Job Discussion Forums

[jacqui]

I am hoping to teach in Mexico this coming September and I'm wondering if I will be able to get a job that will pay my rent and expenses (no bills at home) and allow me a little travel (low budget of course). My education will be a CELTA course but i will not have a degree, although i will be completing it through distance. My only experience will be the practicum of my CELTA course and volunteer work with my local YMCA and library (working with refugees to learn english). I also do not speak any Spanish (I'm working on that though) Will i be able to get a job with only these qualifications? I plan for staying at least a year before i go to grad school and I will use a placement service, Innovative English.
Thanks for any information
Jacqui

A little sidenote.... I should mention I am Canadian

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[jacqui]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

As I mentioned in another post somewhere, some immigration offices are hesitant to issue work visas to people who don't have university degrees. Therefore, if you plan to work legally, it would be a good idea to check out the policies of the immigration offices in the areas where you'd like to work. Also, some immigration offices are more strict about enforcing legal employment than others. If you go through Innovative English, they should be able to help you with all that information.

As for earning enough to survive on, again Innovative English reps should be able to tell you how much you need to earn in order to survive -- figuring pesos per hour and number of hours per week you need to work -- depending on cost of living in a particular area. In x-city you should be able to get by on X-number of pesos per hour working x-number of hours per week.

If there are schools willing to hire you with a CELTA but without a degree, and those same schools hire people with degrees but little or no training/experience, I doubt that there'd be much difference in your wages and theirs. In other words, at most language schools that I'm familiar with, all new foreign teachers earn about the same per hour for starting pay.

Additionally, there are lots of ways to avoid spending too much money in this country: cheap or free entertainment, sharing housing and expenses with other teachers, figuring out ways to eat healthy and well but inexpensively, rearranging a few priorities, etc.

[jacqui]

thanks for all the info. Innovative English has been really great but as with any company I just wanted to check if what they promised was possible.
take care,
jacqui

[Samantha]

They should be able to supply you with a few references, teachers they have placed who are working in Latin America now. That would be a way to ease your concerns.

[jacqui]

Thanks samantha, I didn't think of that. For those of you wondering, so far they've turned out to be pretty reputable from my research although I haven't actually used them yet. Every question or request I had the woman I delt with replyed instantly (I'm talking five minutes at times) and seems to have given honest info based on what people here tell me.

[Guy Courchesne]

[jacqui]

maybe she deserves one! The reason I mentioned it was every placement agency I talked to responded rather coldly. When I asked one some questions about population size he wrote back that I shouldn't care about things like that. When three girls from a small town of under 100,000 are not comfortable moving to one of the biggest cities in the world I think that should be respected. Also, I wanted to make sure I was in a location where I would be at least content. If I take a job with a school I'm going to stay on as long as promised (provided they treat me with the same respect) and I don't want to end up in a location I hate! In my opinion (as good as that may be from someone who hasn't left yet) a placement agency isn't worth the money if they treat your questions as absurd

[Guy Courchesne]

Very, eloquently, put. And a word of warning to TEFL and job placement people the world over.