Teaching in Mexico

I’ve been working in Mexico for 6 years now, and much of my job as both a TEFL course instructor and employment advisor revolves around the issue of the work permit. I work on a regional basis, for the entirety of Latin America, but this post will focus on Mexico.

The most important think to remember about this issue in Mexico was best summed up by Melee – a Dave’s Cafe poster and EFL instructor in Oaxaca:

In Mexico, what was true yesterday may not be true today. What is true today, will not necessarily be true tomorrow. What is true for me, is not true for you. There are multiple truths that can coexist.

Let’s talk about the varieties of truth here…

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Several years ago, I got it into my head that it would be scads of fun to play road or ice hockey in Mexico City. I’d hoped that there would be some interest on the part of kids here to learn a new sport they weren’t familiar with. Mostly, I’d probably hoped somehow to recreate my own childhood (and to be honest, much of my adulthood) in Canada where the boys would get together every Sunday to play out in a vacant parking lot. Spring, summer, winter, fall and in any weather, we used to grab the sticks and a ball and play all day.

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I posted a story on Dave’s ESL Cafe about an interesting package I received in the mail the other day.

An unexpected package arrived at the school today. It didn’t blow up after a little shake, so I opened it.

Three school kids from a Midwest US school sent us a ‘Welcome to Our Culture’ pack. In the package were two US flags, a fuzzy soft football, as well as cutout pictures of cows, a dictionary, a map of the US, and of Hindu god Shiva. There was also a CD by Dirks Bentley, a video cassette of ‘an old cowboy movie’ called ‘The Sacketts’, and a two page note explaining their project.

Here is a picture of what they’d sent.

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These days, there are many choices on TEFL courses. You can take them abroad or in your home country. You can now also choose to take them online or to take them in a class with other students.

Which is better?

Online TEFL courses tend to be much cheaper. This is simply because the course is very easily delivered via the internet, without the overhead costs of a bricks-and-mortar school. But, it is difficult or impossible to include observed teaching practice into this form of training.

In Class TEFL courses, abroad or at home, are more expensive than online courses. For these courses, you have access to other students and a variety of teachers and instructors. Most courses will include a block of observed teaching practice hours.

So how to decide?

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A debate has developed over on one of my favorite EFL employment discussion forums, regarding how far one should go when bringing the idea of cultural points of view into the EFL classroom in foreign countries. The debate is right here.

The main topic being discussed is whether a homosexual male American teacher should not only bring up the topic of his homosexuality with his students, but also to discuss the stereotypes and ‘bigotry’ that exist in many countries towards people of a homosexual orientation.

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In my 6 years living in Mexico, my musical tastes have certainly become…well, odd.

I really enjoy listening to northern Mexican corridos and a style called banda which is best sung in the northern state called Sinaloa.

Down below, I’ve put up some You Tube music videos as examples of each musical style.

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I really enjoy strolling down Reforma Ave in Mexico City. It’s considered the principal avenue in the republic, being centrally located in the capital and running from the Zocalo, past numerous important buildings, to the gates of Chapultepec Park and the Chapultepec Castle.

Numerous large monuments dot Reforma Avenue, but what I like most is the ever-changing exhibitions about it. Book fairs, works of art, absurd statues, colorful cows…every month is different.

At the center of it all is the Angel of Independence, a monument that imposes herself in a large traffic circle. I live closeby. The Angel is where Mexican soccer fans gather whenever the national team wins somewhere in the world.

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A very good question for which I have an answer.

All three are acronyms for the types of intensive courses people can take in order to get a certificate or diploma to teach English, in other countries usually.

Other terms used are teaching abroad, teach and travel, teaching English overseas, ESL, and EFL.

Here is a glossary and description of some of the terminology.

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I wrote this article in 2004 and it was graciously hosted by EslEmployment.com

So, here it is again for a new audience, with some notes provided by TEFLogue.com on Tips for Getting Through Your TEFL Course.

Latin America – The Job Interview – by Guy Courchesne

Published in the ESL / EFL JobFinder – 02/17/2004

Congratulations! You just finished your EFL teacher training, those grueling four weeks of sweating over coming up with interesting ideas for classes, of pouring over page after page of Behaviorist vs. Cognitivist theory, of juggling type IV conditionals.

Well you’re all done. So what’s next? All this time, you’ve been dreaming about what wonderful new things you’ll see and do in Santiago de Chile, in Buenos Aires, in San Miguel de Allende. You’ve also been worrying about apartments, about plane tickets, about work permits, but the most important event has yet to come: the job interview.

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The sleepy city of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico comes to life every third Saturday of September with the Pamplonada – the running of the bulls. Started in 1973 and styled after the famous annual Pamplona, Spain event, San Miguel hosted their bull run yesterday.

What it’s About…

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