Recently I’ve been feeling so grateful for my life here in Mexico, especially my teacher life. I want to give you a better idea of what my day to day life looks like as a teacher in Mexico because maybe it will inspire you in some way. I used to teach in the U.S. in a public school. Let’s just say it was a rough time. Working until 10pm, a horribly negative school environment, and principal and district drama. I only lasted two years.
So here I am in Mexico in my 5th year of teaching at this small school in the middle of the jungle, 3 blocks from the beach, and I couldn’t be happier! Some of the things that I love the most about teaching in Mexico are the lifestyle, general attitudes towards education, the location, and the people. Let me tell you a bit about each one and see if I can convince you to up your whole life and move down to Mexico to teach 🙂
The Lifestyle
I think the main thing that I will never be able to give up after teaching English in Mexico is the lifestyle. What I mean by that is that here in Mexico we work contract hours. And we do so in a way that feels good! Everyone shows up at 7:45am for school and at 3:15 everyone walks out the door. You don’t see teachers staying at school until 5pm, or even 4pm for that matter.
And yes, we get our work done! Our school system is set up in a way that we have enough time to plan throughout the day. We have planning time before school which is a game changer in terms of my mental productivity. When the whole school is committed to working just contract hours, we get our things done!
I also really appreciate how my school has taken so many steps to make the work load manageable for teachers. We have a set curriculum that has everything planned out for you. We do have to turn in weekly lesson plans, but it’s just looking at our already made weekly plan and writing it out in a format. This usually doesn’t take me much more than an hour. So in an hour I have my set plan for the week.
So really, teaching in Mexico is an amazing lifestyle. My contract hours are from 7:45am to 3:15pm and outside of those hours I truly do feel that I have my own time. I don’t spend time grading, lesson planning, or dealing with obnoxious district formalities. During the day I get to be a teacher and I get to be my individual self in the afternoon. I surf, I practice my ukelele, I paint, I jungle walk, I watch the sunset on the beach, and I enjoy life!
Attitudes towards education
In Mexico the attitudes towards education are so much different than in the United States. In my opinion, they are much better. First off, there is a high respect towards teachers and educators here that I always found was missing in the states. I will never forget the time when I was at a party in San Francisco full of techies. Someone asked me what industry I was in, and when I told him I was an elementary school teacher, he turned and walked away. Yikes.
Here, I don’t just feel that my career choice is tolerated, but it’s respected. The most common reaction I get here when I tell people I am a maestra is “wow, so cool!” or “que lindo!” And then they follow it up with a story about their aunt, uncle, or parent who was a teacher. The population here has a deep respect for teachers and education and it shows. Teaching in Mexico has allowed me to see that education can be a respected profession.
Students turn in homework, parents ask about their child’s behavior, respond to behavior messages, and they show up to volunteer in the classroom. They take the time to give special classes to our students depending on their area of expertise. We have yoga, finance, business, coding, and more all taught by parents. Parents are actually involved in the learning process here, they don’t just sit aside idly expecting everything to happen at school.
I feel so grateful to work in a community where families are dedicated to their child’s education. Here I don’t feel alone in the classroom. I feel like I have the support of an entire community behind me.
The location
This part may seem a bit obvious. But the location of where I teach can’t be beat. My school is in a small town of about 5,000 people. We are 3 blocks from the beach. Sometimes I take my kids down there for class. It’s an easy walk down to the beach and I don’t have to get all my kids to sign a permission slip to leave school. We just head down to the beach 3 blocks away, dig our feet into the sand for a bit, and then head back to class. It really adds a joyful moment to our day.
The location of the school also makes it easy to teach about eco friendly practices. We are so close to the beach and we really see the effect of ocean pollution. Our school does monthly beach clean ups as part of our mission. Parents, teachers, and students gather together at the beach with some food and music and we spend an hour picking up trash. Sometimes we even get a volleyball game going after. It’s such a fun way to enjoy cleaning the beach!
We have a surf team at school. The surf team practices in the morning before school. Just the fact that we have a surf team says a lot about how lucky we are to be where we are. We also offer surf P.E. as a program for the 3rd-6th graders. I don’t think many teachers can say they get to surf with their kids as part of the school day!
The people
Finally, the thing that really makes me love where I live and work are the people. I work with 25 teachers who are hard working, caring, and inspiring. Working in an environment where people are positive makes all the difference! I am friends with my colleagues outside of work and we take time to enjoy things together. We go to the beach, go on boat trips, surf, and relax by the pool. I’m so lucky to call my co workers my friends.
Working in an environment where people are positive about education really affects you. I’ve worked in really negative settings before and it takes a huge toll on you. I found myself falling into the trap of negativity. Here I tend to fall into positivity in a good way. One where I wake up on Mondays actually ready to get to work!
Find your place
So if I haven’t completely convinced you to up your whole life and move to Mexico, now is the time! If teaching in Mexico sounds like something you could be interested in, don’t hesitate! If you want to give it a try, there are so many schools that are looking for English teachers and have TEFL programs. Also, it’s ok if you aren’t ready to make that jump.
But what I do think is the lesson I’ve learned here is to find your place. If you can find your place; one with good people, location, community, attitude, and lifestyle, you will feel the difference. You will start to feel at home in your school. You will be excited to show up for your kids and community every day. So take some time to evaluate your teaching life. How are you feeling? Make the changes you need to be a happy teacher. I did, and it was so worth it!