Job Discussion Forums

[inotu-unotme]

This is a work related question but not for ESL teaching...

This question is about how a Mexican citizen can get his skill level tested in the English language.

If a Mexican citizen needs to be tested in English speaking, reading and writing for a government job who would he contact and how would he set up the test?

[spiral78]

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/tclists/IBT_m.html


http://www.ielts.org/test_centre_search/search_results.aspx?TestCentreSearchSubRegion=3f44ce0c-7490-412c-ac9e-484cb712fac7

[MotherF]

This person should ask his employer or perspective employer which tests they will accept.
In addition to the TOEFL and IELTS that Spiral linked to, the are the Cambridge exams, which the British Council pushes heavily in Mexico, but he would need to know which certificate they wanted him to have--probably FCE but maybe another one. http://www.britishcouncil.org/es/mexico-examenes.htm
And there are a couple of Mexico specific exams, one from the SEP, http://www.cenni.sep.gob.mx/ or UNAM has an exam that is widely recognized (undeservingly so in my opinion) http://cele.unam.mx/index.php?categoria=2&subcategoria=9&contenido=14
Also, in the experience of my students going out into the world of job interviews--a lot of employers self rate candidates' English skills by simply conducting their interviews in English.

[inotu-unotme]

Thanks...

I will have him look at those.
Because we are unfamiliar with the minor details of Mexico testing we didn't know which way to turn.
But, my fiance is interested in a Mexico government job.
Recently I was talking to a biologist who works for the Mexico government.
And he was saying how much English is highly sought after in the MX government sector.
My fiance is so fluent in English and Spanish we were wanted some type of test the government would recognize for a possible future job.

As a side note my fiance was given a chance to take a MX government test for child care.
After looking the test and the books over I found it was very similar to early childhood development info from the United States.
I asked him why they choose to give him the 'child test' instead of something else.
He knows nothing about children.
The test was not hard just odd they would choose that subject matter.
He said it was because they figured he was at a basic level of education being he didn't go to school beyond high school.
My fiance is not interested in doing further school but I was thinking taking a test for his English reading, writing and speaking would be a good thing to have on record.
However, with MX sometimes the details are not clear on what one needs to do.

I will have him look over the links above and hopefully he will find something that will work for his situation.

[MotherF]

Here in Mexico, early child care and even preschool teacher is something you can do with just a high school education. While I agree with the biologist that English skills are sought after, I think he was thinking of people with other professions and English. Like if you are a Mexican biologist who is also fluent in English, you will probably be able to find a job.

The first step if for your fiance to decide what kind of work he'd like to do, then see what qualifications he might need to do that. All of these exams cost money, so you don't want to just take them and never end up using them.

I do know a lot of Mexican professionals whose lack of English is holding them back professionally. But I also know a lot of Mexicans who are fluent in English and their lack of formal education is what is holding them back, they simply can't get jobs that ask for English ability because those jobs also ask for degrees.

I think you mentioned you live in a touristy area? With the very little I know about you, which I recognize is a shot in the dark, his best best is probably opening his own business that uses his language skills.