Job Discussion Forums

[rachelpaula]

I am an english teacher from New York with a Bachelors degree and am planning to move to Oaxaca in October. I was wondering about which certification is best to get. I have heard the CELTA is the best but was wondering if that allows one to teach children as well. Also, to teachers from england and the states need to get working visas? how does this work. Also do you think that there are a lot of teaching opportunities in Oaxaca. Thank you for any help!
Rachel

[moonraven]

What population group have you been teaching in New York? Do you have a teaching certificate? Oaxaca is one of the poorest states--several of us who post regularly on this forum teach at the state universities--if you want to teach children there are more opportunities in northern and central Mexico than here in the south. If you plan to work legally here, you will need to get an FM-3 visa.

[lozwich]

I saw a job online somewhere for a job in Torreon, Coahuila (in the north) that was teaching for young children, and they wanted any EFL qualification, but also a school teaching qualification from the prospective employee's country of origin.

The CELTA is a very good, and very widely recognised qualification. A few schools can teach the Young Learners add-on, or there is a CELTYL which is basically the CELTA, but with a young learners focus.

So, I think if you did a CELTA, or a CELTYL, combined with your other qualification, you'd be set on that front.

I agree with Moonraven, there are more young learners type jobs in the north of Mexico, more than in Oaxaca.

The FM-3 working visa is usually (I think??) organised with the assistance of the hiring organisation. I haven't heard of anyone getting an FM-3 without having a job first. In fact, my FM-3 specifies my employer, and if I change jobs, I have to get my FM-3 updated to reflect that. (I wonder how many more times I can say FM-3 in this paragraph??? )

Hope this helps,
Lozwich.

[MixtecaMike]

You should come here as a tourist, ask for a 90 day visa but even if you don't get one it is not difficult to extend. I would recommend you do some sort of 120 hour CELTA course first, preferably affiliated to Cambridge RSA as these are accepted by most places. Don't do an on-line TEFL course, these are probably not worth the paper they are printed on.

Get your BA degree apostilled BEFORE you come, in Australia you do this at the Department of Foreign Affairs, someone here can tell you who does it in the US.

When you get here, look for a job, it probably won't pay much in Oaxaca but at least it will get you started. Make sure they are willing to sponsor you for an FM3 visa or you will be an illegal worker. The FM3 takes over a month to process in Oaxaca, but once your papers are in everyone turns a blind eye to the fact you are working illegally.

You will need an Apostilled Degree with an authorized translation into Spanish (the translation is done here, costs about $200-300) plus a letter offering you a position from your school, which also has to provide tons of documents if you are the first foreigner they want to hire., plus copies of your passport, photos, etc which you can do here. The visa costs about $300 for the application and then another $1800 for one year. All prices are in pesos, divide by 11.5 to get real money value.

You are only authorised to work for the company named on your FM3, adding companies later costs you another $1800 so if you have a couple of part time jobs do them together or when you do your annual renewal.

Once you have a "real" job you shouldn't have any trouble getting private students to supplement your income, but getting a steady supply of paying privates is more than a bit difficult.

Despite the fact the Mexican government feels it's citizens have a right to work illegally in the US, they won't cut you much slack here if you want to do the permanent illegal teaching track, so do try and get at least one job that will sponsor you.

PS Learn as much Spanish as you can before you come, it will help you find better deals on everything and make it harder to rip you off.

PPS Some people on this forum think teaching in Oaxaca is the equivalent of a Holy Pilgramage, take every post that mentions "underprivileged" or "poorest region" with a grain of salt and you can't go wrong.

[moonraven]

I wouldn't eat too much salt while reading this forum. Hypertension can kill you. The Mexican government is the source of average income and educational statistics, and those statistics indicate that Oaxaca has one of the lowest average incomes and lowest number of years of (PRIMARY) school completed. Of course it's hard for kids to complete their basic level of studies when their teachers spend most of the school year camped out in the z�calo of Oaxaca demanding higher salaries....

[rachelpaula]

wow, thank you all for your responses. I do speak spanish and feel that will help with this visa process. It is more expensive than I had imagined but seems like the safest and surest way to live in Mexico. Do most language schools help their employees get FM3s?

[moonraven]

There is a wide variety in the FM-3 support habits of language schools. Some--Harmon Hall, for example--will handle the entire process and pay for the FM-3 as well as for a lawyer to turn in your documentation (a completely unnecessary service, by the way). The catches are: they usually are a bit slow about doing it--so that they can pay you under the table for a few months and pay you considerably less than if you were on the payroll, and if you stay with them for less than a year they will usually deduct the cost of the FM-3 as well as the lawyer's fees from your pay. A number of language schools on the other end of the continuum will not give you any support at all towards getting the FM-3, as they fear that you might try to make them comply with the federal labor laws, and they know if you are working illegally you will not go to the jocal Junta de Conciliaci�n y Arbitraje and make a complaint against them. The rest of the language schools fall in between.