Job Discussion Forums

[joan2000]

I almost hate to bring the subject up, but I really feel like I need more advice and information on TEFL courses in Mexico. I am an older lady, retired, looking for a course that will prepare me to teach English in Mexico. I have loads of experience with kids, but am willing to teach teens and adults. I am not really interested in Business English. Basically what I want is to be able to supplement my retirement income and stay down here, year round.

I am already here in Mexico, so I am willing to travel pretty much wherever there is good course. I am concerned with the length, I want it to be about 4 weeks, and would love some experience with elementary kids. My concern is for the certificate to be valid outside of Mexico, but not out of Latin America. I am not goint to teach English anywhere else. I would appreciate any help you can give

[Guy Courchesne]

I don't believe that any of the main TEFL courses in Mexico are geared towards kids, though I could be wrong. You might like the CETYL (young learners) course, perhaps offered by either the British Council in Mexico City or at IH in Playa del Carmen. Maybe VLC in Guadalajara...

[lisa1968]

It is a bit overwhelming when you start out. My situation was a bit different. I didn't really want to teach kids, but ended up chosing a course that gave me experience with them. When I finished the course I went on to teach in Asia, and the experience and strategies I learned in my course with kids really helped me out there. You can PM me about my course in Chiapas, Mexico, and I will be glad to give you the details.

[mapache]

Good luck with your endeavours - teaching can be very rewarding. Have you taught children before? When I started teaching almost three years ago, I did not have a TEFL certificate or experience teaching young people.
I spent some time paying my penance at private schools with crooked or crazy owners and now just teach private students. I would like more experience teaching children and may inquire to Lisa about the course she took in Chiapas. Other than varied attentions spans, more sensitivity and the need for a teaching system modified for children, I am interested in the other differences as well.

[Prof.Gringo]

I took my TEFL course at Dunham Insitute in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas in January 2005. It was 120 hours long with the standard 6 hours of observed teaching practice. We had observation and teaching of the students enrolled at the school. I remember that the majority of the classes were children, about 4 groups. There was one group with adolescents and another group with adults. The course and material were not specifically designed for young learners, but I did get a lot of experiance with that age range. I also read that ITTO in Guadalajara has a TEYL course that lasts for 1 week, offered 4 times a year. It is possible to get a job teaching in a primaria or secundaria with just a TEFL cert. My experiance here is that the majority of schools are not too concerned with who issued your TEFL. They are always happy and sometimes a little surprised to see that I earned mine in Chiapas, Mexico.

[hlamb]

I did mine at ITTO in Guadalajara. It's 120 hours with 10 hours of observed teaching practice. Those of us that wanted to learn a lot, did and benefited from the experience. If you want more info, pm me.