Job Discussion Forums

[KyleJepson]

Hey, I'm going to be participating in the Canterbury Madrid program this Nov./Dec. and was wondering if anyone else doing the program was out there? I was hoping to contact a couple people before heading out in a month. Let me know...

[bc2rlh]

Hiya Kyle

I'm planning on being in Madrid from November. I've been in touch with Canterbury (although not formalised plans as yet) but am planning on doing the Spanish course in November and then the Canterbury course in Jan. I'm just looking into temporary accomodation at the mo and trying to sort some things out.

[KyleJepson]

Yeah, I haven't worked out too many details yet either. I've been to Spain before, but I was just hoping to contact a couple people before I got over there. As you can imagine, I'm a bit uncertain about a few things, but certianly looking forward to it. Where are you from? What's your name for that matter?

[bc2rlh]

Hi again Kyle

I've sent my application off this weekend to Canterbury so hopefully I'll hear back this week.

I've also sent you a PM

[tim hortons man]

word of warning, before forking over your hard earned dollars make sure
they offer the TEFL cetificate and not just TEFL training. I had a friend do his training there and while the training was good he didn't get a TEFL cerificate out of it. Well it won't matter much in Mardrid it may matter other places. The only school I know of that offers TEFL certicate is TTmadrid (I'm sure there are others but I didn't look that far).

They also offer 40 hours of paid employment but its only 10 euros an hour which is very low (not a problem as there is loads of better paying work out there)

regardless Madrid is a fab place to live and teach amd curently there is tons of work.

good luck

[Spainish]

Hello there Tim (and others).

I was just wondering what you meant by not receiving a TEFL certificate from Canterbury (your friend that is)? I took Canterbury's course (way back in the day ) and certainly received my certificate after the course. Did he leave early? Or not officially complete the course?! He should certainly contact the guys there as they were always great about taking care of their teachers through replacement copies of certificates or letters of recommendation (I needed both at one time ).

You are correct about the pay, at least the base amount. With my experience there they started most people out with "easy" classes (i.e. children or conversation classes) which paid less, especially if people showed no experience in teaching prior to taking the course. In my first year of teaching in Spain I stuck to Canterbury and saw a decent rise in the number of hours and pay (as I started to take on Business English classes or persons preparing for exams etc.), so I do believe it is all relative (this was also back in 2002/2003 mind you, so I'm not familiar with their present day pay rates).

Anyway, I'm not very familiar with TTmadrid (I'm assuming they are relatively new to the TEFL certificate world, as I've only recently started to hear about people with their certificates) but you are correct in saying there are others out there. I obviously can't comment on the other courses offered as I've only experienced Canterbury's, but it certainly met my needs.

Good luck to all anyhow. Madrid is a blast!

[tim hortons man]

I start my first real class on Monday and I have to say I'm nervous as hell, its with Caja Madrid upper intermediates. No flexibility in what I'm allowed to teach they (training express) gave me the book and the lesson plan and so in spite of my miss givings (got to start somewhere)

If I understand it correctly there is a TEFL certificate and a TEFL certification. A certification means the school was accredited by some important body. What's the difference, not really sure but since I getting a TEFL certication I guess that's better. Anyways what really matters is what you do in the classroom.

TTmadrids only been around for year or so but I went with them because I like Natasha. I don't know if a accreditation makes a difference or not.