Working in Brazil?

There are not many jobs that a foreigner can get except maybe teaching. Making a living will be difficult without a specialized job.

Jim

Thank you for your nice reply Jim!

I major in English Language department, so I guess I can teach and have a specialized job.

Do you speak fluent Portuguese? I would think you would need to in order to communicate with your students as you are teaching them English.

You don't really need to speak fluent Portuguese to teach English at a school, but you have to be really good and also Portuguese helps greatly because you can understand what your students are chattering about....otherwise they will just make fun of you behind your back- teens that is.

I have no idea what it's like teaching at a university

I'm a certified language (French) teacher in the State if Illinois. I have a Masters degree in French from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and also speak Italian fluently having learned it at Berlitz for an overseas assignment twenty years ago.

I know a thing or two about learning/teaching a foreign language.

When a child is born into an environment where two languages are spoken, he/she learns both with little effort and can automatically differentiate between the two without confusing one with the other. This is natural.

Not so for kids of school age or adults who are being introduced to a language for the first time. Things need to be explained and they aren't going to understand the explanations if received in a language they don't speak.

Depends at Cultura Inglesa, the best English language school in Brazil - a winner of many international awards in the field of Language teaching
Portuguese is NOT a prerequisite to teach there

All the learning is done through association (Holistic noticing) and communicative approach teaching, and believe me they get excellent results.

Of course Portuguese helps - but it's only really necessary for the very first level
after two semesters it's pretty much a no Portuguese in the class policy

Thanks for your input.

I believe so. Portegese is not needed to teach English. They actually have nothing to do with each other. Even if I get a teching job, would it be possible for me to make a living?
Can I earn enough to make a living there?

Well it really depends which school

But honestly, no not really.....the private language franchises are a joke they pay about R$20 per hour
most people working there get a salary of like R$1500 if they lucky......thats nothing in Brazil.

Some of the better schools like Cultura Inglesa pay a wage and benefits that you can just manage to live simply on.

Private schools and Universities pay the best but are difficult to get into, especially for a foreigner

The only real way to make money is through private classes where you can Charge R$50 and up per hour depending on city and skill......but it can take a while to build up clients.

So it is possible to make a living but be prepared for a very tough 6 months to a year.

You have to look for a job at a language school in December or June as thats when they look for teachers

If you have a good teaching certificate like a CELTA or DELTA and experience in the field of English teaching your life will be a million times easier than if you are a just starting.
If you have zero experience you will have to prove yourself and you will be up against some very good quality Brazilian English teachers too, and believe me in São Paulo there are some high quality Brazilian teachers.
Are you a Native English speaker.....?
Also Brazilian studentas often feel more comfortable with a Brazilian teacher especially at the basic levels , or at least someone who speaks Portuguese and is Familiar with their Culture.
If they find you intimidating or do not feel understood they will complain at the drop of a hat and ask to leave your class.
Be prepared to teach a lot of Teenagers

Steve,

What you said is absolutely correct!

I teach privately and charge R$80-90 a hour. You really need to hussle to make ends meet if this is your only income. Also be prepared that almost all students will stop classes in the beginning of December and resume classes after Carnival.

Teaching at a school here is ridiculous  in terms of the salary. You can't live off R$1500 a month. I even found one school who will pay you R$12 an hour, only when you teach. The bus there and back will take most of that R$12 if you only teach one class a day.

Getting into a federal university is absolutely impossible unless you can walk on water. These jobs will hire a Brazilian first. Even if you are more qualified.

Teaching privately is the only way and it will take some time to build a base of students to keep going, Speaking Portuguese is not required and forces the students to speak English with you.

I went to a English school down the road from my house and just wanted to say hi. Only one actual English teacher and she learned by living in America for a year. Very thick accent and I was stopping myself from correcting her the whole conversation we had. She seemed interested in me and wanted my number. She never called and when I see her now she avoids me. Mostly because she knows that her English is horrible. She charges $R250 a month per student for 1 class a week. The school she has though is supported by a national corporation that provides the materials and advertising. So that's a plus.

I am now seeking other means to make money. Business opportunities are plentiful here, just find your niche and go for it. Consulting is a good way or seek international companies who do business here.

Thanks for the answer. My native language is not English but I have a slight accent.
As far as I understand, it's impossible to make a living by woking in a school. So, let's focus on the other options. how about private tutoring?

is it easy to find students for that? If so, can I make a living like this?

It really depends where and how, but I would not describe it as "easy" to find private students. São Paulo is the best place for that, and there are many factors at play...

Brazilian students can be quite picky about wanting an American or British tutor....they get really hung up on these kind of details.

It is possible to make a living through private students, but it's not easy and usually takes 6 - 12 months to get set up with enough students, if you lucky

My wife is a Brazilian with good English and teaching skills, after about 2 years she's making a fair monthly salary just doing privates but it's taken a lot of work for her to get to this point, especially on the contractual and business side.

Very common is you get a student who comes on strong wanting loads of classes, then the student just stops dissapears after 2 or 3 weeks when they lose interest.

I just dont understand why they're picky. I'm not, of course, as competent as a native speak (I see some are really worse, though). But I had an education for specific purposes related to teaching, which lasted for 4 years! and I dont believe CELTA holder will make it any better because they do not take all the classes we take.

I agree with you, but unfortunately that can be the attitude of Brazilian students

It's a weird thing here, Brazilians get so accustomed to learning English from Brazilian teachers that they complain they find Native speakers "hard to understand".....

It's a bit crazy, like you learn English so that you can only understand other Brazilians speaking English.....

But I do know of good non-native foreign teachers who have succeeded here , both at schools and privately, a Mexican, an Argentinian and a Romanian, so it is possible I suppose, it really just depends how good, organised and motivated you are.

I'm just warning that it could be tough, Brazil is in the middle of a huge economic crisis and people are really watching their money
English classes are often the first thing to get cut out of the budget

I think I must find a place better than my country, Turkey. Because our people are getting stupid day by day. They believe some kind of things that never happens. I see those things coming to my country, but I've always been blamed for being a traitor. I warned people, I tried to fix their ideas and ideologies. but stupitidy remains the same. So I'll just do my best to be in anywhere.

Hey,

I've been living in Sao Paulo for about a year and working as an English teacher in that time. I mostly agree with the things that have been said here but allow me to add my two cents:

If you want to work here as a teacher and have a decent life, all visa/bureaucracy issues aside, it's not super easy, but it's possible. As mentioned, the schools generally pay quite terribly, but they can help you get started. After I arrived I started working for an in-company Business English school. The pay is not as bad as some other places but it still isn't great. The other thing that really sucks about this school is that there's no real holiday period. I don't think most schools work that way though. I basically had to suck it up for about 6-8 months earning about enough to survive without spending money on any luxuries.

It has taken a bit of time but through making contacts with the students that I have I'm starting to build a good private student base, and my income has practically doubled. I'm working long days but overall it feels worth it. I intend to start cutting down my hours with the school soon, and maybe take a couple of the students with me. So, in all,  things are looking up now. People say that students stop between Christmas and Carnaval, but at least in my case this wasn't true at all - it was a very busy time for me.

Portuguese is often not essential, but learning it will make your life as a teacher and in general so much easier (obviously). Even for advanced students if you can understand some of their portuguese sentiments, they will value your work a lot more. It's true that a lot of people have a preference for native speakers, but I've come across plenty of non-native teachers, as well as plenty of students who aren't particularly bothered by it.

I think the bottom lines are

You have to be a good teacher

You have to be a good communicator

Be prepared for a difficult 6 - 12 months to get yourself set up financially

I live in one of the other large cities in SP state so it's been a bit slower than in the capital and I came with Zero English teaching knowledge, but brilliant understanding and use of the language in all it's forms......Being native opened doors but no one rolled out any red carpets and before I had proven myself people were generally a bit wary for many reasons - (Native teachers tend to go back home suddenly mid semester, bad past experiences,  etc etc)

I had to start from zero.....basically I started at the worst school in town ( a joke)
and worked my way up to the best English school over the course of about 8 months, with two other schools in between. It's taken me basically one year to go from been totally clueless  to become an English teacher who can handle a classroom of 20 teens.