Of A TEFL Course

Many TEFL course providers evoke images of carefree travel, adventure and exploration into their advertising and entice many young college leavers to sign up for a TEFL course and sign up for adventure. The Guardian has a cautionary tale about one adventure minded school leavers who took the plunge and found out that there is more to adventure in a TEFL career.

I found myself at a loss of what to do for one hour lessons. Halfway through most of them, which took place late in the afternoon, the children were tired. Now if it had been like a nursery when the children, under supervision, can play and paint in a relaxed environment, it would have been manageable. One hour trying to enforce games was too much for kids with an average attention span of two minutes.

It does take training and knack to pull of this. There’s a reason why many TEFLer’s do not like teaching young children.

Obviously as experience grows, knowledge and skills increase and toddlers lessons did become slightly easier. Yet there were other aspects of the job that were starting to outweigh it. If I thought I was clueless on teaching young children, I felt more of a charlatan in the business classes I ‘led’.

A 22-year-old graduate, whose knowledge of finance was drawn from the yearly trip to the bank to discuss the next installment of a student loan, should not be teaching business. However, with Tokyo being such a finance-orientated city, business learning adults are the second major source of income for private language school.

This is a problem for schools who are unwilling to pay a decent salary for someone qualified to fulfill the service they are selling.

Everyone with grandiose ideas of adventure and travel should read the entire article to get a clearer idea of the realities of TEFL.

How Qualified Are Teachers In Korea?

The Korea Times is reporting that 53% of Foreign teachers in Korean elementary and secondary schools do not have TEFL certificates. That’s what their articles says, but that not what their headline says. Their headlines is 53% of Foreign Tutors Lack Teaching Degrees. Whatever happened to truth in headlines?

Never mind, I am surprised by the figure nonetheless. See the job ads never ask for a TEFL certificate and in many cases all they want or need is a native speaker. Why complain about the quality when you are specifically not looking for it?

Destination TEFL: Peru

This is literally everything you must know about teaching in Peru. I thank Sharon de Hinojosa of The LA TEFL Job List and The Ultimate Peru List for allowing us to reprint this so that you can get as much information as possible on this interesting destination.

Requirements
The most important requirements are that you are a native speaker and have a BA degree. Although a TEFL Cert is helpful as it gives you a background to TEFL, few places actually require one.

A Peruvian Style CV
First of all, there is no need to put your CV into Spanish. You’re trying to find a position teaching English, so although Spanish is helpful outside of the classroom, you’ll be expected to speak English inside of the classroom. In fact, even if you DO speak Spanish, employers usually frown upon using it in class.

Second, you’ll need to add a professional, updated photo to your CV. It makes your CV more personal and is a basic requirement for a CV in Peru.

Third, you should put the following at the top next to your photo: Legal name, Nationality, Phone Number, Email. You can include your DOB and civil status, but it’s not necessary.

Lastly, you need to include: Work experience, Education experience, Conferences/Workshops Presented and Given, Professional Associations, Other Skills and Hobbies.

When to look for a job
If you want to work at an institute, just about any time of the year is a good time to get a job. However, summer (January and February) and holidays (end of July and December) is usually the slow season.

If you’re trying to get a job at a school, start looking around October. Hiring takes place between October and February, though in February usually the only jobs that are left are either on the low end of the salary scale or for very experienced teachers (think Science or Math) and require heaps of experience and education.

How to find a job
Although it’s true that it’s hard to find a job before you arrive, it isn’t impossible. If you have QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) it’s much easier to arrange a job beforehand and you should go to a local international school job fair. If you’re not a qualified teacher, don’t worry, there are still plenty of jobs out there.

There are a couple of websites that have classified adverts, such as
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perujobbulletin/ , http://www.teachabroad.com, http://www.expatperu.com
and http://www.livinginperu.com/classifieds. And if you’re willing to pay for a list of schools, try www.thelajoblist.blogspot.com

When you send out your CV, try to personalise your cover letter as much as possible and address it to an actual person, not just Sir or Madam. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get many responses as the majority of employers will want to meet you before offering you a job. One important thing to keep in mind is to tell the institutes when you will be arriving and ask for an interview. Then when you do arrive to Peru, go visit the places you previously contacted with your CV in hand.

Cities
Some people are certain what city they want to live in while others aren’t. Many people want to go to Cusco. Keep in mind that there are lots of tourists and is similar to Europe, so if you want the real Peru experience, I would advise against Cusco. Lima is the centre of everything. Trujillo is a uni town. Arequipa is famous for its volcano. Smaller towns are an option. Piura and Chiclayo are close to the famous beaches. Puno has snow. Iquitos is in the middle of a steamy jungle. Do some research; what appeals to some many not appeal to others.

Salary and Hours
Most institutes pay about 5 USD an hour, some business institutes may pay from 6 to 10 USD an hour. And you’ll probably teach about 20 to 30 hours a week, and may have to work a split shift or Saturdays or even both.

Schools usually pay 500 to 1000 USD, and international schools can pay up to 2500 USD a month, but competition is stiff. Schools also give you benefits such as insurance, paid vacation, sick days, pension, and bonuses. Hours are usually from 730 to 430pm.

A word to the wise, if you decide to teach private lessons, have your students pay you after EACH lesson. If you don’t, when the end of the month comes, you might find your students have disappeared. You can charge about 5 to 20 USD an hour for private lessons, depending on the level of the student, your experience, and the city you’re in (Lima usually pays the best).

Visas
Teaching a tourist visa is not legal, but that’s not to say it’s not done. Upon entry you will usually be given 90 days. You can extend your visa for one month up to three times, giving you a total of 180 days. Once you’ve done that you have the choice of either border hopping or overstaying your visa and paying a dollar a day fine.

If you work at a school, you are more likely to get a work visa than if you work at an institute. Chances are slim to none that your institute will get you a work visa.

Want to know more about Peru?
Check out the famous Ultimate Peru List at www.theultimateperulist.blogspot.com

About the Author
Sharon de Hinojosa (naturegirl321) has lived and worked (mainly teaching English) in the US, Scotland, Spain, the Czech Republic, China, Korea, and Peru. She has also taught short-term in Venezuela and Taiwan. She’s been living in Peru (Piura and Lima) since August 2004. Although she planned on staying for a year, she fell in love and is now happily married.

She regularly contributes to the forums on ELT World, TEFL Watch, Dave’s ESL Café, Living in Peru and Expat Peru. Her work has been featured Viva Travel Guides and will soon be published in Transitions Abroad, Ezinearticles, and Boots N All in the coming months.

When she’s not teaching or helping people in Peru, she enjoys redecorating her house with her husband in Lima.