Living and working in Latin America

For a day by day account from one of our ex-students, Alex, who's now living and teaching English in Chile, visit our BLOG under the resources menu.

Living and teaching English in Latin America is one of the most amazing and life changing experiences you will ever have!

The weather is great, the food is delicious, the language is beautiful, the culture is rich, people are VERY friendly, and life is just altogether a lot more fun than it is in most other places in the world!

Living Expenses

Although wages are notoriously low in Latin America, Native English teachers are paid comparably well and living expenses are cheap.

In Mexico City for example your hourly rate may be around AU$8-$10 per hour, with around 4 hours work per day, 5 days per week, which is around $200 per week, or $800 per month ($1600 if you work full time)

You can rent a room in an apartment in Mexico City for around AU$200-$300 per month though, and a meal in a restaurant can be as low as $4-$5.

You're obviously not going to get rich doing this, but it's a fantastic way to extend your stay in the country, learn the language, make lots of great friends, and experience the Latin passion for life!

How safe is it?

Latin America has a bad reputation, but in truth the violence that we often hear about is usually limited to certain areas between certain groups.

If you use your common sense and stay out of dangerous areas especially late at night like anywhere then you will be much safer.

How easy is it to find a place to live?

Very easy. There are quite a lot of foreigners already living in Latin America, and these are probably the best people to give you advice about the local area. If you start working at an English school the other teachers there will be able to help you find full time accommodation. In the meantime, hostels are a cheap way to live while you're looking.

Do I need to speak Spanish?

It's obviouisly MUCH better if you speak at least some Spanish, although it's not essentail for teaching English. In fact, in most schools they don't want you to speak Spanish to the students as complete immersion in English is the best way for their students to learn.

However, for day to day living, some Spanish is almost essesntial. We would recommend taking at least levels 1 and 2 of our Spanish course, although the better you speak Spanish the better time you're going to have.

 for an article on teaching English in Mexico, the requirements and how to find a job.

 for an article on teaching in Ecuador.

 for another article on teaching in Ecuador.

 for an article about teaching in Chile.

 for information on teaching in Argentina.

 for an article about teaching English in Panama