What's more disappointing than a person who makes a promise he can't keep? A person who makes a promise that is a lie. Many promises to make a "decent living" teaching English in Mexico are just that - a lie.

If you do a phrase search on Google, "teach English in Mexico," you will get almost 11,000,000 hits. Some of these sites are filled with tantalizingly appealing phrases like,

"If you sign up with us to train in TESL we can get you a job in Mexico where for only a few dollars a week you can have anything you want in Mexico and live a life of ease".

All are allurements, for sure, trying to sell their how-to books, tapes, seminars, schools, or placement services for teaching English abroad. These web sites give the impression that you will be able to make enough money to live a life of unprecedented luxury and ease with all that money you will make teaching English in Mexico.

We've met many young women who come to Guanajuato with the hope and dream of getting a teaching job and making a bundle. The word "shock" is putting it mildly when they find out what their salaries will be in some of these private schools. A good pay scale would be less than $3.00 an hour. I know of some schools that pay even less than that amount.

Can you imagine how many hours you would have to work to make ends meet? Minimum wage is about $400.00 USD a month. Granted, many Mexicans live on that. But could you - an American? Could you downscale to living on so little?

1) Someone who wants a new adventure - something different.

2) Someone who wants to build a resume, no matter the salary.

3) Someone who wants to earn a little traveling money.

4) Someone who thinks they can earn a decent living.

Groups 1 through 3 don't care what the dollar sign is in their salary. They have other sources of income like savings or parents who help support them while they are in Mexico. These are the most transient. Here today, promising their employers a year contract, and gone tomorrow. Some told me that those who do not fulfill their teaching commitments no longer surprise them. 

Group 4, people who think they can make a living, do not accept the reality that you can rarely make a living at teaching English in Mexico. They are like many of those who go to Hollywood with the delusion of becoming an actor, "Oh, it's a long shot, but maybe I can do it."

In an informal e-mail survey I took of Mexican schools that offer ESL classes, the overwhelming majority agreed that it is rare for anyone to make a living at teaching English in Mexico. One called it "an unrealistic expectation" to believe otherwise.

"...the pay is very low and it is difficult to imagine how one could live on it."

While in language school in Guanajuato, I met a young man who was learning Spanish and who had lived in Japan. He was an American who contracted to teach ESL in Japan (his Japanese was excellent) and actually did hit the jackpot there. He not only received a good salary but his housing was paid for and he received a food allowance on top of a decent salary. 

I have a friend who teaches in China who has a very similar situation. Most of the available jobs in Mexico are with small private schools that pay too little.