Job Discussion Forums

belen · Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 1

Hi everyone! Im a student at Kansas State University - USA. Im majoring in Marketing and International Studies. Im originally from South America (PARAGUAY) but I have been in the US for 4 years now. I am going to Spain this summer and I wanted to work there to get some extra money! I have a lot of experience with teaching because I teach Spanish here, and I thought English in South America. I will be in Spain from May 26th to Sep 1st.

ANy ideas?

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

July and August are very slow months for teachers, even those who have been in the country for a long time and have good contacts (see the current thread on long-timers for a discussion of this).

Summer camps are more common in the UK.

You might scrape up a couple of private students, but this takes some time and is not very reliable in terms of consistent income.

kronos · Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 12

If you look on TEFL.com, under Spain, you'll find some offers for jobs at summer camps in Spain. They don't pay well, but if you're just looking to make some extra cash while you're in Spain, it may be okay. Plus, they're usually in small villages, so it's a chance to see part of Spain you might not otherwise come across. There are also a few non-residential camps in Madrid, where it's basically just summer school and the kids and teachers go home at the end of each day.

Unfortunately a lot of summer camp jobs are last-minute deals -- just send your resume out (better if you can put a Spanish phone number, so you may want to wait til you get to Spain) and wait patiently... That's about all you can do. Also go to expat hangouts (e.g., if you're in Madrid, Irish pubs, group intercambios, etc.) to try to meet people who are teaching. They may know of work.

Moore · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 730 Location: Madrid

There's a surprising amount of summer work on offer here in camps: the tricky part is getting one that pays well as Kronos mentions. That does get offset to some extent by free board/cheap housing in shared flats rented for teachers.

For someone coming over for summer only they are pretty ideal, for long termer teachers who have to carry on paying rent on their flats in cities and have partners living in those cities it isn't a very attractive deal.

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workingnomad · Joined: 26 Sep 2005 Posts: 106 Location: SE Asia

Is it fair to say that the summer camps are looking for younger teachers, e.g. those under the age of 30?

And female?

Moore · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 730 Location: Madrid

In terms of the women thing, not really: I think it's just that (and please don't crucify me for being sexist as I'm not!) women seem to have a bit more patience with kids than men do, and also I think there is a certain avoidance of teaching kids by men as they don't think they will have the patience: I have to admit that's my situation. Shame to miss out though: the few years that I did teach kids were a lot of fun - it's very hard to be in a bad mood or feel tired when kids are bouncing around you.

In terms of the age thing, that may well be true. Energy issues? Image issues? Birds-of-a-feather thing? At the age of 38 now, I personally feel that I'm at my upper limit for kids tearing around the place and also the whole party-hard after work teacher socialising that is part of the summer camps charm.

_________________________________________________________________________
...Jobs and language exchanges in Madrid, Barcelona and Berlin... www.lingobongo.com

...send your c.v. around ALL the schools in Madrid, Barcelona or Berlin in one hit with our c.v. sending service... www.lingobongo.com

kronos · Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 12

I think it depends what kind of summer camp you're doing... Some camps are more like the traditional summer camp model we have in the States (not sure how it is in the UK?) -- meaning they are much more active. You may have to do activities with the kids, play more games, etc. For those types of camps, maybe younger teachers are better because they have more energy...

But the majority of summer camps I taught at in Spain were essentially just summer schools, when it came to the English part. In those camps, I'd say most of the teachers were in their late 20s to late 30s, with a few over-50s as well. And it was about a 60/40 split between female and male teachers. Just imagine a bunch of kids in a hot room studying English for 5-6 hours a day -- you need teachers who can keep them in line, so older and more experienced is much better!