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the peanut gallery
Joined: 26 May 2006
Posts: 264
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 Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| EP, I enjoyed your comparison, never heard ESL in Mexico expressed in such a way. |
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EFLeducator
Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| the peanut gallery wrote: |
| im sure that there are many many people who have done their homework, do not feel trapped by circumstances (of their own making) and STILL cannot find the professional respect, stability, and renumeration that they are entitled to. |
| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| I sometimes wonder whether this is because foreigners believe that teaching in a language school equates to having a 'real' job back home. There are of course, real jobs in Mexico with benefits and so forth. Unfortunately, teaching, for the most part (yes I know there are decent jobs), is not one of them. |
Right! That was my personal experience in Mexico City.
| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| Said foreigners should rather equate teaching English, particularly in language mills, to casual labour in their own country such as fruitpicking or envelope stuffing, with all the trappings and benefits one would associate with this kind of casual labour. |
I taught EFL in beautiful Mexico City for almost four years and it has hurt me more than help me since I have been back to the states. The problem seems to be from what I have experienced here in north Texas, the people here have a set image of what TEFLing is and they usually see it as a vacation from real work.
I actually had a potential employer tell me that in an interview a few weeks ago. Perhaps it is a Texas thing. I'm starting to think I should move further south, possibly San Antonio or even Laredo. It's something to think about for anyone who has been TEFLing for a while and is considering coming back to the states. You'll probably need some type of retraining in something else.
And if you have been TEFLing for a while, hopefully you still filed your taxes in the U.S. because employers now want to see that you have been working for the past 5 to 10 years and if you have been teaching in Mexico, they will want to see your tax returns you filed in the states while you were away.
My experience here in Texas has been that references from Mexico won't help you, they want to see that you have been making money every year and have filed in the states or they may think you are trying to hide your income from the IRS. Trust me on this one...if you go to teach in Mexico, still file and mail them to the states every year. This will help you when you come back to the states.
One last thing, most employers will want to see that you have made at least what is equal to $10, 000 dollars a year or they may not hire you. Again, my personal experience having been back in the states for almost five months now. Have your return home plan before you go. |
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Enchilada Potosina
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 344
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| EFLeducator wrote: |
| the peanut gallery wrote: |
| im sure that there are many many people who have done their homework, do not feel trapped by circumstances (of their own making) and STILL cannot find the professional respect, stability, and renumeration that they are entitled to. |
| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| I sometimes wonder whether this is because foreigners believe that teaching in a language school equates to having a 'real' job back home. There are of course, real jobs in Mexico with benefits and so forth. Unfortunately, teaching, for the most part (yes I know there are decent jobs), is not one of them. |
Right! That was my personal experience in Mexico City.
| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| Said foreigners should rather equate teaching English, particularly in language mills, to casual labour in their own country such as fruitpicking or envelope stuffing, with all the trappings and benefits one would associate with this kind of casual labour. |
I taught EFL in beautiful Mexico City for almost four years and it has hurt me more than help me since I have been back to the states. The problem seems to be from what I have experienced here in north Texas, the people here have a set image of what TEFLing is and they usually see it as a vacation from real work. |
Well, they treat you and pay as if you were on a working holiday here but how frustrating to get the, 'you've been bumming around Mexico for the last X years and now you want a REAL job' treatment back home when tefling in Mexico City is by no means wall to wall partying. |
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tideout
Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 213
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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I'm trying to head back to Mexico or Latin America as soon as my contract ends in S. Korea.
FWIW, people go on here (SK) about the "stagnant" wages here sometimes w/o real merit. I guess that conversaton will happen everywhere on some level. Despite the "rep" of Korea a lot of what you see is pretty superficial educationally.
The issues of how you're viewed by future employers in the States is ironic to me. I get better access to health care, better vacation time and have saved more money in a couple of years than I could have in 8 years in the States in my old career. Unfortunately, I think once you've traveled a bit and have some more global perspective - dealing with stereotypes at home is part of the price you pay.  |
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BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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| tideout wrote: |
The issues of how you're viewed by future employers in the States is ironic to me. I get better access to health care, better vacation time and have saved more money in a couple of years than I could have in 8 years in the States in my old career. Unfortunately, I think once you've traveled a bit and have some more global perspective - dealing with stereotypes at home is part of the price you pay. |
I have never had living abroad seen as a negative. I haven't worked in the US in many years, but when I have been there for a month or so, I have looked for a job just to see what is out there, and usually can find a few things I am qualified for, and have occasionally gone on an interview or two, and been offered a couple of decent jobs. People are mostly curious about things, and people see it as valid teaching experience. Ironically, now that I am teaching online, I am more worried about how THAT will be seen in the future, should I decide to change jobs, than actual classroom experience in another country. I also have no intention of ever living in the US again, so maybe that is why it bothers me less than some. And, like you, I live a better lifestyle in Mexico than I did, or would, live in the US. |
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EFLeducator
Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| tideout wrote: |
| The issues of how you're viewed by future employers in the States is ironic to me. I get better access to health care, better vacation time and have saved more money in a couple of years than I could have in 8 years in the States in my old career. |
Good for you my fellow TEFLer. But just remember that if you ever decided to return to the states, your experience TEFLing won't do much for you. Sure you may be able to find a gig teaching ESL but those jobs are VERY FEW these days and if they're anything like most of the TEFLing jobs in Mexico City, they won't pay enough to cover the necessities. Just a fact. |
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tideout
Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 213
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:19 am Post subject: Clarification |
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Just to clarify my post - I can tell by the responses I did a poor job of articulating my situation and didn't mean for it to be misleading.
I was in Mexico and I'm currently in S. Korea where I get better benefits than in previous jobs in the States.
The landscape of the job market certainly seems to be changing. There is definitely an increase in the number of certified, yet unemployed teachers (generally recent grads) coming from the US and Canada to SK. They seem to see it as reasonably close to working in their profession as they can get at the moment. I can't predict the outcome but I imagine that the new dynamic of going abroad to find a job will at some point begin to change perceptions in the US market as people returning do get work back in the US market? |
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tideout
Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 213
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