# Advice on moving to Madrid



## Don Mateo (Jan 26, 2011)

Hi everyone, I’m Matt, I’m 25 and currently living in the UK, and I’m hoping to move to Madrid in about 18 months' time. My plan is to do a TEFL course in Madrid and then find a job. I spent 9 months there as a conversation assistant in 2005-06 and I go back and visit regularly, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with the place, but I’m hoping for some advice on a few things:

1. With the Spanish economy the way it is at present, is it easy to find teaching jobs?

2. Can anybody recommend (or have any opinions on) a TEFL course provider?

3. When is the best time of year to go? Currently I’m thinking June/July time.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Don Mateo said:


> Hi everyone, I’m Matt, I’m 25 and currently living in the UK, and I’m hoping to move to Madrid in about 18 months' time. My plan is to do a TEFL course in Madrid and then find a job. I spent 9 months there as a conversation assistant in 2005-06 and I go back and visit regularly, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with the place, but I’m hoping for some advice on a few things:
> 
> 1. With the Spanish economy the way it is at present, is it easy to find teaching jobs?
> 
> ...


Hi Matt,
I'm the only person from Madrid posting at the moment so the info will be a bit one sided but here goes...
1. Teaching jobs. There are a lot of different kinds of teachers, (qualified, unqualified, people doing it until something else turns up, young, old, people wanting to make a career of it, those wanting to travel, those wanting to stay in Spain to name but a few...) Put that together with the changing market and you've got an ever changing scenario. My take on it...
If you're going to offer a service to somebody and you expect them to pay for it then out of common decency you should know something about it. You need training. Being a native speaker isn't enough. So you're starting off right 'cos you want to get qualified.
As a newly qualified teacher I would say that in Madrid you'll be able to get work, but


There'll be a lot of competition
You probably won't make a lot of money
You might have to work in a couple of places to make up hours
You may not be lucky enough to get a block timetable and you may end up running all over the city.
But those first two years of academy teaching I think is great experience to set you up for the future.

2. The best places for CELTA courses, which is what you want to do to obtain an internationally recognised qualification, are
The British Language Centre
The British Language Centre
International House
CELTA Training Courses and CELTA job placement - ih Madrid
Hyland
Cambridge CELTA courses - how to apply - Hyland Language Centre

A good school will ask you to do preparation before and some kind of interview, so it shouldn't just be interested in taking your money from you.

Don't forget you can do the course in the UK too. It's very intensive so you won't have much time for sampling the deleights of Madrid nightlife.

3. The best time of year??
Well, most schools do most recruiting in September. The Madridleños take ages to get back to full steam after their summer holidays, but there are always some jobs going at the end of June/ July. I think I'd ask the course providers about that.

Search the forum for Teaching English and Madrid for more info.
This thread is the longest and will take quite a while to get through, but there's lots of good advice in there!
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...iving-spain/26226-teaching-english-spain.html

Let us know how you get on, please!


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## Don Mateo (Jan 26, 2011)

Thanks for the reply, very informative! How soon all this comes about does also depend on my financial situation, so whether or not it's doable in the time-frame I've set myself is something I'm not sure of yet, but I reckoned it was best to get started on the homework.


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