Fast Track Idiomas - Blog

The Greek economy

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:32:22 +0100

"If Greece were a a private company, there would be a fire there at 4am on Saturday morning". Clarke & Dawe.

The AVE

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:50:01 +0100

Check this out from minute 16 to about minute 20. It made me have a chuckle.

Spain brain drain

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:03:37 +0100

Spain's loss is another country's gain and with unemployment numbers as high as they are, I am not surprised. It's a shame, though, and let's hope we can get it together here soon.

Videos in English about what's happening in Spain

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:19:28 +0100

These videos are done by a guy I know that works for EFE, the Spanish Press Agency. Great if you want news in English about Spain. Here's the YouTube site address: http://www.youtube.com/user/efeinternational

Another year begins.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:00:27 +0100

Well, here we are again. It's 2012 and the year has started off with a bang - tax increases here in Spain. Yes. That's right. The only way the government can fix the country is to raise income tax. VAT has not yet been mentioned but I imagine it's only a matter of time as most experts reckon that it is too low. The irony is, though, that even with all the new measures taken by the government, the targets will most likely not be reached (see screenshot below). Judging by the photo, the stress is getting to Mr. Montoro, and he's only been in the job for a month!

The solution to the problem, as told to me by many an educated Spaniard, is to start paying for services that have previously been free. Roads, hospitals, medicines could all be charged for. We wouldn't have to pay much. Say 10 euros to go from Madrid to Seville by car. Roads could be improved and the deficit could be reduced. Makes sense. But how do you convince the majority? You don't. You just do it.

Another year almost gone.

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:09:51 +0100

2011 is on its way out the door and I won't be sad to see it go. Things are starting to hit rock bottom here and the general feeling is that 2012 will be worse. Let's hope this is not the case. It is hard to be positive in such dire economic circumstances. Fortunately, there is still a bit of work going on although there is talk of cutbacks next year. What does this mean? Basically, less work to go around.

Living in Spain is like being permanently on a roller coaster. One minute you are up and the next you are down. This sensation has been going on for a few years now and looks set to continue. It's one crisis after another: real estate crisis, banking sector crisis, euro crisis. What will be next? Let's have a look at the front page of one of the papers today.

Much of the same. New leader Rajoy promising to give Spain more relevance inside the EU, and the King's son-in-law being accused of tax evasion.

WSJ video

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:46:04 +0100

I showed this video to a few people the other day and they were amazed and saddened that the country is portrayed in such a way. Have a look and decide for yourself.

Puentes

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:38:44 +0100

We are in 'puente' season at the moment and for those that don't know what that means I will offer a brief explanation. The Spanish use the word 'puente' when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday and many people take the Monday off as well thus forming a bridge from Sunday to Tuesday. This concept is not to be confused with the 'acueducto' (see link below), which is used when two public holidays take place in the same week. This year, for example, there are public holidays on the 6th and 8th of December and this will allow many people to take a five-day weekend.

In all there are around 14 public holidays in Spain. That's 6 more than England (8) and 4 more than Western Australia (10). Being self employed, these holidays can really dent your salary at the end of the month but you just have to live with it. Even with the economy the way that it is, there hasn't been much talk of reducing the number of days off and I imagine there would be a revolution if it was even mentioned. So, if you are thinking of working for yourself here in Spain, remember to save a little extra each month to tide you over during 'puente' season.

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/71343/0/puente/constitucion/trafico/

Time flies

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:53:41 +0100

Well, another year is almost over and that means that surely we must be closer to the end of the crisis. However, when you talk to the 'experts' here in Spain they are anything but optimistic. In fact, most are unwilling to predict more than six months into the future, so I guess we will have to keep our belts tightened for a little while longer yet.

I watched a video (see below) the other day about the situation in Portugal. What really stood out was the fact that the Portuguese are so used to negative or stagnant growth that they just take it their stride. No one protests. They just go about their lives as usual. Good luck to them. No need to jump from a five-story building. Just accept the situation and live your life.

Teaching English in Madrid

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:46:33 +0100

Firstly, let me say that teaching English in Madrid is both a sweet and sour experience. Sweet because of the people that you meet and sour because of the money that you make and way most companies treat their teachers. However, it does give you a way to live in a foreign country and make a living while you do so.

Madrid is a city where languages are in demand. English is the most sought after and there always seems to be work available. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is recession proof, but most English teachers are working at the moment. And if they aren't, it's because they don't want to. In-company training in was cut back due to the economic climate but it wasn't dropped entirely. Like with most crisis, the one here served as a way to get rid of the dead wood. If you good, you are in demand. If you are bad, go home.

A main downside to teaching English in Madrid is the money. The problem is not so much that teachers earn a small amount per hour but the unpaid holidays. Classes normally start late September and finish at the end of June. Take away all the public holidays, Easter and Christmas, and you are left with about 8 months of solid work. Even if you have all your hours filled and you are making 3000 euros a month, your annual salary will be 24000 euros. Not much in a city like Madrid, where the cost of living has been rising at an incredible speed over the last 8 years. If you are young and sharing a flat, no worries. Start a family and get a mortgage and you had better have a partner with good earning potential.

Then we have the academies, or language companies. Now, I belong to this group, so I will try to be as objective as possible. Basically, there are two types of places. On one hand you have the big language companies like Vaughn and Astex and perhaps a few others. I have never had anything to do with these places but I know people that have and seem content. Then you have a series of smaller places in the middle that treat their teachers well and pay them on time. These academies, or companies, are, in my opinion, thebest places to work for because they are small and easier to communicate with. Finally, you have the ones that should be avoided at all cost. How do you know if you are working for one of these places? Have a look around.

The video below is a fairly real when it comes to what the situation is like. Four million (20%) unemployed and more on the way. Immigrants have been the most affected because they were working in the sectors that were hardest hit. The government has already admitted that the job market won't recover until 2015, so there's only four and a bit years to go.