photo credit: 50 Mapa antiguo América del Sur (license)

South America is a very popular destination for new TEFL teachers. Generally speaking it’s popular mostly with American teachers but you will certainly find other nationalities there.

Although some jobs are advertised online, many schools in South America do not have an internet presence so they tend to rely on more local contacts. Often you stand the best chance of finding work if you are actually in country.

There tends to be a great divide when it comes to language schools. In some cases you may be teaching at a high-tech university with modern facilities, or you could easily find work teaching at a small one-room school with no facilities just around the corner. In general, pay is not great in South America (although enough to live on) and it is not always easy to save… but of course this depends on where you are the kind of school you work for. There are great contrasts and you can make good money, especially with private business lessons in the major cities.

Countries in South America

See also Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico for other nearby destinations.

• Argentina‏‎
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Chile
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Falkland Islands – English speaking with no TEFL/TESOL opportunities
• French Guyana
• Guyana
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Suriname
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

See also Teaching English in Latin America.