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Marieonearth
Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 9 Location: Montreal, Canada
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:07 pm Post subject: Teaching French in Mexico |
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Hi.
I am presently planning to make the move to another country next month to teach either English or French, but I would prefer French and I have difficulties finding information about French teaching positions.
I am interested in a few countries, so you may see this message on more than one board, I don�t mean to spam or anything like that.
I know these boards are mostly for English teaching discussions, but I think that a lot of you may be working in Universities or Language schools and may have some information about French teaching opportunities.
I am French-Canadian girl, fluent in both English and French. Let this be clear. I�ve been raised in both English and French. I am really fluent in both language but went it comes to grammar, orthography or just writing, I am more at ease in French because I did my early school years in English but did the more advanced studies in French.
I have a Bachelor and I know most people are a little bit concerned about the �Qu�b�cois� accent, but I traveled a lot and never had any problems with my accent and I can polish it a lot more that I already do when I have to.
What are the possibilities in Mexico. I am planning to land on mid-November. I don�t mind just showing up and I have savings, but I would like advices on where I should look first to get a job teaching French. I wouldn�t mind doing English conversation classes too if it can help.
Thank you in advance for your help. |
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leslie
Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 235
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:59 pm Post subject: French |
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Bye
Last edited by leslie on Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TheLongWayHome

Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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It's an expanding field, you can now get easily enough work teaching French to make a decent living here. I teach it but I'm not a native speaker. Try the UVM network of universities or the Tec de Monterrey schools or any that have toursim and gastronomy degrees and of course the Alliance Fran�aise du Mexique.
www.alianzafrancesa.org.mx
It's a pleasure to teach it here as students are far more open to it than English. I guess it's because it's not forced on them from day one and they haven't had bad experiences with the language.
You won't have problems with your accent. I'd show up end of July early August though as this is when most of the hiring is done. |
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geaaronson
Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject: further advice |
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I too have seen and met French teachers here in Mexico. With both languages under your belt, you will be in good demand, particularly in the capital.
Many of the language schools offer French and the fact that you are a native speaker of both languages will give you a competitive edge in the business. Coming here in November is not such a bad idea and you could link up with one or more language schools. With luck, you might land a position at a preparatory for January from a teacher who needs to return home, or just hold onto your language school (s) position (s) until next August.
Make sure you get an FM3 independente so you won�t have to pay for each change or addition to your teaching clients. You might also wish to check out www.computrabajo.com.mx for the thousand or more available positions available over the past couple of months to get an idea of what is out there. There are other websites to check into.
You are actually in a very good position being a bilingual native speaker. |
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scottmx81

Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 64 Location: Morelia, Mexico.
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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I think there is some demand for French classes out there in Mexico. You may or may not know that the French were colonial rulers of Mexico for a brief period of time. The castle in Mexico City's equivalent of "Central Park" was built for an emperor installed by France. I think some remnants of that French aristocracy still linger in Mexico.
I think French is a language that is more popular among the upper/upper-middle class families. French isn't going to be very practical for most poor families, but some from the more well-to-do families learn French to distinguish themselves from everyone else who knows English. A lot of these more well-to-do Mexicans used to like to going to Quebec (Montreal), again, to some extent it is about being more snooty, because "everyone" goes to the US. I'm not sure how the Mexican tourism to Quebec is doing these days though, since the visa was slapped on Mexicans in July.
You should definitely check out the Alliance Francaise schools that someone else mentioned already. I'm currently studying at a university here in Canada, and I had to get my French up to speed as it is required to have French proficiency to graduate from my program. So last summer I dropped a small fortune on French classes in Mexico. Odd for a Canadian to be learning French in Mexico, but I thought it was way better to be getting 15 hours / week of one-on-one private instruction in Mexico for a few months than to get 4 hours / week of general classroom time through the university. I would have loved to find a native French speaker at Mexican wages. The teacher I got for most of my course at the Alliance Francaise was a Mexican, but she went through her elementary/high school level schooling at a French curriculum school in Mexico City. They told me that they do have native French speakers who work for them, but that they tend to take off in the summers (when it rains in Mexico and is the nicest at home).
I can think of several different language schools in Morelia (the city where I spend most of my time in Mexico) that teach French. There are two or three schools that are primarily French such as the Alliance Francaise, and some of the schools that primarily teach English also have a few French courses as well.
I know some businesses will pay for French classes for their employees as well, for general employee professional development. This was the case with my girlfriend. The company she worked for was paying for her and several of her co-workers to take French classes, for no particular reason other than as a special perk.
Also, in this city Morelia, for example, I know that there is a very large French corporation that has set up shop there. The company is called Alstrom, and it is headquartered near Paris. There is a small French consulate in the city as well, right off the main plaza. So there are definitely some business ties between Mexico & France. But again, it is mostly going to be the more well-to-do Mexicans who would ever find it advantageous to learn French or who would be doing business with the French. You're probably not going to find much of a market for it in the small towns. But in the large cities you might.
So, I'd definitely keep Mexico on the list of countries you are considering. It might be a bit harder since you'll be somewhat more limited in the number of options you have, but you could probably find something. |
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leslie
Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 235
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:11 pm Post subject: Morelia |
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Bye
Last edited by leslie on Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:13 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Marieonearth
Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 9 Location: Montreal, Canada
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks a lot scottmx81, I didn't know about Morelia.
Actually, I was looking at the city of Guadalajara, because it looks like a big city and I plan to do a Spanish course there to have a jump start in the language. I speak a little Spanish, but just enough to survive, not to have a decent conversation.
Morelia is between Mexico city and Guadalajara so I might stop there to have a look at the opportunities. The city sounds interesting from what I saw doing a research.
It's a smaller city than Guadalajara, but if there's a French company it might be interesting.
Thank you for the clue!  |
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reddevil79

Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 234 Location: Neither here nor there
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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You can make quite a bit of money teaching French privately in Guadalajara. There's a lot of money in the city and people were willing to pay me 300 pesos or more for classes when I was living there. I definitely agree with what Scott says about Mexicans' perception of French: a lot of it is definitely status and having French is not that useful here, I would even argue that German is more useful. Though there are a few French companies in Mexico so maybe locating yourself in the right place is key. |
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JakeJakeJake
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 135
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:23 am Post subject: |
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theres tons of french in DF |
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MikeySaid

Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:40 am Post subject: |
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There's a strong French presence in the Comarca Lagunera.
[img]http://www.viviendoamexico.com/wp-content/gallery/gomez-palacio/eiffel.jpg[/img]
There's at least two replicas of the Eiffel Tower in the area, and a good French program at the Alliance Francaise (sp?) of Torreon.
Also, I've got a friend from England who has a BA in Spanish and he teaches English and German at UVM.
Pay's not great, but UVM has a renewed focus on foreign languages and prefers native or near-native teachers to Mexicans. |
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