Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello All,
Call it a mid-life crisis or whatever, but for the last year or so I have been thinking of shaking things up in my life. I am a 45 year old unattached woman who has had a successful career in banking (in NYC), and would like to take a sabbatical and do some traveling, teaching, and personal development/growth. I am working toward my certifications in EFL and Business English. I hope to make the move to Mexico City next year and teach Business English to professionals. Since I have some money saved, I am thinking of living (at least temporarily) in a small residential hotel and working part time with business professionals, and supplementing my income with private tutoring. While I realize this is serious work, I have always been a responsible person and I have every intention to be as good a teacher as I can be. However, I am at the point in my life where I do not want to make this experience all about work. I want to truly enjoy my time as a visitor to this wonderful country, exploring, learning, and experiencing something new. I feel I have the time and funds not to have to "rough it" to make ends meet. I want to live in a middle class neighborhood, not have to commute for hours on end, and set time aside for Spanish language, art, cooking, and dance lessons as well. I also want to develop real friendship with my students or other professional Mexican men and women. Am I living in a fantasy world or can any of this become a reality? Has anyone had experiences (good or bad) that would be helpful to me in making my plans as realistic as possible?
Thanks to all for your advice and insights. Jeana

Hi Jeana,

You WILL commute...Mexico City is very big and even if you find companies that are realtively close to you, the traffic will consume a lot of time. You will most likely need a car to give company classes, as taking taxis/public transportation is not very safe. I would recommend looking for an apartment around Polanco...there are cooking classes and dancing classes nearby! Polanco is kind of an expensive place to live, but if you look hard enough, there should be something reasonable. Anzures is near Polanco, and rents are a little bit cheaper. Most of the big companies are in a part of town called Santa Fe, not really far from Polanco, but, as I said, traffic is the key word here (you're from NY, you know!). You should have no trouble getting classes with your business background and you can charge at least $30 USD an hour if you do it directly. Expect a split shift (early mornings and evenings) if you want to teach executives. Or just work one shift, and that'll leave you more free time to do other things during the day, but you won't earn as much! Don't expect much travel time if you're teaching executives... you can take a week or so off in the summer and at Christmas, but you can't disappear whenever you want! You will need to be able to work legally so that companies can deduct your fees as a business expense, and that might be complicated. Also, I said you should have no trouble getting a job with your business background and TESOL training, but... do understand that Mexico City is very "malinchista", that means they like "all-American" Americans (ie. anglo-saxon). For example, I know a Peruvian American woman here, who cannot get well payed work, because they don't see her as a "real" American. It's not fair, but it's very common! Mmmm...what else.... business students are usually fairly lazy ("busy"), so you have to run a pretty tight ship to get them to learn anything. Since their companies are paying, they don't take advantage of the classes as well as they should, in my personal opinion. People here are usually quite nice face-to-face and horrible behind the wheel or the shopping cart! In terms of crime, in 10 years I've had one car stolen and one wallet stolen, no violence to my personal well-being, fortunately. Traffic, horrible pollution... good restaurants, museums, etc. I imagine you've been here already on vacation. If not, please do so before you decide to move!

Good luck!
Alexanndra