hey Rob...

quote:

To me the extra cost of owing a car is more than offset by the extra hours you can teach. I currently teaching 24 hours a week and could easly bump it up to 30 hours if I wanted (I'm waiting till the fall because I want to work through all the books once) I love teaching, I feel like at times I'm getting paid to talk to people, beats real work. But I have a car so I'm not worried about how easy it is to get to the loction.

hehehehe, funny stuff. i can SO tell that you live an work in the burbs.

if you live in tres cantos and only teach in the burbs, the car will be fine but once you have classes in the city and have to deal with...

1) traffic in and out of the city.
2) parking regulations, meters and expensive-as-hell garages.
3) tickets for having illegally parked.
4) etc...

... you will see why the majority of the teachers do not have one.

driving in madrid is a NIGHTMARE. i have a car as well but never touch the thing. only reason we have it is so that my wife can go to workin the burbs every day.

a scooter is better as it can illiminate 2 and 3 above but you still need a motorcycle license if motor is over 50cc.

that brings us to the license issue.

do you also have a spanish drivers license?

i am not sure it is as easy in canada as it is in u.s.a. to get a license there but you are not in kansas anyomore my friend.

getting a license here (short of swapping your european one for a spanish one if you have that luxury) is a loooooong and expensive process. takes many months and about 600 euros by the time it is all said and done.

do a SEARCH on "license" and do some reading.

saludos,
jer...

Hi Shawn I was referring to the amount of time that you have to spend getting to places not how you got paid. The number one complaint I hear from teachers (and Acadamies) is the amount of time you spend getting to places. For academies the problems it's finding teachers to go to out of the way places. Tandem is having problems finding teachers for Inversis and BMW, both are zone A but inconvenient to get to who wants to spend 90 mins each way to teach a 2 hour class. To be fair we had a car and mine is a second income so I'm less worried about the cost of owning a vehicle. To me, particuly if you live in the city, a scooter makes sense, cheaper to run, easy to park, and zips through the traffic. I met one teacher who on Monday mornings had 1 class in the north of the city and it took him all morning to get there and back, I thought with a scooter he could do it in 30-45 mins. But my point is still the same that if you have transportation you have more flexibitiy. The other problem is that more and more companies are moving to the burbs and you have to go where the work is.

Secondly don't get the wrong idea, teaching is a job and requires preparation and planning (you quickly find that out when you have students starting at you as you shuffle through your notes trying to figure out what your supposed to do next - do that once or twice and you learn the value of being prepared). But not many jobs pay afull time wage for partime flexible work. I go home after 2 hours and my students face a 8-10 hour work day. When I was in Germany I got bored of staying home so I decided to work (my wife worked for a small company and I could have gotten a partime job with them but I didn't think of it at the time) so I did what every foregiener does in Germany and work for a temporary agency. So I spent 2 years working 40 hours a week doing factory work for 600 a month in the hand. Compare this to last month (January) 3 weeks work (24 hours a week) and I got 1400 in the hand. To me 24 hours a week is partime work, gives me loads of time to walk the dog, go shopping etc (but not visiting friends as you do have daily preparation time). Best part is Fridays only one class, worse are Tuesday and Thursdays 17:30-19:00 by that point I'm tired and its a boring 1-1 class. That one is a struggle.

As I said I really love teaching and I can't believe I get paid good money to sit down and talk to people. On good days it's a blast, on bad days it's a struggle, but it still beats the hell out of having to face a 10 hour slog in the office or factory everyday. But as I said I have transportation so I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get somewhere having to spend hours on the metro bus and living north of the city means I get the pick of the hours as very few students want to travel out that far.



Rob

quote:

if you live in tres cantos and only teach in the burbs, the car will be fine but once you have classes in the city and have to deal with...

1) traffic in and out of the city.
2) parking regulations, meters and expensive-as-hell garages.
3) tickets for having illegally parked.
4) etc...

I found out about the nightmare traffic last week. My first class in at BMW in the mornings (607- M40 -M30 into the city) and it was 2 hours to get in(good day 30 mins). My bladder was killing me by the time I finally got there For sure if you live in the city you don't want a car, I driven in to the city a few times and you really want to avoid doing that if you can. Thankfully Tandem is on a direct renfe stop (recoletos) and I can be there in 30 mins and no parking hassle. We are slowly figuring out the car plate and drivers license thingy. Car will be about 600 euros as you said and DL not quite sure as it's German. The car/scooter thingy was only a thought as I hear so many complaints about getting around.

Rob

oh...you are the tres cantos guy! i get calls all the time for classes in tres cantos. there is no way i will do them as a two hour class even at 20 per hour is not worth a one hour each way commute.

anyhoot, send me your contact info (claballe@gmail.com) and i'll start sending you these tres cantos leads---all outside of academies by the way.
cheers,
candela

In the end, the amount of time it takes to get to class is all relative. I lived right at Gregorio Marañón and had no problem at all getting to my classes up north. I could've taken the metro or the bus to Cuzco, Valdeacederas or Plaza de Castilla. I even had a private student in Montecarmelo (BUS 178 from Plaza de castilla) and that was no problem getting to his house.

quote:

The car/scooter thingy was only a thought as I hear so many complaints about getting around.

A lot of times when people complain about getting to class, it's because of where they live. Yes, it's nice to live in a cheap apartment, but if where you live isn't well connected, it can be a chore to get to class. So, the next time someone complains to you about getting to a class, just ask them where they live. For example, if I live in LEGAZPI and have to get to PLAZA DE CASTILLA to work, it can be a hassle to get there.

All in all Rob, what you are saying can be true of some people, but you also forget that having a scooter or motorcycle is an extra expense that's not in a lot of English teacher's budget. Some of us are barely making it by on good months, so to have an extra expense just doesn't work out for a lot of people.

All of my classes ended up being in ZONE A and easily accesible by bus or walking. There were plenty of days I walked from BARRIO DEL PILAR to RIOS ROSAS and enjoyed getting in the exercise.

Shawn

I thought of that as well. The other problem is that while living in the burbs might be nice from a work point of view it is very expensive and your unlikly to find a shared appartment out here. Most of the teachers that I know that have cars are Spanish so they're either living at home or married and have two incomes to live off of.

When I was teaching at Caja Madrid I really enjoyed taking the bus in. It was a quiet 10 min walk to the bus stop and then 30 mins in, leaving more than enough time for a coffee before my classes started. The only time it became a pain was when I forgot to buy my monthly pass and had to pay for all my tickets.

Well, Tim, in the end we can agree that transportation and pay have nothing to do with each other. Just because you have a car doesn't mean that you will be paid more and a car is an extra expense that many English teacher cannot afford or either don't want to have.

quote:

worse are Tuesday and Thursdays 17:30-19:00 by that point I'm tired and its a boring 1-1 class. That one is a struggle.

I want to give you a bit of advice about classes that you think are boring. That's because you allow it to be boring. The key is to find out something that the student is interested in and bring it in in English. It doesn't matter about the level. You have to make classes engaging, not the student. You are leading the class and the student is following. Be a good leader, but once you get more experience under your belt and learn to break away from the textbook, making your classes more engaging will come to you naturally.

Saludeux,

Shawn

quote:

I want to give you a bit of advice about classes that you think are boring. That's because you allow it to be boring. The key is to find out something that the student is interested in and bring it in in English. It doesn't matter about the level. You have to make classes engaging, not the student. You are leading the class and the student is following. Be a good leader, but once you get more experience under your belt and learn to break away from the textbook, making your classes more engaging will come to you naturally.

Yes... in addition, it's mandatory to keep an updated note file for each student with current things they are learning, issues they have, interests, and so on. After or during each class the teacher should make entries. From my experience, that helped with lesson planning because I could match the notes with the contents of my teaching materials.

Every session is also an opportunity to practice pronunciation - that's the skill most students want to develop. Spanish speakers tend to have several characteristic pronunciation issues.

Thanks instantrejoinder. I forgot all about what you said. The more people post, the more English teachers realize that English teaching is work, but more mental work than physical work.

Have a great day,

Shawn

Likewise. I'll benefit from tips others have left here, too, such as the idea of having a calling card with blog address.

A general question on cancelations.


I'm finding this, by far, to be the most frustrating part of teaching English. Getting a company or an agency to commit to a decent set of hours seems to be an impossible task. Every agency I talk to I ask the same question.

What is your policy on cancellations?

In other words in 3 or 4 weeks when the student decides they’ve bitten off too much what happens. And they look at you like you’ve grown horns or something. I’m getting the distinct impression that most agencies run the business not as an English School but more like a temp agency. Call us when you want a few hours of English. Is it any wonder they can’t find decent teachers.

I just had a company put the whole program on hold indefinatly after only 4 weeks.

The only two agencies that I know of that give guaranteed hours are Tandem and English Center. Sorry there are loads of agencies that offer you 24 hours a week and a 1000 a month take home but I don’t count those.

Rob,

Long time no hear. Hope all is well. Is your question concerning privates or company classes? If you are talking about company classes, well then the academy sets the cancellation policy and there is nothing that you can do about it. The cancellation policy is already set and you have to follow their rules.

As far as private students are concerned, you have complete reign to set your own policy, as long as you establish it during the first class. If a student has an emergency, such as a migraine or a business meeting that wasn't planned, I let it go. Yes, making money is important, but at the same time, I don't want to lose a good student who can help me to get other students.

Many English teachers think that I am crazy because I don't charge at the beginning of the month. I charge my students at the end of every week and I love having cash in my hand, and that way, when I get paid at the end of the month, the majority of my salary can stay in the bank.

Everyone handles cancellations of private classes differently, so I am quite sure that many people will tell you something different.

Suerte,

Shawn