100,000 protest against English classes in Valencia!

The largest street protest in Valencia since 2003's march against the War in Iraq occurred yesterday in response to the regional government's plan have the school system's new Civics classes taught only in English. A crowd that organizers estimated at 100,000 converged on regional government headquarters. Many carried signs with slogans in English, such as, "No, we can't," and "[Education Minister Alejandro] Font de Mora go home!"

However, Valencians are not up in arms about English, but rather about what many see as an effort by the regional Valencian government, which is controlled by the conservative Popular Party, to undermine the Civics curriculum. The national government, which is led by the Socialist Party, developed the Civics course for students who want to opt out of the Roman Catholic Religion course that is taught in schools across Spain.




Valencia is the only autonomous region that has mandated that the new course be taught in a foreign language, which is what led to the call for protests by the organization Plataforma por la Enseñanza Pública. (Platform for Public Education.) For the past three months parents, teachers and students have been taking to the streets throughout the region. Until yesterday's march the largest had been a gathering of 30,000 people on November 10th. In addition to this local reaction, many school officials and education experts across the country have criticised the Valencian government's action.

It is interesting that at the same time that this is happening there have been increasing demands for religious icons to be removed from schools and other public places. Two national police officers (guardias civiles) recently sued to have images of the Virgin of Pilar removed from their headquarters, while a city of Seville police officer has requested that two religious images be removed from the local police station.

Meanwhile, this month for the first time ever in Spain, a court ruled that crucifixes in a public space must be removed, when a judge in the town of Valladolid ordered a school to remove its religious symbols. The judge found that the presence of religious symbols in the school seemed to convey the idea that the state is closer to Roman Catholicism than to other religions. The school board had rejected the request from a parent in 2005 to remove the icons.

These things are happening 30 years after the end of the Franco dictatorship, which had previously made Roman Catholicism the state religion. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 guarantees a secular state.

Spanglish in Spain = Ingañol en España

The words Spanglish and Ingañol do not appear in the dictionary of the Real Academia Española (The Royal Academy of Spanish or R.A.E.) Neither do espanglish, espanglés, espangleis or espanglis. However, the phenomenon is alive and well in Spain. A good example here in Barcelona is the name of the local bike sharing program: 'Bicing,' a merger of the Spanish word 'bicicleta' with the English suffix -ing. In fact, several -ing words have been integrated into everyday Spanish.

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For example, it is common to see “Se alquila plaza de parking” (Parking Space for rent) on signs outside apartment complexes and garages. I've often heard people say something like, “He dejado el coche en el parking.” (I left the car in the parking lot.) The verb 'to park' has even been adapted as 'aparcar,' as in, “Voy a aparcar el coche.” (I'm going to park the car.) I also hear Latin Americans who live here use the verb 'parquear'.

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Then there's jogging – not the word, but the action – which is referred to as 'hacer footing,' sometimes spelled 'futin'. Other exercise related words one can hear at the local gym include 'spinning,' 'stretching' and 'stepping.' As for outdoor activities, white water rafting is shortened to 'rafting,' while windsurfing remains, 'windsurfing.' Interestingly, bungee jumping is 'puenting' in Spanish, because it usually involves jumping off a bridge (puente). Ping-pong, or table-tennis, is 'pimpón' and platform tennis, or paddle tennis, is simply 'pádel.' A campground is 'un camping.' When it comes to staying in shape through cosmetics or plastic surgery, one hears Spaniards speak of 'liftin' for face lift, and 'peeling' for, a facial peeling.

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These last two words illustrate an interesting phenomenon with -ing endings: sometimes the 'g' is dropped in the Spanish spelling, with the resulting pronunciation rhyming with Halloween. Therefore, the Spanish word 'liftin' is pronounced 'lift-een.' Two other examples of this difference are the words feeling and meeting. The other day I read an article in El País about two politicians who had a lot of 'feeling' at a recent 'metin.' In Spanish the word feeling means something like, “positive regard, mutual admiration, affinity, appreciation,” whereas 'metin' means a political meeting or gathering.

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Words for social problems are sometimes taken directly from English, as in mobbing and bullying. The meanings of these two words are exactly the same in Spanish as in English.

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When it comes to automobiles one hears words like 'tuning,' which we call car tuning – personalizing or customizing a car to improve its performance, handling and look –, and 'Airbag' for, guess what – airbag!

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Then there is Cyber-Spanglish: cookie, software and hardware are the same in English and Spanish; 'un mail' is much more common than 'un electrocorreo'; surf and access have resulted in the new Spanish verbs, 'surfear' and 'accesar' – although you are just as likely to see navegar instead of 'surfear' and acceder rather than 'accesar'. I also occasionally hear 'chequear' which comes from “to check”, and is a synonym for 'verificar' (to verify) and 'revisar' (to revise or to check).

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Many new Internet related words have not been accepted by the R.A.E., but one that has is “chatear” for chat, even though there was already a perfectly good Spanish word meaning the same thing: charlar. Other examples of Cyber-Spanglish are:

• nick – a username or nickname
• blog or blogillo – blog
• escáner – scanner
• hacker – hacker
• hackear – hack
• phising – phishing
• clic – click, as in 'haga click aqui' = click here

Another area with contributions to Spanglish is advertising: words like 'un spot' for a TV commercial or 'eslogan' for slogan, as well as whole phrases like, “just do it” and “think different,” are familiar to Spaniards. Then there is Vueling, the low-cost airline with a Spanglish name meaning 'flying' and publicity campaigns that are mitad English, half Español. Here are only a few of the many phrases Vueling has used in its advertising:

• La no problem airline
• Por only €25
• Principales airports
• Vuela from €10 todo included
• Very new aviones
• Compring en www.vueling.com

Of course, advertising and the Internet are only two segments of the larger realm of media – entertainment, cinema, books, music, etc. – and today's globalized media plays an important role in the development and use of Spanglish, whether it's through magazine adverts, or movies that are filmed in Spanish and English (e.g., Traffic, Babel), or material generated for fans of movies stars and singers around the world. Which reminds me, fan clubs are known as 'clubs de fans' in Spanish. A few other Spanglish words that fall under the giant “media” umbrella are:

• standars – 'standards' in the sense of certain vintage American pop or jazz songs
• flash – paparazzi
• reality, or reality show – reality show
• gogó – dancer in a club
• chillout – chillout
• rocanrol – rock and roll
• road movie – road movie
• casting - casting
• best-seller – yep, you guessed it: best-seller!

Spanglish words in the areas of clothing and fashion include:

• esmoquin or smoking – a tuxedo or dinner jacket
• jersey (the 'j' is pronounced as a 'y') – a sweater or pullover
• slip (pronounced 'sleep') – mens briefs
• piercing – a body piercing
• top, or top-model, or supermodelo – supermodel
• fashión – fashionable (although the truly Spanish de moda seems more common)

From business and finance we find:

• bum – boom (pronounced the same as the English word)
• consulting – consultancy
• holding – holding company

And here are a few miscellaneous Spanglish-isms:

• fliparse – flip out, go crazy, go wild
• flirtear – flirt
• gai, or gay – gay
• ranquín – ranking
• zum – zoom
• alto standing – upscale, luxurious, top quality
• medio standing – mid-scale, or mid-level, in terms of price and quality
• vip – a V.I.P. (pronounced as one word that sounds like “beep”)
• pudín – a type of rice pudding
• water or vater or wc – toilet
• baipas – by-pass
• yonqui – junkie
• friki – offbeat person, or geek

How far will it all go? Well, the Madrid based website Cuadernos Cervantes has translated the first chapter of Don Quijote into Spanglish! Haga clic on the previous link to chequear it out.

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Hasta later amig@s,

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Carloz

English in Spain

According to a recent survey by researchers at IPSOS, 81% of Spaniards do not know English well, while only 4% have an advanced level of knowledge. Looking closer at the results, 20% have a basic knowledge, 19% very basic and 15% intermediate.
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Perhaps even more revealing were the findings that only 2% of the population are currently studying English and that 73% have never studied it outside of the basic classes provided in the country's school system.
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The highest percentage, 51%, of people lacking the ability to communicate in English occurred in towns with populations under 10,000. At the other end of the scale, 36% of those in metropolitan areas over 750,000 inhabitants could not communicate in English.
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Among respondents from 25 to 45 years of age, 46% of the women did not know English, compared with 38% of the men.
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As for educational background, 48% of those that had not attended university said they did not know English, followed by 39% with a basic level, 11% intermediate and 2% advanced. Of the 40% of those with university studies, 40% possessed an intermediate knowledge of English, 37% basic, 14% advanced and only 8% said they did had no knowledge of the language.
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By geographical areas, the largest percentage of those who did not know English were in the center of Spain (57%), followed by the south (50%), and the northwest (31%). The areas with the highest concentration of advanced levels were in the metropolitan area of Madrid (8%) and the East Coast (7%).
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Among people between 25 and 45 years, only 2% were currently studying English. The majority of these were doing so in an academy (54%) or via the Internet (22%). Other options were self study courses (13%), classes at work (11%), distance learning (9%) with a private teacher (8%) and at a city's publicly funded Official School of Languages.
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Among those not currently studying English but who had taken a course in the last five years, the most popular choice was a language academy (58%), followed by a distance course (11%), a private teacher (10%), studying abroad (10%), and Internet (3%).
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Although a majority of those surveyed thought it was very important to know English, 43% of those not currently studying the language cited a lack of interest as their reason for not doing so.
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Well, it looks like there is real need for the promises the two major political parties have made in the current electoral campaign about implementing programs are supposed to result in all high school graduates 10 years from now being fluent in English. Interestingly, neither of the candidates for Prime Minister (Zapatero and Rajoy) speak English. And for those of you who may have heard former Prime Minister Aznar speaking English on the news, he only learned it after he left office.
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Chao amig@s,
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Carloz

Why teach English in Barcelona or elsewhere in Catalonia?

People often ask me why so many English teachers choose Catalonia, especially its capital city, Barcelona, as their teaching destination. Of course any answer would need to include the attractions of Spain in general – the relaxed attitude towards life, the rather large number of holidays, the gastronomy, the culture, the language and the history. Then there are personal life-style reasons that are more-or-less unique to Catalonia: the moderate year round climate, the Mediterranean light, the miles of beaches, the Pyrenees mountains, the proximity to the rest of Europe and the cosmopolitan charms of Barcelona: exciting night-life, justly famous architecture, excellent public transportation, numerous festivals, various museums, abundant monuments and sights, etc., etc., etc.
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However, there are reasons that people actually enjoy teaching here. One is the wide array of settings to work in, due to the number and variety of language academies and other schools. For example, the online Yellow Pages lists over 500 “academias de idiomas” for the Barcelona metropolitan area and nearly 300 more for the rest of Catalonia. Schools range from branches of all the major international language school chains to small one-owner language academies; from in company communication specialists to networks of teachers who have banded together to offer classes.

Most language academies hire teachers with a TESOL / TEFL / TESL certificate. An individual with public school teacher certification in his/her home country may be able to find opportunities to teach English at one of Barcelona’s “international schools” – private schools for children with curricula based on one or more of the following: the International Baccalaureate, the American curriculum and the IGCSE from the UK. Those with Masters or Doctorates in TESOL may find opportunities at one of Catalonia’s several universities. Teachers with a great deal of experience and advanced training, such as a DELTA or a Masters, who are interested in working as teacher trainers will find a dozen or so TESOL / TEFL / TESL Certificate programs in Barcelona.
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Another reason people enjoy teaching here is the relatively high level of interest in learning English. I believe there are two major factors that contribute to this. First of all, people in Catalonia seem to know how important a good knowledge of English is to getting ahead in today’s world. Second, about 70 percent of the local population is completely bi-lingual, already equally adept at two languages -- Spanish and Catalan. (The remaining 30 percent of the locals are Spanish-only speakers.) Among natives, studying a third or fourth language is viewed positively and, perhaps, not so dauntingly since they have already mastered two. English is definitely the most popular language to study, however, it is not uncommon to meet Catalans who are not only studying English, but also French or German or Chinese or Arabic or one of any number of languages. Indeed, many language academies thrive on the Catalan thirst for languages by offering a menu of languages to choose from.
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Something that many teachers find pleasant about the city of Barcelona is its high concentration of bookstores. Whether the desire is for books in Spanish, Catalan, English or other languages, it is relatively easy to find them here. Most local bookstores have an English language book and periodical section, but there are also at least five English language bookstores in the city. There are also at least two monthly English language magazines, BARCELONA CONNECT and BARCELONA METROPOLITAN, as well as one daily newspaper in English, CATALONIA TODAY.
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English language libraries are available at the BRITISH COUNCIL and the NORTH AMERICAN INSTITUTE. Both are great resources for English teachers and other English speaking expatriates. Located within a few blocks of each other, each library offers annual memberships to the public for a small fee. Non-members may use the facilities for study. Both have excellent selections of teaching materials as well as fiction and non-fiction books available for check-out. Additionally, the extensive Barcelona City library system is modern and most, if not all, branches have English language fiction as well as English language learning sections. All of these libraries are great places for lesson planning as well as personal relaxation and study.
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Currently in Catalonia the demand for English instruction is strong among business persons, university students and young learners. While most of the teaching work is available in the greater Barcelona area, the largest metropolitan zone in the region, work is also available in smaller Catalan towns like Tarragona, Girona and Lleida. Timing would play an especially important role when it came to seeking work outside Barcelona.
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The absolute best times of year to look for teaching work in Catalonia are at the beginning of the school year, just before and after the new calendar year and just before and after the Easter break. During the summer months, the situation is similar to elsewhere in Spain, with some people teaching English in summer camps, some providing intensive summer classes at their schools, some taking a vacation and some returning to their home countries for summer jobs and/or visits.
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Barcelona is large enough to make it possible to find English teaching work other times of year, especially if the search involves help from someone who knows the local job market well and has connections, such as a friend who has been teaching in Barcelona for some time or a job guidance counselor from your TESOL / TEFL / TESL certificate course who can refer you to local schools. Teachers who do not have this sort of support may find it rougher going, even at the best times of year, primarily because of competition from the monthly graduates from the many TESOL / TEFL / TESL certificate courses located in Barcelona. Therefore, a person who goes it alone would need to be well prepared in order to be successful at finding teaching work in Catalonia. Whatever the situation, a local job search is advisable, as it is not common for schools to hire teachers from abroad.
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A question I am often asked is if employers and/or students have a preference of accent for their teachers. In my experience, this is not usually the case. Schools often seem to prefer a mix of accents among their teaching staff because although most students do not ask for a teacher from a particular country, they want to be prepared in case a student does. For example, students working for a U.S. based company may want North American teachers, whereas students planning to study in the UK may request teachers with British accents. From what I have seen overall, schools that hire teachers of only one nationality are few and far between.
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Another frequent question is whether or not a person needs to know Spanish or Catalan in order to teach English in Catalonia. The answer is most definitely, no, it is not necessary to know either language. However, knowing one of the two languages would be of benefit in one’s personal life. And the next question usually is, “Should I study Spanish or Catalan while living in Catalonia?” The answer I give is, “The choice is yours.” The region is officially bilingual, so one can learn either language here. Most expatriates in Barcelona choose to learn Spanish. This is evidenced by the large number of places offering Spanish courses, as compared to the smaller number that offer Catalan.
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The business of teaching Spanish to foreigners is another booming sector of language education in Barcelona. People interested in learning Spanish often find that two of the best options in terms of cost and quality are the free classes offered through the Barcelona school system’s adult education program and the low cost classes offered through the Escuela Oficial de idiomas. Both of these programs require students to sign up at the beginning of the school year. The University of Barcelona offers Spanish classes on a semester system. There are also hundreds of private academies that offer Spanish classes with enrollment open throughout the year. Of course, there are also many private Spanish teachers available. In addition, there are organizations and bars that sponsor “intercambios,” where one can find persons willing to teach Spanish (or Catalan or French or Japanese or whatever) in exchange for English lessons.
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Regarding some of the practicalities of teaching English, language academies in Barcelona generally pay entry level teachers between 10 and 16 euros an hour. Experienced teachers can earn 18 euros, 20 euros or perhaps more an hour. The pay may be less in some of the smaller towns of Catalonia, but the cost of living should be, too. A full teaching load is generally considered between 18 and 25 teaching hours a week. I have rarely heard of new teachers wanting to have a weekly schedule of more than 30 hours. The record-holders I have come across are a former public school teacher from the U.S.A. who had 38 class hours a week and another North American with no previous teaching experience at all who built up 40 class hours. This last person also lived rent free in the home of a single mother in exchange for teaching English to the woman’s primary-school aged child. Some people might say these two individuals were extremely diligent and dedicated teachers -- others might say they were workaholics.
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Regarding the ability to live on earnings from teaching English, some people seem to do fine with 18 hours a week while others require 25 hours or more. How many hours a teacher needs in order to live really depends on an individual’s lifestyle and factors such as how much his or her rent is. Rents in Catalonia vary depending on things like location, space and amenities. Generally speaking, in Barcelona rent for rooms in shared apartments may range from about 250 to 450 euros. One bedroom apartment rent may range from 450 to 800 euros.
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Teaching private classes can be lucrative, especially in Barcelona. A private teacher can charge more per hour than he or she might earn from a school. Most private teachers in BCN charge in the range of 12 to 24 euros a lesson, although I've known very experienced teachers to charge more.
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One newly certified teacher I knew set herself up in Barcelona as a private teacher exclusively right after obtaining her certificate. She initially charged 14 euros an hour but within a few months had gained enough confidence to raise her rates to 18 euros an hour for conversation lessons and 21 euros an hour for grammar lessons. This person did well during her year and a half in Barcelona.
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Two other individuals I know, one American and the other British, are also good examples of what can be accomplished by teaching private students. These two people, now a married couple, chose to settle in a town near Barcelona in October 2003 where they formed a partnership to teach private students. In October 2004 they opened their own language academy and, so, are now employing other teachers.
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During my time here, I have come to know Catalonia as a fascinating place and I feel fortunate to live in an exciting, progressive city like Barcelona. I have enjoyed getting to know the place, making friends with locals and expatriates, as well as developing relationships with others in the English teaching arena, from newly certified teachers to professionals with many years of experience.

The English teachers in Catalonia that I have seen achieve the most success and satisfaction in this field, were those who possessed qualities that Catalans themselves are known for – dedication and a strong work ethic. While these attributes will contribute to accomplishment anywhere in the world, I would say that, along with having credentials and the support of someone who knows the local market, they are key in this very special part of Spain.

Monday’s News in Spain: Spain's eternal summer challenge; more than one million did it in Catalonia yesterday; Catalonian condom machines

Spaniards Take Up Their Annual Summer Challenge - English! Yes, many Spaniards take time during the summer to study English -- children and adults -- at home, in camps and abroad. Intensive courses abound in Spain's cities; children's summer camps (colegios) are held in the countryside where studying English is a major focus; and trips are made to the UK, Ireland, Canada, the USA and as far away as Australasia to participate in immersion courses. According to to the newspaper-ita, Que! , more than 100,000 Spaniards will travel abroad this summer to study languages. And this year Spain's Ministry of Education has made grants available for 18 to 30 year olds who want to study English abroad.
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One million and counting: According to freebie paper ADN, the first day of "rebajas de verano" (summer sales) saw more than one million shoppers turn out in Catalonia yesterday. The most popular items: clothing and shoes.

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Condom Machines Spreading: It's not uncommon to see condom machines in bars, restaurants, schools and on walls outside pharmacies in Barcelona. Now Catalonia's government, the Generalitat, plans to install them in public libraries throughout the region and in metro stations in the greater Barcelona area.

Two English Teachers & One French Teacher needed for Summer Camp in Palenica

An acquaintance of mine who organizes a summer camp near Palencia every year asked me to post this on my blog. Of course, he’s only interested in teachers who are already in Spain. I’ve known people who taught there in the past and enjoyed it.

I’ve copied and pasted what he wrote, which is in Spanish, and written my translation below that. He does not speak much English. (I don't know about his French.)

"Necesito profesores de ingles [y un de frances] para el curso de verano. Los niños tienen de 8 a 16 años. Están en grupos reducidos según nivel de conocimiento del idioma, como máximo 15 niños por aula. Los cursos son en Julio y agosto. Los niños vienen por mes completo o por quincena. Los profesore tendrían 4 horas diarias de clase por la mañana, el resto del tiempo lo tienen libre. Además del sueldo, yo les doy el alojamiento y la manutención gratis, además pueden ir a las excursiones que hagan los niños. Los interesados pueden enviarme su curriculum si es posible en español al correo fjpuebla@inicia.es o llamarme al 606 145 045. Cervera de Pisuerga está enclavada en la montaña palentina dentro del parque natural de Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre, un lugar de veraneo. Padre Francisco Javier Puebla"

I need English teachers [and one French teacher] for the summer course. The children are from 8 to 16 years. They are grouped according to level of knowledge of the language, at most 15 children in a classroom. The courses are in July and August. The children come for a whole month complete or for a two-week period. The teacher would have 4 hours of class daily in the morning, the remainder of the time would be free. Besides the salary, I give free board and lodging. In addition they they can go on the excursions that the children take. Those that are interested can send me a résumé, in Spainish if possible, to fjpuebla@inicia.es or call me on 606 145 045. Cervera de Pisuerga is located on the mountain of Palencia, inside the nature reserve of Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre, a summer resort. Father Francisco Javier Puebla

P.S. He just called me and told me the pay is 750 gross and that he could probably help with bus or train fare to Palencia.

P.P.S Here's a link to a Mapquest showing the location of Palencia.

Thanks to the students who…

…took me to lunch today and told me that “cava” is Catalan for ”cave” — and that the delicious sparkling wine we were drinking was fermented in an underground cavern or cellar – and that good cava is never more than a year old – and that the finer the bubbles, the better the quality — and that Barça’s president is elected by a vote of all club members (including one at lunch with us) — and that there are people living in Barcelona who support Real Madrid (including one at lunch with us) — and about the antecedents of the Spanish Civil War which ocurred in 1934 — and that politicians are pretty much the same whether they are in Barcelona, Madrid or elsewhere — and that dates wrapped in bacon make delicious appetizers — and that mandarin sorbet makes delicious desert!! But mostly I thank you for reconfirming what a pleasure it is to be an English teacher who has students like you to share learning with. ¡Muchisimas gracias, amigos! Hasta otoño…

Originally posted by Carloz on June, 2007 at http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/

Brownies for English class!

Copied from original http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/ posting by Carloz on June, 2007

Today I am finishing up one of my intermediate classes, so I have baked brownies to bring along as well as prepared a lesson on the History of Brownies. Students are often interested in the culture and cuisine of their English teachers, so I periodically use something from those areas as a basis for a lesson. In the past I’ve brought peanut butter sandwiches to class, had a ”pot luck” luncheon with a group where I brought a special dish made according to one of my mother’s recipes, prepared lessons on the history of Thanksgiving and Halloween, and, of course, used American music to get students using English. Once I even brought in a bottle of aspirin to class because students here had commented on only having seen people taking aspirin from a bottle in Hollywood movies. (Here aspirin comes in little boxes of about 30 pills.) Whatever it takes to get them talking — even if it means having to endure eating brownies! ;-)

The Spanish School Year

This is the final week of the Spanish school year, which runs from October through June. Therefore, this week I will be teaching year-end lessons for many of my students and giving tests to others. (Which means I’ll be grading tests, too.) In a few of my classes we will have a special little party of sorts. For example, one of my mid-day groups that I taught the expression “pot luck” to for a Christmas luncheon we had, have decided to have a pot luck luncheon for the year’s end.

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It is not good-bye to all of my students, however. Some I will see next year and a few are continuing with classes through July - some with a more intensive schedule and others with the same schedule they’ve had all year.

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What do teacher’s of English as a foreign language (EFL) living in Spain do during the summer? Well, those who work for the public school system and some who work for private schools (e.g., high schools) get paid vacation. Those who work for language academies or work on their own as private teachers usually have to work at least part of the summer, as they do not get paid vacation.

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Probably the biggest area of summer employment available in the EFL sector is Summer Camp work. Camps (usually referred to as ”colonias” in Spanish) often hire teachers under 30 to teach English. Teachers may also be expected to supervise the children during breaks and to participate in sports and other activities with them.

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It’s supposed to be exhausting work, but the pay can be good at the better camps. Most camps are residential with room and board usually provided. Since they are often located in rural areas, there is little opportunity for teachers to spend money. For these reasons, many teachers who work in colonias can actually save money.

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Teachers who do not work in Spanish colonias may work in Summer Camps in nearby countries. Italy, Switzerland and the UK seem to be particularly popular for this kind of work. Those teachers who do not want to work in summer camps, or who can't find such work (perhaps because they are over 30), usually find non-teaching work here or in their home countries and/or look for private students who want intensive classes during the summer.

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August is a particularly difficult time to find private students, because so many Spaniards take a good part of August off. Even those who do not go out of town for August vacation may be reluctant to take lessons during the hottest month of the year.

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Then there is September. Although the school year starts officially in October, there are language academies that start classes the month before. Many students who want private lessons are also willing to start-up early. So, some income usually starts to trickle in during the month of September. Then comes October and the cycle begins again.

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Copied from my original 25 June 2007 post at http://myspainblog.wordpress.com

An English Teacher’s Saturday in Spain!

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.
Here's a link to the article: An English Teacher's Sunny Spanish Saturday

An English Teacher’s TGI Friday in Spain!

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.
Here's a link to the article: An English Teacher's TGI Friday in Spain!

Comment By: leoshere on June 22nd, 2007 at 3:37 pm

hey … the libraries. People have been telling me to check out the library for years, but I was reluctant as I thought it would be a dark pre civil war dusty archive - but no! it’s modern clean, rows of broadband pcs, dvds, english language reading matter etc….better, infact, by a long way than the parallels in the UK.

Comment By: Carloz on June 22nd, 2007 at 5:54 pm
I don’t know if the libraries in Spain are necessarily better than in the UK, but here in Barcelona the DVDs and videos are free to borrow, unlike my experience with London libraries.

An English Teacher’s Wednesday

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.
Here's a link to the article: A Wednesday in Spain for an English Teacher

An English Teacher’s Tuesday

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.
Here's a link to the article: An English Teacher's Spanish Tuesday

Monday Morning for an English Teacher in Spain

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.


Here's a link to the article:  Monday Morning for an English Teacher in Spain