My Experience as a British Council English Language Assistant in Spain & Application Advice
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- 01:35 Where can you go and what are the hours like?
05:00 What does the job involve?
08:48 Application advice
British Council website: www.britishcou...
I study Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University and as part of my degree I had to complete a year abroad. Between October 2018 and May 2018, I chose to work as a British Council English Language Assistant in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which is one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It was an amazing experience and it gave me a lot of confidence.
During the next academic year, I’m going to be working as an ambassador for the Language Assistants programme that is open to current university students and graduates. If you’re interested in living and working abroad, the British Council’s programme is the perfect opportunity to do just that. There’s a lot of support available and the programme helps you develop a wide range of transferable skills that are relevant to any career path. If you have any questions about the programme, or maybe want some help with your application if you’re thinking about applying, I’m here to help you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, either in the comments section of this video or by email: readingwithjack@gmail.com .
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I’ve just got back from Chile after living in Santiago as an English language assistant and it was the best year of my life! If you’re thinking about applying do it!!
This was really insightful and helpful, thank you! I'm going to apply this weekend!
Very helpful! Thank you!!
This sounds like an awesome program. I think most young people would benefit from living in a different country for a time, just to have a taste of a different culture and to expand their world view a bit. This is so cool that you were able to do that. Do you think you might end up being a language teacher in your career?
It was such a beneficial programme and I definitely came out of it with a more international outlook on life. I'm not sure if I'll be a full-time languages teacher for my entire career (teaching is very demanding and it can be hard to get a work/life balance). Saying that, I really enjoyed my year in Spain and found it very rewarding. To be honest I still don't really know what job I'm going to do when I graduate - but I know there's always opportunities to do a job on the side teaching languages on the internet. There's quite a lot of tutoring websites these days for that kind of thing.
Well, whatever you end up doing, I know you'll succeed, because you won't quit and you'll give it all your focus. And you're right, work/life balance is very important. I think your generation is more aware of that than us older folks. :)
Im going to Andalusia in October, im so excited. Your video was very helpful. Where we you based in Spain? Good luck with the rest of your studies.
HI Sarah, How did you find your experience of Andalusia and your experience teaching? I am going to Andalusia later this year for the BC. Andy
Thank you so much for this- i am waiting to hear about the next step of my placement- I am curious about what you did in your lessons, I haven't really taught before and i'd like to know more abou that side. BTW this video is exactly what i was looking for.
Hi, I'm glad you found my video useful :) In some lessons, particularly those in "specialised" subjects like technology or history which we taught in English as part of the school's bilingual programme, I just accompanied the main teacher and followed their lesson plans. My role in those lessons was to read things out of textbooks with the correct pronunciation and to make sure the students understood all the correct vocabulary and terminology in English - they were often familiar with it in Spanish but needed help with the English. Sometimes the students would repeat textbook passages after me to practise their speaking. I'd also go around and talk to the students about the subject while they were working/completing their classwork - some of them preferred speaking in English just to me on more of a one-on-one basis, rather than in front of the entire class.
In the English language lessons, I often gave mini PowerPoint presentations for the students, usually about cultural events and activities in the UK. Say for example I was talking about what we do to celebrate Christmas - I'd have a few slides summarising the topic and use a few resources to give more context, e.g. videos of people singing Christmas carols or photos of my own family back in the UK celebrating. Then I'd maybe do a game or quiz to test their knowledge on what I'd said, followed by a Q&A session where they could ask questions. The students always had loads of things to ask me and it was a great way for them to practice formulating questions with the right grammatical structures.
@@TomesAndTravel Thank you so much for your answer here and for being so in-depth. Really appreciated.
@@andybee29 No problem! Good luck with your placement :)
how far in advance of your start date were you informed about which region you were allocated to?
great video btw thank you :)
you're great :,) thank you
cheers man, Recenty applied and waiting to hear back, know it takes a while (May 1st at latest) but wondering when about it was that you heard confirmation you were accepted. also did you hear you were accepted and where you were going at same time or was it delayed. CHEERS
@Will i applied as well, did you find out your city?
Hi Tomes
I need to know about some informations regarding British Council Teaching assistant programs…please leave me a massage..🙏
Great video! Did your wage increase when you increased to 16 hours a week?
Thanks for the video!
To apply do you need to have experience as a teacher??
This video is very helpful! Did you teach/explain things in English or Spanish or both?
Glad it helped you! About 90% of the teaching was done in English. Sometimes I had to explain things a few times and speak really slowly, but in most cases the classes would understand me.
The only exception was with the students who had a lower level of English (the 11/12 year olds). Sometimes I had to talk to them more in Spanish. Or I would speak in English and the main class teacher would interpret what I'm saying as I went through the class. That meant the students had exposure to both English and Spanish, and the lessons were accessible for everyone.
Hope that makes sense!
Would you advise applying for the BCLA as opposed to a TEFL? I've recently graduated in English Literature with a minor in Spanish. I decided not to do a year abroad as part of my degree, but always planned to travel and work there after graduating. Any tips would be great!
Hi, thanks for the video really helpful! I was wondering at what point you were told that your place had been confirmed? I've read on the website they'll tell you whether you have been recommended by April, and whether you have an actual place by June. Was this the case? and was it the same for others you know? It feels like quite a late date to find out. Thanks! :)
Glad you found the video helpful! I found out I was recommended to Spain in April, and then in the final week of May I found out I got given the Canary Islands (I believe everyone finds out on the same day and it's usually around that time, June at the latest). Then you have to wait for the education people in your region to send you the allocation of your exact school/city/town, which I found out in the first week of July. I know it takes a long time, but the British Council get thousands of applications across all the different countries on offer. But in my opinion it was worth the wait!
Thank you very useful information can you still do this if you have kids? I have a 3 year old and wanted to know how I would be supported organising suitable childcare
Hey! How did you find your accommodation?
Hi, what is the difference between working for programs like Beda and Ucetam compared with to The British Council? Thanks
The different programs are run through different organisations and each will have its own requirements, work hours, possibilities of where to go in Spain etc. I believe Ucetam, for example, is just in Madrid... whereas with the British Council you can select a preference for any region of Spain, which gives you the opportunity to go to places that you might never have considered before and learn about completely new ways of life! In general, people from the UK seem to work as language assistants through the British Council because the programme has a good reputation and is well-structured. The British Council offers a lot of support and their application process is very transparent.
I don't know loads about the other programs as I've never been involved. But if you want to know anything about the British Council specifically, I am happy to help you and will be able to speak from experience.
@@TomesAndTravelthanks for your reply. The british council mentions that you need a certain level of Spanish to apply, I have zero at the moment. I can also see there is a possibility there may be evening work and a teacher can be placed at different schools, so it seems you won't be working in normal schools in comparison to beda which puts you in Catholic schools meaning standard school hours.
For the next British Council application cycle, there has actually been a removal of Spanish language requirements. They're still looking for people with an interest in the country but now you don't need to be able to speak Spanish (the same is true for China - you don't need to speak Mandarian to go and teach there).
The standard schedule is 12 working hours per week. In my case, I only worked in one school and it was always within standard hours (the school day was 7:55am - 1:55pm, but I wasn't there all the time, only when I had classes). I also had one day off per week, meaning three day weekends to travel around. Sometimes you can be split over two schools which are close to one another - usually if the schools are smaller this is more likely, but I was in a big school so it never happened for me.. Regarding evening work, that's notsomething that I was required to do... you can do optional things like help out with school trips, but even then, they tend to be during the school day. I don't imagine you would be teaching outside of the normal schedule. The idea is that within your contracted 12 hours you talk to the pupils during their lessons. It's unlikely they're going to be in school during evenings.
Hope this helps clarify a few things! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :)
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