Expert: Cesar - 6/25/2009

Question
Dear Cesar, I have a Master's degree in education, a teaching certificate, and 11 years of teaching experience.  I don't speak Spanish but am willing to learn.  What are my chances of getting a teaching job in Colombia?  Thanks.

Answer
Your chances to get a teaching job in Colombia are excellent. You can also work on your own giving private classes, etc. My concern is the pay: it will not nearly match what you could earn in developed countries such as the US.

I did not study Education, but had pretty good English since I lived in the US for a long time and had studied it quite a bit. I was able to get a job as a 7th grade teacher at a prestigious private school. They started me part-time (19 hours per week) for a year and there was a vacancy to teach another subject, but I was not familiar with that one. I was asked to cover for a teacher at another grade. I had a choice of which grade to teach. I had that job about 5 years ago and had to sign a contract for a year, but I had a lot of trouble trying to keep some kids to behave (I could have used their discipline people, but I hardly did) and the decided it was better if I did not continue working there. The pay was 19,000 pesos per hour. I was able to pay a room for two people with that along with food and basic expenses.

You will be able to teach at private schools and teach adults. I have a relative who was a school teacher in the US and taught English at private schools and at universities in Colombia. I believe the pay was like 1 million pesos per month or a little more. He taught at the university and at private schools at the same time, but the bothersome part was going from one school to another to teach some hours. I prefer a full time job at a single place. I was offered a job at a private school (25 thousand pesos), but was asked to teach a couple of hours at 6 a.m. and things like that (only a few hours here and there like at noon). I did not want to make long trips to teach only a couple of hours and then maybe wait some hours (say until lunch) to teach some more hours.

If you have the funds you could open your own school and you will be one of the teachers. Rents of places here are not too expensive. I rented a pretty large place that would fit like 30 students for 600 thousand pesos per month.

Based on your extensive experience you should not have any problem. I do not think there are major requirements for teaching English at private schools other than having good grammar and speak it well, preferably in native level. People will probably need a degree to be able to teach at universities.

Some schools pay very little (like 8 to 10 thousand pesos per hour) and you would feel discouraged. 10 thousand pesos is like 5 dollars nowadays. I am currently in Medellín and I could guide you further here. My brother is here too. Bogotá and Medellín are excellent places to look for that kind of job. Teaching jobs pay better than some other jobs that require a degree.

Some schools may prefer if you spoke some Spanish. In the US some or many schools want you to speak only English to students. Sometimes you might need to know some Spanish such as when the students are in very low levels of English, but that should not be too much of a problem. I met an American who went to the same school I taught at and he spoke little Spanish. He was accepted.

Best wishes,

Cesar