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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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 Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:27 pm Post subject: Re: your inner mexican |
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| sweeney66 wrote: |
| Yesterday my inner Mexican and I got to work at 9am, and it was sooo cold that the tamale lady had already sold out and gone home. We didn't feel right all day. I can no longer imagine a different breakfast. |
Mmmm tamales! Some days the locus of my inner Mexican is located in my stomach. |
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MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:44 am Post subject: |
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| ESL teachers are not treated like real teachers because their clients are looked down upon. Unless they teach at a school like the Monterey Institute of International Studies where they have high-end students, they teach poor to middle class immigrants who pay peanuts (if anything) for their instruction. |
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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| MikeySaid wrote: |
| ESL teachers are not treated like real teachers because their clients are looked down upon. Unless they teach at a school like the Monterey Institute of International Studies where they have high-end students, they teach poor to middle class immigrants who pay peanuts (if anything) for their instruction. |
This is not entirely true. ESL teachers in the States who teach foreign students (who are generally from privileged sectors of their own society and intend to stay in the US and pursue university degrees) are also treated like second (or third) class members of the academic community. I taught at a program for foreign students at a well-known university in Philadelphia, was not paid very well, got no benefits, and had no job security. In fact, we were not even classified as instructors but were called support staff! But you can bet that the students paid a pretty penny for the classes they took. |
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MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: |
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| Why then? |
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corporatehuman
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 198
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| MikeySaid wrote: |
| Why then? |
Because sometimes you just need a job. |
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MO39
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 1970
Location: El ombligo de la Rep�blica Mexicana
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:45 am Post subject: |
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| You've hit the nail on the head. And notice that I'm not working there any more... |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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| My inner Mexican sometimes wants to cross the border and teach ESL in the US just to earn in dollars. |
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M@tt
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 473
Location: here and there
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: iep |
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my situation is the exact same as the one mo39 describes.
the asian students are mostly rich, the angolans and arabs are on oil scholarships. the latinos, eastern europeans, and other africans are on fulbright or some other prestigious scholarship... but anyway, 80-90% of the students are wealthy arabs or asians.
the teachers are staff, a few are given salaried positions with benefits and a signed contract. a few are AIs while they do an advanced degree. then the rest of us are considered hourly employees, whether we teach fulltime or not, with no contract, no benefits, and slightly lower wages.
it's not a bad situation if you're young and single or if you're married to someone who has a real job.
as far as a career goes, i don't really recommend it to anyone unless you're frugal.
personally, i'm saving all my money and buying real estate, which i intend to rent to students. then i can quit thinking about how much money ESL pays, because it's a little depressing.
one of my professors wrote an interesting article called "do ESL teachers have careers" or something like that. if i can find a link i'll post it. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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| TheLongWayHome wrote: |
| My inner Mexican sometimes wants to cross the border and teach ESL in the US just to earn in dollars. |
My inner Mexican sometimes just wants to cross the border. Period  |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Phil_K wrote: |
| TheLongWayHome wrote: |
| My inner Mexican sometimes wants to cross the border and teach ESL in the US just to earn in dollars. |
My inner Mexican sometimes just wants to cross the border. Period |
But you have to do it en pollero to get the full experience. |
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guatetaliana
Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 112
Location: Monterrey, Nuevo Le�n, Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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| TheLongWayHome wrote: |
| My inner Mexican sometimes wants to cross the border and teach ESL in the US just to earn in dollars. |
Yes. My current situation. My husband was elated that I was willing to work in the US for a few weeks so that we can finally have some spending money.
I went to Wal-Mart here in the US the other day and literally broke down crying. The stupid reason: I found a blender for $13. The very same model that was selling for $580 pesos at all the places we looked in Mexico. I'm so tired of low wages that get blown on goods that are far more expensive than what I'm used to. I knew this would happen, but it's different in your head than in real life.
I'm glad I brought an empty suitcase with me, because it's going back to Mexico full of goodies.... |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| guatetaliana wrote: |
| I went to Wal-Mart here in the US the other day and literally broke down crying. The stupid reason: I found a blender for $13. The very same model that was selling for $580 pesos at all the places we looked in Mexico. I'm so tired of low wages that get blown on goods that are far more expensive than what I'm used to. |
I agree, especially with clothes here. The prices are obscene. Even the price of clothes brought in from the US is obscene. Sometimes they even leave the dollar ticket price on the clothes whilst charging you double. It's all so obscene. |
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MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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| guatetaliana wrote: |
| I went to Wal-Mart here in the US the other day and literally broke down crying. The stupid reason: I found a blender for $13. The very same model that was selling for $580 pesos at all the places we looked in Mexico. |
On a positive note, when that 13 dollar blender breaks, you'll probably be able to get it fixed for next to nothing in Monterrey. In the US (Canada too?) you'd have to buy a new one. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| MikeySaid wrote: |
| guatetaliana wrote: |
| I went to Wal-Mart here in the US the other day and literally broke down crying. The stupid reason: I found a blender for $13. The very same model that was selling for $580 pesos at all the places we looked in Mexico. |
On a positive note, when that 13 dollar blender breaks, you'll probably be able to get it fixed for next to nothing in Monterrey. In the US (Canada too?) you'd have to buy a new one. |
...and you can buy the jug, blade, rubber washer - just about everything, in the supermarket. |
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Not St Louis
Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 38
Location: Asia
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:33 am Post subject: |
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| guatetaliana wrote: |
| I'm glad I brought an empty suitcase with me, because it's going back to Mexico full of goodies.... |
Laredo is just a relatively cheap 12 hour overnight bus trip from Mexico City. 
Tally up a list of things to buy and a twice monthly trip to Laredo can pay for itself. A good friend of mine who worked for United in Mexico City would fly up once a month to shop. He made almost as much from this trade as he did from the job. |
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