This blog celebrated its third birthday last month. I have been publishing new posts only sporadically in the past year or so, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not writing anything anymore. In fact, I’m currently working on a publication that I hope many English teachers will find useful. It’s a collaborative project with a group of amazing ELT professionals, and I look forward to sharing more details about it in a few months’ time. Even though there have been few updates on the blog, the website still keeps receiving new visitors through search engines. The problem is that things change fast: l ..read more

Country guides on TEFL websites can provide you with a rough idea of how much you will earn and spend after moving abroad, but they aren’t perfect. The information may be inaccurate or outdated, and those guides usually don’t reflect the fact that there is a variety of teaching roles available. When people ask me about money in Colombia, I always tell them that your income and expenses will depend on a number of factors. I think it’s important to have access to information in order to be able to make your own decisions, so I’d like to share some concrete figures with you. Some course provider ..read more

The northernmost region of mainland Colombia is visited by more and more tourists every year. You can find a lot of useful information online, so there’s no need for me to mention the most popular places to go to. This blog post aims to provide some practical recommendations based on my trip to La Guajira that I took two months ago. Spend some time in Riohacha Most tourists start their trip to La Guajira in Santa Marta, Barranquilla, or even Cartagena. Riohacha is often seen just as a transit city, which I think is a bit unfair. The department’s capital has a pleasant vibe and I really enjoye ..read more

When I moved to Medellín a year ago, I decided to make a major change in my professional life and quit my stable job at a language institute. I became self-employed and started to offer my services to institutions, private students, and teachers. Now that I have some experience under my belt, I’d like to share a few thoughts on the pros and cons of working as an ELT freelancer in Colombia. Freelancing has many benefits Working as a teacher for Centro Colombo Americano was great in terms of gaining teaching experience, but I wasn’t happy with being underpaid and having few opportunities to dev ..read more

Dorothy Zemach is an ELT professional with extensive experience in a variety of areas. Many teachers have used her materials in the classroom; I did so in the first two years of teaching English in Colombia. She is the go-to person if you want to learn about self-publishing. If you are interested in that, keep an eye on the iTDi website for one of her future courses. When she advertised her latest book All of the Above: Essays on Teaching English as a Foreign Language on social media, I knew that it would be worth reading. My first impression was that All of the Above would be similar to Scot ..read more

Today is the second anniversary of the TEFL in Colombia blog. I launched this website when I was stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and quite a lot has happened since that day. If you are thinking of becoming a blogger, I recommend that you give it a go. Blogging pushes me to keep developing as a teacher and helps me to stay focused on my goal of having a long-term career in ELT. I know that Colombia isn’t the most popular location for that, but I’m doing all I can to make it work here. Anyway, I think this is a nice opportunity to take a look at my blog posts that have received the h ..read more

The long-awaited visa reform has been approved and will go into effect on 21 October, 2022. Several of those changes have already been implemented in the past two years and Resolución 5477 finally provides some clarity and official information. There are also a few other policy adjustments, and this post is going to focus on how the new law affects English teachers. Let me start with a personal observation. Since my arrival in Colombia in 2017, the country has made progress when it comes to digitalisation and online services; I can get a lot of things done from the comfort of my home. Fortuna ..read more

One of the things I like about living in Colombia is that it’s a country full of waterfalls. Many cities are located close to the mountains, so there are plenty of opportunities for hiking. The TEFL in Colombia blog isn’t primarily a travel website, but I like sharing tips for places that are a little bit off the beaten path. I’m not a big fan of overpriced tours, so I prefer to recommend locations that are accessible by public transport. If you are looking for some lesser-known places to visit in Antioquia, you may find this article relevant. Medellín is a prime tourist destination with a lo ..read more

When I get asked for book recommendations, there are a few names that always spring to my mind in relation to specific areas. Teachers interested in teaching listening skills usually receive a quick one-word answer: Field. That’s basically all you need to know from me because reading this author’s book Listening in the Language Classroom is likely to change the way you deal with listening in your classes. John Field is a respected figure in ELT, but he doesn’t seem to be active on social media, so his work doesn’t get that much attention on the internet. Well, let me give you a few reasons why ..read more

Are you thinking of becoming an English teacher and moving abroad? Have you been teaching for some time and now you’re ready to look for a better position? If you find it difficult to get accurate information on making progress in a TEFL career, I’d like to offer you an opportunity to receive personalised advice. What is this all about? TEFL isn’t a regulated industry, which leads to a lot of confusion among teachers. What is accepted in one country may not be possible somewhere else, so there isn’t a simple recipe for being successful. There is a lot of misleading information on the internet ..read more