Job Discussion Forums

[amynick]

Hello everyone!

I am a recent grad with a BA in Spanish and a minor in ESL. I will be receiving my TESOL Certification in July from my university and have a great desire to teach abroad. I recently applied for a teacher's assistant position with MEC of Spain (ministerio de educacion y ciencia). I'll know if I get accepted by the end of May, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I was just wonderin if anyone has heard the scoop about this organization and could fill me in!! Thanks!!

[Russell Hadd]

It's not an organisation as such; it's the Spanish Ministry of Education. It should therefore be a pretty good deal compared to your average efl job in Spain if it's in a state school, with plenty of holidays! I've some friends who have done similar contracts and the only frustration is the fact that to progress you need to do the Spanish civil serivce exam 'lottery'.
However, if it's just something you want to do for a year or two then it's probably (although I'm a little out of date) as good a deal as you'll get.
If you don't mind me asking, how many euros are they offering per month?

[MLE]

Just wanted to check if you'd heard anything. I applied for the same program under a deadline that got pushed back and am still holding my breath and crossing my fingers.

Just wanted to see if you'd found out more about the program.
M

[applejack1484]

I'm glad I came across this thread...!

I was accepted as a teaching assistant through the Spanish Ministry of Education, and I'll be in Extremadura. I don't know if anybody here has been through the program and can give some more information about how things work. Or, maybe there's somebody else here who's also been accepted and knows dates of departure for orientation, etc?

The Ministry of Education has been very aloof in providing infomation about dates and getting visas, so I'm getting anxious.

And to answer the question about monthly salary, I believe that it's around 650 Euros a month. It's not a lot, especially for somebody who wants to be saving money for grad school (me), but it's enough to get by. Plus, health insurance is part of the deal. Can't beat that.

[amynick]

I got the news that I was accepted too! I'll be in andaulcia and I haven't received any more info either after the first news of being accepted. I emailed them about 2 weeks ago asking if they even got my letter of confirmation because I hadn't heard anything yet. They emailed me back and said that my documents have been sent to spain and that I should be receiving info about visas and whatnots soon- but that was two weeks ago! So yes I'm getting pretty anxious too!! It's not like this is going to be an easy and convenient move for us where we can just up and leave on a whim!! So good luck on receiving your info soon and good luck in spain!!! This is going to be great!!!!

Amy

[stacylimones]

Hi guys,
I am also in the language assistant program - going to Andalucia. I just wanted to let you guys know that there is a whole very long thread about the program over at the Expatriate Cafe. It seems no one except for the Madrid region people have received their placement info, so we are all waiting...
Anyway, feel free to contact me here or by e-mail. And check out the thread at the Expatriate Cafe - it helped me a lot.
Best wishes,
Stacy

[amynick]

Thanks for the tip stacy! I checked out that website and it had some great info! But I couldn't find anything on the MEC- could you give me some hints on where to look for it? Thanks and congrats on the great news!

Amy

[stacylimones]

Hi Amy,
The MEC is the Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura, y Deporte, basically the Spanish equivalent of our US Department of Education. Their main website is www.mec.es but they do not have an English version of the site (only Spanish, Catalan, Gallego, and Basque). Beyond the MEC, I think that we will actually be getting our assignments from the "Consejeria de Educacion" of the autonomous community to which we are assigned. Those are similar to state departments of education. For Andalucia, the site is www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacionyciencia/ They really don't have any information about our program, but there is a lot about their "Plan de Pluriling�ismo" which I believe we are part of. I also was able to find a list of schools in Andalucia participating in the new bilingual program, and I think those are probably the schools where the language assistants will be placed. If you want me to send you that list, just let me know.
Hope this helps at least a little.
By the way, have you been in Spain before? Where? I studied in Sevilla in 2001.

[stacylimones]

Hi again,
I just realized that the link I posted for the Consejeria de Educacion de Andalucia doesn't work. This one should...
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacion/nav/portada.jsp

[amynick]

Thanks again for the info! It's been helpful and makes me even more excited to go! I have been to spain a few times, but most recently I studied in salamanca last summer.