Teaching English in Madrid
If you're looking for a fulfilling, challenging, and exciting career option meant only for those with a true sense of adventure; what better place to start than Madrid? Madrid also offers great food, friendly people and amazing night-life!
As long as you have a TEFL course and are a native speaker you should have no trouble finding teaching work in Madrid, though it’s a bit trickier for Americans without a visa. Schools tend to want native speakers but it’s not impossible to someone who has a high level of English (almost native speaker) and plenty of experience.
Best thing is to be there and look for work. If you send a c.v. it’ll get put on a pile. So, get there and walk around the schools to say hello and leave your c.v. Better still, ask to speak to the Director of Studies. The end of August is the best time to go looking as the school term starts in September.
By the way, you don’t normally need to speak Spanish at all, though a little helps.
There are some good websites you can visit:
http://madridteacher.com/english_teaching_madrid.htm
http://www.lingobongo.com/madrid/
In Madrid, it is easy to get 1,000€ per month. With a bit of luck and perseverance, you can get up to 1,500€ with no problems and with a bit more experience under your belt, I know some who gets 2,000€-3,000€. But even the basic 1,000€ is considered a 'normal' salary in Spain and, providing you are not a big spender, you should get along fine with this. It allows you to live in the centre of the city, eat out regularly, go out at the weekend and even allows you to take some weekend trips to other cities in Spain.
Unfortunately, though, teaching in Spain only lasts from mid-September until late June. For the rest of the year you'll be unemployed, though there is loads of summer camp work with kids in July and August. Easter and Christmas also hits most teachers quite hard as few employers pay when there aren't any classes. However most teachers save a little for this and enjoy their holidays!
Viva Madrid!
