TESOL Jobs in Chile

Chile’s economy is relatively healthy compared to other Latin American countries, and the demand for TEFL Jobs in Chile has grown along with the economy. The market for positions teaching business English is thriving, and there is a growing demand for teachers to teach younger learners of English. Chile has lots of private language academies, especially in Santiago, the capital. If you have a well recognized TEFL certificate, you shouldn’t have difficulty finding an adequate job.

How to Find a TEFL Job in Chile

Schools advertise TEFL jobs in Chile frequently on major TEFL web sites. It’s a good idea to contact these schools six months before you plan to arrive in Chile. Make sure you provide them with a professional resume that is up to date and that emphasizes your education, TEFL experience and training and your international experience. But don’t limit yourself to schools advertising TEFL jobs.

You can get contact information for other schools from business directories like the white pages, language school directories, and English and Spanish language national newspapers. Make sure you keep track of who you’ve contacted and be sure to follow up a couple of weeks after the initial contact. If a school doesn’t have a position available at the time, this might change in a couple of weeks, so stay in touch.

When to Apply for a TEFL Job in Chile

It’s best to apply for jobs by October for the next school year in Chile, which starts at the end of March. Schools may not contact you until the New Year, if you apply early. Schools also often have to recruit at the last minute, when previously made arrangements fall through, so there are opportunities before March as well.

Once you have the attention of a school, they will want an interview either by phone or in person. Once an offer has been made, you should give them your decision within a few days. Schools tend to want a firm reply fairly quickly. They are required to offer you a contract.

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Make sure you have answers to all questions regarding salary or hourly pay rate, whether you’ll have to travel to your lessons and if you get compensated for this time and reimbursed for expenses, what kind of material resources the school has for lesson planning and teaching materials, what kind of administrative and collegial support you will have, etc.

A contract is necessary to get a work visa. Ask the school if they will help you with this process. It can take some time in Chile to get through this process, but most schools can at least help you with prolonging your initial visa. Most schools in Chile will want to put you through their own training program, but if you have a TEFL certificate from a 4-week course or a 100-hour online course, this requirement is usually waived.

Your class sizes will vary from individuals up to 12 students. Teaching hours can be patchy with classes early and then late in the day, but this leaves you time in the middle of the day to catch up on sleep, lesson plan or just have fun. We hope you find this information useful and you enjoy your TEFL job in Chile.