Evaluation of how languages are taught in Central and South America

Evaluation of how languages are taught in Central and South America

Diary submitted by Ben B. Valencia

Teaching in Central and South America?
Evaluation of how languages are taught in Central and South America

Teaching is a trendy way of earning money if you want to travel, as people all over the world want to learn English or another language. Popular destinations for those who want to travel and teach are Central and South America.

It is said that teaching in South America tends to be very different to teaching in the UK. With a TEFL course, jobs are generally available in language institutes or universities, although universities can vary enormously. Some universities are like those in the United Kingdom, with a huge amount of students and great resources however due to the lack of finances and support in higher education, they are often very expensive and exclusive. Due to this reason, there are a lot of vocational universities in South America which offer a wide range of courses which are cheaper.
As well as South America, Central America is another popular destination for expats and those who are native English speakers. As has been said previously, teaching is one of the most popular jobs for people who want to live and work in this part of the world. It is not very difficult to find a job in some of the schools in Central America and the cost of living is low in every country in Central America. It is said that, Panama and Costa Rica are considered to be the most developed countries of Central America, but the living cost is still low in these countries. 2 years ago, I was lucky enough to spend 5 weeks in Costa Rica on a university placement. As part of the placement, I spent 2 weeks in a language school where I went through an intensive Spanish course. This opportunity gave me an insight into how languages are taught in Central America and showed me the different ways in which a language can be taught. The teacher was very approachable and made learning the subjunctive, which is notoriously difficult to learn, fairly easy to understand and there were different exercises which we had to complete. By way of comparison, the teaching in that particular language school is similar to how English is taught in the school in Valencia.
The salaries that English teachers can earn varies across continents and due to them usually being paid in local currency they are considered to be within the spectrum of the local living costs. South America is known to be an area in which TEFL salaries are relatively low compared with other continents however, ESL teachers in Peru enjoy the same standard of living as a teacher in Spain, who earns more in gross income but there is a higher cost of living.
To conclude, teaching is a trendy way of earning money if you want to travel, as people all over the world want to learn English or another language. There are a lot of language institutes and big universities in South America which offer a lot of courses and there are more vocational universities which offer cheaper courses which aid the financial situation in the continent. It is not very difficult to find a job in some of the schools in Central America and the cost of living is low in all countries of Central America and salaries vary across all continents and a teacher in Peru has a similar standard of living to that of a teacher in Spain.

Reference List:

• Moir, A. (30 January 2014). How Much Can I Earn Teaching English in South America? Tefl.org. Retrieved from: https://www.tefl.org.uk/blog/2014/january/how-much-can-i-earn-teaching-english-in-south-america/
• Hallwood, J. (7 January 2011). Teaching English in South America. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/teaching-english-in-south-america
• Expat Intelligence (2017). Teaching in Central America. Retrieved from: http://www.expatintelligence.com/teaching-in-central-america.shtml