Planning on moving to Ecuador - Tips and Advise most welcome

pibzy wrote:

would like to move to Quito....please help with advice on finding English Teaching jobs in Ecuador as a whole...and what steps would I need to take in looking.

Hello, Mr. Pibs...

You are obviously a well educated man, but did not indicate any training in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).

You might benefit from the experience and advice of Newley Purnell, who taught English in Ecuador for a year, and shared his ideas at transitionsabroad.com:

    You should get a TEFL certificate.  TEFL courses teach you tactics for ecucating non-native English speakers.  Such classes are usually a month or two long and can even be completed online.

    Don't make the mistake of assuming that since you can speak English, you automatically know how to teach it.

    Not only will a TEFL certificate prepare you for the classroom, but the best English schools in Ecuador require it.

(If you learn TEFL at a school in Quito, that school may be able to assist you in job placement.  Historically, there has been solid demand for qualified TEFL teachers here in the capital.)

cccmedia, Quito

pibzy wrote:

I also need advise on which residential areas I can look into for affordable and safe bachelor's pads or 1 bedroom apartments and their price range in Quito, for rental.

You can rent a serviceable apartment in Quito for $300-something, but might find the rents are higher in Mariscal, the sector popular among tourists and among Expats who don't have a car (which is most of us).

If you look at craigslist for Quito apartment rentals, you'll mostly find significantly higher rents.  The good deals are not typically available online.

When you get to Quito, you can:
(1) check current rentals in the local papers...
(2) walk the neighborhood(s) where you want to live and look for posted signs or talk to tiendas or neighbors about nearby availabilities...

You might consider renting near your school or job, getting referrals or ideas from folks there.

cccmedia, Quito

Welcome pizby!

The literacy of your post is impressive. 

There have been several discussions of teaching EFL in Ecuador before, but none of them in one particular thread, so it would be hard for you to do a search here for information as it is splayed all over everywhere.

I would first refer you here, to Dave's ESL cafe:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewforum … cbe561019d

I can only say that I have heard that Ecuador is not a desirable nor profitable place to be be an EFL teacher.

And that if you wish to teach in Ecuador you would need -

-a work visa
-sponsorship by a school for the work visa
-which would require a job offer from the school sponsoring the work visa

In order to acquire such a visa sponsorship you would need -

-Notarized and possibly apostilled academic credentials
-Notarized and possibly apostilled documents of birth certificate, resident country police report

Here is a list of countries signor to the international apostilling Convention. We do not know what your current residence or passport nationality is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille_convention

I'm sure you will have following questions. We await.

gardener1 wrote:

I have heard that Ecuador is not a desirable nor profitable place to be be an EFL teacher.

Mr. Pibs,

Regarding this point, it's evident that the highly-regarded Top Cat is getting his information from different sources than mine.

A TEFL teacher who worked here in Quito, Tanya Hanbury-Aggs, posted at the TEFL Jobs World website that "demand for native English teachers is high and opportunities (including volunteering to gain experience) are abundant."

TEFL teachers who work for a private school can make "a wage comparable to Europe or America, but with the cost of living being far less...."

Tanya's experience here in Quito:

"I worked with a fantastic institution based within a large university in the capital city.  Escuela Politecnica Nacional took me on with limited experience and supported me in my training.  They sorted out my visa and my bank account and were flexible in accomodating the hours that I wanted and needed to work.

"I worked 8-week cycles with two weeks paid holiday in between which gave me the freedom to travel internally and to the surrounding countries of Colombia and Peru.

"The staff was made up primarily of U.S. and Ecuadorian teachers, with some from Europe and Africa.  We were a happy force and taught classes ranging from beginners to proficient, and from high schoolers to adults in the evening." (tefljobsworld.com)

I am impressed by how everyone is so helpful in this Forum. Thank you so much for all the advice. I have started looking at TEFL courses on offer in Quito as well as some volunteer programmes. In case you come across any other helpful web links I can also try, please post them as well.

Thank you all

Pib

pibzy wrote:

In case you come across any other helpful web links I can also try, please post them as well.
Pib

.
Mr. Pib,

Here's a "free and independent" TEFL website.

It features lesson plans, forums, other teacher resources and an international job board.

The job board currently features mostly positions in China, none from Latin America, demonstrating the Asian interest in learning English at this time.

The site is tefl.net

Good luck, Mr. Pib.