Job Discussion Forums

[meteachgood]

Before beginning my first job as a TEFL teacher, I checked the web to see if there were any postings about English Unlimited in San Luis Potosi. As far as I can remember, this forum is the only one hosting a few opinions about the place, but I believe that at this point they may a bit aged. That is, businesses practices change if they're to survive, as well as do people. Bearing this in mind, the following opinion considers the experiences of myself and three others that agree with what I've written. If you just want my final opinion, skip all this and go to the last section.
Getting started:
English Unlimited is a fairly large school, having some notoriety in the city alongside names like Berlitz, Harmon-Hall, and Interlingua. I am not quite sure what gives the other schools their notoriety other than their size, location, and how long they've existed. EU however has gained its notoriety by claiming to employ native speaking teachers. This is true � during my stay, the portion of native speaking teachers varied between a quarter to about half of the staff. Judging from some of the teachers they've employed however, they're more concerned with having the native speaking teachers than they are having a high quality staff. Showing that you are TEFL certified is in no way to show that you are in some way qualified to teach, but rather to show that you'll be able to obtain a work visa (the TEFL certificate and apostile being the core FM-3 requirement). If you're a native speaker and contact this school, show some interest and answer the questionare, you're sure to have a job. What's nice too is that it's one of the very few places that promises you job without actually being in the city (he asks though that you send a copy of your flight itinerary).
The director/proprietor:
Upon arrival, you'll meet the director who will give you some information about SLP and maybe even show you around. Take whatever he says with a grain of salt � he's rich and you're not, though he may think you are (and this clearly guides his opinions and recommendations). He is very nice and at the same time very professional, but he has learned how to dance the dance as much as any other successful Mexican businessman (he's not Mexican, but that doesn't matter). It's not fair to say that he lies, but rather has a way of stretching the truth and sugar coating things. One of the administrators will show you to your room at the teachers' dorm. That may very well be the last you see of the director.
The teacher's dorm:
The teachers' dorm is nice � probably the best housing you'll get in San Luis for the price. You may stay there for an indefinite amount of time, however are encouraged to find housing of your own within a month's time. This is speculative, but I and the other teachers that have stayed there have all agreed that measures are taken to kind of �shoo� you out. These include filling the gas just above 5% (lasting you about a week whereupon it takes one to a couple days for them to get around to filling up again), a dysfunctional water system (you can run the pump for a sufficient amount of time but I can personally guarantee you'll still run out during a 15 minute shower). These negative things notwithstanding, the rent is a more than fair price of 50 pesos a day.
Orientation:
You'll later have an orientation that'll probably be given by the coordinator. Take notes of whatever they tell you, and then � by god � check with other foreign teachers that have been there for a while to make sure you weren't misinformed and get the extra and/or necessary information that was left out. I really don't want to seem pessimistic, but heed this warning: If something seems fishy, then it probably is (there was a very negative post on this board about EU. Whoever this guy was clearly had a bone to pick, but the bit about pocketing the 10% is actually a consensus view among the teachers I've talked to about it).
The coordinator:
During my stay they went through two coordinators. I hated them both. The first was an old anti-American Canadian woman who believed herself to be the authority on damn near everything. The second probably couldn't spell his own name to save his life, though admittedly a nice person. If you decide to teach at EU, I suggest that you take advantage of the liberal atmosphere of the place and teach however you want using whatever materials you want. Don't pay attention to the coordinator; he or she is not your boss, the director is. My only wish for future teachers is that they don't suffer through the garbage coordinators that we did or still do.
Hours:
If you ask for a full schedule and are a native speaker, you have about a 60-70% chance of getting one. That'd be at least four, one and a half hour classes during the week and one, four hour class on Saturday. On that schedule you'll be paid enough for rent, food, and some fun on the weekend. It is not enough to save to make it through neither the two-week long vacation in the spring nor the one and a half week-long vacation in winter. For these breaks I suggest that you have some savings from whichever wealthy country you come from. For two of the terms I got a total of 6 classes which just about ruined me, but got me a little more money than the rest. After a few months of getting worked like a dog, I suggest that you do what many of us do or did and opt-out of teaching in the morning and take on either private student(s), or get a gig with another employer teaching in the industrial zone. There you can make triple or quadruple what EU pays you. The hours at such places are slim however. Don't tell EU that you're going to do this though (they've probably already told you that you're not permitted to work for anybody else, which is a lie � you're a contractor, not an employee. And, the visa is still legally valid as long as you work the majority of your hours with the sponsor, but you'll soon find Mexico not a law-abiding country in many respects anyway). Finally, you'll be obligated to attend two or three meetings for which you will not be paid. I suggest that you go to all of them for your first term there just to get the scoop, then ditch the rest. They're all the same and being a contractor and not an employee your not obligated to go, considering that you're not getting paid. The last coordinator liked to say �it's in your contract� quite a lot. Whether it is or isn't, never believe that your job is ever in jeopardy, because it isn't. As long as you're a native speaker you can get away with quite a number of things. Another thing that you'll have to do and not get paid for is the pain staking work of grading tests and performing final evaluations. Grade your tests while the the following class is taking theirs and make the same copy of the evaluation for each student, writing maybe a short personalized note on some of them (I personally didn't do this, but many did with no problem at all). The trick is to work only while you're getting paid to do so.
Finally, never teach TOEFL unless it's for personal experience or if you're masochistic.
Teachers:
I mentioned earlier that having a TEFL certificate is in no way proof that one can actually teach, myself included. EU can be utilized as a learn-as-you go kind of place, which is what I did and can say with unwavering confidence that I learned well. I can't say the same for some others. The proof is in the handful of students that get passed along to upper levels that clearly hadn't learned anything that they should have. There are then other native speaking teachers that are far over qualified. I have no idea why they're there. Finally, there are many Mexican teachers that have neither a university degree nor TEFL certificate. I know of one who walked in off the street asking to teach. Because she was bilingual and already legal to work, she got the job. She's 18 (but very good looking). Judging from what I hear from student complaints � the students that actually go to learn, not because they've been forced to attend � they hold the majority of their classes in Spanish and sometimes even misinform the students. It's difficult to speak badly about them however because I formed friendly relationships with each of them and enjoyed teaching and partying with them regardless of their ineptitude or particular lack of desire to actually teach anything whatsoever.
Spanish classes:
EU offers free Spanish classes. The first two teachers I had there were fantastic. The third was a complete joke and I walked out of the class when he couldn't tell me the participio of tener. There were at least two, month-long lapses when they couldn't find a teacher for me.
Students:
This is the pattern I noticed: At 7 and 9:30AM, you'll get the more serious students that are getting some classes before work. At 5PM you get a snotty punk-ass brats fresh out of high school that are likely forced to attend by their parents. Most of them don't want to be there, but some of them do. I suggest that you pay little attention to those that don't care and fail them (seriously). Pay attention to those that do care and are interested in learning English. In the end it's worth it because these classes can be your largest as well, and it's impossible to teach a second/foreign language to a 15-person class with a good degree of effectiveness. The last two classes of the evening are a mixture of students, with the 8PM classes comprised usually of adults that just got off of work and are usually all tired. There's then the worst idea of all, Saturday classes. These are 4 hours long, usually big 15 person classes and do little to improve student fluency. But hey, you get paid anyway. If you teach the same level and have a small weekday class, I suggest that you encourage some of them to attend it instead � it's undeservedly the same price.
Don't take your English-speaking nation's values with you; all other things being equal, dating a student is well within the norm. Hell, date a few. The same student-teacher standards don't apply here � not even at the university level! You might get lucky and get a sugar mama or sugar daddy (the majority of the students were born with a silver spoon � but certainly not all).
On Fridays about half or less of your students will show up. That's just how it is. They'll also all be 5 to 20 minutes late on all the other days.
Almost all of them will buy books and others won't. The school says that you have to report students who have copies or that don't have a book at all. Trust me, if the student had money, they'd buy it. So, really, you're doing any student a disservice by turning him or her in. Furthermore, you're just lining the director's pockets. Students are more than happy to share. In fact, they've probably already offered to share with another student before the thought had ever crossed your mind.
Administration:
There are several ladies that work at the front desk and back in the office. All of them are quite nice, though I hated the main administrator with a passion, as did the students. The loath she has for her job manifests itself in the quality of a job she does, how she treats the teachers, and especially how she treats the students. On the student evaluations there is a section about the school in general. I'd say 80 per cent of the time administration is the main complaint. From when I started to when I left I thought that I had seen some improvement, but then just recently some students I'm still in contact with told me about some recent happenings involving her and students that hadn't purchased books. Some nasty things were said and well, these students are now going elsewhere for their English classes.
San Luis Potosi:
I don't have enough good things to say about San Luis. I absolutely love it. It has a good mix of culture, colonialism, and modernization. Really, you should go � not for the school, but for SLP. The only drawback I think though is the cost of rent. Everything else though seems on par with the cost of living elsewhere in Mexico. Don't be afraid to take days off from work to get a full 2 days off so that you can travel to nearby places. If you've been to a few other cities throughout Mexico (excluding Mexico City), you'll find Potosinos a bit more snobby and less friendly. If not, then you'll probably think they're friendlier than those of any English speaking country. The pot is cheap, but not the greatest quality. In relation to the hours section above, there are a plethora of English language schools in San Luis, so if you don't get enough hours, are a sucker for punishment, or simply don't like EU, then there are always other opportunities. I hear Berlitz pays well, but the hiring process is a bit tedious.
Materials:
The extra teaching aids they provide you with suck. Don't rely on them. They whole time I was there they didn't really even coincide with the level they were meant for, and they're basically crap anyway. But not to worry. You're a creative person and I'm sure you can develop activities of your own. The books have activities and all the sorts of things you'd expect to find in a coursework book, but by no means should you depend on them. Your best resource in the internet. There is an ancient computer you can use, and a very nice computer that you're not permitted to use. Makes perfect sense, really. My suggestion is to bring your own laptop and use the school's wireless internet. You're provided with a radio and a televisions with DVD players are available, too.
Final opinion:
EU is a good place for a lot of hours compared to other English language schools in and outside of San Luis. It is also a great place for brand-new teachers to get their feet wet. It is not a good place for experienced teachers, however. There is a sever lack of accountability. It is also more so a business than it is a school. In the beginning the staff and director are very accommodating and help you get your paperwork together. After a while however the place's faults begin to bother the most tolerant of people and teaching there seems to lose its luster. If one plans on teaching abroad for a while or as a career, they should gain experience at EU, and then move on to bigger and better things thereafter.

[TheLongWayHome]

English Unlimited has to be the most famous school in Mexico by now - so much has been said!

I worked there for 18 months, not coinciding with the OP's time there but a year or so before. I do however know the people referred to in the post.

I gained an immense amount of experience while working at EU for which I'm grateful. I taught, worked in coordination, wrote a course, wrote induction materials. All in a short space of time.

Yes, EU is a business just like Berlitz, Harmon Hell, Interlingua and most of the other schools in the entire world. The director is a businessman, just like any other school owner. I always found him to be very accessible and open to suggestions. He always paid on time and made sure that every teacher had an FM3. After my first year he refunded the cost, just as he said he would. I don't remember him sugar-coating anything.

A lot of peole whinge about the pay and conditions at EU. They are clearly stated before you sign the contract though. You know what you're getting yourself into. It's easy to whinge about the pay but as the OP said, you get hired from abroad, you get a cheap place to stay and enough hours to pay the bills and party, a tour of the city etc. This makes your life more than easy upon arriving in SLP.

Students in SLP want native speakers as teachers, this is a fact. It makes sense to use this as a selling point. Yes, there are some great Mexican English teachers but they don't sell an English course. The OP's comments about students are pretty much what you find in most places. Friday is a write-off and they're always late. That's just how the culture is.

EU is a great place for newbies because:

You'll get hired from abroad.
You'll get hired straight off a tefl course.
You get accommodation on arrival.
You get enough hours.
You'll get an FM3.
You'll always get paid on time.
You get a contract.

I think EU can be a rewarding experience if you treat it as a job. If you're looking for something to pay your partying expenses then yes, the little things will annoy you after a while.

[geaaronson]

For all posters with gripes about schools, please check out the website teflwatch.org. It`s purpose is namely that, a website for teacher evaluation of English teaching enterprises worldwide. I strongly encourage people to post their evaluations on this website as people need to be warned of the bad apples out there.
Having said that, the lack of specificity in the posters initial missive leads me to believe it`s so much like sour grapes, fermented by the poster himself. I wouldn`t put much stock in your gripes as they don`t seem all that unusual. You are living in a developing second world country, not Beverly Hills. I have been living in Mexico for two years and have had problems with the showers in all my abodes, all five of them. It`s par for the course. If you can`t hack it, stick to Europe, Canada and the U.S. in your travels.
If you plan on being an English teacher for many years to come, I strongly urge you to start accumulating your own educational materials which you can use to supplement the texts at the schools you teach at. Don`t depend on the schools to supply everything. Whatever it takes, whether you xerox pages from Newsweek or the Economist, short stories by Hemingway, or whatnot, start accumulating material now.

[meteachgood]

Actually, I quite like it here in Mexico. The school I mentioned is certainly not the norm. As a matter of fact, I was motivated to write about the school in question after starting at a new school in a poor town of Oaxaca. I and the other teachers are treated much better, the pay is better, and everything is legal. I have health care and teach a reasonable amount of classes with a reasonable amount of students. I also have 2 days off a week. This should say something about rich schools in rich cities like SLP, GDL, and the like. The overall moral of the story I initially posted is that you shouldn't settle for second rate. Do not come to Mexico thinking that well, "hey, it's backwards-ass Mexico; I should expect the worse." This is far from the truth. Schools will take advantage of foreign teachers. They know that you will accept low wages and will work hard for it, too. Just don't be a sucker. If you think that your working conditions are bad in Mexico, then they probably are. "Par for the course" is defeatist thinking... Furthermore, I resent that both of you think my post is "complaining" or "griping." It was balanced. There are good points to EU. Re-read the post. Lastly, I agree with this other former employee in that a strong advantage to EU is helping you get there and that they accept inexperienced teachers (which, at the same time, is a disadvantage).

[TheLongWayHome]

[meteachgood]

No, EU certainly doesn't forget to pay you (but you'll sometimes need to accept getting paid a day late because the admin with the terrible attitude doesn't get the money until 6 or so, and you don't have time to get your money between classes - for which there is no break). For some reason too, they get real impatient - maybe even nervous - when you note how much they withheld, your hours, etc.

That there are schools that play less doesn't really ring true for me. Which schools are these? Even if they exist, for every 3 schools that pay less there must be 9 others that pay more.

Again, I agree that EU is good for first-timers. But for god's sake - don't stay. After you get your feet wet, say, 3 months later, find another place that pays more with less hours.

And a response to "not a heavy work load." If you total the hours, no, but you still need to get up before sunrise and go home long after sunset. To be honest, i thought the same when i started, but i soon realized that the 6 hours between is EXCRUCIATING! This is when you run errands, plan your classes, and maybe even take a nap. Then, it's back to the saw mill.

No, i don't mean to say that they take advantage of teachers in the way you're describing. I, however, certainly felt exploited. I worked these insane hours and still lived hand-to-mouth. I really felt under appreciated. I came to mexico to travel, but had no time whatsoever. Only now do i have time because i followed my recommendation and found a better school that pays more and works me less.

[TheLongWayHome]

I appreciate what you're saying but put EU into context with some of the other schools in SLP:

Berlitz - pays more but the politics aren't worth it.
Big Learning - more hours, less pay.
Ingles Interactivo - $35 pesos an hour, if they pay you.
United English - forget it.
Ingles Individual - $35 pesos an hour.
Harmon Hell - $40 an hour.
Interlingua - $70 an hour but you are a robot teacher.

If you felt like EU was exploitation, it could have been worse! In SLP the money is in uni teaching, government gigs or going out to the industrial zone.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

[meteachgood]

Choosing to work in Mexico entails neither an inability to travel nor working for every hour of your waking life. After finding a better place, I now have two days off instead of one and work from 9am to 7pm. The nicest thing I think is that the last few days leading up to quinsena, I'm not planning out my last twenty pesos. Good jobs really are out there.

And, I'm not a Mexican National. Hence, it seams your statistic is in someway inapplicable. Shall we list how else all the other English teachers don't fit the demographic? There's a sharp distinction between tolerance and acceptance. I have a firm understanding as to why the work situation is as such here and moreover I'm not at liberty to criticize it, but that in no way means that I have to accept the same "fate." ("fate," being a word that a use reluctantly).

[TheLongWayHome]

[Phil_K]

[GueroPaz]

I suppose that in EFL/ESL generally, not just in Mexico, a long-term teacher with a professional attitude needs to swim in different pools than the backpackers, gap year, twenty-somethings. We need to be better qualified, more presentable, more experienced, etc. We need to find those better jobs by networking, building up our resume/CV, etc. An employer looking for a Muffy or Buffy who could be a model, won't look twice at an older person with BA, TEFL cert, years of teaching experience, etc.

[TheLongWayHome]

[Phil_K]

Yes, I employ Mexicans, most of which are much better qualified then I, a native speaker, am. I have experience, but as I've said previously, I feel I'm just faking it for the money - I have no love of teaching! (Maybe this applies to most backpackers!)

[Ruffle the cat]

This is a bit off topic but taking a 15 min shower in SLP is not a good idea. I lived there when the dam ran dry so if you take 15 min showers you might have the same problem. SLP is high desert and that means no water. If it doesn't rain you are out of luck and then hope you have a cistern as they have to bring water to your house. No cistern you have to have the water people fill up your buckets hard to have a shower from a bucket.
So when and if the director of EU is shortening the time of your shower good for him.
I do know him and knew him before he started the school in fact worked with him. Used to be a good guy haven't seen him in a few years so don't know about now.