I am Canadian and I will be in Spain in September looking for work teaching English. I was wondering if anyone knows of any decent language schools that hire North Americans. Is there anyone that is currently working at a language school that may be hiring in September? I would prefer teaching in Valencia, but will go anywhere.
Thanks,
Michelle (ttmwelsh@hotmail.com)

Hi Miche!! Welcome to the group! You've certainly come to the right place because there is a "barrel full" of info about teaching English in Spain for North Americans already in this forum.

Use the SEARCH link above/right and type TEACH ENGLISH as your keywords and you'll find several several threads on the topic.

In short, you'll find it extremely difficult and most schools are more willing to hire those from England since they are already legally able to work in Spain than those of us from North America who are not legally able to work in Spain without a work visa supplied to us.

By the way, while it's not online yet, Tracy Moral's The Expatriate Cafe @ http://www.ExpatriateCafe.com will probably be online in the next few weeks. This site is dedicated to your question: Getting English Teaching Jobs in Spain for North Americans. It's by far the best resource on the 'net (it was before their previous site went down).

Best of luck to you! Saludos, MadridMan

Having been there and done that, I thought I'd give a little info about teaching English in Spain. Though I can only speak for myself, I advise everyone to please not expect to be living in paradise once you move to Spain to teach English- it is very hard work and incredibly demoralizing. So, here goes...

It is virtually impossible to get work authorization in Spain as a U.S. citizen- the unemployment is too high and they honestly don't want foreigners working there. It is possible to find work there without permission- all you need is to be a native speaker and have some shred of personality and maybe some teaching experience. The only thing most academies care about is having native speaker teachers to brag about and impress the clients with. However, the reputable academies won't normally hire without a work permit. Then again, my academy was "reputable" and treated us like absolute garbage. I will warn you that the academies generally are only looking out for themselves and they overwork the teachers and treat them terribly. For example, I had 15 different classes in 4 different locations, taught 26 contact hours per week, and worked from 8am to 8:30pm Monday through Thursday. I had very little free time, but it was spent preparing my classes. We were forced to share textbooks (God forbid they would buy us our own copies) and had to request photocopies 24 hours in advance, but they were never ready anyway. I got a decent salary, but it wasn't worth it. They had 4 of us sharing an illegally registered car to get to classes (I found that out by having a fender-bender in it and getting fined!) If someone else had the car and we had to take a taxi, we had to fight to get reimbursed. They didn't pay us on time and every little detail was a fight with them.

Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but you really need to be realistic about it before you jump into it. I was incrediby naive when I went and got a huge wake-up call. By the way, my academy is called Metropolitan and is in Burgos: DO NOT WORK THERE! OR ANYWHERE IN BURGOS, FOR THAT MATTER!

Hi Miche, Even though I don't have experience of teaching, my daughter does. At present she is taking a 4 week intensive course in Madrid to gain a qualification to teach English as a foreign language. This is a Cambridge University qualification and upon passing (fingers crossed) will allow her to teach anywhere in the world. The course is costing over £700 UK, don't know conversion rate into dollars,and then £200 for lodgings in what I think is a rather horrid shared apartment. The workload is tremendous, starting at 10am and not finishing until 8.30pm, and then spending several hours on homework and preparing for the next day's lessons. Kerry is right, you will find it very difficult to obtain work as a US/Canadian citizen, even more so if you do not have the right qualifications.

[ 06-12-2001: Message edited by: SuePycroft ]

Hello!

Just a quickie comment about that fancy Cambridge course your daughter is taking...it's an EXCELLENT course indeed to take, but it is NOT a free ticket to teaching "anywhere." Her marketability goes up, but she still must apply for legal work the old fashion way. And if she's American, that means she's going to have just as tough a time as all the rest of us here in finding an academy or private school who wants to hire her over all the legal EU brits that take that same course.
I don't want to burst your bubble, but I tried that route.
Before I was able to work legally in Spain, teaching English, I thought I'd take that expensive course at the International House *somewhat comparable to Cambridge House and British Council* because they offered FREE job placement. The fine print though stated that, in order to be placed, I must have legal residence and be able to obtain a work visa.

Tracy

[ 06-12-2001: Message edited by: Tracy Moral ]

Hi there Tracy, as it happens we are English, thereby making it easier to obtain work in Spain. She has just received a letter from a school in Aranda de Duero offering her a 1 year placement to teach English, 22hrs per week for a salary of 116,000pts per month with extra hours if wanted. She hopes to go to teach in places such as Thailand, Japan and other far east countries, using her TEFL & TESOL qualifications. Many thanks for your reply. Sue.

[ 06-13-2001: Message edited by: SuePycroft ]

Miche,
What up.
I'm actually in Amsterdam, but finding the visa restrictions for non-EU people very strict. I studied in Spain during college and have a good friend who wants to go back - I'm thinking about it, but as the the gentleman with the realistic comment made - it's very difficult to find work as a north American. I've been here two months and can barely find freelance work.
Then again, I had read how difficult it was going to be, and thought I could do as well, so life your boat - just be prepared for the rough sease.
Peace,
Ed from Denver

Hi, I lived and worked (well: taught TEFL!) in Valencia during the 90's. As an Irish citizen paperwork wasn't really a problem (in the end most of my work was in the "black economy" anyway!). As you will already know not being an EU national does complicate things but as far as I know the employment situation in Valencia is fairly buoyant and you should be able to pick something up. It is significantly cheaper city than Madrid or Barcelona so that helps too.

I knew some US nationals who had a few academy hours and also did some translations. There is an English book shop (can't remmebr the address) with a noticeboard for ads. The "chain" such as Opening and Wall St have hit Valencia and seem to accomodate north Americans easily enough but I have heard some dodogy reports from employees. There are lots of small academies around the city where red tape might not be so important and of course you can always try to get private classes.

I couldn't recommend you the names of any spcific schools, but really there isn't a lot you can do until you get there. I guess you know the routine: get loads of CVs photocopied and do the rounds of the schools. Photos would help as they get a number of callers.