Job Discussion Forums

FreddyM · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Mexico

Hey all,

I have question for those of you that work at universities. I have a job interview at a univ. tomorrow and over the phone they asked me if I had SEP authorization to teach at the university level. This is for a minor university in Estado de Mexico for a new program in Idiomas that they are starting up. They asked me over the phone if I had SEP authorization for teaching at the university level, and frankly...I had no idea what they were talking about! I said, obviously, that I didn't since right now I am working at a colegio at the secondary level. They still want me to go in for an interview tomorrow, and they're very interested in the fact I have an MA from the U.S, even though it's not in languages.
So does anyone know what this SEP authorization is all about? Is it just some paperwork I have to fill out? I am applying as a native-born Mexican citizen, by the way, although I have really only worked in this country for less than a year.
I am also curious what a program Licenciatura en Idiomas is all about, since this is the program they are designing. They want people who have Licenciaturas en Idiomas en ingl�s y/o franc�s, and prefer people with master�s or doctorates in education. Hmm...actually I don't meet any of those criteria, but I sent in my CV anyway cuz the pay looked really nice. So anybody have any idea what a licenciatura en idiomas is all about?

Freddy

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

SECRETARIA DE EDUCACION PUBLICA http://www.sep.gob.mx
Official site of the Secretary of Public Education. Includes comprehensive information divided into the following categories: students, teachers, institutional, and community. Offers useful sources of information such as statistics on the national educational system, a directory of public schools, and links to electronic resources for teachers. In Spanish.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

MELEE · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:06 pm Post subject:

Most Licenciatura in Idiomas grads become English teachers or housewives. Laughing

The programs are usually 80% female. The area seems to be growing, persumable in response to the realization at how few English teachers in the country are proficient at English. Each year I work with high school English teachers in the summer and most of them did not study to be English teachers, but got into it by some sort of accident of fate. So the idea is that in the future Mexico will have trained English teachers in the high schools and we'll either be out of a job, or at least have an easier time of it (in other words not have to undo the negative experiences and feeling our students have towards English).

As for the SEP thing, we didn't have to do it, because we are teaching an "additional" subject, a subject not in students major area. I have a friend who teaches at the state university and she had to do it. It envovled submitting her CV in Spanish to the SEP, in order for them to accept it, she had to have an official comprobante for every job on her resume.

IF you don't mind sharing, for general informational purposes of course, how much is the salary they are offering?

FreddyM · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Mexico

Thanks for sharing the info MELEE. I searched around the internet for programs Licenciatura en Idiomas, and I did not find very many. The ones I did find seem to cover a lot of linguistics, and teach more than just English, in some you graduate with proficiency in three or four languages. I'm going for the interview anyway seeing as I was upfront with them that my background is not in linguistics or languages, other than having an ESL certification (plus BS and MA in an unrelated field), and they still requested an interview. I will find out more later today.

As for the advertised salary, they are offering $25k a month to start for those with postgraduate degrees.

If I don't get the job (seeing as I'm not really that qualified for it), I might refer them to this site to see if they can find better candidates here. The ad I saw was posted on a Spanish only employment website. And with the whole SEP authorization thing and all, I really do wonder if they are specifically looking for Mexican citizens for the job. I dunno, I will find out later today.

Freddy

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I know this doesnt help as much as I would like but here goes.
The SEP program of testing for student proficiency is something like the O and A exams in England, but not so similar.
Think of it as graduated SAT achievement exams in the various disciplines. Students take them so that universities, preparatorias and secondarias know their students�proficiency in any discipline. For English there are at least 9 levels of SEP Ingles levels for testing. Each student must past his exam at any given level before he can test for the next higher level. The exams are given something like SAT exams, in a central location with hundreds if not thousands of other students taking their exams.
SEP has training books for each level which cost between 100 and 250 pesos. These can be brought at regular bookstores. Students can buy their own SEP books or they can use their schools SEP books. I suppose conceivably a student could home school himself with a SEP book but he would be without someone to do the corrections on his written assignments, which is half of what teaching is all about.
Here in Merida, and I am sure in the rest of MX, students are asked to leave their preparatories if they fail too many of their SEP exams. I know of three students who have been asked to leave and what they do is come into an accesoria program instead that gets them primed for reentry to a prepatoria. Prepatorias are exactly that, prepatory schools to get into college as the government sponsored secondorias dont usually provide an adequate education for a student to get into a university. Here in Merida, most students who get into the federal sponsored university, UADY, which is almost virtually free, they have to have passed the level 8 or 9 English SEP, which is probably equivalent to scoring 500 on the English SAT Exam.
Some schools allow for TOEFL accreditation for students to get into a university or other testing methods. SEP is the most accepted.
I recently heard of someone recently applying for a teaching position here in the Yucatan and was asked the same question as you. I believe that for you to be certified for SEP teaching you likewise have to take a SEP teacher accreditation exam but this is hearsay. I also heard that you will have to pay for such an exam but that the fee was minimal.
The students themselves have to pay only 50 pesos to take the exam I believe