Fast Track Idiomas
 
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.





 


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