 
I may want to take a chance and try to go autonomo myself. But it's
still early and I'm still open about my options. I would like to thank
all the people who have contributed by their posts in providing information
for new people coming to Madrid. Steve and Victoria have especially
been very informative, and to them, thank you! regards, Vinh. Post
recovered from hacked forum March 26, 2005.
Bill: Hi Vinh, Prime time? 8 to 10; 14 to 17; 19 to 22.
With plenty of variation depending on how easily you can get to other
classes, or how easily students can come to you -- the latter is preferible.
I'm autónomo and, save for my steady company classes in the
a.m. from day to day, I seldom know what my p.m. hours will be like.
Lots of switching, win somes and lose somes. Get some steady private
company clases you can count on for 2/3 of your income and then just
pick up whatever else is out there. Thems my advices, bub. Suerte
:D
Steve: I agree with Bill. The good thing is that
you organize your own schedule pretty much. But the key hours are
from 8-10 in the morning, 1:30-4:30 and after 6. These have to be
taken advantage of - like it’s better not to accept a one hour class
from 2:30 to 3:30 because you totally split up your lunch hour and
can’t put anything before or after unless it’s in the same building
or close by - if you put a one-hour class from 1:30 to 2:30 you have
two more hours to take advantage of after that, even if you need a
half hour for travel time, you can still squeeze in an hour and a
half from 3 to 4:30 for example. good luck
Company
Requires English Teachers
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Chuvinh: Thanks for the response as to the prime
hours. But from what clients are you getting the hours in the morning?
May I assume that these are mainly or only from company clients or
is it possible to have a group of private student classes so early
in the morning? And if you do have a medium to large size company
to work for who pays you monthly, during what prime hours and days
would you say they have you teaching? I would imagine a day as an
autonomo working at company classes during the morning hours and either
afternoon or evening hours, whatever the company asks. During the
other time slots, most likely evening slots of time, I would imagine
teaching to private students. How close is this imaginary idea of
an autonomo teaching day similar to yours and to what extremes can
this vary differently? Are there too many inconsistencies in your,schedules
to not even explain how it may turn out? I've read most, if not all
the posts on the message board and different websites, but there are
few inquiries about an autonomo's work schedule or struggles. Most
questions asked are very general, usually in regards to working in
Madrid for an academy or finding employment, period. I'm still thinking
of questions I would like to ask so you it would be easier for all
you autonomos to relate to and answer more easily. Thanks again for
the information Bill and Victoria:) Vinh
Steve: It’s pretty much like that: The morning hours,
logically, are due to the fact that most people can’t take time out
of their work schedule to take class, so they have the classes before
work - these are usually in-company classes. These are paid directly
from the company or the student to the teacher. Sometimes private
classes can be organized in the middle of the day if the student doesn’t
work or has flexible work hours. You will see that the majority of
the people ask for the hours we spoke about (morning, lunch time and
evening) to work around their work schedule - and these are usually
the steady classes - or if not, it is usually easy to find students
to fill in these hours. It is more difficult (yet not impossible)
to get students at 11 am or 12, for example or at 5 pm or 6. For me
these usually are private classes with people who aren’t working a
steady job or work at night, etc. As far as inconsistencies, I try
to keep those to a minimum. Each student has his or her time slot
and they agree to those hours. You have to watch out for frequent
cancelling - which can be solved by covering your back - I either
charge for the class if it is cancelled within 24 hours or less from
the starting time of the class, or I offer students a lower rate if
they agree to pay a set fee per month based on the number of hours
per month that they want to contract - with or without cancellations.
Then if they do cancel, I know what I can count on at the end of the
month, and I let them make up the classes so that they don’t lose
out on the instruction. Maybe other teachers have other better ideas
on this topic ...
Company classes, how are they? I've been curious
about how it is like to teach within a company. How do the students
usually respond and what goals do they usually have? I've read
comments about students being unmotivated or perhaps not wanting
to really be there as they are fulfulling their requirements
for the company. But of course, the spectrum ranges as in any
classroom. I've been teaching for almost 7 years, mostly with
children and only recently with adults (parents of children
in the same community), and this naturally applies. I guess
what I'm really asking for rather than pose a question are for
a sharing of autonomo experiences only within company classrooms,
good and bad, first time experiences and any particular instances
worth sharing. I have yet to have those experiences, but having
taught children for some years and then adults most recently,
I found it quite enjoyable and such a change than with children.
I am hoping that I will resume these feelings when I have the
opportunity to teach English in Madrid and the experiences I
hope to gain are similar or better.
Hi Lindsi Sorry about the delayed response. I'm just about catatonic
due to overwork. I don't think a ESL / TEFL course isn't a requisite
for finding work for you because of your CV: you have a dual
citizenship which makes it easier for you, there's a demand
for Americans in some agencies and academies and your English
degree will be a definite asset. If you're really serious about
teaching long-term, why don't you get your teaching certifications
in Indiana, put a few years in in the system, and then come
over in style working for an serious school which may pay starting
at around 24,000 as compared to about 10 or 11,000 for other
teachers. On the other hand, as a Spaniard, you can take the
State exams in the public schools system where the level required
to get in is lower than in other subjects because of the added
difficulties of learning English. I think you're a shoe-in basically,
because of your English degree. I think they've changed the
syllabus a little bit, but that a sizeable portion of the exam
is based on what you've already studied in your English major.
As for demand, it skyrockets in September and October, but top
pay in academies is about 1,200 a month and in agencies it's
about 1,500. (summers are slump seasons) A very few "lucky"
freelancers can pull in around 24,000 a year. (Compare that
to some of my classmates at OSU who got 35,000 per year from
their first job.) The more money you bring the better, heh heh.
... I would say it's a good idea to bring at least 5,000 euros.
If you've got a good head on your shoulders, you won't have
any problem finding plenty of work. There's a high turnover
rate here and plenty of demand and it's pretty easy to find
"survival" teaching work. You should be able to find private
classes, but I wouldn't go into real "freelance" work right
away if I were you. (Freelance like me: no intermediaries.)
I would work for an academy or a school and later on move into
more company class work as I was able to. However, sorry if
it sounds sexist, if you're beautiful or handsome, you'll have
a much easier time of it. That's the facts Jack!! Other important
matters: Even though you don't need a CELTA or Trinity certification
to work, I would definitely get it if I were you. Everybody
sort of expects it around here, but prior experience works just
as well in many cases. Thanks for the thanks and keep in touch.
Let us know what your up to. Also, thanks for your help chuvinh.
Hello Chuvinh. Just about every company class I've had has been
different and I suppose a lot of it has to do with the companies
and the departments themselves. The most significant things
affecting my classes have to do with the social politics of
the students. i.e. How do they relate to each other within the
company? Sometimes my students get along marvellously with each
other and you get the idea that they even like to spend time
together outside of the office. Other times, you can tell that
they're stepping on ice around each other and they're very careful
with everything they say. You really have to try to have a bit
of tact and psycho-social awareness in these situations as the
students' jobs depend on their colleagues' respect. I don't
think I've gotten many students who are unmotivated or who don't
want to be there. What you do get is a bunch of overworked adults
who don't have time to do their homework or even (sometimes)
to come to class. Usually students are responsive to interesting
and relaxing activities or conversations, but they want to see
that you know your stuff and that you correct their mistakes
and explain the grammar or vocabulary, when needed. The truth
is that company classes are usually easier than academy or agency
work, but you have to move around a lot more, which is why you
need to get paid a lot more for them. I think an autónomo needn't
give up teaching children or whatever to teach company classes.
These are, in fact, complementary to whatever other classes
you are already doing. I do company classes in the mornings
and afternoons and private classes in the evenings. I could
just as easily do away with the private classes and teach in
an academy, for example, or in another company for that matter.
(I don't teach children's classes at the moment, but I may open
a little neighborhood academy at some point in the hopefully
not-so-distant future.) If you want to teach in companies, why
don't you start out with one class and if you like it, get another?
Simply put, one simply does not just jump head first into these
things, but before you know it, you'd find yourself up to your
neck in them. It's hard to nail down what a company-class is,
because every one of them has been different for me. As I said
earlier, there are so many factors that make up a company class
profile, that I would have to write about this for a few hours
here. To give a couple of examples:1) a top executive with a
beginners' level who simply won't accept any written materials,
homework or drilling. He says that learning on-the-fly is the
way he's always learned and on-top-of-it, he's burnt out with
book learning. ....
The biggest problem: I can't crack his ingrained grammar errors. 2) two groups
(intermediate, upper intermediate) that mix it up back and forth
when one or another is travelling. Lots of conversation, fun
and laughs. We sometimes push our luck with raunchy jokes and
taboo words like f**k. The biggest problem: one of the students
is in the personell department and the others are jittery. (He's
the biggest joker and I think his jokes might be a bit too hard
on the others sometimes.)
3) two beginners' groups in a small
local branch office of a European multi-national. Just about
everybody in the company is in the two classes: telephone staff,
accountant, sales reps and bosses (two partners). There's no
problem as of yet with these groups. I give them a lot of homework
and they do it (fantastic!). These classes probably aren't very
different from yours as I do a lot of the same types of games
and activities I used to do with my 4th and 5th graders years
ago and they love it. i.e. ask them to tell me to put 20 flashcards
all around the room in different places ("put the window under
the chair!," "put the ball on the shelf!") to practice prepositions
of place. Then I maybe ask them to tell me where all the things
are (is the window under the chair?). Finally, I pass out the
typical information gap activities where they have to ask each
other where the different things are in the drawing of the room
they both have (each with the same room but with different objects).
Every group is different, but with varied experience you can
learn to manage most every situation. Most people in companies
are pretty reasonable. In fact, the dumbsh*ts come so few and
far between, that if you get one, you probably won't feel very
bad about moving on.
A funny thing happened with the second group above .... A couple
of students were out of the country the week before last so
the rest of us went out for lunch both days I have class with
them. Usually, the walls seem to have ears and they keep their
raunchy jokes lower key. However, going out opened them up a
bit and they spent the whole time spitting them out one after
another. As we were breaking up we decided that we would make
up two separate groups for the next week: guys first, then the
ladies. I said, "it doesn't matter, we can keep talking about
s@x anyway." To which one of the young ladies replied, "yes,
first the theory, then the practice," which drew plenty of laughter,
of course.
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