Robert Crosland's South American Odyssey Part 7

My students

A wide range of courses are offered by the English programme including regular classes which follow the attitude curriculum, children’s classes, a conversation club, tutorials customised by the student to fit their needs, and preparation for exams such as the TOEFL. This variety of courses creates an excellent learning environment for both the student and teacher. Finally, the school itself is well-resourced with a plethora of materials for each level, photocopiers which rarely broke while I was there and simple yet pleasant teaching rooms.

I generally had a rich experience teaching English at CEDEI, due to the high level of support offered by my colleagues. New teachers are assigned a mentor with whom they meet regularly to discuss progress and concerns. Furthermore, a lead teacher can always be found in one of the buildings to provide support when necessary. During each 10-week cycle there are several workshops which cover a range of topics including student discipline, activities and how to teach particular skills such as reading. Due to the wide range of courses on offer and the sheer number of students, inevitably the teaching schedules varied significantly. I was fairly lucky with my teaching schedules, but split shifts can be expected as well as a Saturday class in at least one cycle per year. Teachers are usually given three or four classes to begin with. For example, two regular afternoon classes from 15h00-16h15 and 16h30-17h45 Monday to Thursday, and a Saturday class from 08h30-12h30. As this is only 14 hours a week, teachers often take extra classes and tutorials to increase their workload and pay.

In truth, the only real downside of CEDEI is the hourly wage of $6.50 which makes it very difficult to live comfortably without teaching a lot of classes. If you teach about 25 hours a week, you will earn just over $700 a month, which does not go that far even in a city as affordable as Cuenca, so many teachers work at least 30 hours a week in order to live more comfortably. I personally believe you need about $800 a month to live well in Cuenca, but this still does not include any travelling costs. Indeed, there are two week vacations between each cycle in CEDEI whereby there are no regular classes, but these are not paid. Therefore, teachers need to take tutorials or give placement tests in these weeks if they wish to see a pay cheque. Otherwise, a healthy savings account is necessary. Overall, the wages offered by CEDEI are lower than those offered by many language schools in Quito, the capital city, and Guayaquil where $10 an hour is definitely attainable. Nevertheless, in my opinion Cuenca is a more desirable place to live. Overall, South America is not a teaching destination where one can make a lot of money, but teachers do enjoy a rich cultural experience.