Job Discussion Forums

[yavannah]

Hi. I just finished my CELTA about 3 weeks ago and I have a bachelor's degree in English. No prior teaching experience. I'm from the U.S. so this isn't really a good place to find an ESL job with those qualifications. I'm also a single mom, so what I'm trying to figure out is what countries might accept someone with my qualifications and also offer me enough of a salaray/package to support a child on. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Vanica]

Hi, I've just joined the forum and I have the same question, except that I have a Ed.M. in Tesol and a few years experience. Are there any single mothers on the forum, and where are you and how is it going?

[saint57]

I'm not a single mother, but I'd like to offer my opinion.

Vanica, is your Ed.M the same thing as an M.Ed? Did you get your Ed.M after being a certified teacher for two years? If so, I'd say your qualified for a position at an international school. If your child is old enough to go to school then they will probably offer him/her free tuition. This benefit will make it tougher for you to get hired because they'd rather hire a single person with no dependents.

OP, I worked at a school in China with two single mothers. The school offered the children free schooling. Do you want your child going to a Chinese school? The school I taught at was the best in town, but they simply couldn't accommodate American children.

Your child's education will be your biggest challenge. Other than that I don't think you'll have financial difficulties if you can find a job that pays relatively well.

[Vanica]

Dear Saint57,
I received a masters in education (at my school they called it Ed.M. and not M.Ed. ) and then went on to get a temporary per diem certificate to teach in public high schools; in other words I was working off the two year certification period. I concurrently held translation contracts. But I stopped teaching three years ago to have my baby so my cert is no longer current. I do have references that were written over the years, but I may or may not be accepted as a "certified" teacher with a masters.

In my case, I cannot work in city schools anymore as a single mother, the stress is too high, I need larger living quarters with a child...I am looking for an alternative of less stress in a calmer, cleaner environment. By the way, my child speaks French, not English, but I guess English is closer to French than most other languages.

I could offer English and French classes (or Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and some other languages).

Where was your school in China, if I may ask? I studied a little bit of Mandarin.

[MELEE]

For both posters, it is important to know the ages of your children.
With and MA in education it would be possible for you to work in Mexico, with only the CELTA it might be possible. In both cases the hours that you work might not be diserable. I'm a mother, but I'm not single. My husband is in grad school in a city 11 hours away, so sometimes I think I might was well be .
parents have some added expenses for example,
housekeeper-nanny, necessary due to hours worked, 2400 pesos a month
private school, 1000 yearly registration fee, 500 pesos or more a month
private medical care, 150 pesos or more an apointment


Set up costs for parents would also be much higher, the child would need a dependent FM3 visa that costs the same as a working FM3 visa, apartments come unfurnished, you'd have to buy more furniture than a single person would.

[yavannah]

Thanks for your reply MELEE. My son is five.

[MELEE]

The younger the child the easier the move would be when considering education, but the harder the move when considering quality of health care. 5 is kind of on the cusps of that equation. He doesn't need to see the doctor has often as babies-toddlers, has all the major vaccinations, but there are accident issues (for example there are no trama facilities in my city, major accident victems must travel 2 hours over the mountains to a hospital) But right in the danger zone as to education. The public school suck, especially if you imagine moving him back to the US after a couple of years. An international school would be majorly expensive. In a public school you could count on him learning Spanish and memorizing important dates in Mexican history, but not anything more than that. School is from 8 to 1 and you'd likely work many more hours than that so you need a nanny (and someone to do the house work for you).
Its a tough decision, I'm glad its one I haven't had to make.

[Vanica]

My daughter is four, we've been in Quebec for three years and my degrees are not accepted here. Plus I'm having asthma due to the climate and indoor heating. So I'm eager to find a better place for us.

[yavannah]

I didn't think I'd be able to get a job doing ELT in Canada, since they have enough English teachers there. I'm not particularly fond of long winters myself, but I hear Vancouver is quite nice.

[MELEE]

Vanica,

You could probably get a job at a university in Mexico with your qualifications. But it would probably mean working something like 8am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. You would definately need a nanny. I send my two year olds to the social security day care center the cost of which is covered by regulary social security salary deductions for the morning, pick them up at lunch time, when we get home the housekeeper/nanny has the house work done and lunch waiting for us. I leave the house at 3:30 and they stay at home with her. Its a long day and not at all ideal mother hours but its doable. My salary is enough to cover our expenses, but there's not much left over. Before I had kids I didn't even spend half of my salary each month.
If you are interested you should look into ITESM (also call the Tec de Monterrey) which has campuses all over the country, or the universitys in the state of Oaxaca (one of which also teaches French)

[Vanica]

[Vanica]

Thanks for the info, Melee. I was wondering which areas of Mexico you would recommend -- a priority for me is clean air, so DF is out, but as a single mother I cannot be in a place where I might have trouble as such.

[MELEE]

Actually, single mother's are very common in Mexico, despite what the overall cultural values might appear to be. Most single mother's do have other family support, such as their parents, or a brother or sister. I think any midsized city would offer you a good enviroment and plenty of opportuntities. I mentioned the the regional universities in Oaxaca, most of those are located in small towns. The issue there would be once your daughter is school age, there would be a very limited number of choices school wise. But a city like Morelia, Michoacan has a wide variety of educational options and quality medical care available.

[Vanica]

Dear Melee, I`ve been going through the Mexico board now that you`ve piqued my interest in that country -- and I noticed something about bass boost music blasters, or whatever they are called. I am repeatedly being blasted here in Quebec, by cars, neighbours, because it passes through the all wood construction straight into my bones. I can`t stand it. Is Mexico out for me?

[MELEE]

It totally depends on where you live. In the center of most cities people are packed in close together and love loud music. I live outside of town and don't have that problem at my house, but did when I lived downtown.