Job Discussion Forums

[Chemenway]

I�m going around in circles trying to make a decision about my next step and could use some advice.

I�m 57, with 2 unrelated MA�s and am planning on taking CELTA or SIT in June or July either in Mexico or Costa Rica. I�ve been teaching English in China for almost 2 years and have about 8 years� mostly college-level teaching experience in the U.S. (college and remedial writing, art). I want to teach at a university in Mexico, hopefully starting in the fall semester.

I can take the SIT certification course in June or July in Costa Rica or the CELTA in Mexico in June.

1. I�d prefer to take the SIT course, but they are in Costa Rica and most of their job contacts are in Central and South America. Would it be much better in terms of finding a university job to take the IH Celta or do the certification programs mostly or only have contacts with language schools anyway?

2. What about timing for university jobs? What is the best time to look for the fall semester? My plan is to travel to several cities, seeing where I might like to live, and visiting universities. I could do this before the course, in May or July. Is it useful to contact universities now via email?

3. Am I likely to find a university position or is it more likely I�ll have to get a language school job for a while? I don�t have much money and will need to find a job pretty quickly, am I being unrealistic?

Thank you and sorry if I�m repeating questions that have many times been answered!

Catherine
in Zhuhai, China

[Ben Round de Bloc]

At the university where I teach, an MA in anything is a big plus point. All of us foreign teachers have MAs, but only about half of the local teachers do. However, one of the hiring guidelines is that applicants to be considered must have at least one year of documented EFL teaching experience after the completion of a degree in TESOL or a TEFL training course. As for timing and applying, again at the university where I work, I'd say the sooner the better, even though a job probably wouldn't be offered until just before fall semester starts in September. In the 10 years that I've been working there, the few new teachers who've been hired have been offered only very part-time jobs to start out with. At least a third of our teachers also teach in other schools.

[moonraven]

I suggest you contact universities directly now. The CELTA program folks--so far as I know--have little or no contact with universities.

[xalapa]

I can definitely recommend the SIT TESOL course in Costa Rica. I just got certified by them in January, and the experience was worth every penny.

Micah
Mexico City

[Chemenway]

Thanks for your replies. Moonraven, I'm having trouble finding contact info for universities on their websites. Do you have any suggestions? And I saw from other posts that you used to live in New Mexico -- I was in Santa Fe, and north for 7 years -- 1990-1997 -- were you there then? Wonder if we ever met.

And is it possible to make a reasonable living without working 30 hours a week in Latin America? I live relatively frugally but haven't savings beyond about $2,000 that I'd arrive with to carry me until I find a job.

I've been spoiled teaching in China and only working 16 hours and getting housing and airfare! But do want to be closer to home.

Catherine

[moonraven]

Look in the faculty and program directories for the Jefe/a of Idiomas or the Vice-Rector Acad�mico.

I lived in Santa Fe pretty much full-time from 1984 to 1993. I have no idea if we met, but if you read the Albuquerque Journal North you saw my photo every week above the column, SCREEN, as I was the paper's film critic from 1988-1993.

[MO39]

Catherine,

It's not often that someone near my age (59) posts a message here, excepting, of course, the prolific and helpful Moonraven. I have lived and worked in Mexico several times over the years since graduating from college and am planning to return in a month or two to look for a teaching job and to settle in for a few years, at least. I don't have any special wisdom to offer concerning the most fruitful ways of looking for a university position, but I would be happy to share with you some of the experiences I've had in this wonderful (sometimes wonderfully frustrating, of course) country. Please feel free to send me a PM.

Marsha

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[MO39]

Ben/Tim,

I didn't know that you were a member of my generation when I wrote that. In any event, keep your messages coming, as many as you have time for...

MO

[Ben Round de Bloc]

After looking at the web site of the university where I teach, if other university web sites are similiar, I can understand how it would be difficult to figure out who to contact for info about TEFL job openings. (It wouldn't surprise me if the same people who designed the web site also organized the contents of the local telephone directory.)

As has been mentioned before, the best way to open doors to university jobs is to make direct contact with the person/people in charge of the EFL department/program/whatever (department head, coordinator, or other title.) Communication through the bureaucratic system can easily get held up for a long time or lost forever.

Perhaps if you posted a request on the Mexico Forum -- Anyone have a contact name for someone in the EFL department at X-university? -- you might get some replies.

[moonraven]

Good idea.

[MO39]

I've found a website that seems to have contact information for all the universities in Mexico: www.findaschool.org/index.php?Country=Mexico .

I began to use it yesterday to find out who to send my resume to at various schools- it does take a while to find a name to write to, but perseverance does pay off. In fact, this morning I already had a response to one of my inquiries.

Good luck to all fellow job-seekers!

[mex2005t]

or quite proficient at Spanish.. because I cannot find a proper name or dep't to write to, looking at the list. Any suggestions out there?

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Chris_Crossley]