News from our grads
Enza & Gerard in Mexico
1. How/Why did you first think of doing a TESOL course and going overseas?
A friend who had done the course told us about it and we thought this would be a great way combining our love of travelling and living overseas.
2. Why did you choose Teach International?
From our research, Teach International had a good reputation along with the recommendation from our friend. The information session we attended was also a key in making the decision.
3. How did the course help you prepare for the journey ahead?
The course gave us the confidence to be able to front up to a class of English students and know that we would be able to convey the knowledge of our native language effectively. We also gained practical knowledge planning for the trip; resources, where to go, resumes etc. We also gained the confidence to see that any and all of our life experiences would be valuable in the classroom.
4. Where are you teaching and how did you get the job?
Currently we're teaching in the gorgeous town of Guanajuato, Mexico. Guanajuato is a university town with approximately 26,000 students, so there's no shortage of willing and able potential English students! The school we're teaching at employed us after we presented ourselves and our resumes to the English language school coordinator.
5. What do you enjoy most about living there?
Guanajuato is in an amazing geographical location, it's impossible geography means the city literally runs up the sides of the surrounding hills in a maze of twisted and steep alleyways called Callejons. No one here is afraid of using colour to paint their houses, it's a kaleidoscope of brightly painted façades and Geraniums cascading down the walls. The climate is close to ideal, rarely too hot or wet with mostly bright, sunny days. Mexican people are friendly and easy going.
6. What do you find challenging about living there?
Learning another language whilst learning to teach one is certainly challenging! Our Spanish is improving and it would certainly be difficult to get by here without it. We're learning to slow down to 'Mexico time', which runs many minutes, hours and sometimes days behind what we're used to. Things just take longer to happen here, but what's the hurry!
7. Do you have any funny stories?
A tough language lesson: We dropped off the washing (most of our clothes) at the 'lavanderia', returning the next day after five o’clock to pick it up. We thought when the woman told us to pick it up "antes cinco" it meant "after five". Wrong! Our washing spent nearly two days at the laundry because they weren't open on Sunday, hence we then learnt that in Spanish, "antes" is "before" and "despues" is "after"! We laugh about it now, but not at the time.
8. What advice would you give to someone planning on teaching there?
Don't expect to come to Latin America to make a lot of money. Come here for a goodtime, cheap "cerveza" (beer) and a great climate. There aren't many jobs advertised on the Internet for Central and South America, so you really have to be on the ground to gain work which there is a lot of.
9. What are your future plans? Will you keep teaching and travelling?
Our plan is to teach for the rest of the year and then evaluate our situation from there. We would ultimately like to gain employment and teach here at the Universidad de Guanajuato, a highly respected institution which would be a dream English teaching job. We won't know about that until about August.
10. Is there anything you would like to add?
To enable us to follow our dream, we sold our house, put everything we own into storage and just went. The support and encouragement we've had from our family and friends has been amazing.
Enza and Gerard Koeleman - Teach International Graduates
