Hello all, great site! I have a question I'm hoping someone can help me with. My friend and I are planning to move to Cancun with the hopes of teaching English. We both have university degrees and are obtaining a TESOL course. What are the chances of us getting a job teaching? I have heard the competition is stiff. Is there anything we can do to make our chances of getting a job better? Thanks so much to anyone who can help us out. Regan
Thanks Susan, any advice you can post that isn't confidential would be welcome for future queries. We get this one quite a lot.
English Steve, I only taught English for a few months, but I worked in Harmon Hall. Like all other employers here, they are only allowed to hire a certain percentage of foreigners. Training was a month long, I think, and I didn't get paid during training. At that time (about 3 years ago, i think ), teachers with no previous experience made $72 pesos per hour. It wasn't a bad job, by any means, but I prefer to be self-employed and work from home in my pajamas. Aspiring English teachers should contact Harmon Hall, Berlitz, Inter-Lingua, and Quick Learning!. I'm sure there are more language schools in Cancun, but those are the only ones I can think of at the moment. I don't about other schools, but the classes at Harmon Hall are 4 weeks long and, when I was working there, they seemed to be hiring most every month. I can't say that is the case now, but it never hurts to ask! Oh, I didn't need to have a degree in English or anything like that. Being a native English speaker was enough....and I had to pass a very long English test, of course. A couple of my former co-workers post on this board and I'm sure those lovely ladies have more information to offer than I do.
Re: English Thanks, good stuff. I referred Regan here from an email I received. A little experience shared is better than none (like mine), if I were to try and answer I'd be guessing. Hopefully, others will chip in too. I hear you on that, although it's been a while since I wore pyjamas. :lol: Shorts and sandals does me fine though.
Can't speak to the other schools (although I do know a few people who have worked at Interlingua), but getting hired at Harmon Hall takes a combination of the right timing and right personality. For a long time they weren't hiring foreigners, as other have said, but I'm sure Canuck can speak to the situation now. Basically, my best advice would be to come prepared with $ to support yourselves for several months (not new advice, I know) but if it's English teaching you want to do, then you may have to be patient and wait for something to come up, as a school might not be hiring upon your arrival but something could open up a few months down the line.
Sorry for the delay, been in Merida for a couple of days. Basically everything has been covered. The schools here have limited spaces for foreigners, there is a number set by immigration and I have never quite figured out what that number is. So, as Gabatcha said, you just have to make the contact and hope something opens up. As far as I know (and I do annoy the boss by asking every few months), Harmon Hall is at its limit, but no harm in introducing yourself. I'll reply to your PM when I get settled in here, just got off the highway and plowing through messages.
I noticed a big new Harmon Hall college today - opposite Costco on Kabah/Yaxchillan is this an additional facility or a location move? Wondering if this might mean extra jobs available?
Steve, that's an additional facility for the HH primaria. I don't even know if it is open, it's a separate operation from the adult HH. There is also an HH Kindergarten, but all the Harmons fall under the same quota at immigration so it isn't like there are any more jobs for foreigners unfortunately.
