What's included?

• Guaranteed work opportunity teaching English to a Spanish family
• Pre-departure information and advice
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• Accommodation: homestay
• Food: all meals included and provided by host family

What's NOT included?

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas
• Sightseeing activities
• Monthly stipend
• Transportation: airport pick-up, airport drop-off
• Spanish lessons*

* Spanish lessons can be arranged on request, please ask one of our travel advisors for more details.

Dates and duration

• You are welcome to join the programme at any time throughout the year. The exact dates will be agreed and confirmed by your host family.
• The minimum duration is 8 weeks. Maximum duration is as long as the host family requests.

Eligibility

• Minimum age 18 yrs.
• Formal teaching qualifications are not necessary, but any experience will strengthen your application.
• You are not required to speak Spanish but this is the perfect chance to learn.

Please understand that your admittance onto the Language Assistant Spain programme ultimately depends on you being accepted by a Spanish host family.

We operate a firm equal opportunities policy that prohibits any unfair discrimination of our travellers based on their race, religion, sex, age, physical/mental disability, sexual orientation, or any other facet that we feel should not have an effect on quality of their work or their ability to carry it out.

Location

Project life

Your teaching responsibilities: When a host family offers you an invitation, and you've accepted, it's then time to discuss what form they anticipate the lessons taking. It is also important to agree a schedule so everybody is clear about when you will be teaching and when it's your time off.

As you are likely to find kids in your designated household to teach, it is likely you will follow their course books. We'll supply you with a starter pack containing great ideas for activities, but we also recommend that you buy a good learner's dictionary and grammar book to refer to. DVDs, books, magazines and newspapers in English help you plan fun and interesting lessons. There are many free web resources available with useful teaching tips and printable worksheets etc.

Please note that your responsibilities are as a Language Assistant and you will not be requested to perform duties akin to a domestic help or an au pair - namely cooking / cleaning or child-minding. However, you will be expected to take a reasonable role with day to day household chores, such as helping to prepare meals, washing up, general tidying, etc.

This programme offers an amazing opportunity to develop your Spanish. Although you will be providing 15 hours of English lessons to the family, there is still plenty of opportunity to speak Spanish. Discuss your aspirations with your host family and agree when English or Spanish is spoken.

Depending on the situation, whilst you're over there it may be possible to find a part-time paid job to enhance your Spanish experience. You may even decide to enrol in a Spanish course to improve your language skills.

The below information is related to one of our placement locations, in Madrid:

In your free time you can enjoy the thrilling city of Madrid, with its world-class arts, culture, food, entertainment, architecture, music, and nightlife. Thirty minutes away by train, you can visit historic cities such as Toledo, for several centuries, the ancient capital of Spain

In June 2010 former Twin travel adviser Rhys travelled to Madrid to meet with the placement officer for the Language Assistant Spain programme. Whilst spending the weekend in the city he had some time to relax and explore, even taking the opportunity to visit the nearby city of Toledo. This is what he did with his free time there:

"There are so many things to do in Madrid, but like many tourists I began my exploration of the city in Plaza Mayor, which is a very large and enclosed square in the centre of the city. It's a hub for the tourists visiting Madrid and the maze of smaller side streets radiating from the square can occupy you for hours with its numerous Tapas bars and restaurants.

Plaza Mayor and the streets surrounding it have a fantastic buzz and it's heaving with people day and night. If you want to get away from all of this then I suggest you spend a bit of time chilling out in Retiro Park. The park is extremely well manicured and although still busy in places, it can provide an extremely relaxing alternative to the hubbub of the city. You can peruse the markets that are sometimes found in the park, take a stroll along the dappled shaded walkways or even do bit of rowing!

If you want to get away from the city for the day then there are plenty of options open to you because the capital has fantastic transport connections with the rest of the country. During my stay I visited the nearby city of Toledo, once the capital of Spain. It's a wonderful medieval city that's popular with day tripping tourists. The narrow streets and small squares are wonderful and the city even has a distinct North African influence to its architecture."

Accommodation and Food

• Living with your host family, you'll have your own room, and in some cases your own bathroom however the majority of the time you will share facilities with the family
• Meals are taken with your host family
• Full details of the accommodation will be provided with the placement offer

Flights, Transportation & Visas

• International flights and travel to your host family are not included, however, your host family will offer guidelines on the cheapest and most effective way to travel to their home.
• There is generally an efficient and regular public transport system across Spain allowing you to explore the local area with your time off.

• Visas:

  • European Union Citizens do not require a visa.
  • *Non European Union Citizens may participate on the programme for up to 3 months on a tourist visa. You may extend your stay if you have a study visa.

Safety & Insurance

All of Twin Work & Volunteer's placements are in partnership with recognised and established local organisations, run by or employing local people. These organisations, depending on the nature of what they do, might be small-scale NGOs, family projects, schools or orphanages, or local initiatives with environmental or social goals.

• We often use local businesses to provide logistical and support services to volunteers such as transfers, pick-ups, accommodation and so on. In this way, we support the local economy through helping independent local businesses to thrive. We take our partnerships very seriously and work extremely closely with all our partners.
• We provide 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partners provide support locally.
• We have an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise.
• If any wider safety concerns arise in the destination, such as civil disturbances or natural disasters, we seek advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and implement their recommendations where appropriate.