-Part One of this article at ESLFocus appears here.
Being a successful teacher in Buenos Aires means working hard during the week and being rewarded for that on the weekends.A typical day starts early and usually involves traveling all around Buenos Aires. Be prepared to travel a few times during the day to the various businesses where you will be teaching. I took the Subte and sometimes a bus to different job sites throughout the day so make sure you have stylish, yet comfortable walking shoes. You are not required to teach dressed in a suit; however, slacks are appropriate attire for men and women should also dress well. Porteños are very fashion conscious and it is vital to maintain a good image.
If you want an institute to give you a lot of hours you have to do your job well. Argentines are a very social people and they do like to joke around quite a bit; however, when it comes to work, they are serious. They expect their teachers to be very professional. Native speaking English teachers are in very high demand in Argentina, so even teachers who do not take it very seriously still have work; however, they are not very successful at it and they have a hard time filling up their schedules. A native speaker who is responsible, hard working, and dedicated to teaching will have more offers for work than he or she can realistically handle.
Part of doing your job well is preparing interesting lesson plans and filling out attendance forms, progress report forms, and the other documentation that each institute requires. Make sure to turn in all paperwork promptly. By doing this, you'll set yourself apart from the rest of the teachers and the administration will reward you with great work schedules. Often, native speakers will prefer to teach only conversation to their students.
Granted, improving conversational skills is the reason why institutes want native speakers; however, both the institutes and the students expect the native speakers to teach them some grammar as well. This is very important and it instills confidence in your students that you actually know what you are doing. It is vital that your students have confidence in you and provide positive feedback about your performance. If the students complain about your performance, the institutes will not give you very many hours.
Most of my classes were composed of two students and sometimes I only had one student at a time. Make sure that your lessons are interesting and relevant to the needs of each student. This doesn't mean that you can't have some fun though; in fact, quite the opposite is true. For example, in one of my classes I had a student who liked science fiction movies. In order to teach him a bit about American movie culture and of course, English, I used the original Star Wars films in the class as a supplement. So, as a final reminder, dedicate yourself to the needs of the students and always promptly fill out the required paperwork. If you do this the Force will be with you, always! |
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