Anyone moved to Spain to teach English?

[Firstimefreaked]

I know it won't be a great income hoping for 1200 euro a month, we currently live in England and are expecting our first DC in August. My OH is currently on about £1000-1200 a month and our rent is 500. We both feel like we have no quality of life and we are unhappy with what's happening my OH will probably lose his temp job in Nov...are we being crazy for him to apply for sept jobs with me to follow a couple of months later with DC. You hear stories of people emigrating with only a dollar in their pocket etc we don't have any real prospects and if we move next sept when DC is a year older there's a chance of miserable times spent on benefits. Is teaching English a good enough job to get by?

[seoulsurvivor]

It isn't a good job to raise kids on imo. It can be very hit and miss, based on contracts that are only a year, no pension or health insurance etc.

You'd be better off getting a teaching certificate, working in the UK for a couple of years, then going to Spain to teach in an international school. Far more security, better pay etc.

[elQuintoConyo]

€1200 a month you'd need to work in more than one place. You could earn that in a big city but rent is crazy, especially Barcelona.

Teaching in businesses you need a car, hours are usually before work/lunchtime/after work (eg some days my hours were 7.30-9, 9-10.30, 12.30-2, 5-6.30, in the same company, so lots of drive to and fro). Or in a big city you'd be on the bus/metro zig zagging about. I did it a million years ago when i was young and carefree, but now older with dc I don't have the energy.

Teaching in an academy is a different kettle of fish. You go in, teach straight through, go home. These are often afternoon/evening hours catering to kids, teens, uni students and adults.

If you can get a job in an academy then extra business hours in the morning then you can easily earn €1200. But for teaching 25 hours a week (i wouldn't recommend more) you also have to factor in: planning, photocopying (sooooooo much bloody photocopying), marking, travelling...

I'm still in Spain in the TEFL world so if you like feel free to PM me.

You can do the TEFL training course in just 1 month, either here or in UK.

[Xmasbaby11]

I did a TEFL and taught in Barcelona about 15 years ago. My rent was high and I had to work split shifts and travel around the city..fine for me as a single person as I went out at night after finishing work at 9.

I'd avoid big cities. Cost of living is high and there's competition for decent teaching jobs.

I love Spain though!

[elQuintoConyo]

It's probable we bumped into each other Xmasbaby11 i'm also a Barcelona veteran oh the joys of going from class to bar to 5am metro to home for a change of clothes and toothbrush before 8am class

I left cos it got too expensive, but not too far away that I can't visit Ikea the museums.

[Firstimefreaked]

I'm scared that being broke here will be worse than there, once the little ones older I could work to. Sadly there's very little chance of him getting a teaching degree, he was hoping to teach English to buisinesses after a year by being self employed.

[Firstimefreaked]

We were hoping to live in Valencia?

[Thisarmingman]

What everyone said about low wages and strange hours and insecure contracts is true. After a few years you could get in with the British Council once you've got more experience and the DELTA and they do pay well. It's a young childfree person's game though really. If you're thinking of teaching, why not do a PGCE and then get a job in an international school instead? Much better money and more secure contract.

[Xmasbaby11]

I wish I'd moved elsewhere in Spain instead of coming back to London! I also found I didn't practice much Spanish as there were so many foreigners. I was only there about a year though.

The nightlife was something else!

[Firstimefreaked]

He's currently doing his Tefl through Cambridge and almost finished. He would defiantly work his arse off and hopefully a get of extra money from my self employment and looking after my friends holiday home. Is it worth taking the plunge? It seems bleak here, especially after this election.

[Xmasbaby11]

Honestly, don't do it with a family to support. I only have 1 friend left doing TEFL in Europe. She's just had a baby, has got 3 months off mat leave and then getting back to England asap. She's in Portugal, not Spain, but the situation is similar.

[seoulsurvivor]

What xmas said. the only people I know who are doing TEFL in Europe are people originally from that country or single people.

It doesn't really matter how hard you work. It is almost impossible to make ends meet. Plus, teaching is exhausting. More than about 25 hours and you will want to die.

Why can't he do the PGCE? Any specific reason?

[elQuintoConyo]

This is a useful website for checking the price of renting a flat:

www.idealista.com/en/venta-viviendas/valencia-valencia/

You can click on different areas/neighbourhoods of the city.

Have you visited Valencia? It is lovely, 3rd largest city in Spain but still less than 1 million inhabitants. Huge park for kids. Bike friendly. But i don't know what wages are like, or standards.

[Bluedabbadee]

Can you speak Spanish?

How often have you visited Spain before now, and how long for?

What is your security network like in Spain?

What is childcare like in Spain? What are the schools like in Spain?

[elQuintoConyo]

I've been tefling in Spain since 2001. Not being paid any more than 16 years ago though but I have had continuous employment (not in the same place, just never out of work).

How's your Spanish?

[Firstimefreaked]

He's used his education for the degree up he failed his fourth attempt, I just want a different life I guess especially before we leave the EU. I can still go back to uni and finish a degree it's all about funding really. I have a small inheritance and I'm afraid it will go to waste here. I'm not originally from the uk and finding it unbearable.Id hate for my DC to grow up how I did in the uk. We are both learning Spanish at the moment so currently not brilliant, hoping to do my degree through Open University.

[Xmasbaby11]

I'd look for another source of income.

I now have a well paid job in TEFL at a UK university and we run the Celta so I have a lot of contacts who know the situation in many countries.

I also wouldn't say the Spanish lifestyle is as relaxed as you imagine. You're not going to be having siestas. You're going to be stressing about unpaid summer holidays and short term contracts.

Sorry to be negative! If you are committed in going, get a decent level of Spanish asap. Apart from integrating into life there, the better English teaching jobs go to those who speak Spanish.

[Firstimefreaked]

I appreciate your input guys it's such a big decision, wether to do it this year next or not at all.

[seoulsurvivor]

Sorry, I don't get what you mean. 'He used his education for the degree up he failed his fourth attempt.'

[Firstimefreaked]

My mum is planing on buying a house aswell to rent out for holiday lets so could manage that as well. Our only other option is to move closer to my mum and try and find work, where we live now hasn't been very kind to us and defiantly need some sort of move.

[Firstimefreaked]

You get 4 years of free degree level education for a BA, don't you need a 2.2 to get a teaching degree?

[Thisarmingman]

Really for tefl to work financially especially with a family you need a place with a low cost of living. That rules out most of Western Europe. Sorry. The people I know who have made it work with kids abroad are with the British Council and also had moved up the ladder to either be Director of Studies or doing teacher training before they had kids.

[Thisarmingman]

Oh yes and they're in places like South/Central America or Africa where the money goes further. Or China, which always seems like a headfuck kind of place to me.

[seoulsurvivor]

'a headfuck kind of place'

Why? Lots of people live in China. 1 billion Chinese people for a start, but plenty of people doing TEFL too (and surviving a lot better than the people doing TEFL in Europe.)

[Firstimefreaked]

I have family in China and Asia, a lot of those places want degrees. Errgh I fell in love with Valencia especially for the lil one to come, maybe we should wait she isn't even born yet hopefully my business can pick up...England us just so expensive Valencia just seemed a little cheaper, I don't expect restaurants, holidays are anything I'm just sick of the crap weather and worrying wether we have enough to eat or having to chose to go without gas.

[Thisarmingman]

It strikes me as being completely different to Western European culture and that would fuck with my head. Not that that's always a bad thing - it's a way to expand your consciousness expands I think.