Job Discussion Forums

[MotherF]

[kona]

[Isla Guapa]

Prices in Mexico for everything have gone up a lot since 2009. Nowadays, you feel lucky to find tacos for 15 pesos each! And a comida corrida is going to cost at least 50 pesos.

[Phil_K]

I remember when I started out with my wife in Mexico, in 2001, we used to do the weekly supermarket shop for around $300, and we always buy wine for the weekend! Now it's regularly over $1000!

[lagringalindissima]

Since the message that started this thread is under a year old, I assume the information is current.

I would like to warn people about several things.

I live by the border in the USA and Mexico is insanely dangerous now. I assume anyone reading this knows that already, but don't think "if I work at a school for the wealthy and live in a safe neighborhood--and stay away from drugs and those involved with the drug trade-- I will be safe". That is not true. The cartels now move into neighborhoods and take control; then anyone who can gets out of if not Mexico at least that area. A place that isn't dangerous this month can be suddenly in 6 months. The cartels also buy guns in the US and then randomly attack anyone--rich, poor, pregnant women..it doesn't matter. They just start shooting indiscriminately. And our country doesn't seem to be willing to make it harder for people to buy guns, so the problem won't improve.

If schools aren't offering good salaries to compensate for you coming to a dangerous location that could also be a red flag they aren't offering good working environments.

I worked at the Culiacan Tec in about 1999 and it was horrendous. I am NOT claiming that my experience has anything to do with what Tec is like now--I now nothing about what has happened since I left.

I will mention that have also heard that all TEC are independently run; thus just because one TEC has problems you don't need to avoid the whole system. I believe that is true. I taught at a language school in Irapuato and the TEC there seemed good; numerous kids living in a small town 45 minutes away came to Irapuato to attend that TEC, the kids were great students and very well behaved--despite me being a language institute teacher who gave them extra work but no grades-- and the kids stressed that they liked all of their classes and teachers and that they were learning a lot in all classes.

My point is this..what I will describe below is was what a TEC job was like in 1999, but it WAS very well paid. If you have this job now and aren't well paid you will be very unhappy!

1) A teacher left because her father was very sick; I was hired after the school year started to replace her. She had an MBA and had business classes--at a college level, not even high school business classes. Tec flat out lied to me and told me I had all standard ESL classes. I have no business background at all! I was observed in these classes and found to be inadequate because I wasn't focusing on the right content.. DUH.

2) I missed the pre-service training, and I "get" that people might not think to tell you things like "if students aren't in class by 5 MINUTES after the start time they are late" (i.e. they aren't late right away); I wasn't upset I didn't know these small things. But one day they told me "grades were due" and I didn't have the school set passwords to log in to post grades. I didn't know there was a major exam date approaching until students complained to the department chair that the exam date was in less than a week and I'd never mentioned what would be on the test. I never met the school principal, and when I said to the department chair "my students said class is supposed to end 5 minutes early so they can get to their next class..is that accurate?" she said no-- but the kids were right. (This wasn't as minor as it sounds..it caused huge problems when I didn't let them leave on time.)

3) Student behavior was out of control. I am going to open that was largely my fault. I was 24--and looked 19-- I had almost no teaching experience and I had not understood what I was getting into. I have mild autism, too.. I didn't know that at the time. But it was not just teenagers being teenagers. They came and went as they pleased and played full court basketball in class. I once multiple students surrounded me while I was passing out exams and pulled on my clothes from all directions. It wasn't just me. One teacher told me after her first semester she wanted to quit due to student behavior-- but the school convinced her to stay, so evidently she was judged to be controlling them well. The department chair "helped me" to deal with student behavior by explaining that cultures are different; she stressed that I was in THEIR culture and I had to "play by their rules".

4) I had a HUGE range of levels..from barely intermediate to kids who'd gone to elite schools in the US for a year and wrote better than many native speaker students I have seen. The lowest students came to me and asked for help; thus I made the class so easy they did well and others complained it was too easy.

5) We had a curriculum/syllabus, but it was unfollowable. They expected kids to write multiple types of essays and a play--and I think more I am forgetting like maybe poetry-- in a semester length class where some students are only intermediate. The kids had access to the curriculum and were told all teachers had to be following school curricula. I'd get assignments I never assigned from stressed out kids saying "I had no idea what to do" and I was often asked "When is the poster due"? I know now I should have been monitoring the curriculum weekly, but it was so much more content than I could ever teach and it was confusing and badly written; thus I just made my own plans.

6) In 1999 if you got bad student evaluations--after a semester--you were fired. (At least they told me that; it might not have really been automatic.) When I was hired I thought that was a plus ("they care about the students above all else"), but of course the reality was students could easily remove teachers they disliked.

There were some good things..and I assume these pluses are still true. They paid me back for my airfare promptly-- I lived on the money they gave me back for airfare for most of the two months I stayed there!!-- and they paid all visa costs. (You can also get a legitimate visa by working there, which is important.) They also gave me free housing for (I think..I forget) 2 weeks and helped me get settled after that.

The students wanted to learn English and would talk to you in English--thus you can get by without knowing Spanish, too. You would likely have some wonderful students; one teacher gushed about what an amazing group of kids she'd had last year.

But if you aren't being paid well the job is probably not worth accepting.

[lagringalindissima]

Since the message that started this thread is under a year old, I assume the information is current.

I would like to warn people about several things.

I live by the border in the USA and Mexico is insanely dangerous now. I assume anyone reading this knows that already, but don't think "if I work at a school for the wealthy and live in a safe neighborhood--and stay away from drugs and those involved with the drug trade-- I will be safe". That is not true. The cartels now move into neighborhoods and take control; then anyone who can gets out of if not Mexico at least that area. A place that isn't dangerous this month can be suddenly in 6 months. The cartels also buy guns in the US and then randomly attack anyone--rich, poor, pregnant women..it doesn't matter. They just start shooting indiscriminately. And our country doesn't seem to be willing to make it harder for people to buy guns, so the problem won't improve.

If schools aren't offering good salaries to compensate for you coming to a dangerous location that could also be a red flag they aren't offering good working environments.

I worked at the Culiacan Tec in about 1999 and it was horrendous. I am NOT claiming that my experience has anything to do with what Tec is like now--I now nothing about what has happened since I left.

I will mention that have also heard that all TEC are independently run; thus just because one TEC has problems you don't need to avoid the whole system. I believe that is true. I taught at a language school in Irapuato and the TEC there seemed good; numerous kids living in a small town 45 minutes away came to Irapuato to attend that TEC, the kids were great students and very well behaved--despite me being a language institute teacher who gave them extra work but no grades-- and the kids stressed that they liked all of their classes and teachers and that they were learning a lot in all classes.

My point is this..what I will describe below is was what a TEC job was like in 1999, but it WAS very well paid. If you have this job now and aren't well paid you will be very unhappy! I was paid about 1200 dollars a month--I don't remember what that was in pesos-- in 1999.

1) A teacher left because her father was very sick; I was hired after the school year started to replace her. She had an MBA and had business classes--at a college level, not even high school business classes. Tec flat out lied to me and told me I had all standard ESL classes. I have no business background at all! I was observed in these classes and found to be inadequate because I wasn't focusing on the right content.. DUH.

2) I missed the pre-service training, and I "get" that people might not think to tell you things like "if students aren't in class by 5 MINUTES after the start time they are late" (i.e. they aren't late right away); I wasn't upset I didn't know these small things. But one day they told me "grades were due" and I didn't have the school set passwords to log in to post grades. I didn't know there was a major exam date approaching until students complained to the department chair that the exam date was in less than a week and I'd never mentioned what would be on the test. I never met the school principal, and when I said to the department chair "my students said class is supposed to end 5 minutes early so they can get to their next class..is that accurate?" she said no-- but the kids were right. (This wasn't as minor as it sounds..it caused huge problems when I didn't let them leave on time.)

3) Student behavior was out of control. I am going to open that was largely my fault. I was 24--and looked 19-- I had almost no teaching experience and I had not understood what I was getting into. I have mild autism, too.. I didn't know that at the time. But it was not just teenagers being teenagers. They came and went as they pleased and played full court basketball in class. I once multiple students surrounded me while I was passing out exams and pulled on my clothes from all directions. It wasn't just me. One teacher told me after her first semester she wanted to quit due to student behavior-- but the school convinced her to stay, so evidently she was judged to be controlling them well. The department chair "helped me" to deal with student behavior by explaining that cultures are different; she stressed that I was in THEIR culture and I had to "play by their rules".

4) I had a HUGE range of levels..from barely intermediate to kids who'd gone to elite schools in the US for a year and wrote better than many native speaker students I have seen. The lowest students came to me and asked for help; thus I made the class so easy they did well and others complained it was too easy.

5) We had a curriculum/syllabus, but it was unfollowable. They expected kids to write multiple types of essays and a play--and I think more I am forgetting like maybe poetry-- in a semester length class where some students are only intermediate. The kids had access to the curriculum and were told all teachers had to be following school curricula. I'd get assignments I never assigned from stressed out kids saying "I had no idea what to do" and I was often asked "When is the poster due"? I know now I should have been monitoring the curriculum weekly, but it was so much more content than I could ever teach and it was confusing and badly written; thus I just made my own plans.

6) In 1999 if you got bad student evaluations--after a semester--you were fired. (At least they told me that; it might not have really been automatic.) When I was hired I thought that was a plus ("they care about the students above all else"), but of course the reality was students could easily remove teachers they disliked.

There were some good things..and I assume these pluses are still true. They paid me back for my airfare promptly-- I lived on the money they gave me back for airfare for most of the two months I stayed there!!-- and they paid all visa costs. (You can also get a legitimate visa by working there, which is important.) They also gave me free housing for (I think..I forget) 2 weeks and helped me get settled after that.

The students wanted to learn English and would talk to you in English--thus you can get by without knowing Spanish, too. You would likely have some wonderful students; one teacher gushed about what an amazing group of kids she'd had last year.

But if you aren't being paid well the job is probably not worth accepting.

[lagringalindissima]

Since the message that started this thread is under a year old, I assume the information is current.

I would like to warn people about several things.

I live by the border in the USA and Mexico is insanely dangerous now. I assume anyone reading this knows that already, but don't think "if I work at a school for the wealthy and live in a safe neighborhood--and stay away from drugs and those involved with the drug trade-- I will be safe". That is not true. The cartels now move into neighborhoods and take control; then anyone who can gets out of if not Mexico at least that area. A place that isn't dangerous this month can be suddenly in 6 months. The cartels also buy guns in the US and then randomly attack anyone--rich, poor, pregnant women..it doesn't matter. They just start shooting indiscriminately. And our country doesn't seem to be willing to make it harder for people to buy guns, so the problem won't improve.

If schools aren't offering good salaries to compensate for you coming to a dangerous location that could also be a red flag they aren't offering good working environments.

I worked at the Culiacan Tec in about 1999 and it was horrendous. I am NOT claiming that my experience has anything to do with what Tec is like now--I now nothing about what has happened since I left.

I will mention that have also heard that all TEC are independently run; thus just because one TEC has problems you don't need to avoid the whole system. I believe that is true. I taught at a language school in Irapuato and the TEC there seemed good; numerous kids living in a small town 45 minutes away came to Irapuato to attend that TEC, the kids were great students and very well behaved--despite me being a language institute teacher who gave them extra work but no grades-- and the kids stressed that they liked all of their classes and teachers and that they were learning a lot in all classes.

My point is this..what I will describe below is was what a TEC job was like in 1999, but it WAS very well paid. If you have this job now and aren't well paid you will be very unhappy! I was paid about 1200 dollars a month--I don't remember what that was in pesos-- in 1999.

1) A teacher left because her father was very sick; I was hired after the school year started to replace her. She had an MBA and had business classes--at a college level. Tec flat out lied to me and told me I had all standard ESL classes. I have no business background at all! I was observed in these classes and found to be inadequate because I wasn't focusing on the right content.. DUH.

2) I missed the pre-service training, and I "get" that people might not think to tell you things like "if students aren't in class by 5 MINUTES after the start time they are late" (i.e. they aren't late right away); I wasn't upset I didn't know these small things. But one day they told me "grades were due" and I didn't have the school set passwords to log in to post grades. I didn't know there was a major exam date approaching until students complained to the department chair that the exam date was in less than a week and I'd never mentioned what would be on the test. When I said to the department chair "my students said class is supposed to end 5 minutes early so they can get to their next class..is that accurate?" she said no-- but the kids were right. (This wasn't as minor as it sounds..it caused problems when I didn't let them leave on time.)

3) Student behavior was out of control. I am going to open that was largely my fault. I was 24--and looked 19-- I had almost no teaching experience and I had not understood what I was getting into. I have mild autism, too.. I didn't know that at the time. But it was not just teenagers being teenagers. They came and went as they pleased and played full court basketball in class. I once multiple students surrounded me while I was passing out exams and pulled on my clothes from all directions. It wasn't just me. One teacher told me after her first semester she wanted to quit due to student behavior-- but the school convinced her to stay, so evidently she was judged to be controlling them well. The department chair "helped me" to deal with student behavior by explaining that cultures are different; she stressed that I was in THEIR culture and I had to "play by their rules".

4) I had a HUGE range of levels..from barely intermediate to kids who'd gone to elite schools in the US for a year and wrote better than many native speaker students I have seen. The lowest students came to me and asked for help; thus I made the class so easy they did well and others complained it was too easy.

5) We had a curriculum/syllabus, but it was unfollowable. They expected kids to write multiple types of essays and a play--and I think more I am forgetting, like maybe poetry-- in a semester length class where some students were only intermediate. The kids had access to the curriculum and were told all teachers had to be following school curricula. I'd get assignments I never assigned from stressed out kids saying "I had no idea what to do" and I was often asked "When is the poster due"? I know now I should have been monitoring the curriculum weekly, but it was so much more content than I could ever teach and it was confusing and badly written; thus I just made my own plans.

6) In 1999 if you got bad student evaluations--after a semester--you were fired. (At least they told me that; of course in reality it might not have really been automatic.) When I was hired I thought that was a plus ("they care about the students above all else"), but of course the reality was students could easily remove teachers they disliked.

There were some good things..and I assume these pluses are still true. They paid me back for my airfare promptly-- I lived on the money they gave me back for airfare for almost two months!!-- and they paid all visa costs. (You can also get a legitimate visa by working there, which is important.) They also gave me free housing when I arrived and helped me get settled after that.

The students wanted to learn English and would talk to you in English--thus you can get by without knowing Spanish, too. You would likely have some wonderful students; one teacher gushed about what an amazing group of kids she'd had last year.

But if you aren't being paid well a job at TEC is probably not worth accepting.

[lagringalindissima]

I guess as long as I am posting anyway .. Culiacan wasn't a great city to live in. I have lived in Irapuarto and I liked that city a lot. however.

[lagringalindissima]

In my TEC in 1999 grade inflation didn't seem to be a huge problem. I actually made my classes too easy and my grades were too high..they were the highest in the department and they had an average of over 9/10. Dealing with students who failed and wanted to be passed anyway was a problem, but grade inflation was not. What I am reading now is that it is a big issue in the country. If you are dealing with all of the other issues at TEC and grade inflation/being pressured to up grades and pass students who did not earn that right that's another reason not to go.

[lagringalindissima]

I personally had an average of over 9/10; I didn't mean to write "they". One teacher who was married to a Mexican and had been there--happily--for many years had low averages; she was always re-hired and she was very well liked.

[wiotch]

Does anyone in this forum have experience with the Tec in Santa Fe, DF? I looked through this whole thread, and I couldn't find anything specific to this Tec branch. I ask because I have an interview with them this week, and I would like to know if it's a place I should avoid.

I was also not given any information about salary and benefits, but I assume that this will all be discussed during the interview.

[Fitzgerald]

[BadBeagleBad]