Work Life

Work life here is VERY different for me. I went from working for the global juggernaut of GM to a small franchise school called “United English.” However, one thing that has remained the same is that I continue to work with great people. (See photo above.) My schedule is M-F 7:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and then 4:00-9:00 p.m., although I do not teach all of those hours–it just depends on the day. (I also work every other Saturday for a half day.) I am not a big fan of that kind of split schedule. In fact, I think it plain stinks. But it’s all part of the “Mexican Way” for many people and I am here to experience such things.

Teaching has also been a big adjustment. My average class size: 1 student. The students range from teenagers learning English because their parents want them to or because they know it will be a useful skill in the future, to a couple of students in their late 40’s learning it for their current jobs. Most of them are very eager and quite smart. I would say the two most difficult parts of the job for me are: 1) Keeping the classes interesting and fun, and 2) Trying to teach English grammar, which was never my strong suit to begin with. (There I go again, ending a sentence with a preposition…) And English is a confusing language anyway, so that makes clarifying things all the more challenging! For example, just take the letter “g” with all of its different uses and sounds: gym, goat, egg, laugh, and eight. Geez, how did WE ever learn this language?

All in all, I really do like the job, and I now have a far greater appreciation for all of you career teachers out there.  Do I see teaching as my own future career?  It’s too early to say and there are too many unknowns, but I haven’t ruled it out yet.