Sept 2014 – June 2016

Deciding on a private language school in Spain can be a daunting experience. With so many to choose from it can be hard to separate legitimate business from less reputable employees. For me, the priority was finding a place where I could be an actual teacher and not just a glorified babysitter or tape-recorder. El Centro de Ingles was definitely the best place for me.

You certainly get a great variety of classes at ECI: at 6:30pm I’m teaching six year olds in their first year of English; one hour later I’m teaching advanced adults. We teach eight or nine different groups a week, so that’s sixteen or eighteen lessons (always 21 hours) to plan. However all the classes use textbooks which are accompanied by great teacher resource books and the school has more resources than you could ever get through. There is an established culture of sharing at ECI and if you’re stumped for an idea, somebody else will have one. One thing I was really keen to add to my CV was experience teaching internationally accredited exams like Cambridge and Trinity. I have been able to get that in spades!

I have seen photos and videos of the “classrooms” that some teachers in Spain get to enjoy; good luck doing any kind of movement in those tiny spaces. At ECI all are classrooms are big enough to deserve the label ‘classroom’ and have windows and a/c. Your classroom is yours for the year, and comes with a work laptop that is also “yours”. Anything that breaks is quickly repaired. These might seem like small things but it’s worth checking whether the school you’re thinking of applying to includes them. The staff is a nice mix of new teachers, more experienced teachers, and downright veterans; married couples, those with families, and singletons. We work hard and you are held accountable for the progress in your classroom and fulfilling administrative requirements, but in return absolutely everything is legal and above board and you will never have to worry about what you are being asked to do and whether you will get paid. If anything becomes a problem – professional, pastoral or personal – you will find a supportive and accommodating atmosphere at ECI. Definitely expect to add some professional development to your role when working here. There are weekly meetings, which often involve a teacher training element, and the opportunity to attend conferences.  In my second year I was able to expand on my role to include delivering some teacher training.

Andujar is a city. Yes, a city! I didn’t believe it either when I was corrected for calling it a town. You definitely need to put the qualifier “rural” city before that to give you a better idea of what to expect. You can comfortably run around the circumference of Andujar in about 40 minutes and everywhere is accessible by foot, even the big supermarkets. The benefits of this include a community feel – expect to see someone you know every time you go out – and lots of independent businesses. But don’t expect any items on your usual city checklist; a Carrefour, a Lidl, and a McDonalds are the only big name hitters. If you do crave the metropolis, Seville, Madrid and Cadiz can be reached by public transport for a weekend away, especially if it’s a long weekend. I’ve even managed to make it to Barcelona. Nights out in Andujar tend to be of the bar-hopping tapas variety.  Buying a car in my second year gave me so much more freedom and it was a non-negotiable for staying on in Andujar.  I definitely think you need to factor this into your decision to come to ECI:  can your budget run to a car?  Will you be happy with occasional car hire?  Or are you prepared to save money but forgo experiencing a lot of what Spain has to offer?

If you want more from your weekends then just relaxing and tapas, Andujar has some great road-biking and mountain biking potential. The city doesn’t have the dramatic mountains found in other areas of Spain (the town itself is unnervingly flat!) and the land in every direction as far as you can see and beyond is given over to olive production. But the Sierra is a drive or a committed morning’s bike ride away for some hiking. Jaen – a 40 min drive or one hour bus ride away – has some impressive limestone crags for climbing. El Chorro is a two and a half hour drive away (not really accessible by public transport for a weekend) and has enough world-class climbing to keep you occupied for years. You can also rock climb, hike and ski in Granada, which you can get to by bus for the weekend, or very easily by car. As Andujar is so flat, running is a good activity. There are always races of various lengths in nearby areas including Cordoba and Malaga. There is a very strong contingent of those who live for the active lifestyle in Spain but you have to seek them out, especially in Andujar. With a little bit of effort and confidence and you can meet up with people who share your cycling/running/climbing/skiing passion and will be happy to act as your guide. If you have a car, the world is your oyster.

Unlike my co-workers, I chose to wait until I arrived in Andujar before finding a flat. There are a few websites which can give you an idea of what’s available but I didn’t want to commit to a rental without seeing the place for myself and understanding its position in Andujar. It wasn’t a problem as a teacher at ECI very generously let me use their spare bedroom when I first arrived, and I was out and into my own place just under a week later. Most apartments cost around 350 Euros per month but the quality (and the tastefulness of decor) differ a lot, so decide on your priorities.

Aside from rent, my monthly expenditures include the internet and mobile phone bundle (about 45 EUR per month), a bi-monthly water bill (about 60 EUR) and a bi-monthly electricity bill (about 100 EUR). My electricity bill is based on no air-con in the summer and no heating in the winter. I’m from Yorkshire and I’d rather wrap up in a blanket than spend the money! Look to spend around 35 EUR a week on food if you like cooking for yourself. Fruit and vegetables are cheap.

The general consensus is that it is difficult to save money in Spain, but living in Andujar helps as there isn’t much to spend money on. Prior to living in Spain I lived in Asia, so for me the cost of living is high.  I also live on my own which means my experience is different to those teachers who are in couples.  I would say it is definitely possible to put something aside, but it is hard.  It is especially hard to save if you start to do anything at weekends as even with my frugal sense of adventure, petrol, camping fees and perhaps a museum entry or similar, soon add up in Spain.  My advice?  Get a roommate, it’s the only real way to make any significant savings here.

And now for the TLDR generation… Andujar in a nutshell: small, quiet, olives. Possible necessities to make the most of it include a car, a sense of adventure, drive to learn Spanish, patience, a hobby for those quiet weekends. ECI: lovely school and facilities, helpful staff and senior management, caring atmosphere, oodles of potential for building your CV.