jdyeargain says on Jun 2, 2008, 14:27:
Hi Dave:
I have been living in Bogotá for almost 3 years, with a time out to return to California, to make some more serious money in order to buy an apartment here with my Colombian wife.
I am a retired Spanish teacher and when I got to here I took a local TEFL certification course for about $650.00 (2005 prices). It is not absolutely necessary to do so to get employment, but it gave me a bit more credibility and confidence.
The first teaching job I had paid 17,000 Colombian pesos per hour. At the time it was a pretty decent rate of pay but quite paltry by Califonria standards. I must always remind myself I am in Colombia and not California when negotiating for salaries here. When I resigned from that job it took me 2 months to get my last check, and a call to the owner of the institute by an attorney, to threaten her. Finally, she paid me the 300,000 pesos she owed me.
My second job here was with a small colegio (supposedly bilingual). I had difficulty managing behavioral problems of the students and was not able to get the support I felt I needed, after repeatedly requesting such, so, I resigned. They owed me about 280,000 pesos in addition to my final check, which I never got eventhough I requested they pay me a couple of times, but, with no success.
Currently, I am working for an institute which is paying me 25,000 pesos per hour, which is quite good for Colombia. The owner has been fair with me, at least so far, although I have had to be assertive with him a couple of times to make him keep his agreements with me. It seems that if one is doing a good job, and the students are happy with the teacher, then that is the best insurance one can have, at least in the short run. The real downside to teaching here is the travel time spent getting to the worksite. Sometimes I am traveling two hours and a half, in order teach for one hour and a half. I have explained to my employer that it is not economically for me to continue in such an arrangement in the long term. He assures me that he will have some back to back classes for me soon (Hopefully in 4 hours blocks). I trust that he is doing the best he can with this since he is pleased with the students response to my style of teaching and wants to keep me happy. Time will tell.
Perhaps, I sound very negative about English teaching posibilities in Bogotá. If I were you I wouldn't let that discourage me from coming, if you truly want to. There are always plenty of ads in the Sunday newspaper for native English teachers. If you don`t like one you can always try another one, until you get the one that is the best fit for you. I find the Colombians much more friendly that I did the residents of Buenos Aires.
Best of luck with your adventure. If you have any further questions drop me an email.
Dan
0 funny, 0 helpful.
