Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 5/25/2009

Question
Oi Tudo bom! My name is Blake. It seems like you have a lot of knowledge
and experience in this area, so I figured I would ask you some questions,
actually a bunch, if that’s alright with you.


First off, I should tell you a little bit about myself, I think it will help you
answer my questions to know some of this information.


I am from Los Angeles California and I am currently studying abroad in
Lisbon Portugal. I will be graduating from the University of Oregon in June of
2010, and after graduation I plan make my permanent move to Brasil to teach
English. I taught English in Brasil during the summer of 2007 for 3 months in
Rio de Janeiro in the favellas of Santa Teresa (Prazeres), through a program at
my university, and I absolutely feel in love with everything about Brasil. And
teaching English there was one of the most amazing and rewarding
experiences I’ve ever had. I have many very good friends in Rio whom I still
keep in contact with today. Besides having experience studying in Portugal
and teaching in Brasil, I have been studying Portuguese language for the past
2 years at my university, and am fluent in Spanish as well. My Portuguese is
pretty advanced, not quite business fluent yet.


My questions are…


How would you advise me to go about doing this? I hear that the real money
in this business is teaching private lessons, like 1 on 1 or even small groups.
What about teaching in a school as well? What is the best combination in
doing this? Or would I be better off doing just private lessons? I hear schools
in Brasil don’t pay very much, keep in mind… Im not doing this to “get rich”,
but it would be nice to be able to pay my bills no problem and live somewhat
comfortably, while saving some money at the same time. I would not want to
be struggling everyday just to make ends meet is the point. If schools are the
way to go, would public or private be the way to go? And do you have any
good schools that you could recommend to me?


I am also considering the fact that Rio probably has a lot of English teachers
in the area? So I’m wondering how in-demand an English teacher is in a place
like Rio? Although I have all my friends and social networks in Rio, I am
looking into other possible places… what do you know about Salvador Bahia
for this kind of business? I am also open to other places as well… where
English teachers might not be as common. Plus, I could make more of a
difference where they are limited. Any information about this… would be
greatly appreciated!


Another concern of mine is the citizenship situation. From my research it
seems fairly difficult to attain citizenship, unless you marry a Brasilian
woman… which is no problem with me! But I would like to have other means
of getting my citizenship, or atleast be able to legally work in the country…
What do you know about this? And how do employers view this when hiring?
Any info on this, again would be greatly appreciated.


Another concern is that I am wondering how this would do for me as a
lifetime career, I’m not saying right here right now that I know this will be my
lifetime career, it would be nice to fall into other areas as well while I am
there, possibly hostpitality ( working in a hotel or some sort of travel
company) for example, do you know anything about this area? Also, I would
still be “in-demand” as I grow older… or are they always looking for “young
blood”, I’m 21 years old right now and will be 22 by the time I graduate. I feel
like it would be unfortunate to have an amazing time for X amount of years…
then suddenly not be able to find work, and by then I will have been out of
the loop of things back in the US that it will be hard to go back and find a
job. Any advice on this would really help!

This has been a long post of questions, Any information, advice, or guidance
would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you very much! I hope to hear from
you soon

Sincerely,

Blake Kikugawa

Answer
You can teach English in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, BUT you will have to find the private schools, of course, like Fisk, Wizard, CCAA, Cultura Inglesa, Red Balloon, St. Giles, and CNA and SEE, FIRST, if you can do so WITHOUT A WORKING VISA.  Now, most of these guys wont ask you for a visa, but if yuo go there with expectations that youare staying longer than the 3 month tourist visa allows, and lets say CCAA wants to hire you but says they cant cuz of your visa...now what do you do? There is nothing you can do. You have to hope they hire you as an illegal, and they very well might, if you just keep your visa status quite. They might not ask. And you dont tell.

So first I would go to Rio with, say, $3,000 ready to life off of. Look for a job. CCAA and all theprivate schools actually can find you private classes outside of regular teaching. You wont move to Rio and get private teaching jobs.

You can also do translation service work. But these things fall on your lap over time, say a month or two, or more. Your first goal is to see what kind of money you can make, and what knid of hours you can get, at a Fisk or a CNA, for example. Cultura Ingles is the best. St. Giles is good too but I know they just closed down in Sao Paulo. Dunno if they ahve one in Rio.

You might do yourself good if you can take an ESL teachers course and get certified. That would help you. St Giles has these.
http://www.usingenglish.com/links/Detailed/2301.html

Citizenship is only for qualified investors and unless you are a multimillionaire plannign to bring milions of dollars into Brzzil to hire a 100 Brazilians, then forget it. Otherwise, marriage is the only way. Citizenship is a birthright, or a legal arrangement for the super rich who give something to the country they want citizenship from (tax revenue and job creation) or marry a citizen and therefore are subject to its rules and bennies.

You can teach English all your life if you want,of course, but you will never get rich off it. It also might get old and annoying rather quickly. CCAA, Fisk, CNA, tend to teach low and midle income teens and kids. Cultura inglesa is more high end. The teachers for these schools are usually in their 20s, some will be in their  30s.