Moving to Spain

Just looking for some general advice!

I have been considering moving to Spain for a while but something always comes up. I have a few health issues at the moment which are keeping me in London, but have the travel itch again. I did Erasmus in Spain 5 years ago and had the time of my life. Although I won't be able to replicate that, I just miss the weather and the culture. Mostly the weather So if I am able to, I'd really like to move to Spain for a year or so.

I currently work as a TEFL teacher and I suppose this would be the most obvious option for working in Spain. I have the CELTA and 2+ years experience. Would anyone have an idea of whether there would be much work going in this field and would it be reasonably well paid? I don't want to be just scraping by and have nothing saved for when I eventually come home and not be able to go out and enjoy myself while I'm there. I also have a degree in translation, so I will be looking into translation or language related jobs but if the market is similar to the one here, there will be absolutely no work in that area.

In terms of the best place to move to, my preference would be a smallish city like Granada or Salamanca, but I'm assuming big cities like Madrid would be a better bet for finding a TEFL job? How much could I expect to pay to rent a room (sharing with Spaniards) in a decent area of Madrid, and how much would a monthly travel pass cost? If anyone is working in TEFL, how much do you get paid each month? I'm doing my best to google around, but people on sites like Daves ESL Cafe are WAY too negative (they say there's no TEFL work in Spain, but they say the same for London, which is complete bullsh*t). Any advice appreciated!

cailinoBAC

I don't know much about what TEFL pays in Spain these days in cities. I just remember I chickened out of doing it there or in Italy about 7 years ago because the wages I was being offered didn't seem sufficient to live on without savings.

However, I moved out to Spain last year in order to work in Gibraltar (as an accountant - I only did TEFL for a year). A month before I left Dublin, a German girl started in my job. She and her partner had been to Granada and fallen in love with it, so they wanted to move to Spain (and preferably Granada). They decided to move temporarily to Tarifa; she decided to look for a job in Gibraltar and he looked for TEFL jobs, having recently completed his certificate. He did find one before he went out. I don't know how much it pays, I don't think it's great, but it covers their rent and now he is getting private classes too. I'm not sure how much they would be though, I pay €10 an hour for private Spanish classes, so I can't imagine it's much more. That is Algeciras, though, I'm sure it's more in somewhere like Madrid or Granada.They still plan to move to Granada eventually, they're just working on their Spanish and enjoying Tarifa while they figure out what they'll do there.

My sister has been teaching in a secondary school in Manchester this year and last night we were looking at summer TEFL options in Spain. We saw one that mentioned €315 a week plus food/accommodation, but I think it was one of these camps where you probably don't have much time to yourself. She is still considering it though, but that would only be for a few months.

Sorry I don't have any tips on cities, but one thing I read somewhere was that Barcelona, for example, had so many people looking for TEFL jobs because so many people want to live there. Whereas maybe in a smaller city there might be fewer jobs but also fewer people vying for those jobs.

Now that I think of it, it was actually 8 years ago I was looking for a TEFL job in Spain (God, I feel so old) but one reason why I wasn't getting a lot of feedback was because I left it late. I was looking for jobs in August, when of course the year was starting in September and a lot of places were sorted. So maybe it will be easier looking now. I think you can get too disheartened reading certain forums. If you just look around you can find a job I'm sure, but probably private students would be the way to have your independence and build up some savings (and contacts - I've heard of people getting translation work this way).

One other thing, maybe focus your efforts on certain cities you would like to live in, but be open to others. Along with Italy and Spain, I was looking in Russia, well, specifically Moscow or St Petersburg and as I said I'd left it too late. I remember panicking a little, as I'd handed in my notice at work and still hadn't found a job. So one night I really was getting worried and ended up sending my cv all over the place. To this day I really can't remember applying for it, but on the day I left my job I was offered a new one in Minsk. It wasn't somewhere I ever would have guessed I'd end up, but I went and had a fantastic year and made some amazing friends as well. It would probably have been the case wherever I'd ended up, but I often wonder how different my life would have turned out.

Anyway, best of luck!

UngratefulWhelp

I lived in Zaragoza for two years between 03 and 05 and the going rate then per month was about 900. That was what you'd get for working in a store or a bar too at the time and I doubt it has increased to any great degree.

I remember rents in Madrid at the time were ridiculous pro rata for the salaries on offer.

I was moving to that city for a specific reason, but if you look at Tefl.com there seems to be quite a few jobs up there.

None of them in Barcelona, interestingly enough, but tbh I've never understood the attraction of living in that particular city. Madrid always struck me as a much nicer spot, even without the coastline.

Mr. Loverman

I would imagine the spots with the least amount of English speakers are the easiest place to get a TEFL job.

Some jobs in Madrid here: http://www.empleosespana.es/search/basic/previousKeywords/tefl/category/all/disabledCategory/all/keywords/english%20teacher/

kaki

Hi Izzy, I don't know if my experiences will be of any help to you as I'm based in Milan in Italy, but by and large I'm looking for work in the same fields as you (translation/english teaching) and I think that the Spanish and Italian job markets are fairly similiar.

Firstly there is a lot of competition - for example bakeca.it (equivalent to gumtree/adverts.ie) is inundated with native english speakers offering lessons, translation services etcetera. I'm working as an interpreter/translator in an Italian language school for foreigners in Milan and we charge €36 for a one hour lesson, whereas the online ads charge as low as €10 or €15 per hour for lessons given in the students home... so at least in terms of pricing it is somewhat of a race to the bottom.

Translation work exists, but you need to be very proactive, make many many contacts and be ready and willing for that day when they call you with some work.

The problem, like Spain I imagine, is that it is nigh on impossible to be taken on as a fulltime employee for both English teaching and translation work, if you're lucky they may give you a 3 month/6 month contract although it's far more likely the "contratto a progetto" which is essentially for as long as they need you, with no guarantee as to how many hours of work may come your way. All well and good till the rent, gas, electricity and internet bills all arrive at once.

I'm barely scraping by as it is! But the food is great, you take the good with the bad in terms of living in a different culture/society. The job market seems to have more signs of life than Ireland anyway, more movement, innovation, start-ups and ventures and, having had some health issues of my own that have improved a lot since.

Pues, que tenga suerte, whichever path you decide to take!