The reason I want to do a CELTA and YL is because this is literally the passport to the world. No matter which country you want to stay in, you are very employable after completing the CELTA course.
I am originally from Hong Kong and had a decent job for selling diamonds as a diamond trader. However, I have always fancied the life in Europe, especially in Spain as I started to learn Spanish some years ago and I got to know about the Spanish culture and lifestyle which are very interesting to me.
After constantly wondering the life in Spain, I have done a lot of research about teaching English and have completed an online TELF certificate and I got a job offer. However, the TELF certificate was not good enough for me to obtain a work visa in Spain as the Spanish ministry of work denied my work visa permit for some reasons, therefore I decided to come to Sevilla and complete the CELTA and YL in CLIC.
The CELTA course was very intensive. It was a lot of work but hard work pays off. I was applying for jobs when I was about to finish the YL course after completing the CELTA course and some schools were interested in me. We arranged for interviews and finally one school was super interested in me and gave me a job offer, therefore I can stay in Sevilla to teach English and study Spanish for real!
My experience in Sevilla so far has been very good. Local people are very friendly and passionate, the only problem is that the majority of people do not speak English, even if they do they speak really limited English. It is quite rare to find local Spanish that speak good English so if you find some, catch them! They will show you amazing things in the city!
Having a low level of Spanish makes it very difficult to communicate and make friends with people because most of the time you do not understand them as they have a really thick andalucian accent. It always happens to me as I ask for direction on the streets, people want to help and they catch my arms explaining me how to get to the place I want to go, but all in Spanish! They speak really fast and with their strong thick accent make it really challenging to understand them. My suggestion would be to study some Spanish and prepare yourself before coming to Spain or to take some Spanish class here. Knowing some basic Spanish is a must here.
As mentioned above, local Spanish in Sevilla do not speak English so well in general. However, some people are very keen to make friends with English speaking people as they think English is very important for job opportunities and university. It is always so inspiring and motivating to see how much people do want to learn a language while you are capable of helping them!
There is a huge demand for English teachers in Spain, especially before school year starts. The best way is to do a CELTA course as you really get to learn different methodologies for teaching and the tutors are amazingly helpful (special thanks to all the tutors in CLIC, they are amazing!). After all, with your CELTA certificate(s) and a little bit of luck, it is not as difficult as you might think to obtain a job here in Sevilla. For those who want to attempt for starting a new life in Sevilla or Spain, I highly recommend you to do a CELTA in CLIC and this certificate does make things much easier! Good luck!
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