Are you a native speaker of Spanish? If not I doubt if any school would consider you. One of my former colleagues who taught Spanish in the USA switched to English when she taught in Latin America. It is a good option as your (presumably) perfect domination of both languages is an advantage not share by most locally recruited Spanish teachers. 

I agree. I work in Peru and do not know any non Peruvian spanish teachers working here. A friend of mine who was a spanish teacher in the USA was snapped up as a english teacher in one of the international schools here.

As a trained and experienced English teacher ( who has lived and worked in Latin America and speaks Spanish) I really resent the suggestion that the OP should go and be an English teacher.

Teaching Spanish as a foreign language and teaching English in an international school where you will have some native and second language speakers probably working towards IGCSE, are two totally different things. The OP could just as usefully be told to go and teach Maths or Physics.

tica

a trained and experienced English teacher

Snap!

tica

who has lived and worked in Latin America

Snap!

tica

and speaks Spanish

Snap!

tica

I really resent the suggestion that the OP should go and be an English teacher.

What a very odd thing to resent.

tica

an international school where you will have some native and second language speakers probably working towards IGCSE

While this kind of school exists in Latin America it is heavily outnumbered by those institutions which primarily enrol native speakers of Spanish. If the OP wishes to restrict her/himself to schools offering IGCSE s/he will be in a very limited market.

tica

The OP could just as usefully be told to go and teach Maths or Physics.

Palpably b0lox and therefore not worth discussing.

I have worked in 4 Latin American schools (3 with good reputations) in the last16 years.  Two of the schools offered good salaries, the other two did not.  In my experience the Spanish language departments are all staffed by local teachers.  There are native Spanish speaking expats but they tend to work in the Humanities, Arts and PE departments.   If you are not a native Spanish speaker then  my experience is that you will not get a job teaching Spanish (though others may differ in their experience)

Three of the schools had traditional style British house systems and heads of those houses tended to be those who were keen doing it, whatever their nationality.....or are you refering to a boarding school style house master?  Subject specialism, however, is the more important criterion used during recruitment.

Mainwaring

While this kind of school exists in Latin America it is heavily outnumbered by those institutions which primarily enrol native speakers of Spanish. If the OP wishes to restrict her/himself to schools offering IGCSE s/he will be in a very limited market.

Strange that our experiences are so similar yet so different. I have worked in 4 Latin American schools which offered IGCSE and IB /A level. We had some expat kids but more who although Spanish first language speakers were to all intents and purposes Bilingual. They sat the First Language exam with a majority also taking Lit and then often went on to A level or English A at IB.

My resentment stems from the fact that there seems to be an assumption that if you can speak English you can teach it. Although I speak Spanish I would never apply for a Spanish teaching job and assume that I could prepare kids for external exams in that subject.

tica

My resentment stems from the fact that there seems to be an assumption that if you can speak English you can teach it.

If you are under the strange illusion that I share that assumption have a quick glance at the 'Perceptions' thread.

tica

Although I speak Spanish I would never apply for a Spanish teaching job and assume that I could prepare kids for external exams in that subject.

Not at all the same as the suggestion that a trained and experienced language and literature teacher effectively bilingual in English and Spanish ought to be able to teach either of them.  

 

Well thank you all for the feedback. I guess that I might not be in with much luck unless I go the teaching English route. I will keep my eyes peeled on TES in case anything comes up.

 

I have to a agree with most of the above. Schools will employ "locals" to teach Spanish, even in Brazil. Having said that, I wouldn't give up on the idea. You could apply for a head of year/house/section/6th form/ type of position or even deputy head/vice principal with classroom Spanish teaching on top. And you never know what might turn up. If something related to what you do turns up in the TES ads or elsewhere, give it a shot! Just keep you options open.