I found your post, as well as many of the replies left by readers, to be both insightful and useful.

I am an English/History trained teacher living and teaching in Sydney, Australia, with a Masters in Teaching from the University of Sydney (a prestigious university…in case it would make a difference in making me more employable). I plan on moving to Brazil to live with my girlfriend in Curitiba in early December, and hopefully am able to find a job teaching English early 2010. I have a few questions regarding my situation, and I’m sure you will be able to help me.

1. Having an advanced degree in English and teaching (masters, 5-year trained), what would be the more appropriate and beneficial area of education for me to apply my efforts in finding a job? You mentioned two main streams – the public school system, and language institutes. What would be an appropriate place to start looking?

2. What about private schools or the equivalent? I have heard (I seem to be ‘hearing’ a lot, and not getting many definitive answers) that American businessmen based in Brazil move their families to Brazil to be closer to them, and that there are schools more or less designed to cater specifically for this demographic. Is there any validity to this?

3. To teach in either of the two main education streams (schools and institutes), and given my training as mentioned earlier, are there any other qualifications that I will need to teach English? If so, what are they?

4. I plan on teaching in Curitiba. Are there any contacts that you have there that would be interested in my skill-set?

Thanks for your time, Henrick. If there is any thing else outside of my queries that you think I would benefit from knowing, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Regards,

David

Your post is both interesting and inspiring – I am glad I cam across this link, if only by chance! I, similarly to Brendan (but on a much smaller scale), have been teaching English in a school in Taiwan for the last year. I have recently, however, begun looking into teaching roles in Brazil – I am hoping to arrive in Feb 2011, as I am keen to see some more of this wonderful world.

I am hoping to base myself in Rio. I was hoping you might have some general advice though? I am a 22-year-old female, and after reading up on Brazil I can’t help but feel a little nervous about how things might be a different from East Asia. In your opinion, how easy will I find it to land work in Brazil once I arrive, and is safety likely to be an issue?

Your advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

I guess it’s not going to be that easy for me to help you out, unfortunately. I know that in order for you to get a position in a federal university you need to pass an examination. I remember I had two teachers from abroad when I was at University – one from Wales and another one from the USA. It is possible, though, for Brazilians to get a job at a University with just an MA.

There are also many private owned colleges that have their own rules when it comes to recruitment. That, I think, will have to go on an individual basis. One thing you have to have, though, is a VISA or a work permit before anything else.

It’s also possible for you to look for jobs in private schools, but I think this will be slightly harder. Most schools teach using the Grammar Translation “method”, and classes are taught in L1 – not usually easy for NNESTs.

Finally, there’s also the private language institutes. Even though lots of them aren’t serious places and I’m pretty sure some places might even hire you regardless of a work permit, there are some serious institutions that will certainly value a teacher with an MA and the experience you have.

I’ll try to get in touch with some people I know to see if I can get further information for you. If you have any more queries, feel free to post that on my blog.

Cheers,

Henrick

I came across your very informative piece while searching for infomation about teaching English in Brazil. I also very much enjoyed reading your blog at your site and it is clear that with your background you would be able to offer some excellent advice.
I would very much like to teach EFL at the university level in Brazil. I have been teaching EFL as a tenured faculty member at a university in Taiwan for the last 16 years. I’ve found that it’s really difficult to get accurate and up-to-date information about comparable jobs in Brazil; in fact, I’ve yet to come across any such job openings since coming back.

In any event, I was wondering if you could possibly provide some answers to a few questions I have.

I have heard that it’s difficult for foreigners to get university teaching jobs, especially someone with only a M.A. Do you have any information about this? How about colleges? Do you know if there would be any opportunities for someone with my background at a college or even high school?
Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. And if you know any people who you think would be good for me to talk to please let me know.

Thank you very much for your attention to my questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Brendan