Amy3

Hi,

I’m moving out to Spain from the UK at the end of September. I’ve just become qualified as an English teacher and am starting a job teaching English to children and teenagers in Santander. I’m excited about moving to Spain but also pretty scared! I was wondering if anyone had any advice to someone moving to Spain by themselves and not knowing anyone in the area. Especially if anyone has any advice specifically about Santander. My Spanish is pretty much beginner level, but I’m learning What’s the best way to meet people? What sort of problems am I likely to face? Any advice is greatly welcomed!

Amy

cricketman

Santander and Cantabria will be quite different to most the places expats live in. There are posters here from Asturias and Galicia who will be able to give advise. The North is very different depending on whether you live in the countryside or the city itself. I spent a lot of time in Oviedo and Gijon which are similar cities to Santander.

I advise that you enroll yourself in an intensive Spanish course for when you arrive in Santander, otherwise you will be quite lonely. There are very few non-Spaniards who live there and few will speak English. A google search will show you the list of language schools.

Flat sharing with students may be a good idea to make friends and improve your Spanish at the same time. You can find these are sites like segundamano, idealista and fotocase.

Other than that, I am quite envious. Remember that it rains a lot! But the food and countryside is great. Also you are close to Asturias and Basque country for travelling

I havent got a clue what the poster was saying abut all the illegal immigrants in the North, think they forgot to take their medication

steviedeluxe

Hi,
Congratulations on your job. You're going to be based in an amazingly beautiful area (well all of the north coast is pretty impressive); however be warned , the weather is generally a lot milder (and wetter) than other parts of Spain. You'll still have marvellous mild winter days with sunshine on the beach though. Inland there are mountain ranges and you'll normally see a lot of snow there in the winter.
As for meeting other Brits - I imagine there must be some, but I've never come across them, either when visiting the area or in internet forums etc. A bit strange as there seems to be a few Brits starting to settle in Galicia. I think one of your best bets if you're starting to learn Spanish is to attend intercambios (exchange of languages). If you don't see any advertised (maybe the University of Cantabria? ) you may need to put up flyers yourself in copy shops or even on lamp-posts (again I don't know if this goes on there, it does in other parts of Spain). I have a couple of good German friends in Cantabria, but they live near Comillas (they rent out accommodation there); however they may know contacts and advice around Santander. I'll send them an email and try and find out.
I think an important thing you must do is check your job and contract details. Are you in Santander city itself or the province? If you're outside the city you may need to sort out your own transport. Accommodation shouldn't be too expensive as many holiday home owners rent out their properties cheaply in the winter (they make most of their money from June to September). Also - do you get paid for state holidays or when the school is closed? Be careful on this, there are a lot of hidden holidays and shutdowns, and your budgeting should allow for this.
Oh yes, I mentioned copy shops. Unless you're able to make photocopies free of charge at your school, one of your first tasks will be to seek out a way to copy your material, even if your school promises to provide all materials. After a time all classes need a break from the routine, so using a recipe or the lyrics from the latest pop hit can really be a life-saver.
Lastly - keep posting here, and asking questions. It may seem at times like posters only come here for an argument, but in the main they're a knowledgeable lot and you can learn a lot from these boards.
Good luck!

steviedeluxe

I have to echo Cricketman's opinion. However, if it's your first time living away from the UK and you're new to teaching, then you're going to have difficult days in the first winter. I imagine you won't be able to access Sky or British television, so maybe a good internet connection will be vital, to keep in touch. As there's an airport and the ferry port in Santander, I imagine you'll be able to get a UK newspaper from time to time, but I wouldn't guarantee it. So it's going to be vital that you get up to speed with the Spanish language - especially as the parents of the kids you're teaching will sometimes ask you questions.
One more thing - if you're planning on flying back to the UK each school holiday, it may be an idea to book well ahead. If you leave it late, the air fare can be surprisingly high at holiday time, even the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet.

lynnxa

on the plus side - with little or no access to all things British, her spanish language skills should improve all the more rapidly

jdr

Especially if her students teach her a few choice words. lol

lynnxa

they always want to know those ones first

jdr

I wonder why. lol

battlezone123

Newspapers will be no problem to get hold of although they will be a day "late". I have an arrangement with a little newsagent in the town and she saves my Daily Mail and I collect the papers once or twice a week. I also have a special order for English magazines.

So if your want a newspaper regularly ask your local newsagent and they will get hold of the paper for you.

jdr

If you need a read, look on line.
The papers here are crap, printed in Spain and five or six times the price for half a paper with no mags.

steviedeluxe

I hope we've not put off Amy from moving to Santander, with all this talk of overpriced undersized newspapers!

Amy3

Hi,

Thank you for all of your help and advice! It’s been really useful. I’m still looking forward to moving out there despite the state of British newspapers there In response to Steviedeluxe, I’ll be working in Santander itself. However, I will need to sort out my accommodation when I arrive. Thank you for the websites for accommodation – do you think that students would want to live with someone with very little Spanish?

I’ve done the CELTA and worked in a British primary school but haven’t got much experience teaching children English. Are there any books/resources/websites specific to teaching English to children that you’d recommend?

Also, is there anything you can think of that I need to sort out before I move to Spain? Any legal things etc that I may have forgotten to organise? I know that most of you have mentioned that there are few English-speakers in Santander, but, when moving to a different country, what have you found to be the best way to meet new people when you’re away?

Thank you!
Amy

jdr

No 1, is make sure you are on a contract with your job and get registered at the local SS office and clinic or you will be paying out for private medical care.

steviedeluxe

Amy - I've sent you a private message (PM) - I hope you receive it despite being a new member of the forum. It contains the email address of the contact I know in the area - I can't publish it here in the thread as spammers will pick up the email address. Please let me know if you receive the PM ok.

Veleta

There are gzillions of such websites.

In fact you might be better off on a tefl forum than this one. onestopenglish.com, tefl.com, tefl.net, usingenglish.com, english-to-go.com. The list goes on and on.

Here's a good one....englishtips.org. If you register you can download a lot of tefl books for free. If you like the book you can then go out and buy it, but it gives you an opportunity to "try before you buy".

Good luck.