Monya’s Mexico Chronicles: Guadalajara

written by Monya Lemery, Latin America Regional Director

The city of Guadalajara is a very large metropolitan area in the state of Jalisco. The population is somewhere between 4 and 8 million, depending on who you talk to. It is the second largest city in Mexico and a very important business center. It is a colonial style city with traditional Spanish architecture. Boasting a warm climate and palm trees, the city feels safe and the people are friendly. Learning to take the bus proves a challenge at first for many interns, but later on they describe it as an adventure. Guadalajara is modern with traffic problems, large shopping malls, all kinds of activities, and great craft markets, museums, and weekend getaways. The coastal city of Puerto Vallarta is only about 6-7 hours away and makes for a do-able weekend trip.

Teaching Internships in at Private, Bilingual Schools in Mexico

I visited the four schools in Guadalajara where we send interns: Francis Bacon School, Ker Liber School, John F Kennedy School, and Colegio La Paz School. These are all private, bi-lingual schools who have been receiving interns through the IE₃ Global Internships Program and Lane Community College for at least 10 years. It is possible for interns to work with kids at any level between pre-school and high school. As well, the schools offer free room and board with a homestay family in order to offset the costs of interning abroad. This makes these internships very affordable – generally less expensive than living and studying at your home university.

I visited with 3 current interns: Kristy, Lauren and Sarah, who all had a marvelous time in Guadalajara. Kristy worked with groups of middle and high school students to improve their English at Colegio La Paz. Lauren worked as a teacher’s aide in several different English classes at the primary level at Francis Bacon School. Sarah worked as an aide to the art teacher at John F Kennedy School. They learned a lot about Mexican culture and about teaching. They all hope to pursue a graduate degree in teaching and a career in education.

American Chamber of Commerce offers a great internship opportunity for majors of business, international business, trade, economics, and marketing, event planning and similar areas. The staff is small, but mostly young professionals and there are often Mexican interns also working in the office. This is a great opportunity for students to learn about business and gain experience, but also to learn about how business is conducted in Mexico and Mexico/US trade relations. Interns improve their Spanish and learn business-related vocabulary while being fully immersed in a Spanish speaking work environment. They love IE₃ interns and hope to receive more in the future.