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Thoth23
Joined: 03 May 2012
Posts: 2
Location: DF
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 Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 9:05 pm Post subject: Interlingua. Is it worth it? (first post) |
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Hello and good day everyone,
I am in my first week of training at Interlingua. Does anyone have any experience to share? Con or pro?
I am considering going through with it merely to attain the work visa. However, I must pay for the cost of the visa, which is about half of my estimated first month's pay!
--Also, what are my prospects in being a teacher/ providing lessons without any credentials (no degree, no english certification, etc)? I plan to flyer around the Roma and Condesa to get some clients. Otherwise, besides an unresponsive business english opportunity, I have no leads.
Any suggestions are very appreciated.
Thanks you all in advance,
Estadounidense in Mexico,
Alex
P.S. My spanish is not perfect, but functional enough that I can explain grammar concepts to english learners. |
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EFLeducator
Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 595
Location: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: Interlingua. Is it worth it? (first post) |
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| Thoth23 wrote: |
Hello and good day everyone,
I am in my first week of training at Interlingua. Does anyone have any experience to share? Con or pro?
I am considering going through with it merely to attain the work visa. However, I must pay for the cost of the visa, which is about half of my estimated first month's pay!
--Also, what are my prospects in being a teacher/ providing lessons without any credentials (no degree, no english certification, etc)? I plan to flyer around the Roma and Condesa to get some clients. Otherwise, besides an unresponsive business english opportunity, I have no leads.
Any suggestions are very appreciated.
Thanks you all in advance,
Estadounidense in Mexico,
Alex
P.S. My spanish is not perfect, but functional enough that I can explain grammar concepts to english learners. |
Interlingua is a JOKE, amigo. If they are paying you during your training, they will take it out of your checks once you start working until you pay it back. The pay is a complete joke. You must not have done much research amigo or you would have known that anyplace is better than Interlingua. Try Harmon Hall or Hamer Sharp. |
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Thoth23
Joined: 03 May 2012
Posts: 2
Location: DF
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I have not done much research. Thanks for giving me the leads. Do you know if Harmen Hall or Hamer Sharp would even be interested in a person without a degree, or english certificate? Ofcourse I will reasearch the companies also.
And, yes, I know the pay is a joke. And read about that beforehand on this forum. It seemed like a easy in.
I am a little bit apprehensive about the DF job market because of all the requests online for certifications, degrees, etc..
However, I am also really optimistic since it is such a huge city.
Thanks for your reply. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:10 am Post subject: |
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Most of the chain schools will accept you with no qualifications, and you are right that Interlingua is a good shoe-in. I'd take the opportunity to get your feet wet there, while looking for something better when you have more experience.
While it is true that many privately owned schools will give you $160ph, you won't get the legal benefits you get at Interlingua, and more importantly, you won't get the hours, so in the end, if you looking to eat and have somewhere to sleep, you are probably better of at Interlingua for now. Just don't hang around there too long!
By the way, many people. my wife included, have told me that Interlingua was the best place they attended for learning English, so they must be doing something right! |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 3:01 am Post subject: |
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How do they get you through immigration with no degree or certification?
| Quote: |
| so in the end, if you looking to eat and have somewhere to sleep, you are probably better of at Interlingua for now. |
 They let you sleep at the school? 
I'm not sure about those legal benefits at Interlingua though, Phil. Someone in the know (surprisingly, EFLEducator may be the most knowledgeable here) might be better to comment, but I didn't think they were giving out all the prestaciones del ley. |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| How do they get you through immigration with no degree or certification? |
I did! A job offer in the form of a letter from the employer will suffice, according to which immigration you go to, and which way the wind's blowing.
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Quote:
so in the end, if you looking to eat and have somewhere to sleep, you are probably better of at Interlingua for now.
They let you sleep at the school? |
I was referring to the fact that he would be better off with a regular income to be able to do these things! That's more likely at Interlingua than at a privately owned school.
| Quote: |
| I'm not sure about those legal benefits at Interlingua though, Phil. Someone in the know (surprisingly, EFLEducator may be the most knowledgeable here) might be better to comment, but I didn't think they were giving out all the prestaciones del ley. |
You may be right, but if they don't now, I know they did in the past, as I saw an ad in the window in the Zona Rosa branch, admittedly some years ago. I stand to be corrected. |
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BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 5:32 am Post subject: |
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| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
How do they get you through immigration with no degree or certification?
| Quote: |
| so in the end, if you looking to eat and have somewhere to sleep, you are probably better of at Interlingua for now. |
They let you sleep at the school?
I'm not sure about those legal benefits at Interlingua though, Phil. Someone in the know (surprisingly, EFLEducator may be the most knowledgeable here) might be better to comment, but I didn't think they were giving out all the prestaciones del ley. |
There are two kinds of Interlinguas, company owned and franchises. You need to know which one you are working for. A company owned branch will give you benefits but lower pay, while a franchise school will pay you more with no benefits. That�s not legal, of course, but so far only a few people have challenged it. The couple of cases I know about were people who transferred from a company owned branch to a franchise and were not happy to find they no longer had benefits. They do tell you upfront.
Aside from that, working for Interlingua could be great or dismal. A lot depends on your branch and your director. I have worked for them at two points in time in the past, and had mostly positive experiences. If you stay, and have an interest you can move into other postions. I have friends who have been there for many years and are now branch directors, teacher trainers and material creators. Starting pay is not stellar, but that is true of many professional jobs in Mexico, teaching English wasn�t singled out for special attention. You do get some good training in their method as well as lots of ongoing training, which will be helpful if you move to another school. Interlingua has a pretty positive reputation, so having worked for them will be seen as a plus to many people. I agree that it is a good place to start, and the method they use is great for beginners to intermediate students. I think it�s after that that it breaks down, that method is not all that successful for more advanced students. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Thoth23 wrote: |
Yeah, I have not done much research. Thanks for giving me the leads. Do you know if Harmen Hall or Hamer Sharp would even be interested in a person without a degree, or english certificate? Ofcourse I will reasearch the companies also.
And, yes, I know the pay is a joke. And read about that beforehand on this forum. It seemed like a easy in.
I am a little bit apprehensive about the DF job market because of all the requests online for certifications, degrees, etc..
However, I am also really optimistic since it is such a huge city.
Thanks for your reply. |
Well, without sometype of cert that says you are an EFL teacher it becomes kinda dicey. No degree is not a hurdle, in fact even the majority of colegios will accept you without a degree, but you need to get some kind of TEFL Cert ASAP and exp. under your belt.
Interlingua is poor pay and they will not give you enough hours... But if you can survive there for 6 months, you will have exp.
BTW, your so-called work visa (FM-3) will be tied to your job at Interlingua and if you leave for any reason, you must find another employer to sponsor you within 30 days (yes, you can extend the time, but you can not just work anywhere you want...) so that is something else to think about.
I would think you would do best to go to the American Book Store in downtown DF and buy some books on how to teach EFL and then just start answering every ad you can find for business English classes, if you are centrally located in the DF, you should soon have enough hours to make about $8,000 pesos per month which is the top pay at a school like Interlingua anyways and you won�t be tied down to 1 employer or waste a month in a training course that no other school will accept anyways. |
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MotherF
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 3:19 pm Post subject: Re: Interlingua. Is it worth it? (first post) |
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I don't live in Mexico City and have never taught at a language school in Mexico so I will leave it to the others to address those issues.
But no one has touched on this
| Thoth23 wrote: |
P.S. My spanish is not perfect, but functional enough that I can explain grammar concepts to english learners. |
If your students are not able to understand a grammer concept presented in English--then they do not yet have enough English to understand that grammar concept and you are teaching above their level.
Most Mexicans got that kind of teaching in jr high and high school (teaching about English in Spanish) and it didn't do 'em a lick of good. What they need now is someone to teach them to use English. |
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SpaceTone
Joined: 11 Jul 2010
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I'm not sure about those legal benefits at Interlingua though, Phil. Someone in the know (surprisingly, EFLEducator may be the most knowledgeable here) might be better to comment, but I didn't think they were giving out all the prestaciones del ley. |
What are the legal benefits in DF? |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Afore (pension and/or savings matching plan)and IMSS health coverage for the basics. You also want to see protection if you are dismissed and a legal position on taxes when you file each year. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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MotherF
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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Wow prof, you should post that in one of the stickies, I believe there is one for useful links.
All I had was this fun little flyer in Spanish.
http://calidadpp.com/empleados/nuevo/TripticoPrestaciones.pdf
Still useful if you want to present it to your employer. |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, I reposted it as a thread and hopefully it can make it to sticky status and I would love to see others input with more posts/info on the subject. |
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BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
| Afore (pension and/or savings matching plan)and IMSS health coverage for the basics. You also want to see protection if you are dismissed and a legal position on taxes when you file each year. |
Also, paid vacation and paid legal holidays (if I recall correctly there are 6 or 7), end of year bonus and INFONOVIT. Maturnity leave, death leave and sick leave are others. If you get a job working for a company that give you full benefits, you have a better package than most workers in the US, and you have to think about the value of that package, and not just in terms of your salary. |
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