Job Discussion Forums

arthur mcbradley · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Daegu, S.Korea

hi! i'm going to be ending a year of teaching in s.korea soon and have been cruisin this thread for some time. mexico city is definately the place where i want to teach next. i'm going home to atlanta til january, and then wanted to buy a one-way ticket to mexico city and see what happens. i know that you pretty much need to have your feet on the ground there to find a job, and i'm okay with that, but i just wanted to ask one question: if i can't land a gig within a month or two, how much $ should i bring along to pay 2 or 3 months studio apt rent, bills, cell, food, etc? i mean, how much is your average studio apt rent? (whoops, guess that's two ?s)... from what i've read, january is a good month to job hunt, and i have a bachelors in english lit with a minor in english ed., plus the one year teaching esl in s.korea, so i think i'm qualified enough... i don't mind shaving and putting on a button-up... i think that all is good, and just wanted to know how much $ i should bring along (and expect to spend) while looking for a job? thanx for any replies... sorry if this has been covered in other threads...

thelmadatter · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject: df

youre definitely qualified... try ITESM ifyou are interested in teaching lit and not just grammar, etc...

Conventional wisdom here is that you should bring about 2000 USD with you to be on the safe side.

tek44 · Joined: 25 Feb 2007 Posts: 32

I thought ITESM required an MA. Maybe it depends on the individual campus.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

MELEE · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject:

ITESM also runs high schools. There used to be a teacher who posted regularly who worked in one of the high schools.
There was also talk that ITESM were starting an English medium high school track in the state of Mexico. Does anyone know if that got off the ground?

I think you should bring 2000 US to get you set up and keep you going until you find a job. Not having something that says "English as a foriegn language" will make you job search a little harder than someone with a CELTA or similiar, but not impossible. I wouldn't go around saying "qualified enough" though. The people who might be hiring you will want you to be interested in continual professional development, and you just never know who might be reading here. Wink

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

thelmadatter · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject: Tec

Generally speaking, you are supposed to have a bachelor's in the subject to teach the high school level and a masters in the subject to teach at "profesional" (uni) level at Tec. However, the "remedial" classes (basically the first 5 semesters of English) at the profesional do not require a master's as these courses are not matriculated, i.e. do not count as credits toward the degree. The official idea is that students going in for their bachelor's should already have 500 TOEFL, if they dont it is considered 'remedial'. In reality, I think it is just a way to teach classes to college students without having to require teachers for these classes to have a masters.

That being said, there is variance in campuses. One campus I know of is adamant about all applicants meeting the letter of the regulations (however, you better like teaching over-priviledged brats) and another is extremely lax with just about all of their English teachers teaching with "exceptional" status (meaning they dont have the required degrees and they write letters saying why the person is qualified anyway) However, most students at this campus seem to appreciate their education more. Other campuses are in-between. (PM me if you want names Wink

)

For one with an English lit degree, Tec is a good option because they have International Bachelaureate and Bicultural programs at the high school level which do need lit teachers. I was offered part time at Campus Santa Fe in DF even though I dont have a lit degree (do have an masters in English Language and Linguistics). Part of the reason I turned down the job was that I do not think I am qualified to teach English lit as my focus has been more on grammar and writing. I know I can fake it but.....

Gab · Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Canada

Watch out about that ONE WAY TICKET!

I called DELTA airlines today. They told me AMERICANS CAN NOT fly one way to Mexico. It's their policy...

I can't validate with any proof, seing as I'm Canadian and haven't flown to Mexico on a one way.

P.s. How was Korea? My plan is opposite to yours. I'm doing 1 year in Mexico first, then plan on going to S.Korea for the 2nd.

arthur mcbradley · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Daegu, S.Korea

thanx for all the feedback! i am open for teaching anything, anywhere... hopefully, i can get away with working 40 hours or less because i've been working my ass off here in korea teaching privates in the mornings and at an english academy for 40 hours during the evenings... only working 40 or less hours will be a blessing in itself, let alone "escaping" from korea finally... when my feet hit the ground in mexico city, i'll take whatever kinda work i can get and then work my way up from there by applying for better & better jobs...

MELEE mentioned that it might be harder for me to find work because i don't have a celta/tefl certificate? i kinda thought that my work experience coupled with my university degree would outweigh this... i would have enough time between leaving korea and coming to mexico to take a course, but the cost of this (plus the loss of my short vacation time between countries Smile

) is a little more than i care to undertake. does anyone else think that i should take a course before coming to mexico?

Gab, i'll definately look into this before i leave... i also wanted to research open-ended roundtrip tickets anyways, so maybe this will just force me to go for that instead... thanx for the heads up... to answer your question about korea: from what i've read on the mexico forum here on dave's, it's kinda a struggle to make ends meet in mexico? this is definately not the case in korea. it is absolutely no problem to save money. i easily have been saving $1200US/month and sometimes even a bit more... i recommend that you surf dave's korean forum a lot before choosing korea in order to read about the multitude of drawbacks of living and working in korea... i think it comes down to money (korea) vs. quality of life (mexico)... that's just my impression... hope that helps...

anyways... thanx again for all the feedback... i really appreciate it...

thelmadatter · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: money

Most people have no problem making ends meet in Mexico but saving money is questionable. Really depends on a lot of things. In my case, I make a very good salary now but Ive been looking to move and some of the salaries Ive been offered have been laughable. However, I got some things in the pipeline right now that could work out well for me. I would not count on saving money the first year youre here but after that, when you are more familiar with the job market, you can see what pans out.

I disagree that your lack of a certificate is a problem, esp since your degree is in English.