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Advice for Teaching in Bogota

Written bymikemack42on 07 January 2010

Private Institutes- The best private institute is the British Council, but they don't hire very often. You can find out when they are hiring here by going here. They pay 40k pesos/hour. 

I worked at two institutes. One is called Study Agency, this is their website. They pay 30-33,000 (pretty high end for private institute work) pesos an hour, and the guy who runs the school, Cormac Ross, is a great guy. The problem is they don't sponsor work visas, though there are other schools you can go to for that, while still working at Study Agency.

The other school I worked at is called Focus on English, this is their site. They pay 16-26,000 pesos an hour, depending on how good the boss thinks you are. He's fair about it (I got 26), and seems to base it on the response of the students.

I know of two other schools, called Business English Training and Extreme English (Andrea Harries- andreaharries@yahoo.co.uk) which are good. Extreme is supposed to pay 50,000/hour.

The schools you should stay away from are the chains. They pay very poorly and work you like a dog. The only chain maybe worth working for is International House, though even there the pay isn't as good as the places I work.

Work Conditions at Institutes- You go to adults' offices to teach them. I taught at La Roche, Oracle and Baker Hughes. You don't get reimbursed for transport, though the buses get you around real cheaply if not at all comfortably. You can expect to be scheduled for 25-30 hours a week with a full time schedule. Students do cancel fairly often because they are busy. If you're lucky they won't do it far enough in advance and you still get paid. You'll get 1-5 students in a class.

You can also get privates here for 30-50,000/hr. For those you just have to meet enough Colombians to find one who wants privates, or meet foreigners who are giving up privates that you can take over.

International Schools- These are the best international schools in Bogota. I've worked for Colegio de Inglaterra since November 23rd, and it's a big upgrade from teaching adults. The pay is a lot better (I'm averaging a salary of over 4 million a month), plus they will pay for your apartment, your flights, and give you three months paid vacation. The conditions at the other international schools are supposed to be similar. Most international schools strongly prefer university certified teachers.

We do our best to provide accurate and up to date information. However, if you have noticed any inaccuracies in this article, please let us know in the comments section below.

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Comments

  • Jason Chad Roth
    Jason Chad Rothlast year(Modified)

    Hello everyone, my name is Jason and I have lived in Colombia for over 20 year. I am originally from the midwest USA and have a dual citizenship with Colombia. One of the worst places you can work at as an English Teacher is Berlitz. Their pay rate is around 2 dollars an hour. But if you do choose to work at a low paying institute one of the first things you should do is set up contacts quickly and let everyone know that you do private classes too. Little by little you should be able to capture or even take students away from the institute and start to make more income. Normally a private English Class (one on one) cost around 60-85 thousand pesos an hour. Getting group private classes is the way to go as you can charge each student around 15 to 20 thousand pesos an hour. Make sure to charge two week up front and let the students know that they will be charge if they miss or cancel two or more classes. Always start your negotiations high, this culture love to barter and they feel like they're getting a deal if they can negotiate a lower price. [moderated]

  • Ctravel30
    Ctravel309 years ago(Modified)
    I work at an International/Bilingual school in Bogota and get a little over 4 million and get about 1, maybe 2, months vacation. But there are some schools that pay for your apartment and flights?? For real? I have never heard of that!! Is that common in Bogota?
  • stexico13
    stexico1310 years ago(Modified)
    I have a company who have said that they could sponser me for a work visa. If they did would I be tied to them for the duration of the visa? Can anyone reccomend a link for info on obtaining work visa's (teaching) in Colombia please. Thanks
  • dannyswift
    dannyswift10 years ago(Modified)
    Does anyone know if professional teaching experience is absolutely necessary to work at international schools such as Colegio de Inglaterra? I have a Masters degree from Oxford (in Physics & Philosophy) and a CELTA but no TEFL experience beyond that. Reckon it'd be worth emailing international schools at all?
  • mikemack42
    mikemack4211 years ago(Modified)
    Try applying to the billingual schools first. If you can't get in there, see if the British Council is hiring. If not, then you could just come here and find work at an institute.
  • antigoti
    antigoti11 years ago(Modified)
    Mikemac...your information was very helpful and I also see that you are still there. I am a university professor that has worked in South Korea for 4 years (1 elementary, 3 as a professor)...and I also have a TESOL 120 hr and Masters in Communications. I am interested in coming to Bogota...not for the money obviously but a different experience. What would you recommend for someone of my experience? I am open to any and all suggestions and advice
  • mikemack42
    mikemack4211 years ago(Modified)
    Yeah still here. At the same school.
  • JesseD
    JesseD11 years ago(Modified)
    Are you still in Colombia?

See also

All of Colombia's guide articles