Teaching - MEXICO Daily Life

Examples of Day to Day life

The majority of the accommodation where the volunteers stay during their placement is with local host families. We have found that this is undoubtedly the best way to get to understand a new a very different culture and society, but also works well as an extra level of support, which is incredibly useful especially in the first few weeks after arriving in México. We always try to place volunteers in the best location possible to move to your school place as well as for the centre of the city, other volunteers and our office.

You will be given a timetable on your first day at school. The majority of lessons are from Monday to Friday, usually in the mornings starting between 07:30 and 08:00 for 3 or 4 hours per day. You will average 18 hours of contact teaching time per week, but there you will also need to set aside several hours each week for lesson preparation.

After breakfast, volunteers travel to school which can be a 15 minute walk or a 20 minute bus ride. After arriving at school and registration, the timetabled classes start. The way volunteers work in the class depends on many different factors such as their interests, experience, the class they are teaching etc but you may find yourself reading a lesson in front of the class, writing exercises on the board, fielding questions and chairing a discussion and correcting their pronunciation, correcting tests, organizing games or If you feel confident enough given the whole lesson on your own.

Many of the schools encourage volunteers to organise an English club as an after school activity. These sessions encourage those students who feel they need extra assistance

During the lunch break you may choose to spend your time in the staff room, which is a good way to get to know the other teachers and share the coffee with them, or you may prefer to help supervising the break, or even get involved in a game of football!

Between 12:00 and 13:00 you will be finishing your days work, getting prepared for the next day's teaching and heading home for lunch.