Living and Teaching in Oaxaca, Mexico - a Discussion

One of our favorite websites - Dave's ESL Cafe - features a current discussion on living and teaching in Oaxaca State, southern Mexico.

The general consensus? Oaxaca is a gorgeous place to be but it's quite difficult to find a good job and to make ends meet.

Find the complete discussion at the Cafe - Mexico section.

Excerpts:

Oaxaca seems like an ideal place to live and work but it´s actually a very expensive city and wages are very low.

It sounds like other reasons than choice of work brought you to Oaxaca: I'm concerned about your having put yourself in one of the more difficult markets in Mexico as a first experience after your TEFL course when a big disappointment in work could sour you to the whole enterprise

These forums are full of warnings about the difficulties of finding any kind of work on reasonable terms in Oaxaca: now is the time to reconsider before you've signed a lease and get too deeply committed to what may prove to be a bad situation work-wise should you be relying on working to support yourself in Mexico

It's clear from the hundreds of posts on this forum that there are many perfectly good places to live and work in Mexico and make a start in TEFL: Oaxaca- for a combination of reasons- does not seem to be one of them

Articulated in a nice way. I was lucky to have a great TESOL program behind me and I made friends with a couple of wonderful people but the possibility of ending up with less than you came in with and some bitter experiences is a real possibility in Oaxaca. At this point in time for Oaxaca - not for the new or those with thin bank accounts.

Thank you all for the reply. I appreciate all the time that you have taken to help me. I did indeed find a decent job in Oaxaca. I am now working for Harmon Hall Oaxaca. If anyone has any real bad experiences there it would be good to know. I sign my 40+ hour contract in three weeks.

Also if there are any bad experience or suggestions with immigration here I will be all ears. Thanks again to all of you, especially about the school near Reforma. I nearly applied there.

Job Alert - Mexico City

The American School in Mexico city is looking for a teacher to fill 2 classes a week, mornings from 8:30 to 10:00 AM, ESL for adult learners. Pay is not great at 120 pesos per hour, but it could be a good way to fill in some empty slots if you have them or to get a foot in the door at what is the top school in the country.

How the Internet is Changing Language

From the BBC.

'To Google' has become a universally understood verb and many countries are developing their own internet slang. But is the web changing language and is everyone up to speed?

In April 2010 the informal online banter of the internet-savvy collided with the traditional and austere language of the court room.

Christopher Poole, founder of anarchic image message board 4Chan, had been called to testify during the trial of the man accused of hacking into US politician Sarah Palin's e-mail account.

During the questioning he was asked to define a catalogue of internet slang that would be familiar to many online, but which was seemingly lost on the lawyers.

At one point during the exchange, Mr Poole was asked to define "rickrolling".

"Rickroll is a meme or internet kind of trend that started on 4chan where users - it's basically a bait and switch. Users link you to a video of Rick Astley performing Never Gonna Give You Up," said Mr Poole.

read more of the story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10971949

August Get Together

Thanks to all that came out, we had a lot of fun!



Salon Corona, Centro Historico, Mexico City



Scary visitor.



New friends.



New connections.

And some video over at Vimeo, Gante Street Mexico City.

http://www.vimeo.com/14147860

Next TEFL Course - August 30th

Next TEFL Course runs August 30th to September 11th. Sign up today at www.innovative-english.com

Philospophy, Spiderman, and EFL

An interesting story on the BBC caught our collective eye, about the use of popular comics such as Spidermaan and Batman at university level philosophy courses. Comics are also widely used by EFL teachers working abroad with children as visually stimulating storyboards make learning both fun and effective. Now, the EFL teacher can bring morality and ethical questions into the mix, but perhaps for a bit older student.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10900068

For years, fans of the Batman comics have puzzled over a mystery at the heart of the series: why doesn't Batman just kill his arch-nemesis, the murderous Joker?

The two have engaged in a prolonged game of cat-and-mouse. The Joker commits a crime, Batman catches him, the Joker is locked up, and then invariably escapes.

Wouldn't all this be much simpler if Batman just killed the Joker? What's stopping him?

Enter philosopher Immanuel Kant and the deontological theory of ethics.

At least, that's how the discussion progresses in a growing number of philosophy classes in the US.

Cultural and media studies have paved the way for universities to incorporate pop culture into their curriculum. These days it is not uncommon to find a television studies class alongside 17th-Century literature in the course listings of an English department.

Now, philosophy professors are finding superheroes and comic books to be exceptionally useful tools in helping students think about the complex moral and ethical debates that have occupied philosophers for centuries.

Read the rest of the story at the link above and remember - with great power comes great responsibility.

Teacher Get together - Mexico City

Teachers Latin America will be proud to welcome new teachers to Mexico City for the 2010/11 school year at a gathering in the Centro Historico. Come meet us at the Salon Corona, at the corner of Gante and Madero streets.

Saturday, August 14th from 3 PM, join on us on the patio for drinks and meet new teachers!