Their short courses tend to concentrate on presentations, writing reports, formal letters, meetings, etc. And, they will usually have to teach grammar, social English, etc. as well.

Cambio really tries to make sure of the quality of their classes and to take care of the needs of their students. They get a lot of word-of-mouth business.

Academy: Cambio Idiomas / Absolutely English

Webpage:
http://www.cambioidiomas.es/
http://www.absolutelyenglish.com

Date: Sept. 30, 2006

When did academy open? 1987

Contact person and title: Hazel Flack. DOS and Co-owner.

Contact phone: 915567804.

E-mail: info@cambioidiomas.es

Address: Calle Orense 20, 28020 – Madrid, Spain. About 5 minutes from Nuevos Ministerios Metro station. Google Maps.



Facilities and classrooms: Most of the classes are held on-site in companies. However, there are 5 classrooms in the academy itself. There are some companies that prefer to send their employees to study in the school itself and there are also a few open groups. Teachers usually have their own computers, but they can also use the company’s three computers when they aren’t being used by the secretary/receptionist (in the mid-morning is no problem).



Have good materials support, photocopier? All the intensive classes are planned and coordinated at Cambio. The teachers are given a package of materials they have to use. There are usually several English teachers on each of the intensive courses who have to be closely coordinated by a coordinator. These teachers are usually provided with all the materials they’ll need for each of the modules that they’ll have to teach. Teachers who are teaching the usual three-hour-per-week English classes usually either already have their own materials or are even provided with a stack of books to draw resources from for their classes.

Have "Director of Studies" (DOS) support? Two, Hazel (co-owner) and Cristina. Cristina coordinates and follows-up on many of the in-company classes. They call around from time to time to check with their clients.

VIPs on staff? None.

Qualification requirements for employment? Cambio accepts CELTA/Trinity (though any TEFL certificate ok) and any degree.

Experience requirements for employment? The teacher’s character is very important. You need to be an interesting person, to be a bit of an actor and to actually like people. At least one year of experience would be nice. Also, Cambio doesn’t need “students of Spanish.” English teachers should be professionals and those interested in working for Cambio are first required to do a demo class. Cambio will employ bilingual (nearly perfect proficiency level) professionals.

Hire at a distance? No. Need a face-to-face interview and a demonstration class.

Hire Americans and do their papers? They do hire Americans, etc. They used to be able to get work-permits through. But, lately it’s getting a lot more difficult. One teacher got rejected 3 times and they ended up giving up. The government has recently changed the legislation and, for example, they’re asking for degrees to be co-validated (“convalidado”), which is a bureaucratic process that can take two years, before they will process the permit.

They also usually require the academy or agency trying to employ a particular teacher to first interview any European teachers that are currently unemployed and on the rosters as such, and to demonstrate why they aren’t up to par if they aren’t hired. This can be difficult if the job looks like a European could easily do it. The kicker is that the bureaucratic forms used to request interviews with these unemployed teachers don’t allow academies to require even perfectly rational things such as a the CELTA making the whole process a bit absurd.

Preference for British or Americans? None. They hire Americans, British, Australians, etc. It depends on the clients’ needs. At this particular moment, many of Cambio’s students are asking for teachers with an American accent.

Estimated teachers hired yearly: Five to seven.

Teachers at Cambio for over 4 years? Four. Ten at Cambio for over 3 years. There’s usually a nucleus of 10 teachers.

Number of students: Around 300.

Best part about working at Cambio: There is a relaxed relationship with teachers, who feel they can come in with any problem and get help with it, i.e. an advance. They’re not excessively demanding, rather they ask rather than demand. They feel a happy teacher is a good teacher. They are flexible with they’re timetables, etc. They’re nice people to work for. However, they do get upset if teachers are not punctual, but forgiving if they communicate this to the management. They’re less forgiving if teachers do a lot of things like changing classes, etc. without communicating it.

Other benefits? Cambio tries to block hours, which is often difficult to do in the mornings. The intensive classes usually come in 2-4 hour blocks and they are varied (i.e. teaching different types of activities, etc.). In-company teachers are normally traveling 2 – 3 hours a day. Teachers get compensated with an extra amount if they have to travel very far or if they have to use a car, etc.

Teachers don’t complain about a lack of work. Christmas and Easter are slow and then they’re busy until July. They are closed in August although there are usually 3 or 4 teachers working the whole month full-time in companies. They have a lot of teachers on full-time contracts.



Offer teacher training or development along with job? No. Cambio used to send teachers to TESOL conferences, but many of the in-company teachers didn’t feel there was anything on the menu targeted specifically at their needs. They have tried many times to outsource the training work due to a lack of time.

Starters' average salary?
Consult ...