{"id":4650,"date":"2018-09-18T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teflonline.com\/blog\/?p=641"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:36:45","slug":"what-is-is-like-to-teach-english-in-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/what-is-is-like-to-teach-english-in-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it Like to Teach English in Costa Rica?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you ever wanted to\u00a0teach English in Costa Rica<\/a>? With its\u00a0misty rainforests, dazzling Caribbean and Pacific beaches, and relaxed\u00a0pura vida<\/em>\u00a0lifestyle, it\u2019s no\u00a0surprise the country continues to be a TEFL hot spot year after year.\u00a0Demand for teachers remains high, too, and with requirements flexible enough to\u00a0include a range of backgrounds\u2013 from teachers with online certificates, to those with or without college\u00a0degrees-\u00a0teaching there is\u00a0a very real possibility.<\/p>\n

So how can you make it happen? We spoke to Greta, who has been\u00a0a teacher in Costa Rica for five years now, to get the inside scoop on how she did it.<\/p>\n

What kind of TEFL course did you take to teach in Costa Rica?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I actually just took a weekend TEFL course,\u00a0in the\u00a0classroom. It was pretty basic, but enough to get a foot in the door!<\/p>\n

How did you find your first teaching job in Costa Rica?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I traveled to Costa Rica first and found out about a school through a local friend. They just happened to need a teacher last minute, so I was very lucky in that aspect!\u00a0\u00a0Being in the country is probably the best way to get a job, since a lot of schools don\u2019t hire from abroad.<\/p>\n

What was your first job like\u2013who did you teach and what hours?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My first job was at a language institute called\u00a0Intercultura<\/a>\u00a0in Heredia, a town near the capital if San Jose. This school taught mainly adults, from university students to professionals, and even retirees. There were about 15 foreign English teachers total, and maybe half were new like me. The school provided a nice orientation and we did some training and got to know everyone. The teaching schedule was from 4pm\u00a0to 9pm, since a lot of the students were coming after school or work. It was\u00a0a really fun atmosphere. We could have classes outside\u00a0on the patio, have cooking classes in the kitchen, or even go on mini-field trips\u00a0with our students. The\u00a0salary was decent, too\u2013definitely enough to support\u00a0myself while there, and the\u00a0school offered perks like free dance classes and Spanish lessons.<\/p>\n

Download a Costa Rica country guide<\/a> to learn about teaching requirements, typical salary, peak hiring season, and more.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Looking back, what did you wish you had known before going to Costa Rica?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Honestly, nothing! Except I wish I had made the move earlier, like right when I graduated from college!<\/p>\n

What are you doing now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m still teaching ESL,\u00a0but at a different language institute and only part-time because I have another full-time\u00a0(non-TEFL) job on the side. I\u2019m also married now\u2013 my husband is Costa Rican. We just bought our first house here, so it looks like we\u2019ll be staying a while!<\/p>\n

Want to hear more? Read some tips from Jen,\u00a0Bridge’s content manager, on how she went about learning Spanish in Costa Rica<\/a>\u00a0while she was teaching English there.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever considered teaching English in Costa Rica? With its\u00a0misty rainforests, dazzling Caribbean and Pacific beaches, and relaxed\u00a0pura vida\u00a0lifestyle, it\u2019s no\u00a0surprise the country continues to be a TEFL hot spot year after year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10,13],"tags":[],"post-language":[],"popular_posts":[],"class_list":["post-4650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bridge-voices","category-job-resources","category-pedagogy","category-teach-english-abroad"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/greta.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jennifer Collis","author_link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/author\/jennifercollis\/"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41625,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4650\/revisions\/41625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4650"},{"taxonomy":"post-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-language?post=4650"},{"taxonomy":"popular_posts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popular_posts?post=4650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}