Job Discussion Forums

[gqsmoothie]

Hello, I thought I would throw this idea out and see what everyone thinks of it.

(oh yeah, I know some spanish and I am currently studying about 3 hours a day on my own)

1. take the ICAL online course and receive a TEFL certificate
2. load up my bicycle
3. ride to somewhere (haven't decided yet) rural in Mexico and attempt to find a farm family with 3+ children
4. offer to teach them english(kids and parents) and help out with physical labor
5. in exchange for room and board and just learning their culture

- i have no college degree, i do have some college classes though
- i feel like i have a good grasp of the english language
- am very easy going and friendly


sooooo.......any thoughts???


thanx

[MELEE]

This may work better in the north of Mexico, where farming families would be a bit more like farming families in the US. Around here the farming families would, 1 have more like 8+ kids, not 3+, may not speak Spanish, or at least not very well, and only make enough to feed themselves and even with your help, you'd still have to pay your room and board, because they wouldn't be able to pay it. They also are VERY wary of outsiders.

All in all, I don't think it is a bad idea, sounds like the making of a great book. But have cash to fall back on (BUT DON'T CARRY IT!!--defensless gringo alone on a bike, sounds like a good target to me )

A better idea might be looking for a town as a host--rather than just one family. You teach English at a small town elementary school in exchange for the town putting you up (they host their teachers normally) and the towns have "taxes" in the form of labor--in Oaxaca this is called Tequio and I'm sure they'd get a kick out of you helping them out with that. This approach also makes more sense, because most "farming families" here in the south of Mexico, live in town and walk out to their fields--which are actually community held property that they have been given to plant on.

If you do head out, make sure you have some things for teaching kids--like a book with kids songs and games.

[gqsmoothie]

Melee,

You said not to carry cash. Are debit cards/visa a good idea?


thanx

GQ

[MELEE]

Debit cards are a great way to travel in Mexico. If your debit card works on the Plus or Cirrus systems then you will have no trouble using it to get pesos out of ATMs all over Mexico. In certain locations (like the Mexico City airport)the ATMs dispense either pesos or dollars.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

MELEE's advice about cash and debit cards is the best way to go in my opinion. I'd suggest having a duplicate card with you as backup, kept in a secure place. Should you lose your card or have it stolen, it's pretty useless to other people unless they know your PIN number, but getting a replacement card can be a long process and could leave you without access to money for several days or even weeks. Also, if an ATM "eats your card," the bank is legally obligated to destroy your card rather than return it to you. Granted, there is the occasional bank manager willing to bend the rules and retrieve your card from the machine for you, but that's not something you can count on.