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Professor
Joined: 22 May 2009
Posts: 449
Location: Mexico City
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 Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: Mexico, great for tacos, not so good for EFL! |
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| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
The silent majority are those who came, saw, and left Mexico for greener pastures. |
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Professor
Joined: 22 May 2009
Posts: 449
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| leegleze wrote: |
Yeah, Professor's avatar reminds me of my old boyfriend on his way to the bathroom first thing in the morning. And I really would rather forget that vision, thank you! LOL |
Glad I could help bring back fond memories for you while you're teaching EFL here in Mexico.  |
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Tretyakovskii
Joined: 14 Aug 2009
Posts: 462
Location: Cancun, Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The silent majority are those who came, saw, and left Mexico for greener pastures. |
I've said it before, I found Mexico to be a hard nut to crack. Through a combination of persistence, and luck, I eventually landed in a highly satisfactory job, but it took a year of hard slogging to get there.
It's still not clear to me why it's so difficult to get started here, but I experienced it, myself. The market seems to be very price sensitive, perhaps oversupplied, and not very discerning when it comes to quality. |
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Enchilada Potosina
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 344
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Tretyakovskii wrote: |
| It's still not clear to me why it's so difficult to get started here, but I experienced it, myself. The market seems to be very price sensitive, perhaps oversupplied, and not very discerning when it comes to quality. |
Yes, Mexico is still a mediocre salesman's dream come true. Even I can sell stuff here.
Look at it this way: most students of English would still rather have a (hot) monolingual backpacker fresh off a tefl course than a qualified, expererienced, fully bilingual teacher to teach them English. Malinchismo is alive and well and quality is not the order of the day. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| Tretyakovskii wrote: |
| It's still not clear to me why it's so difficult to get started here, but I experienced it, myself. The market seems to be very price sensitive, perhaps oversupplied, and not very discerning when it comes to quality. |
Yes, Mexico is still a mediocre salesman's dream come true. Even I can sell stuff here.
Look at it this way: most students of English would still rather have a (hot) monolingual backpacker fresh off a tefl course than a qualified, expererienced, fully bilingual teacher to teach them English. Malinchismo is alive and well and quality is not the order of the day. |
I know a friend that was in SLP for about 2 years. He told me how he lost his groups, not because he was unqualified (BA degree, CELTA and experience) but because he is a middle-aged man. He was replaced by a 18 y/o Mexican girl with no training, no qualifications (except her looks  ) and mediocre English skills. She was supposed to teach biz students. Eye candy was more important than actual learning. |
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gregd75
Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 360
Location: Tlaquepaque, Jalisco
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I know a friend that was in SLP for about 2 years. He told me how he lost his groups, not because he was unqualified (BA degree, CELTA and experience) but because he is a middle-aged man. He was replaced by a 18 y/o Mexican girl with no training, no qualifications (except her looks ) and mediocre English skills. She was supposed to teach biz students. Eye candy was more important than actual learning. |
Of course information from a friend talking about why he lost his job is going to be honest and insightful.
Maybe he was actually sacked for being late to work, not being professional or any number of OTHER reasons that he didn't want to tell his friend about.
I don't know this situation BUT we're only hearing one side of the story and I find it highly questionable |
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Enchilada Potosina
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 344
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| gregd75 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I know a friend that was in SLP for about 2 years. He told me how he lost his groups, not because he was unqualified (BA degree, CELTA and experience) but because he is a middle-aged man. He was replaced by a 18 y/o Mexican girl with no training, no qualifications (except her looks ) and mediocre English skills. She was supposed to teach biz students. Eye candy was more important than actual learning. |
Of course information from a friend talking about why he lost his job is going to be honest and insightful.
Maybe he was actually sacked for being late to work, not being professional or any number of OTHER reasons that he didn't want to tell his friend about.
I don't know this situation BUT we're only hearing one side of the story and I find it highly questionable |
Have you ever been to SLP, Greg? Do a search on any of SLP's delightful language schools on this very forum and you'll find they're all the same. I could recount 20 similar stories. |
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Isla Guapa
Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 1520
Location: Mexico City o sea La Gran Manzana Mexicana
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
I know a friend that was in SLP for about 2 years. He told me how he lost his groups, not because he was unqualified (BA degree, CELTA and experience) but because he is a middle-aged man. He was replaced by a 18 y/o Mexican girl with no training, no qualifications (except her looks ) and mediocre English skills. She was supposed to teach biz students. Eye candy was more important than actual learning. |
Apart from the eye candy factor, (though why would any women in the class care about that?), maybe your friend lost his job because the school could pay the unqualified MOD EDIT a lot less than he was earning.
Last edited by Isla Guapa on Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Enchilada Potosina wrote: |
| gregd75 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I know a friend that was in SLP for about 2 years. He told me how he lost his groups, not because he was unqualified (BA degree, CELTA and experience) but because he is a middle-aged man. He was replaced by a 18 y/o Mexican girl with no training, no qualifications (except her looks ) and mediocre English skills. She was supposed to teach biz students. Eye candy was more important than actual learning. |
Of course information from a friend talking about why he lost his job is going to be honest and insightful.
Maybe he was actually sacked for being late to work, not being professional or any number of OTHER reasons that he didn't want to tell his friend about.
I don't know this situation BUT we're only hearing one side of the story and I find it highly questionable |
Have you ever been to SLP, Greg? Do a search on any of SLP's delightful language schools on this very forum and you'll find they're all the same. I could recount 20 similar stories. |
Thanks for the support Enchilada!
BTW my amigo is now in Asia working and living his EFL dream. I would follow him, but obligations keep me here.
Again, if somebody is coming to Mexico for the 1st time, especially if this is your first job, skip the small towns and backwater EFL jobs. Just make the plunge and come to the DF. Sure it's big and crowded (and a few other choice words as well,  ) but in the DF you can truly have multiple job offers from schools of every type (even fresh off the plane or bus with a newly printed TEFL cert in hand) and many different places to live and work within the greater Mexico City area.
Avoid places like the language schools in SLP which tie you in with draconian contracts and which offer "housing" as a way to keep you tied down to that one school.
Also, avoid any school which does not offer a FM-3 upfront. Such schools are violating Mexican Federal laws. Some don't pay taxes. Others try to tell perspective foreign teachers some mumbo-jumbo about being a "paid volunteer" for 6 months so they can avoid getting you the proper work visa, Mexican Social Security (IMSS) and other benefits according to Mexican Federal Labor Laws.
BTW, there is no such thing as a "paid" volunteer. Either you are a volunteer for free or a paid worker. The law is clear on that.
If you choose to work for such a school and have no work visa, no papers to be in Mexico (being a tourist means you can still be deported for working), no contract, and thus no recourse in case of any disputes with such an employer.
Better to work in DF for a language school such as Interlingua which at least follows Mexican laws, provides training, FM-3 and IMSS as well. |
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gregd75
Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 360
Location: Tlaquepaque, Jalisco
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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Enchilada Potosina... I don't see anywhere in the post that the teacher was in a language school.
Could have been a university, language school or any institution, right? |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| gregd75 wrote: |
Enchilada Potosina... I don't see anywhere in the post that the teacher was in a language school.
Could have been a university, language school or any institution, right? |
It was Berlitz language school, SLP.
Glad I could clarify that for you  |
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Enchilada Potosina
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 344
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
| gregd75 wrote: |
Enchilada Potosina... I don't see anywhere in the post that the teacher was in a language school.
Could have been a university, language school or any institution, right? |
It was Berlitz language school, SLP.
Glad I could clarify that for you |
Haha... I'm not surprised, of those 20 or so stories I mentioned, about half come from that hole. |
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gregd75
Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 360
Location: Tlaquepaque, Jalisco
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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So, as a round up of this thread titled 'getting started in Mexico' the posters have decided (again) to end up on a negative point by saying don't bother going to work at Berlitz SLP.
Maybe this is one of the reasons there are no new posters here. Same old posters making the same old points but under the disguise of different threads.
Let's try to be positive. Let's try sticking to the title of this thread 'getting started in Mexico'
Positive, constructive advice, anyone? |
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Isla Guapa
Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 1520
Location: Mexico City o sea La Gran Manzana Mexicana
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Does anyone have any positive experiences about working for Berlitz anywhere in Mexico (or the world) to relate? |
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Enchilada Potosina
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Posts: 344
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:08 am Post subject: |
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| Isla Guapa wrote: |
| Does anyone have any positive experiences about working for Berlitz anywhere in Mexico (or the world) to relate? |
Only those whose last name is Berlitz I imagine. |
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