Job Discussion Forums

csr8953 · Joined: 12 Sep 2013 Posts: 8

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I think that I will just accept the fact that I'll need to make a trip out of the country to pick up my visa as part of the costs of getting set up.

As far as taking the CELTA in Mexico City, I know that there is a branch of International House Mexico there that offers it. However, I'm wary of how little information is available online about their CELTA. I originally planned to study there, but I found that the Riviera Maya location had much more information available about the school and the CELTA, and I found reviews of the course on external websites.

I'm going to be staying at a guest house for the month of the course, and then will either fly or catch a bus to Mexico City at the end of November. I've heard that job opportunities won't really come around until January, so I'll have to wait a little while before I even get a job offer, but I have some savings and live very frugally. I also have a friend who is trying to set me up with a place to stay with her friends when I arrive, which would be very nice.

Xie Lin · Joined: 21 Oct 2011 Posts: 731

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

MotherF · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 1:13 pm Post subject:

But if the school year is 10 months long and they need to show 800 a month, then I'd still lean towards a typo higher up the line, because 10 months of 800 would be 8,000. Why would you need ten times more up front than if you were getting it in monthly installments?

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

22Yossarian · Joined: 20 Jan 2013 Posts: 68

Hello,

Good luck in Playa del Carmen! I took the CELTA course there last spring, and found it to be a great experience, and I now have an excellent well paying job in Beijing.

It really is a great place to take the CELTA. First, Playa del Carmen is really manageable. If you stay at the IH Residency you are just a 5 minute walk from the IH Center where you will take your courses. The center is basically a hotel, with maid service and everything. That is what I did, and it cost a bit more (by Playa standards), but I wanted something predictable and dependable. Of course, if you are a bit braver, you can look for an apartment, a few of my colleagues did that, and they saved a bit of money, and Playa is so small, the longest walk you will have will be about 20 minutes. That is huge, time is at a premium during the course, but I went to bed at midnight almost every night, and one of the reasons was I spent very little time commuting. Also, if you are staying at the center, no need to pay $75 USD or whatever it is for the IH Transfer, you can take a bus to Playa for about $12 USD, and it drops you off a block from the Residence.

The most important advice I can give you is take care of yourself. You will be running ragged for 4 weeks, and the heat and humidity there are quite oppressive. Make sure you not only drink plenty of water, but you are also getting your electrolytes. In the critique session after I did one of my TPs, all I did was beat myself up, I thought I did a horrible job and felt really bad about the lesson. After we finished up the tutor pulled me aside, and told me I did a fine job and I didn't need to be so hard on myself, and asked me if I was getting enough water and electrolytes. On the way back to the Residency, I stopped at the convenient store and picked up some type of electrolyte drink (the name escapes me I've only seen it in Mexico by electrolyte is in the title), and I drank it, and I felt so much better mentally and physically.

Honestly, I cannot think of a better place to get the CELTA than Playa. The only draw back is, you do not have very much time to relax and enjoy the beach during the course. Playa has such a relaxed vibe, which you really need during the CELTA. Stay on top of your work, and you might be able to spare a Saturday morning for the beach, and/or a Friday night for the bar. My one regret was I was a bit strapped for money at the time, and I arrived in Playa two days before the course started and left the day after the course ended, and had no time to explore Mexico.

Good luck!

notamiss · Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:22 am Post subject:

MotherF · Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 3:03 pm Post subject:

Xie Lin · Joined: 21 Oct 2011 Posts: 731

For what it's worth:

Among the countries whose student visa laws I have looked at, it is usual for the required amount of financial resources on hand to be a multiple of the alternatively required monthly income. Number of months of visa mulplied by required monthly income equals required bank balance (as suggested by MotherF.) For example, Spain requires proof of a monthly income of $1,000, OR a bank statement showing $12,000 for a one-year student visa. Italy is similar. I have seen no student visa requirements with a gap as huge as the one quoted above between the monthly income and bank account balance requirements. They are usually proportional--very close, if not exact multiples. Of course, I've looked at only 8 or so countries, and Mexico may well intend to go down another path entirely, and be an outlier in this regard, but it is curious, nonetheless.

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j_nmi_rutledge · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 22 Location: Mexico City

csr8953 · Joined: 12 Sep 2013 Posts: 8

Hey all,

I'm here in Playa and I've just finished my first week at IH Riviera Maya. I agree that the course load is very heavy, but so far it has been manageable. I've heard that it's a different story for weeks 2 and 3, however. The town is beautiful, although I haven't had any time to go to the beach. I'm staying relatively far from the school at a hostel called Hacienda del Sol which I highly recommend. It's past Avenida 125, but with the free bike rentals from the hostel, I can still get to school in 15 minutes tops.

22Yossarian (awesome name, by the way), I'm trying to knock out as much of the written assignments this weekend as I can, because it seems that everything snowballs together pretty quickly later on this week. So far we've been given the "Lessons from the Classroom" self-reflection and "Focus on the Learner" case study. Is there anything that would have made completing these easier for you if you could go back and do it again? They seem relatively straightforward, but any time-saving advice would always help.

j_nmi_rutledge, thanks for your advice. It's good to know that the school in D.F. is also good. I know they're affiliated, but I just couldn't find a terribly large amount of information about the CELTA there other than on their own website. I'm hoping to find work in D.F. after the course; how regularly does IH hire its own graduates? Are you currently working in Mexico?

In general, I think working in Mexico would be awesome as long as I could get the visa issue sorted out without too much hassle. Otherwise, Colombia is also looking pretty good for finding a decent job, although I've heard there's no point looking for a job before February. Even if that's the case, I wouldn't mind a little time to travel and maybe take an intensive Spanish course in the meantime; it would probably help my job search a lot.

Again, thanks for all the awesome advice and support, everyone. I'll let you know how things work out after I'm finished with the course.

csr8953 · Joined: 12 Sep 2013 Posts: 8

Also, BadBeagleBad, I've been following El Jefe's post, since he's doing exactly what I plan to do (except, of course, he has more experience), and I saw that you recommended doing online courses as a way to supplement your income and free yourself up to be a little more picky with your in-person classes.

Would this option be open to me as well? What are the general requirements for securing some consistent work online?

j_nmi_rutledge · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 22 Location: Mexico City