Topic: What the best thing about teaching in Mexico?

[Geekboy]

Ok, I am gonna take up Guy, Melee and Nemesis' challenges.

What's the best thing about teaching in Mexico? What makes it good?

[Guy Courchesne]

I'd have to broadly say lifestyle is what makes it best.  One can earn well here, by local standards, but Mexico is never going to compete with some parts of Asia or the Middle East on pay.

Lifestyle...it's pretty laid back here, even in a metropolis like Mexico City.  The food is fabulous, and the importance people place on eating well is part of that laid back attitude. 

Mexico ha every manner of climate and geography you can think of, so there's always lots to explore.  Two oceans and tropical beaches within 5 hours of Mexico City...

[MELEE]

Gee, I'd have to say the very best thing about teaching in Mexico is that it's in Mexico!!!
 

I love my life in Mexico. I'm fluent in Spanish, so that's no problem. I love Mexican food, so that's great. I love all types of Mexican music (just not all the time) even the stuff many foriegners hate. I love to dance there's lots of opportunities for that. I love the climate I live in (it more varied around the country than you might imagine). I love the mountains. I have a great low stress job with good benefits (I got a 0% interest mortgage!) and nice, though not diligent, students.  I'd love to be 5 hours from the  like Guy, and if they ever get that super highway built I will be, until then it's 9 hours of the most beautifl mountain scenary--and there is alway dramamine!

[wangsuda]

Can I get a job at your school? Not joking here, please PM me. Thanks

[bomha]

Can someone who has taught both in Thailand and Mexico give Wangsuda and my Irish friend some comparison of Thai and Mexican students?  Melee just said hers were not always diligent, but most of us would say that fully half the Thai students were indifferent, lethargic, inattentive, devious cheaters.

[MELEE]

So it kind of looks like nobody--least not Guy or me, has taught both.

My students are uni students who are very VERY busy--their schedule is like a high school schedule, 7 classes most meet daily. They are mostly studying engineering fields and have tons of projects and homework. English is there last priority. (Though we've collected data from grads to prove it shouldn't be, they get passed up for jobs/promotions if they can't hold their own in English, even people with no degree get the jobs over them if they can speak English.) They know some day they will need English, but they are not very good at thinking ahead, only right now, and right now they have a test in X class, a project in Y class and are failing out of Z class so they do all that before English.

But, they are well behaved--the biggest problem is chatting in Spanish.
The treat you with respect--mostly.
They are interested in knowing you as a person. (This can be dangerous for younger teachers!)
My students have mostly had teacher centered teaching and can be confused by student centered teaching.
Cell phones and ipods have become a small problem, when I arrived in 1998 they were unheard of.
My students have had 2 to 6 years of English before coming to the university, but for some it was so badly done you have to spend the first semester deprogramming them. "I avay 18 years."
It's a big country. I know of high schools in the north whose graduation requirements are higher then ours, so it's not the same around the country.

Hope that helps.

[Nemesis]

I've taught in both places and now I'll shock our readers in Mexico......

Mexican students have better English and will attempt to communicate better than their Thai counterparts. Their level of education is much higher than a typical Thai students and it can also make things a lot more challenging in the classroom if you are not prepared.

Thai student prefer games and having fun and this can be a plus. Also Thai students don't care if they are learning or not. You will come across students in Mexico who are concerned with how much they are learning and they will expect to be taught, not play games.

In many ways, Thai students are laid back and Mexican students are more professional.

Just my experience.


 

[Guy Courchesne]

"In many ways, Thai students are laid back and Mexican students are more professional. "

Not a big big surprise.  I recall someone by the name of Rheno posting out of Thailand on some forums...he felt pretty strongly about lazy Thai students, though I thought he came off as a bit much.

[Nemesis]

I wouldn't say they are particularly evil lazy, just different types of students and have to approach them differently. Some of the approaches that work in Thailand will get you called a bad teacher in Mexico and vice versa.

[Guy Courchesne]

I wouldn't say they are particularly evil lazy, just different types of students and have to approach them differently. Some of the approaches that work in Thailand will get you called a bad teacher in Mexico and vice versa.

How about an example of a different approach?  Are you talking about Thai kids or does that extend up to adults as well?  I pretty much only work with adults here in Mexico...

[MELEE]

My student's love games and competitions, but by students are not paying for their classes, so I can see what you mean. I have had the experience where, when teaching the odd grammar heavy lesson, students seem to sit up at attention like they are thinking, "Wow, she's finally teaching us something!"


Another factor worth mentioning when describing students at my place of employment, we have 1500 students and you'd be very hard pressed to find a single one who does not have a family member or close acquintance in the US. They have a very complicated love/hate relationship with the US and by extension, English.  This is probably less of a factor for Guy.

[Guy Courchesne]

"They have a very complicated love/hate relationship with the US and by extension, English.  This is probably less of a factor for Guy."

It would be interesting to explore that with junior high school kids.  At the adult level, it's easier to bring that relationship up, and being Canadian allows me a distance...I find most Mexicans would rather say nothing than risk offending someone.  With the business EFL students, most classes need to include around some aspect of culture and international communication for work, so there's already an interest.

[bomha]

My Irish friend is married to a Yank who froths at the mouth whenever Bush's name is mentioned, and they both want to teach in Mexico.  If he estabslishes early on that he hates the American government, will that help?

They would both like the idea that students perk up their ears upon hearing that they will be taught grammar.  That sounds like Koreans, who don't mind being taught grammar because they accept it as part of language learning.

[Guy Courchesne]

"If he estabslishes early on that he hates the American government, will that help?"

No, I don't think it would.  Why would a teacher present that attitude in the class?  It starts from the assumption that the students are already hostile towards Americans or the US in general...that could come off a bit racist or at least demeaning.  Better is to treat the students as capable people who can form their own opinions outside of national or racial stereotypes.

[MELEE]

My students are 17 to 23, most are savvy enough to know that the government is not the people. I mean, they remember Salinas after all.
But people will ask you, when you are least expecting it, what you think about the war in Iraq, so it's best to have a well thought out statement in Spanish ready. Also about the minute men and the general treatment of immigrants my our countrymen.

Heck even in Japan, I once met one of my friend's father's an older man who walked with a cane, the first word from his mouth was Hiroshima, I almost ran out of the room because I was just completly unprepared to get into that conversation, turns out he just wanted to let me know he didn't hold any hard feelings and then we moved on to other topics.