Looking for a travel adventure? Fancy living in Europe for an entire year, maybe 2, maybe 3 years? Curious? Spain is hiring North American Language and Culture Assistants. I used this amazing opportunity to live in Spain with my wife for 2 years. We used those 2 years to explore Europe, Spain and get to know ourselves a bit better. I hated my job in the United States and this was my solution because well, life is short.
Details:
Job Title – Cultural Ambassador: North American Language and Culture Assistants
What – This program is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Spain. The program is devoted to providing US and Canadian native speakers of English or French with the opportunity to assist foreign language teachers in a variety of Schools in Spain.
Qualifications – Age does not matter even though their site marketing is geared towards younger recent university grads. I did it in my late 20s. I also made a great friend who was doing it as a kick off to her retirement. She was in her 60s. Which is amazing by the way. (see: Age A Manifesto) You are supposed to have a basic level of Spanish. I learned from podcasts (my Spanish was abysmal) so take that for what it is worth. You must be a native English speaker or French with an accent from the United States or Canada.
Contract – You will spend a full academic year in Spain beginning in October until May 31st. You are expected to work about 12 hours a week.
Pay – You will earn 700 euro a month. Medical insurance is included as well as an orientation and official certificate of completion. This includes all of the paid holidays in Spain (there are many). You can EASILY pick up language lessons on the side from locals who want to improve. You can make about 10 euro an hour doing that. This doesn’t sound like a huge salary but we managed to pay our rent, bills, travel and eat well on this income. Rent in Spain is pretty cheap. DO NOT PAY TO BECOME CERTIFIED TO TEACH ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. IT IS NOT NECESSARY. Unless of course you might want to do this as a teaching career.
Where – There are placements all over Spain. You can request big cities, small cities and regions, however you are not guaranteed a location. The first year we lived in a small pueblo called Huercal Overa in the south of Spain. We fell in love with Granada that year, requested it for our second year and were placed in Granada the next year.
The Job – You can work with young kids in elementary schools, middle schools etc… You can also work in language schools for adults, which is what I did. You work 12 hours a week and in my experience you are basically there to help with pronunciation and grammar. Sometimes the English teachers English is quite bad so you will be busy. You are an assistant and are not supposed to be left alone with the class. Many times you come up with fun conversation activities for the week and the students are usually eager to learn.
I have no financial interest of course in recommending this program to you. I simply think it is an amazing opportunity to live in and explore an amazing part of the world. I think everyone should live in a foreign country for a year or more during their lifetimes.
Interested in a curious adventure? They won’t be opening up applications for the 2016/2017 school year for a few months but you can always read up on what will be required in your application and also FAQ’s about the program here on their webiste (click here).
If you have questions about the program simply comment below and I will reply.
GABRIEL SCHIRM 