Job Discussion Forums

[kamikazekid]

hi there,

i just got offered a job at the university of papaloapan in tuxtepec.
the assistant to vice rector has given me some but not much info on the school, and they seem a bit unorganized. also, its extremely hot there. i have no idea what books they use- AND they expect 8 hours of work a day. but i'm excited about the idea of working at a university in mexico in a small town.

are there any websites you can go to to check out the cred of universities in mexico?

any advice at all would be great!

[MELEE]

This university is very credible, but unorganized, well it's Mexico after all.
It is part of a state wide system in Oaxaca known as "universidades regionales" you can find comments about another one of the universities in Ixtlan in a recent thread.
The system requires profs to be on campus 8 hours a day (and provides them with an office) in reaction to the "autonomous" universities in Mexico in many of which you can't find a prof if you try (sometimes they don't even show up for their classes). The teaching load is 3 or 4 groups which will most likely meet daily for 55 minutes. the other 4 or 5 hours is for lesson planning, marking, materials development and tutoring students who need or want extra help. You can also tutor the Mexican professors and the curriculum no doubt needs work. (Although maybe not as it was developed by a grand lady, who has gone missing from this forum! )

If you take the job, I imagine you can use what ever text book strikes your fancy.

[Guy Courchesne]

[EverReady]

I teach in the University of Papaloapan- Loma Bonita, which is the sister university to the one in Tuxtepec. Both schools are run exactly the smae way. As MELEE pointed out, you have to be on campus Monday through Friday from 9-2 and 4-7, even if you have absolutely nothing to do. For your classes you can use whatever books you feel like. The job is actually very easy, as you'll only have to teach 3 hours per day. Unfortunately, these universities have a very high turnover ratio for thier teachers, and many of the students who are in year three or four of the university speak virtually no English. The teacher from last year never even used a textbook during his classes. The universities tend to be very disorganized, and I'm not sure how important the English program actually is. But as I said before, it's a very easy job, and you're free to run your classes however you see fit. One last note, MELEE talks about the ciriculum being developed by some "grand lady". I don't know what she's talking about, as there is no ciriculum. All the English teachers pretty much just do as they feel.

[EverReady]

I teach in the University of Papaloapan- Loma Bonita, which is the sister university to the one in Tuxtepec. Both schools are run exactly the smae way. As MELEE pointed out, you have to be on campus Monday through Friday from 9-2 and 4-7, even if you have absolutely nothing to do. For your classes you can use whatever books you feel like. The job is actually very easy, as you'll only have to teach 3 hours per day. Unfortunately, these universities have a very high turnover ratio for thier teachers, and many of the students who are in year three or four of the university speak virtually no English. The teacher from last year never even used a textbook during his classes. The universities tend to be very disorganized, and I'm not sure how important the English program actually is. But as I said before, it's a very easy job, and you're free to run your classes however you see fit. One last note, MELEE talks about the ciriculum being developed by some "grand lady". I don't know what she's talking about, as there is no ciriculum. All the English teachers pretty much just do as they feel.

[kamikazekid]

hey ever ready

thanks for the note! i sent you a pm just now too.

thanks melee for the reassurance!