Job Discussion Forums

[Fitzgerald]

I am curious to canvas this experienced group and get your sense of what the going rates are for teaching an hour of business or conversational English for a school. I understand that the figure for Mexico City could be higher than for the rest of the country generally, so by all means give two figures if you like.

In my new situation in Queretaro, I am working for one very nice employer who pays 140 pesos per hour for an on-site class at the office, 170 for an off-site class at a business park. I handle my own transportation, but a bus ride to one of the business parks is only 13 pesos round-trip, and I am usually out there for an hour and a half or two hours of teaching.

Another school that I spoke to here pays only 120 pesos per hour, onsite or off, although in the latter case they handle the transportation through an arrangement with a taxi company. The people at this school seemed very nice too, but 120 seemed to me to be a low hourly rate. But perhaps a lot of schools are offering in that range?

By the way, there are SO MANY conversational and business English schools in Queretaro; my current count is 33. Yes, business and international investment are booming here, but that number seems excessive. I wonder that there hasn't been a "thinning of the herd" - but perhaps that is in the offing.

One can theoretically work for more than one school, but in practice they all want you at EXACTLY the same hours - 7:00-10:00 AM, and 4:00-7:00 PM weekdays, plus maybe Saturday mornings. So I have decided for the time being to stick with the one employer and try to do a great job for him, because that way he'll KNOW that whatever classes he offers me, I will accept.

Filling in the extra hours with online classes is also theoretically attactive, and I am working on that. But it also gets tricky in practice because of disadvantageous time differences between Mexico and East Asia, which is a big market for Internet English. The BEST time differential if I want to teach online during the Mexican mid-day hours - my freest period - is with Europe and Russia. So I'm looking into that specifically.

I'm also looking at work like online-based editing and proofreading. The advantage of that is that you can do the work during ANY odd hours that are available, so it is quite flexible.

I don't want to work full-time for a prepa or university right now. But single classes at prepas and universities - there are lots in Queretaro - could well fit into those mid-day slots.

This is the first time internationally that I've tried to put together an income from multiple sources. It is not the easiest task, and it is occasioning me some sleepless nights as I worry about bringing enough money in. (Although, I'd much rather try this in Queretaro than in Mexico City; my rent is SUPER-low here.)

I try to stay focused by making it my goal that every week and month I work more hours than the last week and month, until I achieve stability.

[esl_prof]

Thanks for sharing, Fitzgerald! I've enjoyed following your transition from Mexico City. The challenges that you are facing are not unique but, rather, something that many of us deal with as we seek to cobble together a full-time living from multiple part-time jobs.

I'd suggest reading through Jill Carroll's old columns in the Chronicle of Higher Education as they are a good source of advice for folks in our situation. They're a bit old (published between 2001 and 2004) but, frankly, most of what she has to say is just as relevant today as it was ten years ago.

http://chronicle.com/search/?search_siteId=5&contextId=&action=rem&searchQueryString=Jill+Carroll

[BadBeagleBad]

Before I left Mexico City two years ago I was earning between 180 and 220 pesos per hour, but that was also usually with a bit of travel. I am currently doing a class 6 hours a week for a company in Mexico City online, and am making 180 pesos an hour. I have a couple of friends in Zacatecas who get 100 pesos an hour, and another in Aguascalientes who gets about the same. Here, I have ONE private class, and I make 200 pesos an hour. That is what I always quote as my rate, and it scares most people off. My husband's cousin teaches English part time at a private school in the next town, 5 hours a day, and makes 80 pesos an hour, and at the UAZ, which has a small branch here, where he makes 90 pesos an hour. He does some tutoring as well, and charges 50 pesos an hour for one student, or 30 pesos an hour for two at the same time. His wages, overall, are considered quite good for this small town. It can be nerve wrecking depending on bits and pieces of income from different sources, but with your main employer, there might be a chance to move into another position, eventually, if you do a good job, or you might become his ¨go to¨ teacher. In my last job in Mexico City, I only worked for one employer and worked about 15 hours a week giving classes (all in one location, 30 minutes from my house!!) and then another 10 hours of observing teachers, doing payroll and hiring and other miscellaneous stuff. Between the two I was making around 5000 pesos a week. I did have a couple of private students at well. Towards the end, I was also working online 7 or 8 hours a week. I have never really liked having only one job, since you never know what might happen, but that is just me. I have a friend in Queretaro, and I will write to him and ask if he knows what teachers make, but with the lower cost of living it might be OK. Also, having a job you look forward to for lower pay is more fulfilling than a job you hate, with higher pay.

[Fitzgerald]

[Fitzgerald]

[BadBeagleBad]

One more small note. I saw an ad for a position in San Luis Potosi yesterday and the advertised pay was 120 pesos per hour, so the pay in Queretaro seems to be about right. If they get that high speed train going between DF and Quertaro and you can find a student near Buenavista you might even consider that. Saw about half the news story on that last night and didn´t catch all the details of when it is going to be in service or how much it is going to cost, sorry.

[Rose Cohen]

[BadBeagleBad]

[Guero1]

I used to work part-time for UnitedEnglish, they are fine and the advantage is that you can do 5 hours back to back, due to their system. So, three evenings a week and you can get some part-time money together quickly. I assume they pay the going rate or above, they sometimes need in-house teachers.

It is located in Loma Dorado, if it hasn´t moved, have a look, you might find it....

[mtiz]

The school I worked for a year paid 80-100 pesos per hour, but the thing was is that they could give you 3-4 groups together in their office, which a lot of companies cannot do. For company classes that required travel, it was 150 an hour.

Yes, some companies may pay a "high" rate, but really, you have to make sure they can provide you a livable number of hours.

[Fitzgerald]

[Fitzgerald]

[Fitzgerald]

[esl_prof]

[mtiz]