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DMcK
Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 111
Location: Madrid
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 Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:30 pm Post subject: Teaching in Madrid - A Review |
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OK, the sticky above has been bothering me for quite some time now and every time I come here I get annoyed that I can't reply to it so I thought it was about time I made another thread to review it.
I've been in Madrid now for the best part of 3 years and I have to say that it has become my home; I doubt I will leave here any time soon as it really is a great city.
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The place
Madrid is not the Mediterranean. It�s over 700 metres above sea level, and consequently is very hot in the summer (up to 45 deg Cs) and can feel very cold in the winter- and with famously dry air all year. The plus side is wonderful clear blue skies and plenty of mountains to get away to at the weekend (a big Madrileno hobby). All the other best things are just what you see in a guide book- tapas, the Prado and nightlife. A pleasant surprise is just how well the local council do they job, hosing down streets everyday and expanding the Metro all the time. |
Fully agree here. The local council really do look after the place very well indeed and it is very safe apart from petty theft (don't ever fall asleep at 7am on the metro after a night out boozing).
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The people
The people are not exactly Mediterranean either. But then could Don Quixote have been Italian or Greek? I think not. According to the travel writer Jan Morris the real Spain is not in Andalusia, it�s on the meseta- and that includes Madrid as much as La Mancha or Toledo, and it certainly includes the people.
Some complaints I�ve seen here about the people in Madrid are that they are workshy, they are rude, and they don�t like speaking English. First of all, they do call it �the Protestant work ethic�, and Spain is a very Catholic country. The two Spanish words we�ve famously taken into English to describe their lifestyle are, of course, �siesta� and �fiesta�. Siestas are a slowly dying breed in Madrid, but the Spanish really do know how to go out and have a good time. They happily go from bar to bar until 6 or 7 in the morning without getting drunk, fighting or being sick (well, that�s true of the over 18s, anyway). Most of them even manage it without taking drugs. Can�t say it�s ever anything I got the hang of myself, but you have to respect them for it. Just walk into a Spanish bar and there�s just a great vibe of people having a lot of good, clean fun. Same in the street and on the Metro- no one pushing past anyone else because they are so important like in London. It�s all so laid-back- no clenched up stressed faces. And in the street, no one ever seems to get out of anyone�s way and yet they never bump into each other. If you walk at London pace, however, (and I still do) you�ve broken the unwritten rule and you will have to dodge and weave your way down Gran Via and through El Corte Ingles like no-one�s business.
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This is where my main gripe is..
Workshy: arguable but then who really wants to work and make someone else rich? One thing that many of my students moan about is that their work ethic is seriously inefficient. It's all about showing face for them and if you would prefer to get your work done and leave on time (imo if you work late you're too slow) then you're going to be spoken about and frowned upon. They feel the need to go around having coffees and chatting about football with their colleagues instead of getting the job done so end up with long days in the office before being able to go home.
Rudeness: I arrived in Madrid with an open mind, knowing the stereotypical opinions people have about Spanish culture and all that but committed to integrating and learning about a culture I pre-judgmentally thought was interesting and laid back and generally one which suited me.
The honeymoon period lasted about 6 months before I finally snapped! No, it's not just a different way of life. It's not just a different way of using language. It's not that we are ridiculously polite. They are PLAIN RUDE. The notion that people go about their daily business in harmony here is a joke. The pushing is part of daily routine during rush hour. The selfishness in public makes my blood boil at times.
What's with them choosing the aisle seat on the bus and getting pissed off when you try to get past them to sit down? Ridiculous practice imo and just a small example of many rude customs you can find every single day.
I could go on and on about this. Everyone I know here does! When I meet someone new, somehow the conversation always gets round to this same stuff.
The "laid back no clenched up faces" part made me laugh: it's exactly what you'll find on the metro and in the streets.
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So that�s Madrilenos at play. Work, unfortunately, is just something they do to get themselves to the next piece of pay. So the service in shops and restaurants is terrible. Waiters have a superb knack of moving their eyes across the room so as to see every corner of the room but your hand. Strangely this is most true when you want to pay the bill, even when they are turning people away because there are no tables left. So you can sit there sipping on your tiny beer for hours without being hassled and moved on. Again, I didn�t really get the knack, and I didn�t have 3 hours for lunch. But if someone is getting stressed and unpleasant in a bar, it�s not the locals- that�s for sure.
In shops again, it can seem like they�re doing you a favour. Well, don�t look it at that way. It�s the owner they�re really doing a favour for- working a 12-hour day for rubbish money and no job security. And they are giving the owner exactly the amount of dedication to the job he deserves- you are just being caught in the crossfire. Go into a shop just for a chat and to practise your Spanish rather than to buy something, and they�ll stop everything for you. Just do all your actual shopping in VIPS, the local 7 Eleven. |
Can't say I've ever experienced this. In bars it's usually just the old beer slammed on the counter thing but in shops I haven't had any particularly bad service. Shopping in VIPS has to be a joke, right?
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the students
Like all European teenagers, they are not in the slightest bit interested in learning, and being Spanish they are just that bit louder than the average.
The adults still like playing games and chatting and seem to forget homework- In Spain you can try out all those wacky games you saw in some Humanistic book and couldn�t try anywhere else.
The big mystery of the classes is that they love speaking, but the Spanish sense of the ridiculous means they just cannot take themselves seriously talking to another Spanish person in English.
In the street, people�s unwillingness to speak English means you will pick up Spanish very quickly- which is good, no?
You might expect Business classes to be more serious- but no. |
Amazing that you can say "like all European teenagers". This is absolute rubbish. There are good and bad Spanish kids in terms of desire to learn, just like there are from everywhere.
Adults playing games is a disaster for exactly the reason stated about them not being able to speak English to each other: they take themselves far too seriously to do that. And they'll also think you suck as a teacher if you try to get them to do it. Forget creativity and autonomy: it's just hardly ever going to happen.
That goes for 95% of classes. Big intentions but out of a lot of students, I've met only a handful who've actually taken ownership of their English studies and done enough to learn something. |
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sleepingdragon89
Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 3
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:45 pm Post subject: it's all the same |
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Look - people are the same wherever you may go. Just get on with it and do some teaching. Nuff said  |
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DMcK
Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 111
Location: Madrid
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| Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| People are not the same wherever you go. What a ridiculous thing to say. |
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sheikh radlinrol
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 1222
Location: Spain
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| Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| The sticky about Madrid written by Alex Case is a load of s????. I wondered if he�d even been to the city when I read it and posted a comment similar to yours. The most ludicrous part was the waiters who avoid eye contact. I�ve been drinking and eating in Spanish hostelries for years and I�ve always been valued as a customer. Go to the same bar twice and you�re treated as a regular. Dave should remove Case�s twaddle. It�s misleading for would be madrile�os. Rant over. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| It's nearly a decade old in any case - much has definitely changed in the entire region since then. So, even if one agreed with some or most of the content, it's pretty clearly outdated. Maybe ask the mods to delete? It's certainly served whatever useful purpose it may have had. |
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jonniboy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama
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| Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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True, and the stuff about the Euro being weak is way outa date as well. Those going to Spain from the UK or the USA have long had to contend with the opposite problem of a high euro meaning they need even more in terms of savings to set themselves up.
There doesn't seem any good reason for the Palma language institute scam thread to be stickied either. It's from early 2008 and I'm sure the scammers who were using the name have long, long, long ago moved on to using other academias in their cheats. Someone could maybe drop the mods a line. |
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