Job Discussion Forums

[Karoons]

Hello,
I am planning to head to Spain in December to job hunt with a view to starting work in January - I`ve been told that that`s the second best time after September. Does this sound right? At the moment I live in Japan and have been teaching for 3 years. So I have experience but I don`t have a TEFL Certificate. I`m from the U.K so shouldn`t need to worry from the visa point of view.

Basically, given the above, I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea what my chances of finding work are. I`d be grateful for any information.

Thanks. And also can I just say what a nice change this forum makes to the Japanese one which is full of negative comments and people picking at each other posts.

[SEndrigo]

[Karoons]

Wow- thanks for such a quick reply. And thanks for the good news!

I live in Fujisawa and work in Yokohama and have really enjoyed my time here. Fujisawa is great - near the beach, lots of shops and fairly close to Tokyo and Yokohama. There`s also a lively group of expats which means I can get the best of both worlds. But it`s time to try something and somewhere new I think. Hopefully I`ll be able find somewhere in Spain that I like as much.

[Moore]

Just to add to the above, you�ll have no problem getting a job here: the hard part is getting a job that�ll pay you enough to live here and not involve running all over Madrid to do an hour and a half here and an hour there. Quite honestly, anyone with a pulse and an English speaking nationality can get work here, telf or not. I think your biggest problem may well be adapting to the ludicrously low money over here after asia: ok, it�s cheap as Europe goes but not that cheap. You can expect around 15 euros an hour for business classes, 11 or 12 for academy work, but the problem is it�s all split shift work, blocks of hours longer than 3 hours are rare here, so you�ll end up getting around 1200 euros a month once you�ve got your hour built up - ok, I know: I�m going a bit off-thread here, so back to your subject: no tefl is no problem here, especially when you�ve got a uk passport (assuming you come to Madrid, I�d very strongly recommend starting here), just make sure you have a decent amount of "walking-around-money" when you arrive.
In terms of forums, along with this one, you should look at multimadrid.com which, although possibly being slightly gushingly American, is excellent and full of people genuinely trying to help each other and never getting catty.

[MO39]

Hello everyone,

My situation is somewhat similar to Karoons' - I'd appreciate advice from anyone currently in Madrid.

I have many years of experience teaching English to adults both in the United States (my home country) and overseas; most recently I've spent a few months in Mexico giving private classes and boning up on recent developments in TEFL methodology. However, the bulk of my teaching was done before 1991. While I have 3 university degrees (one in Foreign Language Pedagogy and Spanish), I never got around to getting certified in TEFL. And, as is mentioned in the subject heading of this message, I don't have an EU passport.

Given the current state of the TEFL market in Madrid, what are my chances of making a semi-decent living there? I am planning to arrive in early January of 2005.

Many thanks for your help,

Marsha

[SEndrigo]

Moore's right again, you may find yourself running around all over town.

One way to solve this is to teach classes at the academy only. Yes the pay will be lower than business classes but at least you won't have to spend so much time in trains.

But do have a look around, there's quite a bit of turnover in this business, especially in Spain, so jobs are opening up all the time.

[MO39]

Thanks, SEndrigo, for the advice. I wouldn't mind running around the city to teach as long as the classes were held at places convenient to public transportation. After dealing with the stress of moving around Mexico City for a few months via buses and the Metro, I'm hoping that Madrid won't prove to be quite as taxing.

My real concern is being offered work at all since I have neither TEFL certification nor an EU passport. I'm hoping that my experience and good command of Spanish will make up for that.

Marsha

[SEndrigo]

Hi Marsha

I honestly dont think you'll have a problem finding work, if you go to Madrid.

Spanish speaking ability won't make any difference in getting hired - but it will indeed improve your quality of life in Spain