South America.

[curse]

I'm hoping to go and teach English (finishing with some travelling) in South America from November-March(ish), but have never gone there and haven't a clue. Any SNH heads been? Was thinking of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador or Argentina for the teaching bit then wherever after. Also what are police like if they catch you with drugs? Any advice that doesn't leave me holding pockets in Medellin State Correctional Facility would be much appreciated

[upstateface]

Don't go to columbia. It's a shithole. But most cops in any of those countries are really corrupt. Give them some money and they won't bother you at all

[BaronVon]

I love South America. Beautiful people, scenery and some amazing parties. Only downside is the food, apart from some good dishes in Peru it's pretty much the blandest food on earth. I did plenty of drugs and never had a problem. If the old Bolivian Marching Powder is your thing go to Argentina, i found that the places in which it's produced exported all the good stuff (still easy to find but better in Argentina) Argentina is also the spot if you like House music. I went to some absolutley incredible venues in Beunos Aires. The parties go on all day and night. I found myself in the middle of some Barrio dancing in a converted Cathedral at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

Not sure how good the teaching opportunities are, had a few friends work there and the money and conditions are shite.

[missedthebus]

I would go to Colombia, I think its beautiful.

If your going to go on an 'organised' gap year type trip make sure you pick carefully because some are a complete waste of time. If you want to teach, try and get a course that is tefl sponsored or alternatively make sure you do a proper course which is actually helping people and worth while to the local community. Can you speak Spanish? If not you dont have much of a chance of teaching English and instead of being an 'assistant' maybe look for a dofferent type of placement where you can make as much of an impact.

If I were you I would travel from southern Mexico down into S America. Bolivia is beautiful, as is guatamala, peru, argentina, venezuela, brazil all well worth visiting.

Only downside is the food, apart from some good dishes in Peru it's pretty much the blandest food on earth.

I dont agree here, Mexican food and Peruvian food are in no way bland and really tasty! Argentinian steaks as well!

I did plenty of drugs and never had a problem. If the old Bolivian Marching Powder is your thing go to Argentina, i found that the places in which it's produced exported all the good stuff (still easy to find but better in Argentina)

I wouldnt go looking for things without knowing a native, that way you can stop being shafted or worse. Its all cheap as chips 2.

I want to go travelling again, and without a doubt would be s america for a year, then seasia for a year. but need a career first lol.

[elibomyekip]

My mate went to Brazil and did some advertised Ayahuasca course for 10 days. He came back a psytrance loving hippie.

[BaronVon]

Only downside is the food, apart from some good dishes in Peru it's pretty much the blandest food on earth.

I dont agree here, Mexican food and Peruvian food are in no way bland and really tasty! Argentinian steaks as well!

Mexico isn't in South America but i agree their food is very tasty. I did say that Peru had some good dishes.
The Argentinian beef is very good but they haven't got the first clue how to cook it. I ate at tons of restaurants recommended by locals and every time they overcooked my steak despite requesting rare everytime. The only time i had a good steak was when i found a BBQ and cooked it myself. The Blood Sausage in Argentina is the best i've ever eaten.
However if we are talking about South America as a whole i still stand by my opinion that the food is bland.

[BaronVon]

I'm hoping to go and teach English (finishing with some travelling) in South America from November-March(ish), but have never gone there and haven't a clue. Any SNH heads been? Was thinking of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador or Argentina for the teaching bit then wherever after. Also what are police like if they catch you with drugs? Any advice that doesn't leave me holding pockets in Medellin State Correctional Facility would be much appreciated

If you want to teach english but don't speak spanish try Wall Street Institute http://www.wallstreetinstitute.com.ar/e ... ngles.html
The conditions, pay and support are top notch in Asia. So i assume being an international company they will be the same in Argentina.

[curse]

I'm hoping to go and teach English (finishing with some travelling) in South America from November-March(ish), but have never gone there and haven't a clue. Any SNH heads been? Was thinking of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador or Argentina for the teaching bit then wherever after. Also what are police like if they catch you with drugs? Any advice that doesn't leave me holding pockets in Medellin State Correctional Facility would be much appreciated

If you want to teach english but don't speak spanish try Wall Street Institute http://www.wallstreetinstitute.com.ar/e ... ngles.html
The conditions, pay and support are top notch in Asia. So i assume being an international company they will be the same in Argentina.

Mate thanks for this, will definitely have a look. Also do you know what countries your mates were teaching in that had shit conditions and pay? What cities are best for nightlife outside Argentina and Brazil?

I would go to Colombia, I think its beautiful.

If your going to go on an 'organised' gap year type trip make sure you pick carefully because some are a complete waste of time. If you want to teach, try and get a course that is tefl sponsored or alternatively make sure you do a proper course which is actually helping people and worth while to the local community. Can you speak Spanish? If not you dont have much of a chance of teaching English and instead of being an 'assistant' maybe look for a dofferent type of placement where you can make as much of an impact.

If I were you I would travel from southern Mexico down into S America. Bolivia is beautiful, as is guatamala, peru, argentina, venezuela, brazil all well worth visiting.

I'm organising it myself pretty much, and no I don't speak Spanish unfortunately! I'm going to learn a basic level before I go so I can pick it up quicker. I'd be open to other kinds of placements apart from teaching for sure. What was your favourite city in Colombia btw?

[BaronVon]

I'm hoping to go and teach English (finishing with some travelling) in South America from November-March(ish), but have never gone there and haven't a clue. Any SNH heads been? Was thinking of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador or Argentina for the teaching bit then wherever after. Also what are police like if they catch you with drugs? Any advice that doesn't leave me holding pockets in Medellin State Correctional Facility would be much appreciated

If you want to teach english but don't speak spanish try Wall Street Institute http://www.wallstreetinstitute.com.ar/e ... ngles.html
The conditions, pay and support are top notch in Asia. So i assume being an international company they will be the same in Argentina.

Mate thanks for this, will definitely have a look. Also do you know what countries your mates were teaching in that had shit conditions and pay? What cities are best for nightlife outside Argentina and Brazil?

My friends were teaching in Argentina. However they didn't have a tefl/tesol and i think one of them didn't have a degree.
The nightlife in Argentina was by far the best. Santiago (Chile) was ok but fairly dodgy. I was rolling up to all sorts of clubs completely uninvited. Had to leave a few before the locals kicked me in for being a "Gringo"
Santa Cruz and La paz (Bolivia) had some interesting spots as did Lima and Cusco (Peru)
This was all five years ago though so i'm sure it's all completely changed by now. Plus i've forgotten a lot of the names of the cities i visited

My advice would be - Don't plan anything, no tours, no pre-arranged accomodation, no schedule. Just book a flight to Buenos Aires and go with the flow. Best bet is to ask fellow travellers when you hit the ground. Oh and fuck the Lonely Planet that book will send you on a wild goose chase
(maybe book a hotel/hostel for your first couple of nights )

[curse]

Thanks for the advice, I like your style

[Firkles]

Sorry for the C&P (I have posted this before) but I think it's quite good and worth reading:

This is a rant I developed over the years but never found anywhere to publish. Partly as a professional swan song, partly as a warning to anyone who thinks they might like a career in ELT, but mostly for reasons of nostalgia. Sorry.

A very wise teacher trainer once told me, rather bluntly I thought at the time, as I finished my four week RSA CTEFLA training course; Don't go thinking you're a teacher, because you're not. Not yet. Do this for a couple of years and then you can start to think of yourself as a teacher. In recent years, I've become convinced that this should be inscribed in italics across every TEFL and TESOL certificate issued. The fact that currently it isn't causes immense quantities of grief for all concerned, whether they be students, Directors of Studies or the "teachers" themselves. For an industry that claims to have at its core the communicative approach, there is a distinct lack of communication going on where it's most needed.

It begins with the woefully inadequate training courses, covers the attitude of seventy percent of employers in the sector and isn't helped by most of the published material the industry puts out. This is not necessarily to apportion blame; there are perfectly good reasons why the initial training courses are woefully inadequate (massive demand for teachers, limited time to train them), but woeful they remain. The employers perhaps should shoulder more guilt but in the end all most of them are trying to do is stay in business (business, that entity that seems geometrically opposed to the basic concepts of what ELT is about, but in the end is the driving force behind it). The coursebooks and supplementary materials put out by the industry are in many cases excellent in content, but what most of them still do is assume a depth of professional commitment and understanding that the vast majority of EFL teachers just do not possess yet, and maybe never will. The simple fact that the bulk of those working in the field are relatively new recruits and very often don't know what they are doing is tacitly ignored.

Some results of all this that I have witnessed:

Lara, a teacher of some six months experience post certificate, insisted on drilling advanced level students in the basic phonemes for up to forty five minutes at a time because, quote: "they needed it". Students deserted her classes in droves, politely avoiding direct confrontation. Senior members of staff tried to point out the error of her ways, more or less gently. One class finally worked up the nerve to complain. Lara could not be told; she had adopted the maxim that that's just your opinion. I am a Teacher and my opinion is as valid as anyone else's. Nothing in the caring, sharing ELT canon was readily available to deal with this stubbornness, and Lara finally left the academy, bitterly upset at her treatment, presumably to look for a school where she would not be subjected to as much in service training.

Jack, a teacher of several years experience in a variety of cheap and cheerful academies was unable to give up eliciting even when teaching words such as "troubleshooter" to lower intermediate students. He would go to enormous lengths to avoid actually surrendering a word without eliciting and was delighted when someone finally produced what he wanted, often by sheer luck or statistical elimination. Elicitation of pre-taught vocabulary for one text sprawled across more than thirty of his fifty available class minutes. Repeated class observations and advice about this had about as much effect as methadone does on hardened heroin addicts. He had swallowed the precepts of initial training - elicit, don't tell - without chewing, and no-one had warned him he could choke on it.

Mary, an intelligent and politically aware teacher, insisted (and to my knowledge still insists) on bracing her class with such subjects as What do you think of Bullfighting? and expecting an immediate and involved response, where of course what she usually got was embarrassed and painful silence. Much of her presentation work involved similar immediate demands on students, and despite contrary advice from senior teachers who had observed her classes, she was as addicted to the technique as Jack to his eliciting. She had had no training in cultural sensitivity or, for that matter, basic human psychology, because it was a refinement there just isn't time for on a four week course. By the time she ran into decent in-service training, it was too late. The pattern was fossilised in.

Eloise, a successful UCLES Diploma graduate with five years of experience, a keen interest in the theories of language learning and a serious attitude to her work replaced Mick, a far less experienced and less dedicated teacher who had been teaching some alarmingly shaky lessons to his post First Certificate class. After a week, the class mutinied and the change had to be reversed. Reason - they didn't like her (or better put - they liked Mick).

Val, a serious and dedicated teacher with many years experience in the Far East, returned to the UK and invested most of her savings in the UCLES Diploma, held a number of mediocre posts around London for about eighteen months and finally, unwillingly, left the country again for another post abroad. Others in a similar position left the profession instead.

Dave, a forty two year old of many years teaching experience, has failed the UCLES Diploma three times at the last count and is locked into an eternity of low paid, low grade teaching posts around Madrid. He is very bitter and, as a result, pretty much burnt out.

These are not isolated cases. They are the casualties of the (more or less) wilful ignorance that pervades the ELT industry, both within and without the classroom. Enthusiastic young graduates get into the profession without really understanding what it is. In many cases they will spend several years working hard in the field and exit from it, burnt out and bitter, without ever having understood what it was they were doing. At the other end of the scale, others blatantly exploit the situation to scam an undeserved living and status abroad for minimal effort. Further training does not provide an answer; the UCLES Diploma, I am told, has the highest post qualification dropout rate of any vocational course on offer - almost sixty percent of those who take and pass it are no longer working in ELT two years later. Many who fail it, in ironic contrast, remain in the profession much, much longer.

Some hard facts need pointing out:

The ELT industry depends to a large extent on inexperienced workers who better suit the denomination apprentice/trainee than teacher, although they are not usually informed of this. Partly as a result, the field is (mostly) badly paid, and provided with poor working conditions. What rewards it offers come largely from the ephemeral glow of job satisfaction . Unfortunately, you can't eat that or pay the rent with it.

Good English Language teaching depends as much on charm and personality as on any other single factor including qualifications and experience. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

Teachers (of all types) are simultaneously over-regarded and under-rewarded in almost every culture on the planet. The expectations of all concerned (students, school owners and teachers) are therefore pretty much incompatible.

The solution? Just don't do it is probably the tempting answer, but assuming you ignore that advice, just how do you survive ELT? Well, first and foremost, buy a copy of Michael Lewis - Practical Techniques for Language Teaching, and learn it cover to cover. It will save your life every week for the first year you teach and then some. Then, unless you want to be a permanent exile from your own country, unless you aren't fussed about owning a home, clothing your children or building a pension, my advice is to use the profession the way it will try to use you. Get in while you're young, do your globe-trotting, enjoy your ephemeral glow, don't expect too much, don't take it too seriously, and most important of all, get out again while you're still young.

But of course, if in the meantime the ELT bug has bitten you, you'll ignore all that advice too, just the way I always did.

Good luck.

[curse]

Sounds fucked up. I wasn't really looking at it as a career though just something I'd do for a couple of months... But if I will take all of that advice onboard I really appreciate it

[Firkles]

I think you just have to remember not to go to far up your own arse and always have enough money for a plane home and be prepared to swallow your pride if things go tits up.

[Firkles]

There's a really good forum for english teachers in asia but I forget what it's called

[BaronVon]

There's a really good forum for english teachers in asia but I forget what it's called

www.ajarn.com

[BaronVon]

I think you just have to remember not to go to far up your own arse and always have enough money for a plane home and be prepared to swallow your pride if things go tits up.

This is good advice. I've seen too many idiots lose their mind in asia.
Many times i have seen westerners begging on the streets of Bangkok. Absolutely disgraceful.

[alfie]

i'm teaching english in barcelona at the minute, until july-ish- then i'm heading out to south america to travel round for a few months then pick a country to teach in for a bit. you might want to rethink your timetable though, i don't think the teaching year starts until february in most places so you might want to go earlier if you want to do it for any length of time...

as for teaching, finding work isn't as easy as everyone says, i think the years when you could roll in with no qualifications bar being a native speaker and find work easily are gone...esp. in south america where you'll probably have to work for shit wages and also illegally

i can't wait to go though, i've been fascinated by the place for ages....where you thinking of going? i change my mind almost weekly, thinking peru at the moment. baron i've heard the same about south american food in general but that peruvian is one of the world's top cuisines, up there with chinese/indian/thai etc? could be bullshit though

think i'm going to go without a plan and just set up in the place i liked most when travelling

[curse]

i'm teaching english in barcelona at the minute, until july-ish- then i'm heading out to south america to travel round for a few months then pick a country to teach in for a bit. you might want to rethink your timetable though, i don't think the teaching year starts until february in most places so you might want to go earlier if you want to do it for any length of time...

as for teaching, finding work isn't as easy as everyone says, i think the years when you could roll in with no qualifications bar being a native speaker and find work easily are gone...esp. in south america where you'll probably have to work for shit wages and also illegally

i can't wait to go though, i've been fascinated by the place for ages....where you thinking of going? i change my mind almost weekly, thinking peru at the moment. baron i've heard the same about south american food in general but that peruvian is one of the world's top cuisines, up there with chinese/indian/thai etc? could be bullshit though

think i'm going to go without a plan and just set up in the place i liked most when travelling

Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Medellin are definites, and I'll probably go other places inbetween, just see what happens. Inca ruins are on the agenda, as is some kind of carnival, so I'm not branching out too much lol. To be honest the more I look into teaching English there, the more pitfalls I see. It's not putting me off or anything, I'll just prepare myself more if I go. I'm not too worried about shit wages etc cos I'll save money before so I hopefully won't rely on earning money out there. It's more for the experience really. That warm glow of satisfaction when Pedro can order a full English in a home counties accent

[aspect-dubz]

i'd suggest going to beunos aires in argentina. when i went there i actually bumped into this friendly american that was an english teacher. she had been there for over five years and absolutely loved it. The place is really vibrant and the people are pretty safe (when there not trying to scam you into something ). Personally columbia would be last on my list of destinations to visit just cause of the bad reputation and press it gets.