Work in Europe: Teaching English Offers the Most Opportunities
by Susan Griffith
Whatever transatlantic trade agreements now exist or might exist in the future, one thing is sure: there will be no free exchange of labor between North America and Europe. As the ties between European nations strengthen, particularly among the members of the European Union, the employment opportunities for non-Europeans decline. Yet thousands of Americans live and work in Europe at this moment. Many of them have arrived in the past year and have found a niche, comfortable or otherwise.
The business of teaching English absorbs a considerable percentage of these temporary European residents. North Americans with a professional background in language teaching (e.g., a degree in applied linguistics and some relevant experience) might find an employer willing to sponsor them for a work visa. Even more desirable in many cases is a solid background in the business world, since the majority of language teaching in Europe is to businessmen and women who want practical language tools for the workplace and prefer to be taught by someone with experience of this world than by a free-faced modern languages graduate. Opportunities for non-Europeans are more plentiful in some countries than others—easier in Germany and Portugal than Italy and Spain, for example. The alternatives are to work for an employer who is not bothered about officialdom (this often implies a similarly casual approach to pay and working conditions) or to work on an informal or freelance basis. In European cities of any size the pool of native speaker teachers on the spot is so large that language school proprietors almost always have a choice of hopeful applicants to interview. In most cases a speculative application and resume sent from the U.S. will not meet with a favorable response.
Freelancing
The majority of language North American teachers and trainers in Europe work on a freelance basis. This can take the form of private tutoring whereby a native speaker goes it alone, finding private clients independently by advertising, etc. The more common way of freelancing, however, is to do it through an agency that provides language teaching, primarily to businesses. Freelancers work on short-term contracts or on an hourly basis. They are paid by the course or by the hour, but are not eligible for paid holidays or the other benefits of long-term employment. They must also worry about paying their own taxes plus they may have to pay compulsory contributions into a pension scheme (as in Germany) or to cover social security. Independent freelance tutors will find it difficult to start teaching without contacts and a good working knowledge of the language. When they do get started, it may be difficult to earn a stable income because of the frequency with which pupils cancel. It is unrealistic for a newly arrived freelancer to expect to earn enough to live on in the first six months or so.
Getting clients for private lessons is a marketing exercise, and all the avenues that seem appropriate to your circumstances have to be explored. Here are some ways you can market yourself:
- Put a notice up in schools and universities, supermarkets or corner shops, and run an advertisement in the local paper if you have the use of a telephone. - Send neat notices to local public schools, announcing your willingness to ensure the children’s linguistic future.
- Compile a list of addresses of professionals (lawyers, architects, etc.) who may need English for their work and have the resources to pay for it. Then contact them.
- Call on export businesses, distribution companies, perhaps even travel agencies.
These methods should put you in touch with a few hopeful language learners. If you are good at what you do, word will spread and more paying pupils will come your way, though the process can be slow.
Working solo has disadvantages. Everyone, from lazy Greek teenagers to stressed Barcelona businessmen, cancels or postpones one-on-one lessons with irritating frequency. Since your clients are paying for your flexibility, you can’t afford to take too tough a line. Unless your place is suitable for teaching, you will have to spend time traveling to your clients.
If you are more interested in integrating with the local culture than making money, exchanging conversation for board and lodging may be an appealing possibility. This can be arranged by answering (or placing) small ads in appropriate places. The American Church in Paris notice board is famous for this.
Language Schools
When you arrive in a likely place your initial steps might include some of the following: copy a list of schools from the yellow pages (many are now available on-line such as the Pages Jaunes in France or the Gelbe Seiten in Germany; read the classified columns of the local papers; check notice boards in likely locations such as universities, TEFL training centers, English language bookshops (where you should also notice which EFL materials are stocked), or places frequented by expatriate teachers.
After putting together a list of potential employers, get a detailed map and guide to the public transport network so you can locate the schools. Phone the schools and try to arrange a meeting with the director or academic director of studies. Even if an initial chat does not result in a job offer, you may learn something about the local TEFL scene that will help you at the next interview, especially if you ask lots of questions.
France: French Majors Encouraged to Apply
Advanced TEFL qualifications seem to be less in demand in France than business qualifications and experience or even just "commercial flair." Anyone who has a BA and is comfortable in a business setting has a chance of finding teaching work, particularly if they have a working knowledge of French.
The Cultural Service of the French Embassy (4101 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, DC 20007; assistant@frenchculture.org; www.frenchculture.org/education/support/assistant/index.html) runs an English Teaching Assistantship Program for US citizens. Postings last 6-9 months and are in primary or secondary schools or teacher training colleges. Assistants give conversation classes, provide classroom support and teach pupils about the U.S. A working knowledge of French is required so French majors are encouraged to apply. Assistants receive approximately Euros 900 gross per month.
Work permits must be obtained before leaving home, which is simply impracticable unless you have spent time in France and developed a working relationship with a cooperative employer. (Note that the long-established Paris training organization, WICE, at 20 boulevard du Montparnasse www.wice-paris.org, can advise on how to get working papers, though it warns of the difficulties.) Foreigners on a student visa are permitted to work 10-20 hours a week (after their initial year of study) or full-time in the vacations. At a more casual level, language exchanges for room and board are commonplace in Paris; these are usually arranged through advertisements or word of mouth. You can also offer English lessons privately in people's homes starting at Euro 15-20 a session.
Expatriate grapevines can be found all over Paris and are very helpful for finding teaching work and accommodations. The one in the foyer of the CIDJ at 101 Quai Branly (Métro Bir-Hakeim) is good for occasional student-type jobs, but sometimes there are ads for a soutien scolaire en Anglais (English tutor). It is worth arriving early to check for new notices (the hours are Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday mornings).
Other meccas for job-hunters include the American Church at 65 Quai d'Orsay (Métro Invalides) and the American Cathedral in Paris (23 av. George V; www.us.net/amcathedral-paris). Both have notice boards crammed with employment opportunities, courses and housing listings. The Cathedral even offers career forums for job-seekers.
Highly qualified TEFL teachers from the U.S. might approach some of the important Paris companies such as Le Comptoir des Langues (63 Re la Boetie, 75008 Paris; 011-33-1-45-61-53-56), and Executive Language Services (20 rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris; 011-33-1-44 54 58 71; www.els-france.com), who between them employ over 100 teachers on a short- or long-term basis.
Most expat meeting places in Paris distribute the free bilingual newsletter France-USA Contacts www.fusac.org that comes out every other Wednesday. Its classified ads are best followed up on the day the paper appears. It is also a good place to put your own "Work wanted" ad, which will cost $20 for 20 words. You can do this ahead of time by contacting FUSAC in the U.S. at P.O. Box 115, Coopers Station, New York, NY 10276 (212-777-5553, fax 212-777-5554).
An interesting development in the TEFL world is teaching by telephone, which is becoming more and more popular among language learners both for its convenience and for the anonymity. For many people, making mistakes over the phone is less embarrassing than face to face. Apparently this method of teaching is great fun for teachers since the anonymity prompts people to spill out all their secrets. It is not necessary to be able to speak French, though you will need to have access to a computer and telephone. One company which specializes in this is Telab Cours de Langues par Telephone www.telab.com.
Germany: Business and IT Experience Can Help
Although Germany is a Eurocentric country, it is generally more tolerant of U.S. nationals working in certain sectors than its neighbors are, and that includes English teaching. People with a strong business or IT background and a knowledge of German might find their applications acceptable to the hundreds of language training companies in every German city, like Leipzig Language Service, Paul-List-Str. 8, 04103 Leipzig; Tel./fax 011-49-341-211-12 82; artes@planet-interkom.de which employs a substantial number of native speakers. Both the Inlingua and Linguarama groups have an extensive network of schools and frequently post vacancies on their web sites www.inlingua.com and www.linguarama.com. For example, the Inlingua school in Munich employs about 30 native speaker teachers for whom the minimum requirement is a university degree; Inlingua, Sendlinger-Tor-Platz 6, 80336 Munich; 011-49-89-231-15-30; muenchen@inlingua.de. The central contact address for Lingarama Spracheninstitut Deutschland is Rindermarkt 16, 80331 Munich; 011-49-89-260 7040 where again the emphasis is on teaching business English.
Speakers of American English will obviously have a better chance of finding teaching hours at an institute which caters to that market, like the German American Institute in Tubingen, Karlstrasse 3, 72072 Tubingen; 011-49-7071 795260; www.dai-tuebingen.de.
Adult education courses are offered throughout Germany at about 1,000 Volkhochschulen. English teachers must apply to the individual centers whose addresses are listed on the central web site www.vhs.de. Another major employer is Carl Duisberg Centren (Hansaring 49-51, 50670 Cologne; 011-49-221-1626-258; fki@cdc.de.) Students of German who would like to spend a year as an English language assistant in a German secondary school can contact the German organization that oversees the exchange, the Padagogischer Austauschdienst (Postfach 22 40, 53012 Bonn; 011-49-228-0228 501-0; www.kmk.org/pad/home.htm) distributes information on the teaching assistant program in Germany, which is also available through the Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017-3580.
Greece: Permits Required, Difficult to Obtain
Fewer Americans teach in Greece because of visa difficulties. Non-European teachers need a teacher's license plus work and residence permits, and the Ministry of Education delays and often refuses to grant them. Americans of Greek extraction might consider claiming citizenship (while bearing in mind that this might make them liable to compulsory national service). A prospective teacher must obtain a letter of hire from the employer sent to an address outside Greece. The teacher then takes the letter to the nearest Greek consulate and applies for a work permit, a procedure that takes at least two months. Detailed information about obtaining the correct documents are posted in the U.S. Embassy site www.usembassy.gr. Yet a number of schools, especially small ones in remote locations, may be prepared to tackle the bureaucratic procedures. Decisions are often based more on whether or not you hit it off with the interviewer than on your qualifications and experience, though a good university degree is essential.
The best times to look are early September, or possibly again at the beginning of January. Finding work in the summer in Athens is impossible.
It is normally necessary to knock on the doors of frontisteria, the private language crammers attended by the vast majority of secondary school students outside school hours. To find out about local frontisteria, contact the local branch of PALSO, the Pan-Hellenic Association of Language School Owners. By asking enough questions (try the local English language bookshop) you can find individual school addresses. The current monthly wage is the Euro equivalent of $650 gross. It should be possible to supplement wages with private tutoring at a rate of about $13-$15 an hour.
Spain: Market for English Teachers May Have Peaked
Recent years have seen unprecedented economic growth in Spain as business and industry forged ahead in the wake of European economic unification. Few job interviews would have omitted the question, "Can you speak English?" It seems now the market has peaked and the boom in English is over.
Work permit applications must be lodged in the applicant's country of residence and collected there as well, sometimes months later. Although teachers from outside the E.U. are occasionally hired on the spot by "storefront" schools and paid cash, the wage will normally be below the going rate. The area of the market that continues to grow is the teaching of children, starting with the pre-school age group. A knowledge of Spanish is virtually essential if you are going to teach young children (with whom the total immersion method is not really suitable).
The probable scenario for the new arrival is that he or she will elicit mild interest from one or two schools and will be told to contact the school again at the beginning of term when a few hours of teaching may be offered. Spanish students sign up for English classes during September and into early October; consequently, the academies do not know how many classes they will offer and how many teachers they will need until quite late. It can become a war of nerves; if you can afford to stay you have an increasingly good chance of becoming established.
Jobseekers in Madrid mainly rely on the Yellow Pages and the Madrid Blue Pages (a directory organized by street address). It is possible to pick out language schools in neglected neighborhoods this way, i.e., near where you are staying. It is also worth checking advertisements in the press, like La Vanguardia in Barcelona (especially the Sunday edition) and El Pais in Madrid. Alternatively, of course, you can simply wander the streets looking for schools. The density is so high that you are bound to come across them. Wherever you are looking for work, you can consult the Yellow Pages online at www.paginas-amarillas.es.
Several independent TEFL training organizations train large numbers of North Americans and acquiring an English language teaching certificate through one of these would be a good way of getting to know the local scene in Madrid or Barcelona (though the work permit problem persists). Investigate for example Via Lingua, www.vialingua.org, who runs training courses in Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga; ITC English www.itc-training.com and Passport TEFL, www.passportTEFL.com. Because schools run the whole gamut from prestigious to cowboy, every method of job-hunting works at some level. The big chains like Berlitz are probably a good bet for the novice teacher because of the stability of hours they can offer. Anyone hired by Berlitz receives a free week-long training course in the Berlitz Method. Similarly the Wall Street Institutes with scores of academies in Spain and a head office in Barcelona (Rambla de Catalunya 2-4, 2a Planta, 08007 Barcelona; www.wsi.es) are always looking for teachers whom they train in their own method. One of the few organizations to favour U.S. nationals over Europeans is the IEN Institut Nord-america (Via Augusta 123, 08006 Barcelona; www.ien.es) but to work for them you need at least two years of experience in teaching both adults and children and you must be prepared to wait 6-8 months for the work permit to be processed.
Many language schools and youth organizations run summer schools and camps for children and adolescents. For voluntary work as an English assistant on summer camps, try Relaciones Culturales, a youth exchange organization at Calle Ferraz 82, 28008 Madrid; 011-34-91-541-7103, fax 011-34-91-559-1181; www.clubrci.es, which also places native speakers with Spanish families who want to practice English in exchange for providing room and board. Another agency involved in this sort of live-in placement is Castrum, Ctra. Ruedas 33, 47008 Valladolid; 011-34-983-222213; info@castrum.org; their placement fee is Euro 160.
Portugal: Demand for Teachers Mostly in North
Unlike in Spain, some schools in Portugal claim to be willing to hire non-European nationals. According to official sources, once an American finds a teaching job in Portugal he or she can apply for the appropriate permits locally. After arrival, take the contract of employment to the local aliens office (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras, www.sef.pt, —in Lisbon the SEF is at Avenida António Augusto Aguiar 20; 011-351-21-315-9681) or to the local police. The permit obtained here is sent off together with the contract of employment to the Ministry of Labor. The final stage is to take a letter of good conduct provided by the teacher's own embassy to the police for the work and resident permit.
Outside the cities, where there have traditionally been large expatriate communities, schools cannot depend on English speakers just showing up and so must recruit well in advance of the academic year. The demand for English teachers is mostly in the north. Apart from in the main cities of Lisbon and Oporto, jobs crop up in historic provincial centers such as Coimbra and Braga and in small seaside towns like Aveiro and Póvoa do Varzim. The small group Royal School of Languages (Av. Lourenco Peixinho 92-2º, Andar and Rua Jose Rabumba 2, 3800 Aveiro; www.royalschooloflanguages.pt) employs about 30 teachers with TEFL certificates in their nine schools in small towns. These can be a welcome destination for teachers burned out from teaching in big cities or first-time teachers who want to avoid the rat race. Both the main cities of Lisbon and Oporto have American Language Institutes which prefer to employ teachers from the U.S.; the ALI in Lisbon can be contacted on ali@mail.telepac.pt.
Italy: Work Permits Difficult to Obtain
Red tape is most daunting in Italy, and work permits are virtually impossible for non-E.U. citizens to obtain. There is a pronounced bias towards hiring Britons as indicated by the names of the main language school chains, the British Schools Group, British Colleges, British Institutes, Oxford Schools. Yet there are also those willing to hire qualified Americans, such as the Interlingue School of Languages in Rome (www.interlingue-it.com, Via E. Q. Visconti 20, 00193 Rome; 011-39-06-321 5740).
Yet enrollment in English language schools continues to increase at a dramatic rate among ordinary Italians, and there will always be schools that choose not to comply with the very strict labor regulations. Milan is considered a promising destination, even for unqualified non-Europeans. Yet it is not just the sophisticated urbanites of Rome, Florence, and Milan who long to learn English. Small towns in Sicily and Sardinia, in the Dolomites, and along the Adriatic all have more than their fair share of private language schools and institutes. As in Spain, a number of organizations run language summer camps, among them ACLE Summer & City Camps, Via Roma 54, 18038 San Remo; tel./fax 011-39-0184 506070; web.acle.org. Summer counsellors must enrol in a short training course for Euro 150 and are paid Euro 170-190 per week plus board and accommodation. Summer counsellors and language tutors aged 19-28 are recruited for Italian camps by the Canadian company Scotia Personnel Ltd., www.scotia-personnel-ltd.com.
Italy has a complete range of language schools, as the heading Scuole di Lingue in any Yellow Pages will confirm; the Pagine Gialle can be consulted on www.paginegialle.it. At the elite end of the market, there is a handful of schools (35 at present) which belong to AISLI, the Associazione Italiana Scuole di Lingua Inglese, administered from Via Campanella 16, 41100 Modena; www.eaquals.org linked to AISLI. Strict regulations exclude all but ultra-respectable schools.
Another possibility is to set up as a freelance tutor, though a knowledge of Italian is even more an asset here than is knowing the local language elsewhere in Europe. You can post notices in supermarkets, tobacconists, and primary and secondary schools. It may be worth advertising in a local paper.