While studying Spanish at Cal Poly, my professor recommended a study program in Cuernavaca, Mexico for intensive Spanish.  I decided to come for a six-week session in the summer of 1992.  I lived with a wonderful family and fell in love with Mexico. 

  When I returned, I began volunteering at the Adult School in SLO in ESL classes and became interested in studying for an M.A. at Monterey Institute of International Studies.  Meanwhile, a good friend from Cal Poly, Brent Petersen, decided to study Spanish here also.  He came down and after having fallen in love with Mexico as well, he decided to stay.  He found work teaching classes at the ITESM.  At around the same time, the ITESM's regulations changed and for the university courses they were requiring a Master's in TESOL.  As Brent and I were in touch, he helped me with the process and recommended me. I was hired long distance and came to the ITESM immediately upon graduating. I have now been here three and a half years. 

  The ITESM is a private high school/university system in Mexico.  It has 27 campuses all over the country.  I teach in Cuernavaca, Morelos which is about an hour south of Mexico City. 

  My students are both high school and university-aged.  As this is a rather expensive private school, the majority come from upper-middle class and above families.  Many of the students have studied at private, bilingual schools since they were very young and are amazingly bilingual.  However, many others studied at public schools or non-bilingual schools and are complete beginners. Still others, fall in between, having studied some English at some point in their lives. 

  My colleagues are for the most part Mexican and their degrees and specialities cover everything from sciences, engineering, literature, humanities, psychology, to computer science, etc.  In an effort to internationalize the campus, we also have many other foreign professors.  I've had the privilege of working with professors from India, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Cuba. 

  I fell in love with Mexico when I first came.  Also, having a friend here who made getting the job so easy really was motivating.  I signed the contract before the devaluation and the original salary I was going to receive was quite competitive.  I think the better question would be why did I stay so long.  I think as any teacher knows, you become emotionally invested in your students, what you're doing, and the institution. I decided for the experience to be meaningful for me, that I wanted to really dedicate myself.  Also, I was given the position of directing the high school English Program which was motivating for me in terms of professional development. Financially it was and has been a struggle as I am trying to pay off student loans in dollars while earning pesos.  Finally, approximately a year and a half ago, I met my now fiance which of course influenced my decision to stay. 

  I've taught an enormous variety of courses, both EFL and content courses: Academic Reading and Writing Skills, Advanced English, Remedial English, Oral Communication, Literary Analysis, Literary Classics, and an advanced English course called "The News" in which the students are creating their own newspapers which will be on websites. 

  I arrived in January of 1995 and this is my last semester.  My fiancee and I are moving to Tempe, Arizona where he will study his doctorate at ASU and I am actively seeking employment in the ESL field in that area. 

  Overall, this has been a wonderful experience both personally and professionally.  I don't think you can ever really know another country until you are there for an extended amount of time, living and working with the people of that country.  I feel culture shock when I visit the U.S. as I feel there are now parts of me that have been indelibly marked by my experience here. 

  Professionally, I've gained so much experience.  I've taught many different classes, many of which had no programs and no materials so I had to develop all of them.  This has been an invaluable albeit incredibly time-consuming task.  The administrative experience I gained was also invaluble although it was overwhelming as a new teacher.  The cross-cultural experience on a professional level has also really opened my eyes. 

  As I said, the cross-cultural experience is so invaluable but can also be draining and tiring at times.  Things are changing drastically here at the university, but when I arrived, I was confronted with many situations which really called my cultural values into question.  For example, being asked by my boss to pass a student who had failed because he was friends with the father, being asked to accredit students' levels of English which they didn't have so they didn't have to take the classes, getting used to a work environment where blame is always passed on to someone else, getting used to a work environment where the whole American concept of anti-sexual harassment doesn't exist (quite the contrary), getting used to a culture where heirarchy and social class are so powerful. 

  Also, there was a very strong anti-American attitude on the part of some of my colleagues which was incredibly demoralizing at times. However, overall this experience has been wonderful and I'll always be grateful for having had it. 

Aimee Stewart, Cal Poly Class of 1994 
English Teacher