Job Discussion Forums

[Isla Guapa]

[MotherF]

Ingl�s Individual's method is also quite a rip off for the students. Nothing they couldn't get for free online these days.

[Enigma2011]

I've HEARD that WSI is NOT a good place to work. Financial problems, teachers not getting paid on time or at all.

[fabfablew]

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts on the schools.

Here are a few others to add to the above list, if you have opinions about them:
Universidad del Valle de M�xico (UVM)
Universidad Tecnol�gica de M�xico (UNITEC)
Universidad ICEL
Universidad del Pedregal

[Enchilada Potosina]

[fieldsofbarley]

IH will make you work like a dog?? I teach less than 4 hours a day and that�s enough for me to live on, plus they have always respected my requests when it comes to schedules/time off etc. Granted, I spend a considerable amount of time travelling around the city, but this is Mexico City, and I knew what I was getting into. So, they�re not the best, but they�re not bad either, especially if you lack experience.

ITESM - I interviewed with them (Estado de Mexico campus) and despite my lack of experience at the time, I was offered a high-paying position. Drawbacks were location and bureaucracy (I was on a tourist visa at the time and didn�t have my documents apostilled).

Can�t comment on the other options, although UVM seems to get consistent bad rap.

[Prof.Gringo]

For a first gig, the best job is one that pays on time, helps you as a new teacher with support, let's you teach different classes/groups etc.

In this respect, I think that a newbie should bite the bullet and go to work in a language school. I would NOT want to deal with the Ss in a colegio (or a uni, for that matter) without first having a strong background in TEFL. Better six months in a language school learning the ropes with support and not having to deal with classroom discipline as well as other fun things...

[Isla Guapa]

Good advice from Prof. Gringo. Though I had experience teaching Spanish as a foreign language before coming to Mexico to teach English for the first time, I was still pretty much of a greenhorn. I taught at a language school for a few months in Mexico City and then at a university in Cuernavaca for the summer. Both jobs helped ease me into TEFL.

[fabfablew]

Thanks again for all the info on schools, and thanks Prof. and Isla for the advice w/r/t language schools vs. unis/colegios. All of your comments have been quite helpful.

I agree that, as a newbie, support and training, as well as being able to teach interested adults vs. less interested kids, are the most important considerations in terms of where I should start. Beyond that, it seems like the process of getting my FM3 and pulling together all my documents, and being able to work in the meantime, will be much less of a headache if I do it through a language school. So most of the arrows are pointing me in the language-school direction.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the ESLCafe Mexico forum in general. Most of the threads have been really beneficial and interesting for me as a newbie to both TEFL and to Mexico. I like the wide variety of perspectives, positive and negative, about various aspects of the Mexico TEFL scene.

[Isla Guapa]

[fieldsofbarley]

Yes they would have done it - or at least that�s what they said

[Isla Guapa]

[PlayadelSoul]

Immigration varies from place to place. I do all the paperwork for my foreign teachers (they do the waiting in line) and haven't been asked for an apostile in ages. An oficial translation with a seal, yes, but not apostile.

[Isla Guapa]

I used a lawyer in Mexico City to get my FM3. He wanted my apostilled documents but no translations seemed to be required. Requirements do vary from place to place, so the best advice is to have all your documents in order and apostilled because you never know what the INM office in your town will ask for.

[TeresaLopez]