I'm planning on heading to South America this summer, touring as much of the country as I can in 5 weeks (which I know isn't much time..) and then settling down in one city for about 3 months to teach (ideally teach English, although my Spanish is good enough that I could tackle other courses, as well). My question is whether you think I should try and get a paid teaching position or go the volunteering route? I am currently leaning towards a volunteer position in Ecuador ($1500 for 12 weeks, which is pretty good by volunteering standards) but am open to changing plans. Does anyone know how hard it is to find a paid teaching job in SA (ideally Peru, though I don't have a huge preference as long as Spanish is spoken there), how important getting a TELF certification is, how hard it is to find short-term (i.e. 3 month) housing, etc.
Any advice or past lessons would be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking to make any money from this, just looking for the best experience and a way to get teaching experience, as that's what I want to go into later on down the road. Thanks all!
Posts: 9 | Location: Los Angeles | Registered: 27 January 2008
