Teaching English in Buenos Aires

Teaching English overseas is a great way to travel, and most foreigners working in Buenos Aires are working as English teachers. The market for this is huge, and there is a lot of money to be made. Unfortunately, all of that money to be made is going to the companies that hire the English teachers. However, the good thing about ESL teaching in Buenos Aires is you can work, make a living (barely) and you don´t need to have citizenship or a visa. It´s an easy way to extend your time in Buenos Aires, and gives you the opportunity to truly immerse yourself into the Argentine culture.

One way around the poor wages is to teach ESL on your own. If you teach private classes, you can usually charge up to $40 pesos an hour. If you are teaching professionals in a large company, you can charge from $50 to $60 pesos an hour. With this kind of money, you can make a pretty decent living in Buenos Aires. The only downside is that it takes a while to build up your business, and will often take some effort to promote it.

Here is some information you may be interested in, if you are thinking of teaching English in Buenos Aires.

What is required to teach ESL in Buenos Aires?
Truthfully, the only 100% requirement you need to teach English in Buenos Aires is to be a native English speaker. You can come here, without a degree, without a TESL certificate, without experience, and probably still make a living as an ESL teacher. However, it will be much more difficult, because your options will be limited. A University degree, ESL certificate, and experience will make your life much easier, and will greatly expand the quantity of companies that would hire you. The most important of these three things is probably a proper ESL certificate, followed by a University degree, though each company´s hiring requirements are different.

Can you take a TEFL course in Buenos Aires?
Yes, there are a number of different schools that offer a course so you can become TEFL certified.

Do you need a Work Visa to teach English in Buenos Aires?
No. It is well understood by most ESL schools and institutions that when they hire ESL teachers, they will not have a Visa. Of course, you should confirm that this will not be a problem when you are being interviewed.

What is the expected salary for an ESL teacher in Buenos Aires?
The rate right now is around $25 pesos an hour. This does not usually include prep-time or travel time, and you will often spend a fair amount of time doing both. There are a handful of schools that pay significantly less, but you teach all your classes at an institution, where you are also paid for prep-time.

Do you need your own materials?
This really depends on who you are working for. It is a good idea to bring some with you, because if the institution you work for does NOT provide teaching materials, you will have to buy them yourself, and the selection in Buenos Aires is not very good.

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