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On the subject of “options for teachers”, I have decided to investigate further on what the different options are for English Teachers in Bogotá, Colombia. After living in Europe for many years, I moved back to my home country a couple of months ago. I have met a few teachers during these past few weeks, and realized that there are many different options for English teachers in this city. These different options are detailed below. • Language schools: Many teachers decide to start their career in this type of academies. There are many internationally recognized language schools in Bogotá, such as the British Council, International House, Berlitz, American School Way, among others. They usually require a TEFL certificate, such as the Trinity CertTESOL or Celta, and although some of them require at least one year of experience as a teacher, most of them will hire you if even if you just finished your TEFL course as there is a big demand for teachers in the city. • Online teaching: During the past few years this option has become one of the most popular ways of teaching English. There are several online teaching companies, such as LatinHire and eClass that hire teachers to work remotely through their platform, and other websites such as Profy or iTalki that allow you to create your personal profile and set an hourly rate yourself. Some of them require a TEFL certificate, while some others only require you to be a native speaker and have a bachelor’s degree in any subject. • Primary/secondary schools: This is a good option for teachers who like working with young learners or teenagers. Although there is a high demand for English teachers at this type of schools as many of them are becoming bilingual, it is not easy to get a job as they normally require a bachelor’s degree in teaching and some experience working with children. They offer the most competitive salaries in the city, sometimes paying teachers in USD rather than in the local currency (Colombian pesos). • In-company/Business English: Bogotá is home to big multinationals from the USA, Canada and Europe, and therefore some of their employees are required to speak English at least at conversational level. This type of teaching has become more popular in recent years, as the demand for English speaking executives, managers and employees of every level has increased in the city. Some language schools offer this service and send their teachers to teach in different companies, while there are also some companies that specialize in this type of service such as Bogotá Business English or Coninglés. • International exams: Some language schools such as the British Council and International House offer international exams such as IELTS, TOEFL, TKT, FCE, CPE, TEA, among others. As such, there is a big demand for examiners to do the speaking section of these tests. Requirements usually include a TEFL certificate, as well as two years of experience as an English teacher. Rates are usually competitive and teachers get paid per candidate, so it works out as almost twice as much as a normal teaching hour. • Private lessons: Many teachers who work at language schools also teach private lessons in their free time. The average rate is usually higher than what schools pay per hour; however there is the risk that private students tend to cancel their lessons last minute so this can be an inconvenient for the teacher. Some teachers prefer to charge their monthly fee in advance in order to avoid this from happening. After my investigations and speaking to international and local teachers in Bogotá, I have realized that the best way is to have a mix of options to fill your weekly hours. As some of them have said to me, “you should never keep all your eggs in the same basket”, so I intend to follow this premise and look for work in at least three of the above mentioned options.
