Job Discussion Forums

[LaMinaChascona]

OK, here's my story. I'll be graduating in December with degrees in Spanish Education, International Studies, and a minor in TESL, which is the equivalent to the TESL certificate. I'm 22 years old, and I have less than a year of teaching experience.

I'm planning on moving to Bucer�as, Mexico in January or February of 2006. (Bucer�as is about 10-15 miles north of P.V.) As I have my TESL and I plan to eventually return to California and teach both Spanish and English, it would be ideal for me to get a job in Mexico at this point in my life. My boyfriend has connections in Bucer�as, so that's where we'll be moving and I'm desperately searching for a teaching job anywhere in that area.

If anyone has any kind of suggestion of where I should submit resumes, where to live in that area, what commuting and transportation are like, what experience I should build up before going, what kind of jobs are available, or ANYTHING i would greatly appreciate it. I'm going for the experience, not the money, all I need is enough to be able to eat and sleep, any kind of job would be great.

also- i don't know if there's a market for it, but I would also be up for teaching beginning level Spanish grammar to English speakers in the area- any thoughts on that?

[Samantha]

In an area such as this you will find the most success with in-person interviewing. The spring term will be underway by the time you arrive so you will have to scour the area for private classes or chance vacancies at private schools. Of course the pay might not warrant your commute to classes in PV. If it is a heavily populated gringo area you will be living in, you may have success with Spanish lessons as you can perhaps charge a little more money.

[LaMinaChascona]

thanks samantha!

It's nice to get feedback from somebody who's in the area. Your suggestions about doing personal interviews there and finding a job at a private school were helpful. I've pretty much been expecting that that's what it will come down to- which doesn't really ease my anxieties, but oh well, asi es.

I've read in the other forums that the job market in Puerto Vallarta is very competitive, and since im planning on arriving in mid-school year, that probably makes the possibility of finding a job even more unlikely. I'm nervous that I won't find anything at all, and that it will all be a wasted effort to try and live and teach in/near Bucerias.

What do you think the chance would be of me finding work after I got there- through a private school or tutoring?