ESL Spain Resourse: Pain In Spain Blog

Thinking of teaching English in Spain? Finding it hard to sort through all the info out there? Pain in Spain is one TEFL blog which is long overdue for a TEFL Logue review.

I first mentioned the site in a post about TEFL courses, where Pain in Spain blogger takes a pragmatic look at the value of a TEFL certificate. From what I can gather about the blogger/s – not all that much, but that’s okay – s/he is from the US and has been working in Spain for several years, mainly teaching one to one students and small groups in company. For the first period of work, s/he was working under the table, and so can share information on that experience, including how to become legal in Spain.

I haven’t worked in Spain, but I find the blog very straightforward. It is honest about the frustrations and challenges of EFL, particularly in Spain and in the bloggers particular context, without being overly cynical. There is advice on finding ESL jobs in Spain…

Most English academies in Madrid do not bother recruiting much outside of Spain, because they don’t have to. They may place ads on www.tefl.com or another EFL job site, but by the time your CV has reached their inbox, they’ve probably already had 10 English teachers drop off their CVs in person.

….and getting to the end of the month:

Unfortunately for many current and former EFL teachers I know, it’s not uncommon to find that their pay slip at the beginning of the month is far less than what they expected. Academies come up with all sorts of excuses – and, in all fairness, sometimes it’s a simple slip-up when they’re counting the hours – but not all are quick to fix their mistakes.

Other posts include five things to ask before signing a contract in Spain and five reasons not to be an English teacher in Madrid. The blogger is still teaching, and I think maintains a nice balance between pointing out some of the difficult to cope with realities and sharing the positive things about working in Spain as well.