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Anyways first proity is learning Spanish, once your fluent you have a lot more options open to you. We've talked about it and I figger at some point an oportunity will open up and we'll take advange of it. That's how we got here.

Sorry for jumping in on this great thread so late, just got back in town. Yes, agree 100% that learning Spanish should be priority number one, as it will take longer than you think and you can teach English while you do that and build your contacts.

I am a teacher by profession and I enjoy teaching English, but it's not all I enjoy. I also studied biology and public health education, so I wondered if I could do something in that area as well, but it seemed daunting to try to get a Spanish public health job.

So I did just what Coco suggests: keep your mind open and check out all kinds of job ads that mention English and that might be related to other things you're interested in. That approach has led me to my five (!) current jobs: medical english teacher, medical research editor/translator, university speaker, voice-overs, and technical/publicity writer.

All are fun jobs and all in English, but I believe I was able to get them by learning Spanish, keeping an open mind, and building relationships. And finally I'm making a good living doing it. Did take over 3 years for that to happen, though.

So...I agree with Candy and Shawn that if you love what you do and you're good at it you can definitely make a good living as an English teacher. And I agree with others that you can start teaching English and grow and expand from there, also resulting in a good living.

Course all that depends on your definition of good living - we now make it to the end of the month and reasonably enjoy ourselves. We don't have lots of expensive habits - although the occasional gadget must be ours, as well. Buying a house remains a dream for us...and will for some time to come.

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And I agree with others that you can start teaching English and grow and expand from there, also resulting in a good living.

Course all that depends on your definition of good living - we now make it to the end of the month and reasonably enjoy ourselves. We don't have lots of expensive habits - although the occasional gadget must be ours, as well. Buying a house remains a dream for us...and will for some time to come.

Juliette,

Very good points, indeed. When I was in Spain, there were many months that I didn't make it to the end of the month, but I was still happy once I learned not to look at anyone else's situation but my own. Il faut cultiver ton jardin. as Rousseau says.

I am doing it all over again because this time I have connections and people who know my teaching style and love it. When you are dynamic, energetic and have a true passion for teaching, it shows and people talk about you.

I have a friend who tells me that people still ask about me and if I can give them classes. Amazing!

Saludos,

Shawn

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Originally posted by Redwood:

When I was in Spain, there were many months that I didn't make it to the end of the month, but I was still happy

...which speaks to another point Rob made in his original post: it can be hard to imagine giving up the "regular" well-paying office-based job for this kind of uncertainty, but like Shawn, we've been so happy here we haven't minded being WAY poorer than we were in the states.

That's a personal thing, though, that I think many of us ex-pats enjoy here. I've talked to other Americans who say they could never move here and live this way; they openly admit they are too attached to the way of life over there. It's all good...just gotta find what makes you happy.

J.

I used to make about double in the States but I wasn´t happy living there and with 2 weeks vacation a year my money didn´t serve me. Here, in my new engineering job I supposedly make prety good money by Spanish standards.

Also, for a while I thought that I didn´t want to ¨do engineering¨ anymore but after a year and a half of a break I´m liking it again (although if I waited a little bit longer, nobody would hire me as my engineering knowledge could be considered obsolete.) I tried teaching English, enjoyed it but couldn´t get used to the uncertainty of the income.

So giving teaching a try for a year or so, and later going back to a corporative world could be another option...

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Originally posted by Ola:

I tried teaching English, enjoyed it but couldn´t get used to the uncertainty of the income.

This is why you have so many English teachers that love what they do, but can't get it together financially. I admit that I had to get used to those times when one month was better than the last and I always had to hold back because I never knew what the next month would bring. It's frustrating and challenging.

I have learned so much about how to handle money during those 3 years that I was in Madrid and it has changed my whole perspective on life in general. I can reall distingush between WANTS and NEEDS. Thank God! I am not knocking anyone who wants to have material things. Everyone in life is different. I learned how to have very much with very little.

Shawn