Hi everybody,

I've just finished my 140 hour tefl course and am now planning to move to Barcelona, Spain and try to find work once I'm out there as it seems to be the easiest way.

Ideally I would arrange a cheap place to stay before I go over there, that way I can just focus on finding work once I arrive, without any unwanted distraction. Any help or advice anyone could offer me on this would be really useful and much appreciated as at this point this is all totally new to me.

Thanks, Tom. 

There are some websites that advertise flat shares if you really want to take somewhere without looking at it first.  It might be best to find a cheap hostel and then start looking..  Be aware that many Spanish flats have bedrooms without a window, you have to look for one that says 'exterior'.  If you want a place all to yourself you'll probably have to sign a contract so I'd go for sharing to start with.

Loquo is a good place to start, there's one for each town.  'Fianza' means deposit and is usually the same as a months rent, but I've found 2 flats without paying a deposit.

As for work, there are some places that have contracts starting in January, but you'd need to get a move on or wait until after all the admin have come back from their holidays.  Contracts then go on until June or maybe July then stop for August, when there is very little work around until mid September.  That's Madrid anyway, I should imagine Barca isn't too different.

I'm sure you're gona love it, Spain is great, keep us posted :-)

Yes, I was planning to get a flat share rather than one all
by myself, hopefully that should be easier financially. A window would be nice,
but beggars can’t be choosers....

My main concern is finding work so I’ll try to get in early
and pick up a contract starting in January. Although I have heard that these
are fairly sparse, could you shed any light on this?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

there are quite  a few contracts in January for in office training here in Madrid.  I can't say about Barcelona, try looking on the web, Spanish expat sites, loquo etc, tefl .com, you'll have to search around for the right page unless someone else can recommend one for Barca.  

These are usually hourly pay unless you can get a full time contract.  It's probably better to get one where the academy pays your tax and social security as if you go autonomo the tax can be pretty high. 

I've only been here 6 months but there seems to be loads going on.  I'm hopefully getting a new contract in January that lasts until June.  It's fairly common to get a really positive interview but what they all want really is a long list of teachers they can draw on if they want, so go to every interview you can get.

You might find that many places want you to have either a degree or 2 years experience or even both.  There are some firms who prefer unexperienced teachers so that they can train you in their own way, like Vaughan systems, who have a very mixed reaction from teachers and students but are generally held in contempt by the rest of the teaching community.  They do have a minimum wage though.

A school or language school is probably the most stable and better paid in the long run.  However, it's pretty easy to get private students - you can advertise for free in loquo.  They can be a bit unreliable but you can charge 20€/hour cash in hand.

Bazteach can probably give you better advice as he's been here longer than me.