Guy is a well-known figure in ESL in Mexico. He came to Mexico from Canada over 13 years ago, and gradually expanded his activities into teacher training and recruitment. He now provides a service for connecting schools and ESL professionals through his company, Teachers Latin America, with plans to expand into other territories.
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| Guy Courchesne |
Why did you choose ESL?
I chose ESL
as a way to see the world, to travel, and to learn about other cultures and
languages. ESL was to be a means to
explore for a year or two abroad and help pay the way.
How have you expanded your career in ESL?
After deciding
that ESL and international education in general would be my career and living
abroad would be a permanent feature of my life, I moved into teacher training
and recruitment. I sought out additional
ESL training courses and gradually moved into the administrative side of
teacher recruitment by focusing on growing my professional network in my
region of the world.
What do you think your strengths are as an ESL teacher
and as a trainer?
I think my
strengths as a teacher and trainer lie in my knowledge and experience of the
language and culture of my students. My
first two years teaching were much about learning how to work with Spanish
speakers and Mexicans in particular. With
more experience I become more efficient and am now very comfortable in a number
of teaching environments.
What challenges have you found living in Mexico?
Mexico has
been wonderful to me and I’m proud to call it home. Most of the challenges I’ve faced here are
cultural or bureaucratic…after 13 years here, I still struggle with the
importance many Mexicans place on the family.
I’ve never been a person that needs to be surrounded by family and it
has often been a challenge to integrate into closer-knit families in Mexico.
What advice would you give to someone new to
living in a different country?
Treat every
day as an opportunity to learn and leave all your pre-conceptions at home. Don’t come to try to change the culture of
the country you want to teach in – let that host culture be that which changes
and enriches you instead.
In my case,
I’ve found social networking sites and the greater availability of engaging
content to be the biggest contributors to aiding ESL. I began teaching in a time before Facebook
and You Tube when good classroom resources were expensive or difficult to come
by. I now regularly interact with
students via Facebook and make extensive use of You Tube and other websites to
bring content to the classroom.
What do you think is the attitude of Latin
American students towards learning English?
Latin
American students are a diverse group. I
find that most people agree that learning English is seen as essential – you
don’t advance in your career without it.
I find that parents are always very keen to see their children learning
English and work hard to provide them the opportunities to do so.
But, I also
see people struggle with the demands of balancing their work-lives with English
study. Adult learners are often pressed
to rapidly learn English while also keeping a full work schedule. I see this as demotivating in attitudes
towards study.
What has been your biggest satisfaction in the
ESL field?
As I’ve
moved more into administration and teacher recruitment, the biggest satisfaction
I’ve gained is seeing new teachers arrive in Mexico and beginning the same
journey I started all those years ago. I
enjoy being an ambassador of sorts in ESL and helping others fulfill their
goals in exploring the world.
And the biggest frustration?
It isn’t a
well-compensated field unfortunately.
There are good opportunities but I find one has to work very hard to
create those opportunities for oneself.
What do you think the future of ESL teaching
holds?
Technology
will continue to play a large role in how we learn and use English. The rise of MOOCs, online teaching platforms
such as Skype, and mobile technologies will continue to give more autonomy to
the learner.
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