Hi Daisy,

Two things in your post stood out, the first of which is your timing. The academic year jobs will long since have been filled so realistically other than the odd hour or two here and there, the only things you will find advertised in April are the summer jobs (which start in July). The second thing which jumped out was your boyfriend's passport. Unfortunately as he is not in possession of a passport from an EU member state his chances of finding (legal) work in Portugal are slim to none.

I honestly don't know whether it would be better for you to try and fix up jobs from abroad or to fly out there, buy Portuguese SIM cards, use your parents' Portuguese address and do a CV drop. ESL Base has a list of Portuguese schools (see http://www.eslbase.com/schools/portugal) although I'm not sure how up-to-date it is. Note that Cambridge School, International House and the British Council will insist on you having a CELTA/Trinity CertTESOL as opposed to an online TEFL certificate.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Briona

Hello Daisybeth,

I taught in Oporto.  The students were great, but expect the older teenagers to be a handful!  You'll have to employ tactics to get them to do their homework, come to class on time, not use Portuguese in class (with higher levels).  You might be asked to teach exam preparation classes....

...I would recommend researching on the internet schools and contact them directly.  I haven't seen that many advertised on tefl.com or in the newspapers.  You will find it's very competitive for jobs as many schools employ fluent Portuguese teachers.  Also wages will be lower than you are used to and standard of accommodation is a lot lower than the rest of Europe so ask to see any 'free' accommodation first.  If you want to find your own place it's best to look for a room, as if you get your own flat you will have to furnish it.

Also watch out for your employers evading tax!  It's a good idea to do your own tax (green slips) as then you can claim back a rebate against all of your costs such as flat, transport and even food :-) Then you know that you are definitely contributing...

Also you will definitely need to speak Portuguese :-)