Being a language assistant

After all these posts I have come to realise that there is one thing that is seriously lacking: explaining what life is like as not an ‘Erasmus student’ but a ‘language assistant’.

In the Erasmus programme you get 3 options: A) take on study at a European university. B) take on a work placement in somewhere in Europe. Or C) become a language assistant.

I decided to choose the latter option, as it meant that I would have a break from study, gain work experience before I graduate from university and earn 700 euros a month in addition to the Erasmus grant I am entitled to.

This all seems perfect, no? And whilst it has all worked out, and I love being a ‘lectora’, there were times before I arrived in the Spain when I wished I had just picked the university route.

In the UK, the ‘auxiliares’ program is run through the British Council. Unless you do it privately, there is no other way to do it, as far as I am aware. This means a lot of paperwork: paperwork for your uni, paperwork for Erasmus; paperwork for the British Council; and paperwork for the Ministry of Education in Spain. And this could get tiresome. It doesn’t help that it is a very long process. Despite all the deadlines to hand in forms, the British Council takes their time in getting back to you. And when you do receive an email from them, it tends to just be a note acknowledging your forms and paperwork.

I applied in December (with lots of help from UEA) and around April I received an email saying that I had been granted a place on the programme. Where was yet to be seen.

You see, when applying to work as a language assistant in Spain, you get groups A, B & C – you have different regions in each group, and you must pick one region from each and arrange them in preference order. You can also pick a preference in age group, and environment i.e. would you rather be in a city or the countryside? Cantabria was my first choice (which I got), followed by Valencia and La Rioja. My only other preference was being in the city – I like the countryside, and it is beautiful for a weekend away but I am certain that I would get restless very quickly if I was there permanently.

It then was until the end of July, that I found out where I would be based in Cantabria along with which school I would be working at.

And this can be particularly frustrating, considering that it means you are unable to search for accommodation, flights, prepare for your classes as you have absolutely no idea about what you should be doing, when, where and how. At times like these, I would always imagine how much better it would be if I went to a university – I would know where I am, there would be a support network, and certainly a number of other Erasmus students.

However, everything turned out quite nicely for me – it just took a lot of patience. 

I did find out what school I would be working at which is the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Santander. The majority of students who attend classes at this school are adults, but the age range can really vary. In some cases, I teach 16 year olds, in others, I teach 70 year olds. In fact, I even have a whole family of students including, Grandpa, Mum, Dad and their two teenage daughters.

There are lots of advantages teaching to adults, and overall, I am sooo glad this is my age group. Firstly, you have zero problems with discipline – most of the students want to be there, and have an active interest in learning English. You get few people who aren’t willing to participate, so, in general you can have a good lesson. Secondly, you can actually talk to them about real stuff – I teach Advanced 1 & Advanced 2 meaning that they can all speak pretty good English and are more concerned with conversation skills over vocab and grammar. You can easily open up a debate, and they are happy to ask me questions about UK culture so the classes can vary which is enjoyable. Thirdly – you can actually be friends with your students. Of course, you emphasise that you are their teacher, but it doesn’t mean you can’t share a coffee with them in the cafeteria and talk about their kid’s English classes at school. I often see my students (the majority of whom are older than me) wandering around the city with their children, but they always make sure to say hey.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of disadvantages too. For instance, sometimes, it can be difficult to accommodate to everybody’s interests due to the variety of ages. Whilst using One Direction to help improve English conversation skills might appeal to the teenage girls, it is highly unlikely that the 70 year old war veteran in the same class could even feign such an interest. So, you have to find a balance that is going to interest everyone which can often take a lot of time … and that’s just one lesson plan. Still, when you do find that perfect equilibrium, it is great and you get to really enjoy a class.

I have been lucky as well, and, overall, both the students and the teachers I work with are incredibly lovely. Those who study here have been willing to help me with matters outside of the school (where to go, what to do etc) as have the teachers, who have also been able to give me great advice. We occasionally have nice lunches together in the staff room and when working in the English department, people are sure to chat in both English and Spanish.

That is the other thing about working in an English department – you might think that your Spanish won’t improve as you are speaking in English a lot of the day. But, for me, except for in the actual lessons, I only talk in Spanish. And all the teachers are very patient with me and help me out along the way, they have been in my place when they were learning English. They understand the difficulty of trying to learn another language so they never make me feel bad when I struggle with sentences.

I have really lucked out, I have to admit. Especially as the EOI is approximately 3 minutes from my flat and I do not have to take an hour’s bus journey like some language assistants that I know.

Anyway, so that’s that, for now. I am sure there’ll be more on this at a later date.

Hasta luego.