Job Discussion Forums

[elena]

Hello,
Perhaps the more seasoned teachers can help me out here with my two questions.

How important is it to have an FM3 work permit to teach in Mexico? Several people have advised me that there is no problem teaching without one if the employer doesn't care. What risks would I be taking?

Ideally, I would like to have a part-time job in a small town (preferably by the ocean). Where would I start my search for a low-key EFL job? I'm fairly well qualified: BA in English, TESL Canada level 2, Permanent Basic Teaching Certificate/BC - and experienced.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Elena

[M.K.]

elena,

You might want to check out the Job Information Journal on Mexico, or the Job Dicussion Forum on Mexico. I seem to remember FM3s being discussed at length in both those places.

Good luck to you!

[Ben Round de Bloc]

A foreigner working in Mexico without a work visa is breaking the law. Some people do it. If you choose to teach on a tourist visa, you're running the risk of being caught, deported, fined, and possibly even spend time in a Mexican jail. Many claim that the risk isn't that great. The bottom line is that each individual has to decide for him/herself whether to work legally or illegally.

As for teaching EFL in a little village by the ocean, in Mexico anything is possible. You could probably find a little language school in a small fishing village somewhere where you could work very part-time for extremely low wages, not enough that you could live on, but it would take some serious searching. Most coastal villages aren't the idyllic settings for novels or Ernest Hemingway revisited, however.

Hardly any small towns in this part of Mexico have language schools. The only way I know of finding out what might be available would be to travel from village to village and see what's there. By the way, that's not one of the safest things for someone who's not familiar with the area to do alone in this part of the country. Along the entire coast of the state I live in, there are only two little language schools that I know of. One is used as an EFL teacher training school; the other has only one teacher who sometimes pays an extra teacher a few pesos to teach a class or two.