A Postcard from... Madrid, Spain

Before moving to Madrid, I had heard that there was an over- abundance of ESL jobs for native English speakers, and this probably IS true. However, it’s “more true” for British citizens or you few lucky Americans who have EU passports. The first requirement for an ESL job in Spain is being a native English speaker and a close second is having legal permission to work in Spain – this is the hard part. It’s very hard to get a Spanish company to sponsor you for a work permit (although I have heard urban legends that some places will do it…google the American Language Academy) and you need to work for several years to obtain a visa as a legit freelancer (pay own social security, etc). Ahhh…. but then you can always work illegally! Which is what most Americans do and how I survived Madrid for the first few months.

Paige writes to us from Madrid, Spain

The majority of my job search was done online. I googled “English lessons” and any language school in Madrid that offered them received my CV and a cover letter (whether it stated on the website that the school was looking for English teachers or not). I grouped the schools by neighborhoods and spent a few days going to each one, dropping off my resume and asking to speak to the person in charge of hiring English teachers. I found that the whole “it’s harder to say ‘No’ to someone in person” thing is not really true. I received a firm “No” after they learned I didn’t have working papers. I applied to a total of 28 English centers and language academies. Of these 28, I received 17 email responses. In these responses, the first question was always regarding my EU work papers. Was I legal to work in Spain? Once the schools heard that “No, unfortunately at this time I do not have work papers,” I didn’t hear from them again. I did, however, get two interviews and one job offer.

I accepted it of course. I was thrilled to have a job…ANY job.

June through September I worked for a small language academy. Students contacted the academy, paid the academy and the academy distributed the classes and paid the individual teachers. The pay was….average (but you have to remember…technically I was illegal). Less than I would have charged freelancing, but it was cash at the end of each of month and I couldn’t complain. The downside was that I spent the majority of my summer days on the metro going from lesson to lesson; I became a walking Madrid metro map. I wasn’t paid for my travel time. For example, I had one class in a northern area of Madrid every morning at 8am. It took me 45 minutes to get there and 45 minutes to get back; the class was an hour. So, I was paid for one hour of work, but not paid for the 1 ½ hours of travel time to complete that hour of work. Not the best set up.

Now I had a job. I still didn’t have a work visa.

Americans can stay in Spain for up to 90 days on a Tourist Visa; but of course this doesn’t allow you to work. Friends had told me that if you are “caught” at an airport entering Spain with an expired Tourist Visa, pretending that you are traveling and “didn’t know the rules”, pretending that you don’t speak Spanish and “didn’t know the rules”, and crying (or any combination of the above) have got them out of any possible trouble.

Learning the English ABC's

The beginning of October I started a job as a teaching assistant at a primary school south of Madrid. The job is part of a country-wide program in which there are about 1,200 other people “like me” assisting in bilingual Spanish schools. The greatest part about this job…it comes complete with a year visa. Now I’m legal to stay in Spain until the end of September 2010. I also receive decent private insurance. The pay is better than my previous summer pay, especially when you consider that I only work three and a half days a week. This leaves extra time for a few freelance classes on the side (where I definitely pulled many “do’s” and “don’ts” from my CELTA freelance lesson) and lots of weekend traveling!

I am the assistant for all the 2nd grade English and science classes (since it’s a bilingual school the children learn science in English). Of course sometimes it’s a struggle to work with 82 seven year olds. Some days I can only say “Sit down Alvarro” so many times without feeling like I’ll explode. Other days, I hear the children say “Good morning Paige, you are from America. Do you know The Jonas Brothers?” and I can’t stop smiling. The role as an assistant can be a challenge and seem undefined. There are moments when I’m not sure when to step up and lead the class or step back and let the main teacher lead “her” class. Sharing a classroom with another teacher takes awhile to develop a rhythm. And when the teacher is not a native English speaker, you have to deal with appropriately correcting the students as well as the teacher.

I probably don’t need to mention the fabulous social scene in Madrid. If you are already interested in beginning an ESL teaching career here then I’m sure you already know plenty about it. Get ready for two-hour lunches with friends and colleagues, dinners no earlier than 10pm, discos that don’t open until 2am and close at 7am, amazing museums and interesting street entertainment. Things are quite relaxed and run at a slower pace here compared to the US (especially NYC). Meals take longer, beers are sipped not gulped, and people stroll along the sidewalks during the evenings.

However, the slower paced frame of mind does affect parts of life that we, as Americans, are used to taking care of rather quickly. Don’t expect to get much done between 3-5pm as smaller stores and businesses are closed for siesta. An unannounced motorcycle parade blocking every possible route you have to reach your apartment? Sorry about that but, hey, have a beer and enjoying the roar of the engines…why do you need to get home so soon anyway? Opening a bank account was one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had…but, after three different banks and one tearful conversation (they were tears of joy) I now have my bank account. Now if I could just get them to send me my debit card…

Paige
Teaching House CELTA Graduate, Spring Extensive Course 2009

Paige living it up in Madrid