TEFL Malvern Pennsylvania

Problems Teaching in mexico (10) Problema or No Problem? Teaching abroad is a growing career field that offers the unique ability to give knowledge and gain knowledge at the very same time. Living in a new country, learning new customs and becoming part of a disparate community are massive learning challenges. Doing all of this while teaching english is challenging to say the least. All countries have their share of idiosyncrasies that can present a new teacher with difficult days (and nights), but the cities and pueblos of mexico are a peculiar challenge that only the bravest of conquistador educators can broach. mexico's cultural differences present a definite obstacle to teachers of english. mexican's tend to view Americans as overworked, placing too much importance on achieving levels of success. The common mexican mindset is that work is a “necessary evil to living a comfortable life.”(Powell) Americans tend to view work as a definer of success and find it difficult to understand mexicans who feel and act otherwise. This and other small judgments of cultural identification can create a stressful environment for American efl teachers in mexico. Learning english can be a powerful way to gain opportunities in many areas of life, but knowledge is only power if it is applied. Through the ages it has been maintained that education is a doorway out of poverty. Yet, many mexicans are so poor that they view education as a luxury, not a necessity worthy of forgoing the vital income a child or young adult may bring to the family. At $13 pesos to the $1, the cost of private english education can be very steep. In addition, mexico's previous governments have historically opposed modern education, preferring to teach “activist politics and Marxism…” (Agren)over the works of Shakespeare. More alarmingly, in rural areas, emerging teachers to mexico's Normal schools “have protested the teaching of english and computer skills to children”(Agren). Little wonder why many efl teachers complain of low numbers in their classes and a general apathy toward education. Not all learners are indifferent. For the portion of the mexican population that is actively pursuing a grasp of english, there are special challenges to learning the language itself. spanish is a Romance language, but there are differences that allow common mistakes to arise that a good teacher must be diligent to overcome. Primarily, the grammar structures of english and spanish are different, sometimes opposing. For instance, in english the adjective is always placed before the noun that it modifies, i.e. Jason drives a green car. In spanish the adjective follows the noun, i.e. Jason conduce un coche verde, transliterated Jason drives a car green. Other challenges are false cognates, words that are spelled similarly, but have completely different meanings. Looks like