Teaching Placements - Costa Rica

Salary range in USD per month	$1000 – $1800 USD * * May fluctuate due to exchange rate volatility.
Salary local currency per month	1000 – 1800 USD
Saving potential in USD per month	$100 – $200+
Employment Type	Full-time
Contract Length	1 year
Placement Types	Local Language Academy, Online, International or Bilingual Schools
Classroom Audience	Adults
Classroom Age	Between 18 – 55
Classroom Size	Local Language Academy: 4-10 International or Bilingual schools: 30-40
Working Hours per week	20 - 30
Days off	For academies and schools: 2 days per week but may not be consecutive.
Holidays / Paid Leave	Academies and schools: generally 8 public holidays (paid)
Tax rate range for teachers	10-20%
Visa	Visa Exemption stamp on arrival
Initial Enrollment to Arrival	3 Months Minimum
Top Placement Locations	1. San Jose 2. Liberia 3. Heredia 4. Playa Del Codo 5. Tamarindo

Teaching Placements

There are three main types of placement in Costa Rica:

Language Academy: language schools (majority adults but with some young learners attending)

International or Bilingual School Positions: Education degree holders should strongly consider coming on the December or July courses, when international school positions are most commonly available.

Language Academies

Local academies in Costa Rica are private language schools where students sign up to take English language courses.

Teachers will work with small groups of students: typically between 4 to 10 students. Evening teaching is most common, shortly followed by morning classes. This works well as it leaves the best part of the day to enjoy the sunshine in Costa Rica.

Teachers will typically work 20 – 30 hours per week. Hours will be mixed throughout the day. Most teachers working at academies will start off with part time hours before moving up to full time hours.

For the first month until classes have built up, teachers may need to supplement with online classes or savings. Pay is hourly, usually from $7 to $12 USD per hour. On average academy teachers will earn around $900 – $1300 USD per month.

Demographics

The most common demographic of English language learners in Costa Rica are young learners aged 5-12 and adult learners.

Professionals: There are many professionals in their 20s, 30s and 40s that are looking to learn English to benefit them in their jobs. These may be people in corporate positions, or in technical fields such as engineers or medical professionals. They are often learning English to gain an extra skill to help them progress in their careers. Some language schools even work with corporations such as Amazon and P & G and teach their students business English.

Young adults: There are many learners that have left high school, but haven’t gone on to university that want to gain a practical skill that will increase their employability. They are people that are looking for a skill that will help them gain employment in key sectors such as tourism.

Young learners: Participants working at local academies will less commonly work with young learners. Most academies have 70% adult learners and 30% or less young learners. Some don’t have any young learners at all.

International or Bilingual Schools

These positions are much less common but sometimes obtained by qualified teachers.

They generally pay over $1000 – $1800 USD per month. They follow the school year so typically hire in January and need teachers to commit to at least one year.

These positions are much less common outside of January but do come up occasionally. They are great opportunities for qualified teachers or bilingual teachers. Whilst we can’t guarantee them we will endeavor to place qualified teachers taking the course in December in these higher paying positions.

Earning Potential

For language academies and online schools how much teachers earn depends on how much they work.

Occasionally there is a difference in pay based on whether they are working at peak or off peak times and whether the class is business or general English.

Frequency of pay will depend on the school, some pay weekly, others pay monthly! Monthly is most common.

Costa Rica has a lower cost of living than participants may be used to in their home country, however it is not super cheap. Beach areas in particular are more expensive. Pay is enough to cover the cost of living but will not typically stretch to a lot of trips and activities so it is best for participants to bring some savings for these!

Working hours

At language academies the hours teachers work will be irregular.

The most popular times for classes are in the evenings and the mornings are also popular for classes. So teachers may work for a few hours in the morning, then log back on in the evenings. This works out well for being able to be outdoors enjoying the Costa Rican sunshine for the best part of the day!

International schools or bilingual schools follow the traditional school day.

Placement locations

There are language schools across the country but the greatest concentration of language schools is in the central valley – one of the most populated areas of Costa Rica.

Most in person language academy placements are in the central region rather than by the coast. We have international school positions both closer to the coast and in the central valley area.

Holidays in Costa Rica

There are 12 public holidays each year in Costa Rica. These are typically, but not always, days off for teachers.

Schools may provide additional paid leave days but this is not 100% guaranteed particularly for contracts less than one year.

Most schools are closed during Christmas and Easter week. The exact vacation allowance across each school will differ but rough outline can be found below:

Academy Positions

Paid Annual leave?

• Paid leave is generally provided on public holidays if the teacher usually has scheduled classes on that date.

Unpaid leave?

• Generally schools will close over the Christmas and Easter breaks for one week. Teachers typically take unpaid leave during this time.

Sick leave?

• Some schools will pay sick leave for the times they were due to work but others will
  not. Teachers are paid hourly without guaranteed hours so sometimes schools won’t pay for hours not worked.

International School Teaching Positions

Paid Annual leave?

• Paid leave is generally provided on public holidays if the teacher usually has scheduled classes on that date.

Unpaid leave?

• Generally schools will close over the Christmas and Easter breaks for one week. Teachers typically take unpaid leave during this time.

Sick leave?

• Some schools will pay sick leave for the times they were due to work but others will not. Teachers are paid hourly without guaranteed hours so sometimes schools won’t pay for hours not worked.