Job Discussion Forums

[Rebate]

Hello all and thank you for all the very informative posts. I've been learning a lot from this site for the last few weeks and your advice is really helping me sort through my options.

I am about to embark on my "big adventure!" I am going to TEFL International in Paris in May to get my TEFL cert, travel for another month or so and then I am hoping to head to Mexico to teach. (I know I'd be better off doing TEFL cert in Mexico but, well, there you go).

I'm not keen on teaching in large cities, as I prefer the community feeling from smaller cities/towns. I'm wondering how hard it will be to find this kind of position. Also, do job assistance programs like Teachers Latin America (www.innovative-english.com) really help and what's the best way to work with them?

Oh, and I guess this might be a good time to ask what towns/cities anyone out there can reccommend. I'm flexible and, like everyone else, on a budget.

Thanks so much
Rebecca

[Ben Round de Bloc]

First, I think it would help to know what your concept of a small/large city is. For example, would you consider a city with a population of a million and a half a small, medium-sized, or large city?

The only problem I can see with your plan in the part of the country where I live is that there just aren't many TEFL jobs available outside of the cities. You might find one or maybe two very small language schools with one or two teachers per school in what I consider the smaller cities; small scale language schools and not able to support more teachers. Where English is taught in the local villages, it's usually taught by local SEP teachers. Even if you could work in SEP schools in the villages, what you'd earn would barely pay for your work visa. Additionally, villages and small towns often aren't the safest places in which to live. An exception would be relatively small (at least not huge) tourist cities, but then you run into the problems of high cost of living and lots of competition for jobs.

Regarding job assistance programs such as Teachers Latin America, one advantage is that they usually have lots of current contacts throughout the country, so they know when and where there are job openings. Many of the job assistance programs are associated with particular teacher training programs, and I assume they give somewhat of a priority to placing graduates from their own training programs, but I'm not completely sure about that. Obviously, what you bring with you for previous training and experience makes a difference regarding the options that job assistance programs can provide for you. If you have an MA in TESOL, a strong business background, and 5 years of TEFL experience, I'm sure they could more easily place you in a better job than if you have a 4-week TEFL certificate and zero experience, for example.

As for the best way to work with job assistance programs -- at least for the one you mentioned in your post -- one possibility is to contract them via e-mail first. Tell them what you have for training and experience and what you're looking for (preferences for location, types of schools, starting date, duration of employment, and any other specifics that you feel are important.) If they have some possibilities that might fit, I'm sure they'll get back to you.

[Rebate]

Thanks Ben, that's good advice and what you said makes sense. Especially about the safety thing. Hadn't thought of that.

I guess I'll need to stick with the cities, preferrably not Mexico City though.

BTW - I've seen it posted a lot but don't know what D.F. means. Can anyone clear that up for me?

I guess I'll be spending a LOT more time on these boards looking for a good fit for my destination.

Thanks again,
Rebecca

[Guy Courchesne]

DF means Distrito Federal (Federal District). You'll hear us refer to it as el Distrito or el DF.

More confusing...Mexicans will sometimes refer to Mexico City as simply Mexico, which we foreigners will usually take to mean the country.