Latin America is a phenomenal part of the world, home to a rich mix of cultures, histories, cities and, let’s be real for a second, all those beautifully tanned people! If lying on the beach by day and sipping on a sweet cocktail by night to the sound of salsa or samba sounds like the kind of lifestyle you’re looking for, then travelling through LA might just be for you!
- Travel, travel, travel!blmiers2 / Travel Photos / CC BY-NC-SA
However, we all know that travelling is never cheap, quite the opposite in fact. But there are ways you can extend your time on the road and give yourself a genuine chance of delving deeper and deeper into the cultures and histories of the places you’re living. One of these ways is to teach English. If you’re a native speaker of English you’re already half way to the classroom! The only thing left (in most cases anyway) is to get a TEFL qualification and, with thousands of TEFL schools offering affordable and accessible courses in the region, getting a TEFL qualification has never been easier. Here are my top tips for why you should teach English in Latin America.
Pay for your travels by teaching!
The long and short of it is, most TEFL teachers do so to fund their travelling. Unless you want to work long shifts in grubby bars or face a very long-distance commute to your old job back home, it’s one of the only ways you can still be learning, meeting new people and exploring your new country, whilst earning money at the same time!
You can learn too! Spanish or Portuguese, anyone?
Whoever said the life of a teacher was only to impart knowledge was wrong, because as a TEFL teacher, you will have ample opportunities to learn too. With Spanish and Portuguese being the most widely spoken languages in Latin America (with some French here and there) living and working in the region can be a great way to pick up some new language skills yourself; something that looks great when you apply for jobs once the travelling comes to an end…
Make the most of living in paradise!
My biggest tip for anyone teaching English abroad is to make the most of your time there. It’s not all about work and remembering that you are doing it to pay the bills, not as a lifelong career. So enjoy yourself! Get out and about, meet new people and have fun working with your students too.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes…
Far too many people who teach English overseas worry that they’re doing a bad job or that they are making too many mistakes. If this sounds like something you would do, stop and remember that you are doing something incredibly helpful and worthwhile to your students. You are equipping them with a lifelong skill that will help them for the rest of their lives. How can that be anything like a mistake!
Travel, travel, travel!
The beauty of being an English teacher is that it can be as nomadic as you want it to be. Remember that you went out there to travel; so don’t get tied down to long teaching contracts. Keep in mind that there’s nobody to stop you doing TEFL in Costa Rica immediately followed by a job in Argentina, then in Chile, after that heading to Belize… the list goes on and on!
