Job Discussion Forums

[salsera_africana]

Hi all,

I am new to this board, and I have a bunch of questions! First off, I'm 23, a college grad, and am looking to live in MX for 1-2 years. I don't have a certification in TESOL or TEFL, but I plan on doing that online. Ultimately, I would like to volunteer in a Christian-based orphanage or organization that deals with street kids. I would like to teach them English or acting or just tutor them on homework and such. I found 2, one in Morelia and the other in San Miguel de Allende.

Is it a good idea to get a TEFL cert online? I may plan on wanting to teach for money later on in MX or so, but I'm not sure right now... Could I get a job later by having an online cert and some years experience?

How is San Miguel from Morelia? Cost of living etc.. I heard there are a lot of foreigners in San Miguel, so that troubles me a bit because I would like to better my intermediate/ advance level Spanish.

Do any of you know of any other Christian-based orphanages and the like that I could investigate?

Any suggestions or so will go along way! I appreciate the help thanks!!

[lisa1968]

Hi,

I would not suggest taking an online course, as you will not get the sufficient amount of training and practice as a course with "real" people will give you, and if you are looking to work in a school later, not all schools accept on-line certificates. If you are looking to teach children, it would be good to take a course where you will get exposed to TEFL teaching with children. The course that I did was in Chiapas and I got lots of exposure to kids. You might want to get in touch with them, Dunham Institute. Otherwise, there are lots of good courses in Mexico, I did a lot of research before going to Chiapas, so I will be glad to share that with you.

[M@tt]

a friend of mine volunteered in an orphanage a long time back, i'm pretty sure it was in zacatecas. i'll probably see her next week and will post later with more details. i also know there are orphanages in oaxaca that work with church groups.

[salsera_africana]

Thank you Matt and Lisa for your reponses! Lisa, if you have any info on Chiapas that would be great. I'm definitely going to check out Dunham Institute. Quick question though, isn't Chiapas a little unsafe though? What part of Chiapas did you teach in?

Matt, if you could ask your friend about where he or she volunteered, I would greatly appreciate it.

Anyway, I have so many interests, that some times I feel like I can't do all that I want to do. Ultimately, I would like to get more experience with Economic development, whether it is working with an NGO doing microcredits or teaching a skill like English. I would like to work with street kids, but I don't mind helping adults too. I guess I'm just one of those suckers who want to help people, but I feel like I have too many things I would like to do. HELP!

Anyway, if any one has any info at all on San Miguel or Morelia, please let me know. (How is the city like, the people, cost of living etc...)

Thanks!!!

[jillford64]

San Miguel de Allende and Morelia are very different. San Miguel is small with many tourists and a large American expatriate community. Most stores, restaurants, and hotels have English speaking staff and are spiffied up especially to cater to foreigners. It is not a good place to look for a paying job teaching English. Wages are low and competition is high because of all the foreigners. I assume the cost of living has been pushed up by all the foreigners, but I don't know that for sure. San Miguel does have lots of colonial architecture and the Parroquia is lovely, but it is overrated in my opinion.

Morelia is big with more than a million residents. Morelia does have a lovely and large central historic district with much colonial architecture, but there was a large population increase after the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City and much modern construction has occurred. You can do a lot of ugly things with concrete, cinderblock, and rebar. We've got plenty of fast food restaurants and big stores like Costco and Walmart. There are two really nice movie theatres with stadium seating. There are not a lot of foreigners living here. Apart from the teachers and Spanish students at the school where I work, I only see foreigners within a few blocks of the plaza and cathedral, and even then, I don't see them all that often. I assume there will be more tourists here as they make their way to Patzcuaro for Day of the Dead.

If you decide you want to work legally for money instead of volunteering, you will need a certificate or degree of some sort to prove to immigration that you are actually qualified to teach English.

[vooderyonder]

Are there many teaching jobs in Morelia?

[hlamb]

There are jobs in Morelia but I don't know if you could say "many". The problem I had was that no school wanted to or could give me full time hours. Many schools are also happy to hire Mexicans for at least some of the classes. I managed to put together about 18 hours a week between two different schools but chose to move to another city where I got a better deal.

[jillford64]

I think there are jobs in Morelia as well, but as hlamb says you may have to work at several different schools to get enough hours. I think it also depends on the time of the year that you arrive. For example, I was hired in June to start teaching the last week in August. The school had filled all their full-time positions for non-Mexican teachers by August and anyone who arrived looking for work in September could only be offered a few hours, at best.

Also, you need to keep in mind that, by law, businesses can only hire a certain number of foreign employees. I think the ratio is about 1 to 8 (we have 40 teachers). The school were I work can only sponsor four people for an FM3. Two of these FM3s go to people who have long-term salaried positions at the school, so only two FM3s are really available for other full-time positions. The school will not sponsor you for an FM3 unless you agree to stay at least a year. Some schools bend the rules and hire additional teachers, but not for any substantial number of hours per week. As far as schools being happy to hire Mexicans to teach English, they really don't have a choice because of the law limiting the number of foreigners they can hire. Quite a few of the of the Mexican teachers at this school grew up in the US and are bilingual or speak with almost no accent. The rest of them are required to pass the Cambridge Advance English exam and take a teacher training course, so it isn't like the school is hiring people off the street.

I realize that all schools don't operate like the one where I teach, but this might give you some perspective into what finding a job in Morelia might be like.

[asi va]

I`d heard about mandated foreigner:national ratios, but for some reason I thought they didn`t apply to language schools. I don`t know whether I read that somewhere or just imagined it.

If a teacher works at various schools, does he need a diferent FM3 for each position?

I`m also considering volunteer work, but am certainly interested in making some money if I can. Since I have no credentials to speak of, I`m expecting pretty much bottom of the barrel positions. If I go through several positions before finding one that suits me, I would need to apply for a new FM3 each time, wouldn`t I? If I get a non-employment FM3 on a more permanent basis, does anyone know if I could keep that the whole time so that I don`t find myself with no visa between jobs? Dang! I know that sounds awfully flakey, but those are some of the things I`m wondering about. I`m expecting to find out soon whether or not my wife will be allowed back into the US. If she can`t, or if we don`t get a definite yes by Feb, we decided that it`s time for me to move. Hopefully I don`t sound like such a flake with that explanation!