Apply to teach English in Spain through the Auxiliar de Conversación program!
Application available between January 9 and April 18, 2017.
The application is now open to teach English in Spain or Andorra through the Spanish Ministry of Education. Auxiliares teach for 12 hours a week from October 1, 2017, to May 31, 2018, for a salary of 700€ per month – or 16 hours a week from October 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, for a salary of 1,000€ per month if placed in Madrid.
This program is open to citizens of the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and English-speaking citizens from Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden. For the US/Canadian application, the main requirements for applicants are being a native speaker under 60 years old, being at least a junior in college or having a Bachelor’s degree, and passing a background check. You do not have to prove knowledge of Spanish, though you are supposed to have basic communicative skills.
Regions of Spain
All 17 autonomous regions of Spain and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa now participate in this program, although Cantabria suddenly cancelled their program for 2016-17. Schools run by the Spanish Ministry of Education in Andorra – the country between Spain and France that is neither in the EU nor the Schengen Space – also appears to be an option as of 2017 but I couldn’t find any other information about it.
Autonomous Communities and Cities of Spain (Andorra is located on the northern border of Cataluña)
Group A: Asturias, Ceuta y Melilla, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarra, País Vasco
Group B: Aragón, Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla la Mancha, Cataluña, Galicia
Group C: Andalucía, Castilla León, Comunidad Valenciana, Islas Balearas, Madrid, Murcia
Auxiliar de Conversación Application
Information and the application can be found at the official Auxiliares de conversación extranjeros en España site. Instructions in English can be found on the page dedicated to North American language and culture assistants in Spain.
There is no application fee to apply, but keep in mind that you will probably have to travel to your nearest Spanish embassy to get your visa. This program is essentially first-come first-served, so get your application in as soon as possible for the best chance to be accepted and to get your first preference of region. Renewing for subsequent years is also possible if you decide you want to Spain; however, you may or may not be able to stay at the same school or even in the same region.
If you have questions about the program or application, I suggest joining and searching the many Auxiliares de Conversación groups on Facebook.
Want to teach English somewhere besides Spain?
If you’d like to teach as an English assistant in France, the application is open until January 15 for US citizens and February 15 for Canadian citizens. There are also other opportunities to teach English in Europe as well as in Latin America.
