Teaching English in Spain (and the EU in general)

You’re British, you want to move to an EU country, you don’t speak the lingo (or not a lot) and you’re wondering how on Earth you are going to get a good job in this economical crisis. Well, be British and teach English!

I’ll be focussing on Spain (and even more specifically Andalucía), but the same ideas can be applied to any EU country. I hope it’s useful and good luck!

What is TEFL/TESOL?

TEFL = Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TESOL = Teaching English as a Second or Other Language

Essentially both mean the same thing; you teach English to someone who is not a native speaker.

How do I become a TEFL teacher?

Well, the cheap way is to do a quick online course before you leave. You can usually pick up a Groupon/Wowcher voucher for around £50. I know it might sound cheap, but it does give you a good grouding of how grammar works, and you will improve on your knowledge along the way. You should aim for a course that gives over 100 hours for that £50 to get a good headstart.

Here are 13 basic tips to teaching TEFL.

What if I have no experience?

In theory, you don’t have to worry about that. Being a native English speaker instantly puts you above a Spaniard who speaks it fluently, just because you’re the real deal! And remember, everyone has to start somewhere, so don’t be too ambitious if you’ve never set foot in a classroom before – try looking for a job with children who only need to repeat songs and actions, or adults who already have a good level and want to improve.

What if I want to arrive and already have a job secured?

Don’t worry too much if you don’t get a job offer before leaving, once a native arrives it gets around pretty quickly and you should be inundated with people wanting private classes. But that’s not good for the “centre of life” part of the Family Permit, so here are some places that might be able to give you a contract or job offer before you go: Spainwise, UK-TEFL, TEFL Database, ESL Employment

Quinn’s World of TEFL has some jobs in Spain going as well.

Teaching English in Spain is a blog post which gives 7 top tips to teaching English in Spain – well worth a look!

What about private classes?

For private classes, check out the Auxiliares page for your region. Here’s the group for Andalucía 2014-2015 to give you an idea of what to expect. Normally people post classes they can’t do and ask questions about living in that area, so even if you don’t find a job, you might find otu something interesting or a tip about living in your area.

There’s also the English Teachers in Malaga Facebook group where jobs get posted.

Another route, and a good way to improve your language skills, is to go to a language exchange. Here’s the group for Malaga (which is very active and do lots of activities together): Intercambio Malaga.

There’s also Tus Clases Particulares where you can advertise and view wanted ads from people who want classes for free. It also gives you a good idea of how much to expect per hour. Personally, I don’t get out of bed for anything less than 10 euros an hour, but in some areas where there is little money or lots of English speakers, you might have to expect less.

What if I can’t get a contract?
Sadly, in Spain lots of academies don’t like to give out contracts because of the amount of tax they have to pay for you as their employee. To give you an example, if I work 10 hours and get paid 100 euros, they have to pay 40 euros in tax for me. It just doesn’t make sense in some areas, so they will ask you to go self-employed or “autónomo” in Spanish. This is a bit of a minefield. Firstly, you have to get your Social Security number (which usually requires just your passport and your NIE). Secondly, you have to work out how long you are going to be in Spain. Some “offers” from the Hacienda (Inland Revenue) mean that you pay less tax each month, but you have to lock into a 6 or 12 month scheme.

Essentially, there are two routes for paying tax in Spain as autónomo: you can “pay as you go”, meaning you pay tax on the exact amount that you work, or the popular route, you pay a fixed monthly payment. At the moment there is an offer for people under the age of 30:
First six months – 80% reduction (52 euros/month)
Next six months – 50% reduction (130 euros/month)
Next three months – 30% reduction (182 euros/month)
After that – pay 100% = 260 euros/month

There are conditions to the reduction. Once you start, you’re better off because you can continue benefitting from the reduced rates, but if you start and stop after 2 months, and then decide to be self-employed again, you lose all of the benefits above and have to pay 100% straight away when you become self-employed again. Basically the scheme is there to entice you into paying for a full year or more, and if you stop you obviously can’t take advantage of the same terms again.

This route can prove to be more hassle, and is of course harder to prove for the centre of life, but if your students are willing, when you invoice them they should sign and give their contact details. They may also be able to give you a letter stating how many hours you have taught them, when and for how much.

Ok, but I have no resources. Help!

Don’t worry, here are some great places to look for resources and lesson plans to get you started:
Teaching English – British Council, English is Fun, La Mansión del Inglés, Learn English Australia, British Council Language Assistants, English Idioms

What about if I want to make some money on the side?

Obviously you don’t have to declare your private classes if you don’t want to, and not many people even think to ask for an invoice and they pay you in cash. You could also look to doing online classes. Here’s a great article about which platform to use: To Skype or not to Skype?

There are also some companies that offer steady income from online classes, usually in the Far East, and you just have to commit to a certain number of hours for them to make the minimum payment to you. The only hitch is that you might have to work for the first month or two without payment as they tend to pay in arrears to make sure you have stuck by what you said about the hours you would work.

That’s all very useful, but I’m not going to Spain…

Like I said, the same principles can be applied to any EU country, and in some countries being British will be your biggest asset money-wise. I know it has been for me in Spain.

If you want any help with a different country or a different region in Spain, then please let me know!

I don’t speak the lingo very well, where can I get a template for a CV?

A few things to remember about Spanish CVs is that they only want education, qualifications and paid and voluntary work. Anything else you’ve done or normally write to make you the good person you are, they essentially don’t want. They prepare the bare facts. Depending on your work experience, your CV might only be one page whereas your English one will be two.

A good template to use is the Europass one: here
And here are some examples in lots of languages: here

For cover letters in Spanish, try English Spanish link

If you need any help with yours, let me know and I can translate/proof-read yours. I’m fluent in Spanish and don’t mind helping in any way I can.

Personalised Gifts

Location Print

Map Cufflinks

Travel Tag Artwork

Silver Map Bracelet

Map Box

Memories Print

Couple Cushion

Couple’s Destination Print

Personalised Underground/Metro Map

Couple Map Picture

Couple’s Reversed Cushion

Couple’s Delight Print

Map Pinboard

Love Anniversary Cushion

His and Her Keyrings

Love Your Drink Mugs

Our Bus Journey

The Adventures Of…

Perfect Together Vouchers

Our Story Print

Map of the World

Scrapbook Ideas

Hole punch through tickets and paper and connect with a key ring

No glue scrapbook
(put keepsakes in plastic wallets, or a business card wallet)

Shared scrapbook
(each contributes or send it between the two or you when you are apart)

Online scrapbook
(again, something you can both contribute to)

For exampleSmilebox

Stitch your journey

Map your journey online

Memorable meals scrapbook
(keep the business card, napkin, menu etc)

Mosaic effect scrapbook

Travel envelope

Moleskin Travel Journal

Postcards

LDR Presents: Part 3

Scratch map
(scratch off the places you’ve been together)

Scratch journal
(rather like the map, but it details each continent and you can write memories as well)

Shared Journal/Scrapbook
(send it back and forth to each other, and then when you’ve back together, add photos and tickets)

Send flowers
(use an online company to send surprise flowers to your other half)

Make a CD of songs
(the same could be done with Youtube and put photos of you both together as the background)

Married or not, you should read this

When I got home that night my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.
Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking about divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?
I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!
With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.
The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.
In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.
This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.
I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.
My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.
On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.
She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.
Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.
Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.
But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.
She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My married life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.
That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed – dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce At least, in the eyes of our son, I’m a loving husband.
The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!
If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you.
If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Taken from: Patient.co.in Blog