I'm considering the career change with english teaching in mind. I hold a degree and i'm confident regarding the TEF/qualifications, although being a child of the 70's british education system, grammer and i ain't closely related. :y:
I've contacted local language schools in my home town, plymouth, explaining my situation and that i'd like to meet working teachers for advice/info. However, the replies to date are of the 'english teacheing overseas is great/good money/take our next course etc type.
Therefore could a few of you, man and boy/hardest game in the world/ techers take the time to flag up a few pros/cons of the english teaching industry. Both in and out of the class room and spain v's england, for examples.
Seriously any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'm an electrican by trade and put my self through university recently so this is something i have to be sure of, so the more honest/info the better. This ain't backpacking around europe, i got smashed in asia, this could be the best move i ever make, no presure on you guys then!
Thanks for reading
Cheers, sb.
Posts: 2 | Location: Plymouth/devon/uk | Registered: 31 January 2005
Hi sb, have you done a search on this board for "teaching english"? There are a lot of posts about it which could help you decide whether that is the way you wish to go. Also, I notice that your spelling is not correct (as you say you are a child of the 70's UK education ), but I would think that is a fairly important issue if you were to be teaching English in Spain. Where in Spain have you actually decided to live - that could make a difference as to whether you continue as an electrician, or change to being a teacher of English.
________________________________________ Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional
Please see some of the other threads on this board like the 'heart vs. the wallet' or some of the English teaching ones.
You can do it short term if you like to barely scrape by or to buy you some time, but you will not be fulfilled by what you are doing (traveling around from class to class and all of the unpaid cancelations / holidays) or the money you will make which will begin to reflect in your work and make it even more difficult to continue doing it for any length of time. If you only do it for a short time so that you can get your other things going nobody will even notice that you are not really serious about it.
However, the replies to date are of the 'english teacheing overseas is great/good money/take our next course etc type
not on this board they are not :lo: i would be inclined to think those replies you have gotten are probably from teachers who have been working "overseas" but in asia, not spain or from the people who sell the tefl courses
teaching english in spain is probably THE most discussed job on this "work and resindecy..." forum so have a good loooooog read through the MANY topics related to teaching english here.
I've been in teaching here a while now, seen a lot of people come and go and in my experience it really depends on the type of person you are. A crucial question I'd ask yourself is would you actually enjoy being in front of people. One thing I did some years ago was some voluntary work at an evening night college in the Uk, just to see if I enjoyed it.I did and then I took the decision to pay to train. A lot of people I know here who are unhappy in teaching I've found have chosen the wrong job, it's an eays way to see Spain, but like any job, chances are you'll spend a lot of your day at work. If you feel you'd like to do it, I would advise doing at least a one month training course.. easier to find work with it and you'll feel more confident. One thing I do notice is often when I ask people who've done more ' high - powered', and defintely higher paid jobs in the Uk is that they tend to say they have no regrets about taking a salary cut, and enjoy their new life Can't deceive you.. in Spain it does not tend to be well paid, though in Madrid there is a lot of work available if you are prepared to put in the hours. Unless you don't mind being ripped off, research carefully where you wnat to work, there is no end of cowboy outfits that treat workers disgustingly. I'm actually the equivalent of a union rep. here and believe me laws are very often not respected.. people don't know language/ laws etc. and some language school owners are very happy to take advantage of this.
I'm not trying to put you off.. just things to be wary of. I do actually like the job a lot, it can be very rewarding and Madrid is a great place to live
techers take the time to flag up a few pros/cons of the english teaching industry. Both in and out of the class room and spain v's england, for examples.
), but I would think that is a fairly important issue if you were to be teaching English in Spain. Where in Spain have you actually decided to live - that could make a difference as to whether you continue as an electrician, or change to being a teacher of English.
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
