University English Co-Teacher

Apply by

January 1, 2025

Know by

March 1, 2025

Depart on

August 24, 2025

Duration

2 years, plus 3 months training

Project description

Mexico has strong cultural and economic ties with the United States. Given the economic relations between the two countries, strengthening the English-language capacities of its population is a priority for the Mexican Government. English is a key that can open doors to economic, scientific, and technical exchange, as well as to employment, commerce, and social mobility.

University English Co-Teachers serve as linguistic and cultural ambassadors and collaborate to increase mutual understanding and professional opportunities for Mexican students and teachers. They are assigned to small or medium-sized public universities that specialize in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics. Most students commute to campus from under-resourced communities and may be on scholarship. University English Co-Teachers provide support for English teachers and learners, and may link them to academic opportunities through strategic partners such as the Regional English Language Office (RELO) and EducationUSA.

Successful Volunteers support English language learning through teaching, co-planning, co-teaching, teacher training, student mentoring, and on or off-campus extracurricular activities. Co-planning and co-teaching take place mainly with part-time university English teachers and other faculty members who deliver technical courses in English.

Additionally, University English Co-Teachers promote and participate in Communities of Practice (CoP) where teachers and Volunteers come together in a non-formal way to learn and grow professionally. A CoP emerges when two or more people share an interest in a topic and partner to fulfill common learning goals.

Volunteers are expected to work 32-40 hours per week. The recommended time distribution is: 45% to (co)-teaching and Communities of Practice; 25% to tutoring students, planning and co-planning; and the remaining time to extracurricular activities and other institutional projects.

Skills

As a University English Co-Teacher, you will contribute to the strategic objective of Mexican students attaining communication skills in English that will allow them to access academic and/or professional opportunities. The activities you will carry out at your university may include:

• Co-planning and co-teaching English language classes.
• Establishing and facilitating one or more Communities of Practice.
• Facilitating or co-facilitating extracurricular activities for English language learning, such as conversation clubs or cross-cultural events.
• Delivering workshops, or presentations in English for faculty members and students, to increase their awareness or knowledge about cultural or social topics while improving their English language skills.
• Mentoring and providing career counseling to students, including reviewing English-language resumes, practicing English-language job interviews, and helping to edit and proofread student papers and presentations in a way that empowers them to improve their own English.
• Providing information about academic and professional development opportunities for school staff, faculty, and students through our strategic partners.
  
  

Volunteers mainly co-teach but may occasionally be asked to substitute teach to take the place of a university English teacher who is sick or who must attend a conference or training event.

Peace Corps Mexico’s public universities are located mainly in central Mexico and are often established on the outskirts of medium to large size cities; the communities to which Volunteers are assigned have populations that range from 15,000 to 1,500,000. Some universities are near industrial parks where students have internships or are adjacent to networks of small communities that provide access for students from rural areas. Others are in small towns tucked away in the mountains. Whether in a large city or a mountainous rural community, Education Volunteers in Mexico have meaningful opportunities to support language-learning and for cultural exchange.

Climate change activities

Education

As the impacts of climate change become more evident, the social, economic, and environmental context within which universities provide learning experiences will continue to change and create challenges to consistent access to quality education. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will be trained to use a participatory approach and tools to identify locally determined priorities and conditions, including those related to the impacts of climate change. As an Education Volunteer, you will be trained to use local knowledge and resources to collaborate with education counterparts, students, and community members to support a climate-smart approach to education. Such collaborations could include the following:

• Work with university leaders and teachers to support continued learning when the university is interrupted by climate shocks and stressors by developing digital learning materials, remote learning plans, or community-centered learning experiences.
• Co-plan and co-facilitate learning experiences that improve climate literacy for students and community members, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lessons that explore the causes and effects of climate change, story exchanges about how climate change impacts the local community, and eco clubs that empower students to participate in meaningful environmental activities.
• Support and promote university and community activities that help mitigate climate change and increase local resiliency in the face of climate change. Such activities can include planting school gardens, community tree planting, water conservation, and developing community waste management strategies and infrastructural projects (i.e., cisterns for water collection).
  
  

Required Skills

Qualified candidates will have a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree in any discipline and a strong desire to teach English

AND

• 3 months, 10 hours/month, or 30 hours of English, foreign language, or literacy tutoring experience with primary, middle, high school, university students or adults
  
  

Desired Skills

Competitive candidates will have at least one or more of the following:

• Master of Arts (MA) in English, Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Teaching English as a second language (TESL), or Linguistics.
• MA/MAT in any foreign language.
• Co-planning/co-teaching experience.
• Teacher training experience.
• Experience teaching high school, university, or adult students.
• Effective classroom management techniques.
• Knowledge of teaching techniques such as: collaborative learning, project-based learning (PBL), or case method.
• Experience with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
• Experience providing written and/or verbal feedback, mentoring, and support to address challenges faced by students and faculty.
• Academic or work experience in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or business administration.
• Experience working at the community level.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation, including the use of data collection and reporting tools.
  
  

Required Language Skills

Candidates must meet one or more of the language requirements below in order to be considered for this position.

• Completed 4 years of high school Spanish coursework within the past 8 years
• Completed minimum 2 semesters of Spanish college‐level coursework within the past 6 years
• Native/fluent speaker of Spanish
  
  

Candidates who do not meet the language proficiency levels above can take the language placement exams to demonstrate their level of proficiency. Competitive applicants must attain a score of 50 on the Spanish College Level Examination Program CLEP exam or a score of Novice‐High on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL OPI). Candidates must meet the minimum language requirements to be considered for an invitation.

Spanish is essential for a successful, satisfying, and safe service. Candidates who have more than the minimum Spanish required are better able to integrate into their communities and work environments. For some Volunteers, speaking Spanish will be limited because their professional activities involve the use of English, but it will be important to be aware of the culture and the effort of speaking in the local language in order to develop good relationships in the community and for personal safety.

During Pre-Service Training, Peace Corps Mexico offers Language and Culture training for all Trainees, regardless of language level. The sessions will focus on developing and practicing communicative tasks in order to integrate different aspects of the language: vocabulary, grammar, and culture. This is not a traditional grammar course, and it requires the active participation of all Trainees, despite their level of Spanish proficiency. Training groups could be multi-level, and the facilitator will prepare activities to include all. Facilitators will provide different resources so that trainees may keep practicing and learning on their own. The ten weeks of Language and Culture training will be high-quality but limited, due to the time and the number of facilitators available to cover all specific needs.

For candidates with good to high language skills, classes will focus on cultural aspects of the language and communication within the Mexican context. Peace Corps Mexico does not provide training to achieve advanced language proficiency in Spanish.

Trainees are expected to integrate as much as possible with their host families, maximizing exposure to Spanish throughout the ten-week training program. Every Trainee will take a Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) evaluation at the end of Pre-Service Training and must achieve an ACTFL-certified level of Intermediate Mid in order to swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. For that reason, candidates are strongly encouraged to work on improving their language skills before departing for Peace Corps Mexico.

When Volunteers are in their communities, the Language and Culture Team will offer 30-minute Spanish tutoring every other week for those Volunteers who still need support, and there will also be resources available to keep learning and practicing, depending on individual need.

Living conditions

SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT CITIZENSHIP: Candidates who are either dual citizens of Mexico and the U.S., or who were born in Mexico and became U.S. citizens after 1998, are not eligible to serve with Peace Corps Mexico. Volunteer safety is of paramount importance, and the protections of U.S. citizenship promote Volunteer safety. Under Mexican law, anyone born in Mexico who became a U.S. citizen after 1998, or anyone holding dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, is considered a citizen of Mexico and not of the United States. If such an individual were to face a legal, safety, or other emergency situation in Mexico, the Peace Corps' ability to intervene would be limited. If you fit either of these categories, we encourage you to look for other opportunities with Peace Corps.

Living conditions in Mexico vary greatly. Larger cities or towns may be more progressive, while rural areas and small towns tend to have traditional and conservative values; these could be quite different than what most Volunteers are accustomed to and require significant adaptation.

A Volunteer’s assigned community could be located 8 or more hours from the Peace Corps Mexico Office. From where they live, Volunteers may need to commute up to an hour on public transportation to reach their universities, although such a long commute is not common. Limited bus schedules could make it necessary for some Volunteers to stay on campus more hours than others.

All Volunteer communities have some form of communication, whether by landline or cell phones, telephone booths, satellite phones, or internet access. However, due to the isolation of certain communities or adverse weather conditions, service can be weak or intermittent, and may even be inactive for several days. Nevertheless, there is always a larger community within a two-hour distance where communication systems are more reliable.

In most of the central region of Mexico, especially in mountainous areas, it can be cold in the evening throughout much of the year. Daytime highs can be very hot, but a jacket and hat are often useful in the early morning or late evening. Temperatures can range from freezing to the upper-90s. Layering is a good strategy year-round, and Volunteers should be prepared for rainy weather.

Host family stays are required during the 10-week Pre-Service Training (PST), and during the first three months of service, to promote community integration and language learning. A host family could be a two-parent family with children, a grandmother living alone, a single parent who works all day, or any other type of family. Regardless, it’s important that the Volunteer integrate with the family and respect the family’s rules and norms. After living with a host family for the first three months, some Volunteers decide to live independently if suitable and affordable housing is available. Other Volunteers continue to live with a host family.

Additional information on living conditions you may encounter during service can be found at: https://www.peacecorps.gov/mexico/living-conditionsThrough inclusive recruitment and retention of staff and Volunteers, the Peace Corps seeks to reflect the rich diversity of the United States and bring diverse perspectives and solutions to locally defined priorities in Mexico. Additionally, ensuring diversity among staff and Volunteers enriches interpersonal relations and communications for the staff work environment, the Volunteer experience, and the communities in which Volunteers serve. Our definition of diversity can include, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, religion, education, ability. During PST, multiple sessions and guidance will be provided to discuss diversity and inclusion. For more specific information about serving as a diverse Volunteer in Mexico, please visit https://peacecorps.gov/mexico/navigating-identities

Learn more about the Volunteer experience in Mexico: Get detailed information on culture, communications, housing, and health/crime statistics in order to make a well-informed decision about serving.

Medical considerations

Before you apply, please review medical clearance and legal clearance to learn about the process.

Couples information

Peace Corps Mexico can accommodate couples who will serve together as University English Co-Teachers. Both partners must apply and qualify for this position. Peace Corps Mexico can also accept same-sex couples if both are University English Co-Teachers.

During the 10-week Pre-Service Training, couples have the option of living with the same host family or living separately to maximize Spanish language learning.

For the first three months of service in their host community, couples live together with the same host family. After this time, they may choose to stay with the host family, or rent an apartment or small house. Although couples live in the same town, they are normally assigned to different universities to have a greater impact. However, depending on the circumstances, they could be assigned to the same university.

Some couples may encounter challenging situations such as being asked questions about having children or they may be the subject of comments or jokes about being monogamous. During Pre-Service Training, staff and Volunteers address these issues, and Volunteers develop their own strategies for resilience and to adapt to such realities.

The Peace Corps works to foster safe and productive assignments for same-sex couples, and same-sex couples are not placed in countries where homosexual acts are criminalized. Because of this, same-sex couple placements are more limited than heterosexual couple placements. During the application process Recruiters and Placement Officers work closely with same-sex couple applicants to understand current placement opportunities. For more information please visit: https://www.peacecorps.gov/faqs/lgbtq/