Teaching English in Buenos Aires, Argentina

by Rease Kirchner

Many of us would love to flit about the world, setting up camp for 6 months here, a year there and never needing to work. However, the reality of it is that if you are planning on living in a foreign city for an extended period of time you are going to need some income. Luckily, you have a fully marketable skill that you may be overlooking- you speak English.

English tutors are in constant demand in this city. I have met a lot of expats here in Buenos Aires and it seems that basically every English speaker has at least a couple students. Most primary schools force children to vaguely study English and many students continue into high school, which is why you’ll find a lot of young people who can spit out things about the weather, age, work and other such surface topics. However, many adults decide they want to take it up a notch for the purposes of travel or work and for that they need a private English tutor– enter you, world traveler and lucky speaker of the English language.

Don’t let the term “ESL” (English as a Second Language) scare you. You do not need a TEFL or TESOL certificate to teach English in Buenos Aires. Honestly, you don’t need any training at all. There are two routes you can take to start working- freelance or through an agency.

ESL Freelancing

Freelancing certainly has its pros and cons. On one hand, you can earn more per hour and cherry pick your students. The going rate for an English lesson through an agency is $50-$75 pesos an hour (~$13-$19 USD) of which you usually only get around $30 pesos, perhaps a tad more if you teach multi-student classes.  As a freelancer, you can get away with charging around $40 pesos and keep it all for yourself. You can also decide who you teach, saving you the agony of terrible students. However, freelancing leaves you completely to your own devices. That means you have to gather all your own materials, pay for all the copies and find all your own clients. You also won’t be protected by any agency rules about cancellations and payments. Students are not all that reliable, so you might find yourself counting on a set amount of lessons and thus income and ending up with significantly less. These kinds of things can really eat up time and money. If you are looking to earn a livable wage, freelancing is going to be rough.

Teaching English Through an Agency

I’m not a huge fan of middlemen, but teaching English through an agency in Buenos Aires really simplifies things.There are seemingly endless agencies here, a simple Google search or even a stroll through your neighborhood should present plenty of viable options. The agencies vary in quality, price they charge per hour, how much they help you and how much work you can get. Most agencies will take any native English speaker, even people who don’t speak a word of Spanish. They will find students for you and help you with materials. Most expats end up starting with the first agency that hires them. Some stay with just one agency, others try several and eventually condense their students to the better agency. It’s a trial and error process, but here are some tips I can give on choosing a good one, based on my experience.

• Do the math. Don’t just ask what you will be making, ask what they charge the students. I started with an agency that only paid me $27 pesos an hour (eventually I got a “raise” to $30). I found out they were charging my students $65 and then raised it to $75! Not only is that an outrageous price for the student, but a completely unfair split. As a teacher, you should be earning around 50-60% of the class fee. Never work for less.
• Define “help”. All agencies will say they help you with students and materials, but that is pretty vague. Ask them if there are workshops for teachers to share methods and discuss problems. Make sure there is always someone available to you to get you materials like books and worksheets and never, ever pay for your own copies.
• Talk about policies. Make sure you are clear on what the cancellation and payment policies are. Any reasonable agency will have at least a 24 hour cancellation policy, meaning if the student cancels with less than 24 hour notice, you will still receive payment. You also need to ask about the method of payment. Some agencies have you collect all the money and you will pay the agency their cut  once a month. Others require you to turn in a time sheet and will pay you monthly. The time sheet method is not a bad one, but it can be tricky. Make sure the time sheet doesn’t also mean taxes. The taxes are not done on percentages here, they are figured out my income level, which means if you are working only a few hours a week you could end up losing most of it to taxes. Also, taxes are for residents, not people on tourist visas, which is what you are likely to have. Watch out for paychecks- again, you are not a resident, meaning cashing that check may be difficult. It’s not impossible, just make sure you ask the agency if the paycheck can be cashed with just a passport. If it can’t, ask for cash only.
• Talk about location. One of the biggest issues with being an English teacher is that you generally aren’t staying in one place. You’ll never make any money if you can only take 3 students a day because they all live on opposite ends of the city. Some agencies only hold classes in their facilities, which is awesome for you because then you can schedule back to back classes. However, it is more common for you to have to go to the student at their home or work. Make sure the agency works with you on the locations, you shouldn’t be taking students that live a 45 minute bus ride from you and then have another student an hour away from there. Try to keep your students in condensed areas. They might not always be right next to your place, but limit the travel time between classes.

Teaching English in Buenos Aires can be both frustrating and rewarding. A lot of those ups and downs come from your students, which is all part of teaching. However, you don’t want the logistics of everything causing extra stress. English teaching is a great way to make some money, whether as a permanent job or simply a source of income while you search out other opportunities. Whatever path you choose, make sure you are not getting ripped off and aren’t wasting valuable time. I doubt you came to Buenos Aires to see the inside of a bus for 4 hours a day and you don’t want to eat ramen every day either.

Rease Kirchner a staff writer/Travel Adviser for Travelated. She is a US citizen currently living the ex-pat life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is bilingual and an experienced traveler. She loves gaining and sharing knowledge of local cultures, customs and adventure. Her blog Mi Vida en Buenos Aires documents her life as a foreigner.