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srtab
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 24
Location: Arizona
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 Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:35 am Post subject: Spanish teacher considering a change |
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Hi all! I just graduated with a bachelors in Secondary Education, emphasis in Spanish. I'm now in my first year of teaching Spanish at a high school in Arizona. I want to improve my Spanish and I have to admit that I'm slightly discouraged trying to teach English-speakers Spanish.
So! I'm considering moving (not sure where? maybe GDL because I spent last summer there) to Mexico to teach English. My questions:
1). With a bachelors in teaching Spanish, is this enough qualification for a public or private school? (I want to teach kids)
2). When is the best time to look for a long term teaching position? And how would I go about it? (I'm considering backpacking around next summer, should I just bring a resume and knock on doors?)
3). Where are best friendly cities to live?
Thanks for any help! I've been reading posts, lots of great information for trying to make this decision. It's a tough one, I have a life here that I would be leaving behind... but I think I might be ready for a big change.
Srta. B  (but my lazy Spanish students just call me Miss B! uggggg) |
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miss_betty
Joined: 05 May 2005
Posts: 41
Location: Hermosillo, Mexico
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:43 am Post subject: |
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hi
with a degre in education and spanish you should be able to find work at a elementary, or secondary or even a high school. You need to figure out how to market yourself. I would focus on that you have an education degree and less on the emphasis in spanish.......just my thoughts. Also, brush up on your grammar so you can throw a few rules or examples in while you interview ( very nonchalant of course)
i think now is the best time to be looking.
go to teachermexconnect.com. They charge you 20 dollars, and will farm your resume out to people. I signed up with them.......and was v v aprehensive to pay, but i figured even if they didnt work for me, i could take a 20 dollar gamble...anyhow, the people seemed caring...i found a great job on my own about a week after i siged up...about 2+ weeks after I submitted with them ( this was stated on their website that it will take a few weeks for responses) I did get three or four e-mails. So, I would try that out. Also, search all the ESL and EFL websites......there are hundreds of them.
Best cities to live.....i have only begun my journey in Mexico....I am in the North, people are friendly here and the cost of living is low........it is just very very hot hot hot. I have heard that Mexico City and Gaudalahara are the best places to live in terms of cuture and activities. But both are dirty and busy cities too. I guess you need to figure out what you really want from a city...culture, nightlife, quite or specific surroundings..... etc etc
Good Luck to you |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:36 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish teacher considering a change |
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| srtab wrote: |
| I want to improve my Spanish . . . |
In many locations if you're teaching enough hours to earn enough to live on, you'll have to make a concentrated effort to find the extra time to improve your Spanish. A lot will depend on who you hang out with, where you like to go, and what you like to do when you aren't at work.
| srtab wrote: |
| . . . I have to admit that I'm slightly discouraged trying to teach English-speakers Spanish. |
In many teaching situations, especially in public and private "regular" schools (as opposed to language schools,) I think you could find teaching English to Spanish speakers just as discouraging as teaching Spanish to English speakers. The difference is that in Arizona you probably don't have 45-60 students in a foreign language class as is common in many public and private "regular" schools in Mexico.
| srtab wrote: |
1). With a bachelors in teaching Spanish, is this enough qualification for a public or private school? (I want to teach kids)
2). When is the best time to look for a long term teaching position? And how would I go about it? (I'm considering backpacking around next summer, should I just bring a resume and knock on doors?)
3). Where are best friendly cities to live?
Srta. B (but my lazy Spanish students just call me Miss B! uggggg) |
1. As another poster mentioned, play up the BA in education / teaching of a foreign language. Also, your year's experience teaching a foreign language should help.
2. Any time is a good time too look. Normally, the best hiring times are August and December-January. If you plan to backpack around next summer, definitely take some time knocking on doors and leaving copies of your resume with DOSs. However, keep in mind that many DOSs don't take backpackers too seriously if the schools are looking for long-term teachers.
3. There are lots of friendly cities in Mexico. The one I live in is friendly.
Srta. B? Spanish teachers in the States always want their students to call them Se�orita or Se�ora or Se�or Last-Name. Where does this come from? Expect to be called just Maestra or Maestra First-Name or "Teacher" (in English) here . . . by everyone who knows you're a teacher, not just by your students. It's a name/title showing high respect in this culture. |
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srtab
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 24
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, what are DOS's?
Next summer I think I'm going to stay with the family I lived with last summer in Guadalajara. Then maybe I can take trips to other cities from there. So I won't be backpacking really, I'll look professional and I am seriously committed for the long term. I just want to travel to find a good city to live, and GDL might be a little big for me... although I really liked it.
How many classes do you have if there are 45-60 in a class? I have 5 of about 30, so 150 kids I am ok with. The hardest part is giving 1-on-1 attention.
When does the school year start/end? It seems weird that the best times to look are August and Jan/Dec. I thought their school year was like in the states, August-May so I was thinking early summer would be a good time to look. hmmmm, that kind of stinks.
I know that I'll be busy as a teacher, but I'd have to speak more spanish than I do here, right?... just in day to day living? |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| srtab wrote: |
How many classes do you have if there are 45-60 in a class? I have 5 of about 30, so 150 kids I am ok with.
I thought their school year was like in the states, August-May so I was thinking early summer would be a good time to look. hmmmm, that kind of stinks. |
In this city if you were going to have enough working hours to survive on financially teaching EFL in a prepa, you'd be teaching 6 to 8 groups probably averaging out to about 50 students per group. You'd need to teach a minimum of 30 hours a week, so number of groups would depend on the school's schedule for English classes (45 minutes daily, one hour three times per week, two hours twice per week, etc.)
The school year for prepas starts and ends at different times, depending on location and the particular school. Here in Merida the two largest public prepas are part of the state university system, so their teachers run on about the same contract schedule as those of us who teach at the university, i.e., contract starts the last week of August and ends the last day of July (summer break = the first 3 weeks of August.)
At most (but not all) public and private prepas in this city, instruction usually ends around the end of May or first of June, followed by 4 to 6 weeks of exams: ordinarios (regular final exams) and extraordinarios (second-chance exams.) And, yes, if a person teaches 30 hours of prepa classes per week, 6 to 8 groups averaging 50 students per group, that's one hell of a lot of exams to check, especially if half the students fail the exam the first time around. |
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