Job Discussion Forums

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

I'm sure I've seen it in here but I can't remember where. If you wouldn't mind...

are 1 year contracts the only option?

in general, when is hiring?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

WIth UMar, we offered six-month contracts, but candidates were also asked not to apply if they couldn't commit to at least one year. There was no way to really enforce this of course, but it was an enormous load of paperwork to hire someone in, only to have the teacher leave after one semester.

MELEE · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:24 pm Post subject:

I also think it's not worth it for the teachers. There is a fairly large start up cost since in addition to your visa, you usually have to buy a bed, stove and fridge, since apartments don't come with those things. Get a cell phone or a land line, finally find a restuarant you like, made a friend or two, and just started to really get a handle on the students and it's time to go?

The contracts are the same throughout the system.
These are tenure-track positions. So ideally they are for people looking to stick around a while. The intial contract is for 6 months, renewable once, basically a trial period for both parties, before applying for tenure.

I'm toying with the idea of making a "this job is not for people who..." list
for example

...got into TEFL because they didn't want to work 8 hours a day.

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

understood.

in general, when does hiring take place?

thanks.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

6 month contracts? That is the norm in Oaxaca? For all the reasons listed, it does seem quite....silly...Is that because people come, and go so often? So that schools can be rid of someone easier if it�s not working out? I have never heard of that here in D.F. Nor have I ever signed one. Here, they all seem to be for 2 years.

MELEE · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:

Wildchild,
The semesters start the first week of October and the first week of March, there is a summer session that starts in August. So those are the main times for people to start. Of course the occasional position opens up at other times of the year.

Dixie,
As I said in my last post.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

MELEE · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject:

No. The universities operate under a philosphy of 100% tenure-track faculty. Many aspects about the "model" (the founder's term) of the Oaxacan State Universities, are a reaction to failures in the universidades autonomas around the country and particularly the one in Oaxaca. One of these is no part-time or adjunct faculty who tend to have other commitments and loyalities-such as helping in the running of a family business, working as a consultant, holding a government office, etc.--which take them away from the university and make it difficult for students to find them when they need extra help, or even means they professor skips class to attend to the outside interests.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

MELEE · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject:

Some people are attracted to it, others put off by it.

A lot of people in TEFL don't want to work full time. Some older, started TEFL as a second career and feel they are past the stage in their lives when they want to be at work 8 hours a day. Others often younger, got into it to see the world and likewise don't want to be at work 8 hours day.
Then when you consider that the normal teaching load is three 55-minute classes a day, the classes meet 5 days a week and often the teacher's classes are all the same level, a lot of people feel they could do their planning and marking in and additional hour or two and resent the thought of being "cooped up in an office all day". I certainly have enough time to do all my work at work and never take any home. I also don't have internet at home so almost all my posts on here have been done while I was at work.

Most of the teachers whom we think would be best for us in terms of qualifications and point in their career, end up teaching in the Middle East. We just can't compete economically. That and the semi-rural, or rural in a couple of cases, location make it hard to attract enough of the right sort of teacher. The system employes over 60 native English speaking teachers. A couple of years ago I ran the average stay of all the teachers I knew who had worked at UTM. It was two and a half years, I think it would be less if I did it again now. We have 15 teachers here at UTM so each semester 3 to 5 of them leave and have to be replaced.

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

prairiemaker · Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 13

Hello,

I feel a little stupid in writing this, and I would appreciate any sincere input anyone has to offer.

I am a professor teaching in South Korea. I have only been teaching for a couple of years, but got lucky and ended up at one of the higher paying university jobs. I have five months paid vacation time off. Before I was hired for my present job, I had already contacted Oaxacan university system, and was talking to with one of the universities. The women I was talking with wrote me back a really nice email telling me the pitfalls of living there. The pitfalls actually sounded like positives to my wife and I, but in the end we choose Korea at five times the salary.

I love my job here, but there is a lack of soulful things here that always leaves emptiness. Both my wife and I grew up in small towns close to nature. I miss being close to earth, the sounds of dogs barking far off, gardening, the smell of wood burning, simple things. Here we live in a thirteen story high rise, with a view of other high rises out our window. Not in the distance, but a massive wall of concrete and glass three hundred feet away, that blocks the sun from entering into the room all day long. Unless we break away, and go to the mountains, it is seldom we see the sun rise or set. Even in the mountains, there is no privacy, someone is always around. We are not looking for a perfect place. We know every place has hard at times. We both have a little bit of cultural sensitivity and understand the adjustments there also. Nor am I someone who changes jobs everyday, or is always looking for greener pastures. But, life here, outside of teaching, is so opposite of what my wife and I both love. We can stay here and make fantastic money, save and work for seven months and then fly to the Philippines and live for five months.

But, I question the sanity of living in two places. I really want to put down roots. It may be because we are both so unhappy with our present living conditions here; that any place that might offer a dirt road you can walk and watch a sunset has an appeal. Having said this, normally when something pulls at me so strongly, as the idea of Oaxaca has, there is a reason.

Since the day I was offered the university post here and accepted it, part of me has grieved not coming there. For some reason it just won�t let go. Am I crazy for still thinking about coming there? We want a place were eventually we can feel a sense of community. Here in Korea you are always an outsider, even though we have Korean friends and are part of the university family. We are learning Korean and this has helped a little, but if you have ever been to Korea you know you are always outsiders. More than anything, our values are just so different. The things my wife and I tend to value the average Korean just does not get. Has any one there made a similar move? Has anyone left a high paying ME or Korean university post and moved there? Did you regret it, or were you glad you did? Did you wrestle with the fear that you were being irresponsible before you made the move?

I am American and my wife is Philippine. Is there any type of work she might do in the university system, if I was employed as a professor there? She helps me teach at the university I am presently at. However, she only teaches in the university language lab I have started, and during the free classes we give on Fridays at the university. My wife does not help teach any of my university classes and is not officially employed by the university, as this is against Korean immigration law. The university I teach at really likes her and she is extremely popular with the students. It was their idea to allow her to work with me in the lab. (Without pay, but it gets her out of the house) She speaks four languages and is quickly learning Korean. She has a B.A in economics. If we did both work there, would we make enough money that if something happened to my wife�s family, she could she afford to fly back? This is my greatest concern, not the change in life style which in some ways is preferable to us. Finically we are about even without great debt or wealth. I have three small houses that will be paid off in five years, but I also have a three hundred dollar a month college loan payment for the next thousand years. I am forty eight, so I do not have endless years to create my retirement.
Thank you for any input, but please, do not blast me with the flame thrower.

MELEE · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject:

In Mexico. Dependant visas do not allow the holder to work. So your wife would have to get a work her own visa for her to be able to work. Also, Mexico does not treat all nationalities the same, some nationalities must apply for their visas at the Mexican consulate in their home countries. For example the Mexican consulates in the US are not able to process visas for Turkish citizens. I know this because we once had a teacher with a turkish wife who was told his wife would have to go back to Turkey if she wanted to come to Mexico with him. But one the spouce in in the Spouces home country it is not so hard to sponsor them. We had another teacher with a Chinese wife. She was in China, the husband came first and got his visa, then they apply for her to join him. It was a fairly straight forward process that took about six weeks.
But for you wife to work, she would have to find someone who wanted to hire her. Her language skills sound great. But the universities in Oaxaca are small and don't really have a need for languages beyond English and French at this point in their development. In a large city like Mexico city she might have a chance to market herself, but I can't be optimistic for her chances in Oaxaca.
Make enough for her to fly to the Philippines at a moment's notice?
I doubt it. Sounds like you are best to stay put for a couple more year and bank away some of those won you are earning. Pay off those houses you are paying on, so that they become pure assessts and pay off the student loans. Three hundred dollars a month would be about 1/4 of your take home pay here. Then in 3 to 5 years time, think about coming here.
Of course I'm saying that and I have NO IDEA how much a flight from Mexico to the Philippines is, but how ever much it is you'd want to have that much on hand at any given time. Does your wife have a US visa? I imagine the cheapest route is through L.A.
Another factor, how long have you been in Korea? This might be a phase you will get thought, expats usually go through love-hate cycles.
I love the life style here and it sounds like you too would too. And the money is more than enough for a couple to live on here. But when you factor in debt and visiting family so far away--I think there's just as good of a chance you'd end up unhappy here because you'd be stressed about money. I think the wise decision would be to stick it out in Korea, maybe work durning that long vacation to put some more money away, with an eye on Mexico in the future.