Job Discussion Forums

[scott wilhelm]

Do most of the chain schools in Mexico use something similar to the Berlitz method, i.e. strongly discouraging of translation or do they tend to feel that translation is OK ? Also, besides Berlitz and Harmon Hall, what are the other national chains ?
Thanks for your help.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

The grammar/translation method of teaching a foreign language is pretty much considered out-of-date. Having said that, most EFL teachers/schools still include some grammar in their instruction (some more than others, of course.)

As for translation, some schools, including many of the chain schools, are very strict about "absolutely no Spanish used in the classroom" and about sticking to their prescribed method of teaching, while other schools are more flexible. Still, I don't know of any schools that use grammar/translation as their main method.

As for chain/franchised schools besides Harmon Hall and Berlitz, there are a few. Ingl�s Individual comes to mind. There are a few others, I'm sure, but I can't think of any more right now. I'm sure that other posters can add some.

[saraswati]

Other chain schools are Wallstreet, Natural Learning Company and Hamer-Sharp.

I'm sure there are other good schools, yet not chain schools, out there. You could post the areas that you are interested in going to and I'm sure other posters will have even more recommendations.

Good luck!

[moonraven]

I don't know what your educational background and teaching experience are--but you may want to consider schools that are not chains--or universities. If you work for a chain you will probably start early in the morning--7 a.m. classes at companies serviced by the chains or in the schools themselves are the norm. Morning classes at the chains usually end anywhere between 11:30 and 1. Afternoon classes usually pick up again at 3:30 or 4, and run until 9 or 10. You will also work Saturdays--probably 8 to 1 or 9 to 1:30. Some chains have Saturday afternoon classes and some have Sunday groups, as well. You might find that you'll have more time available to explore and enjoy a new country if you avoid the chain schools--unless you have no experience, in which case some offer pretty good training.

Universities--at least the ones I have worked in--infrequently expect you to work weekends, although they may have a split shift--for example, 8 until 2 and back from 5 to 7 or 8 until 1 and back from 4 to 7.

If you want to teach younger students in regular schools, you'll work from probably 7 or 7:30 until 2:30 or 3, with some of those hours being prep time if you are full time--which you pretty much have to be to work legally in a K-12 context.

Most teaching methods in language schools are communicative, based on the 4 skills. Some of the non-chain language schools offer more emphasis on grammar and less on speaking. K-12 schools, if private, are a mixed bag as their students may be EFLs who don't speak any English or ESLs who are almost bilingual and who are taking several subjects in English. I have taught history, literature, speech, methods of investigation, etc. in English in those schools--although some schools which bill themselves as bilingual are absolutely not bilingual, and you have to be careful there. Universities are also a mixed bag--you may be teaching without a text series but with a list of what nees to be covered i each level, you may be teaching from a canned series but with a more or less communicative approach--or you may be expected to teach EAP--English for Academic Purposes--which frequently ends up being a bunch of completely boring technical readings which are above the students' level and which they don't read--and they don't bother to go to those classes, either.

The main thing I can say about methodology is that classes must be prepared ahead of time. A lot of folks think they don't need to do that, that students won't know the difference--and they rationalize failure to prepare by saying they aren't getting paid for that. Students do know the difference. If you don't prepare, your students don't learn anything--and you won't know how to evaluate them anyway, with no criteria--and you suffer the slings and arrows of students not paying attention and even giving you a really hard time. I have seen students grind their ESL profs into hamburger--and when I have asked them why they were giving Mr. Fulano de Tal such a hard time they've told me: "He isn't prepared, and he doesn't know how to control the group--he isn't you!"

[scott wilhelm]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I sure appreciate it Detailed information really helps.
Scott

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[moonraven]

The only public bilingual schools are the ones that are bilingual Spanish and an indigenous language. All other bilingual schools are private. And they are, in the majority, just businesses. Mexican parents are willing to make enormous sacrifices for their kids' educations, and for them a bilingual school is seen as the cream of the cream--hence the proliferation of bilingual schools. The problem is that most bilingual schools are about as bilingual as my cat Chencha, and the parents of the kids end up paying double tuition: for the non-bilingual bilingual school and then for a language school such as Harmon Hall....Ten years I taught for one semester in one of those family businesses--out of 90 kids in the junior high, there were two who could actually read the English textbooks for History, Literature, etc.: One had lived in the US until he was eight, and the other was just finishing the program at Harmon Hall.