I have been here just a short time and feel the school is a good place to work. Though every school has problems, this one included, the admin has valued my experience and ideas and has treated me well. I am a qualified teacher and have taught in many countries and the facilities, pay and benefits here are certainly on par with the better schools I have seen. There are far far worse, and all you have to do is read the reviews of other schools in Thailand, Costa Rica and other places to see how they scam people. Here the pay is fair and on time, the work load is reasonable, the kids are kids - demanding but generally good, and the place is comfortable and clean. They provided me a house with 3 BR´s, they paid my airfare down, they bought me lots of goodies for my place for when I arrived, they offer a M.Ed. from an acredited US school and will pay half the cost, etc. All in all, I´d give the place a B. Some areas need improvement, but generally things are pretty good.

I agree with Pancho…very much. I have been here a year and will be back next year. It hasn´t been a cakewalk, but I compare it to other places I have worked and I think I have learned more here than anywhere as to how to be a better teacher. I won´t e here forever either, but I find myself adapting more and more as each month goes by and I also find the school making lots of good changes to support teachers. No one has ever lied to me, my pay is deposited on time, I am allowed to tutor after school in my own classroom for a good bit of extra income, and I have met lots of great people.

In my opinion, it is pretty much a place you will love or hate. Those who hate it will be the ones who want constant certainty, are attracted to great order, and believe that their class and their needs are more important than almost anything else in a students life or how a school is operated. Here, school means teaching and normal classes, but it also means fun, festivals, soccer, and a little bit of chaos every day.

Lots of us find it refreshing to be in a less than predictable place, where things are always happening, and to be trusted as professionals (unless we lose that by acting unprofessionally of course) and be given great freedom in the classroom to teach how we want(with many interruptions but you learn to live with them).

If you want a manual telling you what you have to teach every day, or kids who behave like robots, or a school that operates like a well-oiled machine, ASP won´t be for you. But if you want a place where you´ll have lots of fun and great kids, smart colleagues, and learn a lot about teaching in another culture while also living in a pleasant city where your salary will afford you a pretty decent lifestyle, ASP is a pretty nice place to be for a year or two.

And by the way, the fact that many people posting here feel so strongly one way or another about the school really does show that picking a place to work and a field to work in is not a science. It either clicks or it doesn´t, no matter what field. I would argue that the folks who are so bitter made the worng choice - but lots of people here made the right choice and are happy. So if you are thinking about coming down, evalaute yourself and what you are looking for first. Make sure you like being with kids, spoiled or not. Make sure you like preparing dynamic, creative lessons. Make sure you like standing in front of a class. Make sure you like writing and grading exams. Make sure you like the challenge of a bilingual system where langauge abilities are widely disparate. Make sure you like Mexico. Make sure you are prepared to live where most people don´t speak English. Make sure you are able to accept and appreciate a culture radically different from your own - where people are not always in a hurry and a smile and hello in the morning are often more important than getting to class on time, where football is so important that classes get cancelled sometimes, where getting copies make take a while longer, etc. It´s not for everyone, but it is not the school´s fault that some people make the wrong choice for the wrong reasons. When I look around at my colleagues who are staying for a second or 4th or 10th year, they are the ones who understood what teaching is, and what being a teacher is all about, and came to Mexico to teach first and to flit about the country drinking beer with their buddies only when it was appropriate. If holiday in Mexico is what you are after, ASP ain´t for you. If a bilingual school where you will learn and grow professionally while dealing with the challenges of being a teacher in a foreign land where priorities are different is what you are after, then ASP might be a place you´ll really love.