Job Discussion Forums

[davidmsgi]

I have two ESL offers in hand, and I need to make a decision in the next week. The ESL teacher market is amazing in July! It seems as though every school in town is interviewing teachers, from kindergarden to university.

I have ESL teaching experience with students from ages 15- adult.
But I have never taught younger children , and the teaching market demand is very strong for ESL teachers of children from grades 1 through 8 - the opportunities seems almost unlimited.

I have two offers - both from private bi-lingual schools.

The first school is for students from grades 1-8, with very small class sizes from 5-10 students, and a strong focus on English language development. These kids receive a heavy dose of ESL classes starting in kindergarden, and they are aligned with Cambridge for continual ESL testing and development as the students progress to higher grades. I love the small class size, it's almost like private tutoring. But the kids will be younger than any students I've ever had in my career - which is the 'unknown' factor for this offer and opportunity. The school, in addition to my full-time teaching offer, is also offering a scholarship to my 13 year-old as part of my offer. Is this a common practice? I'm amazed - that scholarship is worth 40,000 pesos! I'd love to get experience with kids at this level, because I could always easily find ESL teaching opportunities in the future, now that I've seen the heavy demand.

The second offer is from a private bi-lingual dual-campus school with a combination of students from junior high, high school, and university. The class size would be more 'standard' - 20 students on average.
It's an excellent school, and they have also offered a scholarship for my daughter as part of their teaching offer - so both of my offers include a teaching job for me, and a scholarship for my daughter - outstanding!

In my past experience with an ESL language school, perhaps the most challenging students were the teenage kids. When I contemplate facing a classroom of 25 teenagers for ESL classes every day, I wonder about my ability to 'connect' and motivate this group on a consistent basis. I've raised 5 children, and I understand the challenges and distractions that the teen years present. I wonder if I might regret committing to an ESL job where this student group is my daily focus. From my perspective, any group of 20+ teenagers will inevitably have some 'bad apples' - it's just a question of how many, and how bad.

Any thoughts, ideas, opinions, or input on the comparison of the two ESL student age groups, and my two offers, would be greatly appreciated!

[BadBeagleBad]

It would probably be more useful for people to know the names of the schools. There are a few really bad schools, and 40,000 scholarship or not, you likely wouldn�t want you child attending the school for reasons other than academics. Teaching children is really different from teaching teens or adults - I�ve done both, and I wouldn�t recommend just jumping in without some kind of preparation. Do you have a gut feeling about either of the schools? Have you been able to talk to any of the other teachers? Know any
families whose kids attend the school? Those are the kinds of things that would give you some idea which job might be a better fit,

[mejms]

If a job around here seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Frankly I haven't seen a school in Mexico that's good enough for me to jump at the opportunity of working there so that my son can get a scholarship in order to attend. And I agree that working with kids is a whole other issue, especially if this is a private school where students are treated as paying customers and administration won't get your back on disciplinary issues. Also, keep in mind that there are lots of positions available for two reasons: 1) growth; 2) turnover. B weary and carry a big stick .

But sure, you should say which schools you're talking about so you can get actual feedback.

[davidmsgi]

I'm in Cuernavaca - there are many, many private schools here.

If anyone has specific knowledge about the Cuernavaca market, and the schools here, I will gladly share names and details via PM. I don't think mentioning offers and specific schools by name on the public forum is a good idea, since I live in a fairly small market. PM would be more discreet and comfortable for me.

I don't plan to make a decision based upon any 'extras' offered to my children - but I was surprised to see the schools making such an offer.
The only factors that I'm considering in my assessment are the teaching job, the students, and the school principals and English coordinators that I've met through interviews.

As for being wary about launching into a job teaching children without 'preparation' - what kind of preparation do you have in mind?
How does one get experience teaching children?

My gut feeling is very good about both schools, that's why I'm considering their offers. There have been other schools that I did not pursue after interviews. I'm new to Cuernavaca, so I don't know any of the families of students or the teachers - I agree that it would be valuable to talk to anyone with direct working knowledge of the schools.

I came to the forum because I am proceeding cautiously, trying to gather whatever information I can use in my assessment and evaluation.

Please PM me if you have specific knowledge about the Cuernavaca schools and local market.

Thanks for your interest and feedback.