Teaching English in Ecuador: Do you need a TEFL Certification?

Published on December 26, 2012, by Tracy Winn in Blog, Teach English in Ecuador.

A substantial portion of our traffic on GoGo-Gring comes from our teaching English in Ecuador blog and we get a steady stream of emails about our experiences teaching English in Ecuador. One of the top questions readers ask is: do you need a TEFL certificate to teach English in Ecuador? People also ask if they need a TEFL certification to teach in South America in general, or in other popular English teaching destinations like China and South Korea.

Collin teaching English in Ecuador.

Do you need a TEFL certification to teach English in Ecuador? No. You also don’t need certification to teach in many other countries in South America and Asia. Should you get a TEFL certification if you want to teach English abroad? We highly recommend it, for several reasons.

Top Reasons to get a TEFL Certification:

To gain skills and knowledge pertinent to ESL teaching. Just because you speak English doesn’t mean you know how to teach English. For example, do you know how to explain to a non-English speaker the reason we sometimes use going + to + infinitive to speak in the future tense? Can you give concise explanations of active versus passive verbs? If not, a TEFL certification program can help you gain and/or improve your English language teaching skills.
To work legally. Being TEFL certified is oftentimes essential for getting a work visa and/or complying with government regulations in your desired host country. For example, to teaching English in China legally, the government requires teachers have a 4-year degree plus a TEFL certification.
To get a better job. Generally, employers that require TEFL certifications offer higher-paying positions and better overall treatment of their employees and students. In fact, be weary of schools that do not require some sort of TEFL or ESL certificate.

I’m sure that you can teach English in Ecuador without having any certification or experience. During my first few interviews for English teaching positions in Quito, it became clear that the hiring companies didn’t care that I had a TEFL certificate and several years’ experience. They simply wanted to hire a gringa whose native language was English. When the interview got to the point where we discussed visas, they wanted to know how much time I had left on my tourist visa. Aha. After I told them I was specifically looking for a teaching job in Ecuador that could provide me with a visa, it was clear that the interview was over.

Tracy teaching English in China.

The reason that I am extremely weary of English schools that do not or cannot provide their teachers with visas and are unconcerned about TEFL certification is because of my experience teaching English in China. The high demand for English teachers in China has led to countless shady “schools” who are eager to get foreign faces in the classroom. Unfortunately, before I became TEFL certified, I fell victim to one of these nightmare companies who grossly mistreat their teachers, students and staff. In order to escape, I took an online TEFL certification course. Upon its completion I landed a teaching job in China that offered 3 times the pay, basic benefits, and an excellent working environment.

So you want to teach English abroad? Get a TEFL certification under your belt. It is an investment that will pay its dividends in tangible and intangible ways.

One of the most accredited, reputable and affordable online TEFL certification courses is offered by TEFLOnline.com. I was able to work in China and Ecuador with my Bridge TEFL certification and, while some institutions require the CELTA, this online certification is broadly accepted all over the world. Be sure, however, to inquire directly with institutions you are interested in working for and research the visa requirements for your country of interest before committing to a TEFL certification program.

If you are interested in teaching English in Ecuador (or other popular destinations) and are looking for accredited, professional TEFL certification and diploma programs, based on our personal experiences, we’d recommend checking out Bridge TEFL’s online certification courses.

As always, we welcome your questions and feedback. Please check out our TEFL options, comment below, or send us an email.

7 Comments.

Tags: Teaching Abroad, Teaching English, Teaching in Ecuador

7 Responses

Theresa

February 22, 2013 at 3:35 am

Thank you! This gives me so much hope. I am currently in college getting an Associate’s in Modern Language with the emphasis in Spanish. I am also taking Bridge TEFL’s 120 hour online course. I know the farther in college I go, the better chances I will have to reach my dream of teaching in Ecuador. I am interested in Ecuador specifically rather than wanting to move to many countries. I visited it for a month, and fell in love with both country, people, and climate. Thank you so much for this article!

Reply
- GoGoGringo
  
  February 23, 2013 at 1:37 pm
  
  You’re welcome! Thank you for the feedback.
  
  -Tracy
  
  Reply
Mark

February 22, 2013 at 8:03 am

I have taught for 7 years in France, Spain and Ecuador. I have never ever been requested teaching qualifications. I have worked on the whole as a self-employed worker. I now have my own business.

Reply
GIil

February 23, 2013 at 11:08 am

My wife and I have been teaching English listening and speaking in PR China for about eight years. We were required to have a Bachelors degree in any subject, but never asked for TEfl or other certification. We have been treated well and have good working conditions at our public, gov’t sponsored college. We also teach outside at a foreign run company part-time. Most of the expat teachers we have encountered in China do not have esl certification. I do understand that some, especially private schools may require it, but many legally run schools do not. It was not necessary to obtain our China work visa either. You are correct though in stating that they are more interested in your being a natural born English speaker than your ability to actually teach. We are looking at Ecuador as a retirement home after China and hope our years of experience in China will help us get part-time jobs teaching ESL there.

Reply
- GoGoGringo
  
  February 23, 2013 at 1:32 pm
  
  Thanks for your comments. It seems that you two (and Mark, above) have been grandfathered into the ESL field, perhaps? I arrived in China in the spring of 2008, right before the Olympics. It was a time of rapid change for visas for foreigners, as the government was trying to get a lot of expats to leave before the Olympics and didn’t want any more coming over to live/work at the time (pretty backwards huh?). That was when they changed the work visa requirements in China to 4-year degree + TEFL certification for ESL teachers. You also had to be graduated from university for at least 2 years– no recent grads allowed.
  
  As we mentioned in this post and others, there are a plethora of organizations and schools in China that help their teachers get visas even though they don’t have the official government requirements. Sometimes, as in your case, it is because you’ve received a work visa before the requirements changed and have no problem getting it renewed each year. Other times (and quite often, in my experience) it is because someone at the school knows someone in the visa office and get favors done for them. It’s all about 关系 !
  
  Reply
Kurtis Rumple

March 5, 2013 at 11:51 am

Hello! My family and I are moving to Guayaquil in 2014. I am looking to get a job teaching English there. Can you provide me with any schools that are looking for certified teachers? Also, what kind of certification(s) is/are best for Guayaquil?

Thanks!

Kurtis

Reply
- GoGoGringo
  
  March 6, 2013 at 1:40 am
  
  Hi Kurtis,
  
  As stated in our blogs on the topic, a TEFL or CELTA degree is highly recommended if you plan on securing a gig with a respectable company. I know that there is a Wall Street Institute in Guayaquil, so you could look into that. They require the CELTA. I don’t know of any smaller, local schools there off the top of my head, as I’ve never lived there. I’m hoping to get a blog up soon with a list of schools in all of Ecuador.
  
  -Collin
  
  Reply

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