Job Discussion Forums

[geaaronson]

Handouts in corporate classes that are booked through recruiters consist of about 25% of the class. As I have a strong literary interest, having worked as a feature news writer, it is important for me to give lessons that elicit the most enthusiasm from me. That is not to say I neglect the textbook, I don`t, as it comprises the other 75% of my teaching time.
For private students the handouts is a higher proportion of the program as private students are usually loath to review grammar. At a company class, the company usually expects the EFL teacher to review English`s ground rules.

It varies as to how much time I spend on the bus. If I did not go out to Santa Fe twice a week, I would be disappointed, as I actually look forward to the ride, but it does become wearisome to commute there 4 X a week. Like Guy says, you strategize your commutes to your classes. For this past summer I was commuting to Santa Fe and spending the entire afternoon there. I taught 3 classes in the same building from 12 noon to 4 p.m., so although it took me 2 1/2 hours round trip, I was teaching for four hours.

Currently I have classes there on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. My first private student meets with me at 2:30 and finishes at 3:30. My second class meets at 5 and finishes at 7 p.m. I have tried to fill in the time between 4 and 5 so far without success as this is usually a peak work hour for most corporate employees. perhaps I will get someone to take a class from 7 on and then I`m on for the entire day.

On the other days I work in Polanco which takes me 25 minutes travel time. And I even have one class that is a 12 minute walk from my house. I have one private student that comes to my house directly for 2 hours of classes. So all in all, there is a wide range of commute times.

I have been offered full time positions which I have turned down. One would have necessitated a huge commute to Barranco De Muertos five times a week. The schedule was ideal but for other personal reasons I refused the position, the commute being the least of my concerns.

[Jetgirly]

The prepa thread is mine.

We have access to a printer at the school, but we have to provide our own paper and USB storage. We have access to photocopiers but have to pay to make the copies. We have access to overhead projectors, but also have to pay to produce even a single transparancy. As my first paycheque is already late, I am not excited about investing even ten cents in copying when I think the school should provide, at minimum, an overhead or two per class, per week.

By the way, an update on resources: The other Canadian teacher and I have have now been banned from using CD players, overhead projectors (for transparancies) and also the projectors that you attach to laptops, because we don't have VOTER ID CARDS! They won't take our passports, Canadian drivers licenses, etc. Why hire Canadian teachers for five months on TOURIST VISAS, who obviously won't be able to register to vote, if that is what you use to give them access to the resources they need to teach?

[Oreen Scott]

[Guy Courchesne]

[dixie]

I second what Guy had to say about talking to someone else regarding your inability to access the tech resources. I didn�t get my school id card for a long time at work, but got around it (with minor hassles) by having an email from my boss that I would show in such situations. Talk to the head, and ask them to talk to AV or the like.

I would also be emailing your school in Canada, and the coordinator for your program on a weekly basis to let them know what is going on, as it is going on. They might (hopefully they will) be concerned enough to call the school up and ask them what the h*ll is going on.

[Jetgirly]

We have definitely talked to the director of the school SEVERAL times about the situation, and he LAUGHS and says, "Yes, we really must do something about that..." It's been two weeks of him laughing and acknowledging our frustration, while informing us that school policy is school policy. We have also brought it up with the "president" of the English department, thinking that maybe he would be concerned about making sure we teach English well, who just directs us to the school director.

With regards to the visa thing, our situation is slightly odd. We are the third party in an agreement between our Canadian university and the Mexican university to which the prepa we work for is attached. We are here on student visas and do not receive a "salary", but rather a "living allowance". I am quite sure this is illegal, as I know that university students on paid "internships" need to fill out different paperwork than students who are "studying". When we went to the Mexican consulate in Canada, both the Canadian and Mexican universities instructed us to say that no money was changing hands, and that we were in Mexico to take Spanish lessons. I have been aware from Day One that this whole agreement is seriously questionable, but the alternative (staying in Canada, holding hands, singing songs about teaching and getting marked based on my journal entries) was extremely unappealing as well.

[ls650]

I hope that you are documenting all these problems in writing. At the very least, you'll then have a written record to give to your Canadian university and hopefully they will correct the problems with future exchanges.