Topic: Need help with Mexico?

[mo danger]

I lived in seven states for 19 years and worked in TFL most of that time.  If you have a queston I would be glad to help out as best I can. 

[bioblood]

Hi, I'll take you up on your offer.

I've lived in Mexico for 6 months and loved it. My wife is from there and speaks it without problem. I've been self-studying it for a while and am pretty good for a white guy. I love english and I love teaching. While I was down there, I would help friends and my wife's cousins with their english. I think a lot about going back, and my wife is the same way. I'm listening to Banda music as I type this! (I stayed in Culiacan, Sinaloa).

After high school, I went the self-taught route. I'm as smart/disciplined/able as any college grad (perhaps moreso, I like to claim), but it seems TEFL employers use a bachelors degree as a filter to prevent drifters from trying to get a job. How can I convince an employer that I'm just as able to teach as any random person with a BA? Should I go for a cert? If so, which one and where/online?

[bomha]

Mo, are you still there?  I mean, are you here?  There's this Irish lady here in Thailand that is pulling her hair out about the latest problems with Thai immigraiton and visas.  She speaks decent Spanish, has taught EFL for many years, and she can convince her White American husband to go with her.  She wants a big coastal city with decent hospitals, in Mexico.  They have enough money that with their experience, they could live on their income stream plus $5000 pesos each per month.  Do you think it's doable?  They both have a BA or a BS.

[wangsuda]

The way things are going in Thailand, I'm ready for a move to Mexico. I have the wife convinced to go. Is/are there websites, people to talk to?

MO: I have a BA and a California teaching credential. Think that will get me in the door?

[MELEE]

Hey guys,
Come on over to Dave's Mexico subform. It's a pretty active forum with of us several long termers who are in various parts of the country, and an ever changing cast of newer teachers. Definitely the place to be for Mexico TEFL information.

Coastal cities are tough, because there is an overabundance of people who want to live there. There are some unis on and near the coast in the state of Oaxaca, but they are not in places you could call cities, more like villages.

Guadalajara is only a few hours from the coast and there are loads of jobs in all shapes and forms there.

A BA and a creditial are a start, especially if you want to teach kids at the bilingual schools, then they will look for a US teaching cert. If you want to teach adults, CELTA/Trinity certification is more recognized.
The top jobs go to those with MAs in TESOL or the like.

[bomha]

My Irish lady friend says that daveseslcafe.com is just one big collection of advertising links, not too different from the Thai website.  Can you give us a direct link to the Mexico forum?  I tried to help her but I think it's all in Gaelic, or Olmec.

[MELEE]

The Job Discussion Forums
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/

Directly to the Mexico board
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewforum.php?f=26

[MELEE]

Did you find it?

I just heard that it is taking about a month for them to process new usernames for the forum. 

The school year goes August-January and February-July so most school jobs are full now. Business classes and languae schools hire year round. There are a couple of placement agencies but I DON'T recommend going that route, you can find your own job fairly easily. Immigration officials vary around the country from friendly to ogres each has enough freedom to mold the visa requirements as they see fit, but I think in general it is much easier than Thailand seems to be. You will need to have your degrees and certificates Apostilled in the country they were issued in. Which can be a pain if you are not in that country. Wangsunda it may or may not be easy to get your wife into Mexico. In my experience form hiring teachers with wives from other nations; Japanese wife, no problem, Chinese wife, difficult but doable, Turkish wife, No Way Jose. Also, Mexican depenant visas do not allow the holder to work.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

[bomha]

Melee, thanks.  I told my Irish friend this info after she was on her second pint of Guiness,  and it is a sad thing to hear someone cursing in drunken Gaelic.  She reminded me of a Welsh coal miner!

But seriously, she sobered up the next day and sounded happier than a pig in a muddy sty, as they say in Arkansas.  She and her husband can each qualify for visas separately.  I hope that la migra do not give her a test of English when she's pissed!

[Nemesis]

Look for a coming jump start in Mexico and Latin America related postings. It's previously not been an area we have been promoting at all, but that is about to change. 

[Guy Courchesne]

It would be good to see more postings here...there are clearly some of us who teach in Mexico/Latin America who read this site, but it seems very often focused on Thailand...