Did you go to South America on a mission? I need advice

[_daheshism]

I'm thinking of moving to South America to learn Spanish, or Port., and work by teaching English. For all you ex-missionaries to S.A., any advice you can give me other than "don't go"???

[_LDSToronto]

I'm thinking of moving to South America to learn Spanish, or Port., and work by teaching English. For all you ex-missionaries to S.A., any advice you can give me other than "don't go"???

By all means, go! Caracas, Venezuela and Bogota, Columbia are great places to learn Spanish.

H.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Please. Go. The US will be better off without you.

V/R
Dr. Cam

[_The Nehor]

I'm thinking of moving to South America to learn Spanish, or Port., and work by teaching English. For all you ex-missionaries to S.A., any advice you can give me other than "don't go"???

Go to Quebec and learn French. It's the one place you can't ruin.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

No need to leave the country in order to learn Spanish. Just move to an apartment in West Valley, UT.

[_Yoda]

I'm thinking of moving to South America to learn Spanish, or Port., and work by teaching English. For all you ex-missionaries to S.A., any advice you can give me other than "don't go"???

My husband went on his mission to Central America (Honduras and Belize). My advice based on both my husband's experience there, and also as an educator, is to learn at least Spanish before you go. You can pick up Portuguese easily enough, if needed, when you get there. However, you aren't going to be able to find a job teaching English unless you know Spanish. You will need to have mastered both languages in order to be able to teach ESL to natives.

Frankly, I think that this is a wonderful idea. I think that you should take some Spanish classes at your local community college. Once you feel comfortable with the language, look into what your options are.

[_MrStakhanovite]

Most orgs that I know who set people up with jobs teaching English somewhere usually require a 4 year degree, do you have that Darrick?

[_gramps]

Go to Japan. ;)

It is a lot easier to set up, i.e. you don't need the language, etc. And, from reading your posts, I think you would find a lot of kindred souls to hang out with.

Just my $0.02.

[_MrStakhanovite]

I had a good friend and his wife just return from a teaching stint in Japan, they really loved it, but it was a bit of a hassle to get (competitive).

[_ajax18]

Yeah I went to Bogota, Colombia. I'd say it took even the smarter missionaries a good six months to be proficient in their Spanish. It took me at least a year and for a few who had some learnig disabilities it took the entire two years.

I guess it depends on where you're going in Latin America. There are people there with more money than I would ever dream of having, but obviously those aren't the communities we worked in as missionaries. In case you do go where the missionaries go,

1. mosquito net, flea repeallants, and remember to not let the bed bugs bite etc.
2. something to defend yourself against the rampant stray dog population, bleach squirt guns were my favorite, tasers if they'll let you
3. extra cash, the church had to pay several hundred dollars for each of us to have the privilege of leaving the country when we finally got to leave. I'll never go back for reasons like that. The fear of being stuck down there whether due to immigration paperwork or some bogus criminal charge designed to "sacarle plata," as I've seen happen to other people put enough fear in me that I never considered returning.
4. Find a few husbands while your down there. They love gringas and most gringas I've met all want a latin lover. It's the only time in my life I've seen the rule, "Women are attracted to the men with the most money," not apply. When you get really good at your spanish, you ought read my favorite spanish story ever, http://antinous.tripod.com/mujerbravasp.html. I've always thought that men in my culture had some important lessons to learn from our Moorish brethren.

But I'd have to agree with Everybody Wang Chung. You can go to any section of the United States and be immersed in Hispanic culture and probably never have to worry about hearing English. I've held several government jobs here in the U.S.A. teaching English to Hispanics. I had no idea that these exclusively hispanic communities existed where I'm from in rural backwoods Virginia nonetheless, until I got that job.