Job Discussion Forums

[racheljana]

Hello,

I browse this site, but thought I'd give a report on teaching English when I lived in Mexico a year and a half ago. I went to Mexico not to initially teach, but do social justice organizing work. Since I was only funded for a year and I wanted to continue living there, I got a job through friends at the UVP in the city of Puebla. I'll divide things up by points that might be most helpful.

Keep in mind that teaching English is not my dedicated profession, but I love teaching (have done plenty of popular education work) and I am very interested in grammar.

Hours. I taught for one semester and in that first and only I received about 23 hours or work a week. My other gringa friends (I believe there are no foreigners working there now for English teaching, so that could be a benefit for anyone that is interested) received between 17 and 35. I think it was just a matter of luck, to be honest.

Pay. At the time we were told to process our visa (something they didn't pay or legally assist with, but we were constantly asked how it was going), and in the meantime were paid under the table. I was paid 75 pesos an hour and at the time they didn't take out for any taxes. The system was changing right after I left and my understanding is they continued to pay the same amount, but all instructors had to then hire an account to do the taxes. I think the school changed status from a non-profit to whatever else and that was why the changed happened. I know I was miffed that they weren't planning on upping the salary despite the new tax. You don't get paid for prep time and you don't get paid to go to this ridiculous staff meetings that are, true to form in Mexico, structureless and lengthy.

Visa. I don't know how it would be today (I was there for the fall of 2007- August to December), but they will write the letter to the immigration office and you have to do all of it on your own. I was lucky enough to have a fellow gringa friend go through it at the same time (and I believe she actually did it previously), so we could walk each other through it (aka she would tell me what I needed to do). Otherwise it is a pretty annoying and somewhat expensive process. I believe it was around $2500 pesos at the time (about $250 USD). Ojo! A Brit that worked there at the time had gone to immigration and the rep tried to charge her 4x the amount and she refused since she knew what she was to pay, the government official insisted, and she insisted she knew the price and even pointed it to him in the flyer they distribute. With that, the government official took her passport and made some stamps and told her she had 5 days to leave the country and that she was being deported. Awful experience! Totally corrupt (as is quite a bit of Mexico business dealings)! However, I must say that I was nervous every time I went and never had any problems. Just disorganized as is the case for nearly all of Mexico.

Class structure. I taught basic, intermediate and advanced classes. They used at the time a Cambridge text. The syllabus was laid out for you class by class, but it was up to you how you wanted to structure the individual classes. I really liked the structure they gave, yet the freedom I had to work with it.

Students. I think I taught 5 or 6 classes and only one was a terror. The rest were really, really great and I'm still in touch with my students on facebook and what not. I'll also be moving back to Mexico this January and plan on visiting some of them. They are typical Mexican uni students- they don't study, they whine when they get homework (I hardly assigned homework mainly because they would just cheat anyway, and because I didn't want to have extra work that I had to do and not get paid for), etc etc. But I had a ton of fun with them. The Mexican educational system is really based on rote (sp?) memory type lecture and I was super interactive and silly and really involved them and tried to touch on subject matter that they might find interesting (dating, clothes, music, dancing, etc.), and some subject matter that I was really passionate about (politics, economics, food, etc.). My class from hell really pushed my limits (and I'm pretty strict and strong), so I was not friendly in that one and they did not like me. But the rest were just awesome and lots of fun. I just laughed a lot.

Working conditions. I remember feeling really annoyed that pre-time, grading and extra mandatory meetings were not paid. That really got under my skin, but I think it might be par for the course in Mexico at least. Again, I liked the structure and limits given, but the hands off approach of being able to teach in my style. For those of you that don't know there's a saying in Mexico that essentially is to the tune of, "working is for assholes" which means not the act of working, but working for someone else. Essentially employers screw their employees all the time (making them stay late, paying them late, sexual harassment, not giving them the benefits that the law requires, etc.). I know this especially since the work I did previous to teaching English was labor related. I saw people I really respected at stores where I would shop be treated like animals by the shop's owner (and I often really liked the shop owner, so it made it really difficult). It is a dog eat dog society in many ways and that is particularly noted in the work environment. I don't know, but I was told by Mexicans it isn't as bad in the north of Mexico. That being said, I was never sexually harassed, but still my employer would tell me things about how nice I looked (never in a "damn, that's a nice booty" kind of way, but still something that maybe wouldn't be too tolerated in the US). I was never paid late at the UVP. The head of the English department came and watched my class and he sat there stoically the whole time trying not to show that he was impressed with my teaching style, but that is how Mexico is- not a very validating and encouraging work environment. That being said, the Director of Academic Excellence (or some BS to that extent) came and watched my class unannounced one day on a day where I was particularly on fire and in my class that responded to me the best. We were really interactive and giving speeches and laughing. And he LOVED it! Which was really encouraging (particularly because I was at a low point personally and emotionally in Mexico, so at least professionally I was dealing with hell). However, he then wanted me to present to the other teachers. I had a problem with this because a) the other teachers weren't particularly friendly to the foreigners (for many reasons I imagine, also side note people from Puebla aren't known for being super friendly compared to other parts of Mexico), b) I had built up a relationship with my students and this class I was supposed to present would be with students that didn't know me, c) I wasn't going to get paid for it!!! Come on!!

Pros. Decent hours, ok pay, freedom to teach, but not floppy around trying to create an entire class, fun students and laidback environment.

Cons. Not paid for prep time, new tax stuff, disorganization, students aren't very academically disciplined