ABOUT THE SCHEME
90 day ALL EXPENSES PAID English teaching, learning and enjoying
Iberia Teacher
What is it?
IberiaTeacher is an EU funded Erasmus Plus scheme, run in partnership by Red Ochre in London, 3Si in Seville, Synopsis Practice in Lisbon, plus partner academies in the UK, Spain and Portugal. An IberiaTeacher placement helps you to develop and use your teaching skills in English academies and in the community in Seville, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal. We are an intergenerational scheme that aims to give people of any age a chance to exchange learning about their vocation and other aspects of their lives. We've had participants from 18 to 61 years old on the scheme!
Why have we set this up?
Intergenerational and cultural understanding and multilinguism
Seville and Lisbon have a significant amount of people who would love to learn English (perhaps from someone like you). And whilst in Seville or Lisbon, you'll be receiving a lot of lessons too: about yourself and teaching as well as life lessons from the people and the Iberian places where you live, work and hang out. For that reason, we call the scheme, "IberiaTeacher" - you teach and get taught by the place at the same time.
Secondly, recent census figures showed that across the UK, 900,000 people have either no, or low level spoken English. They can face significant barriers in participating fully in local, national and European life. There is a need for high quality, trained teachers who can think creatively in how they teach, where and when. That could be you!
What's involved?
Here's how it works...
- Placements last 90 days for British citizens, 97 days for EU citizens.
- Upcoming groups will be from approximately Jan 4th -April 3rd and April 12th to July 10th 2022, when the scheme closes...due to Brexit.
- You will get full expenses paid. That means we pay for your accommodation, flights, bills, 24/7 in country support, travel insurance, flight transfers AND you get a grant of 120 Euros per week for your food costs and local travel. Plus you will get an upfront payment of 325 Euros to cover your travel insurance and any extras.
- For January, we have spaces for 21 people in Seville and 10 people in Lisbon - so we are recruiting for 31 interns. You can apply here.
- Train and teach in well known English academies and schools in Seville: OUIEA, Conecta Idiomas, OC Languages, Sevilla English, Colegio Ntra. Sra. de Andévalo, Lope de Vega Colegio, TEC Sevilla, English Connection and others. Or EasyTalk, LAC, Astoria International School or other academies in Lisbon. We will provide you with job descriptions and tell you more about these during interviews.
- Your own room in a flat in central Seville or Lisbon. You’ll have your own room and share a lounge and kitchen with two or three others who are also on IberiaTeacher. That way you'll have peer support and meet other newly qualified teachers like you.
Other benefits of joining us
Teach AND learn a language, be with a group of newly qualified teachers and learn the rhythm of life in Sevilla or Lisboa...
- Rapidly boost your Spanish or Portuguese skills. You'll get one free lesson a week with our qualified language teachers in Seville and Lisbon, plus access to intercambio language exchanges and an online EU language learning system. You do not need any Spanish or Portuguese language skills to join us!
- Develop your skills and experience. IberiaTeacher is not a training programme or course. We are focused on 'learning by doing' and on participants contributing to the school wherever they can. Placements will vary but generally you’ll start off with an orientation week, move to shadowing activities before assisting and then running your own classes.
- Be part of a peer learning group. All our academies are different and to give you a flavour of day to day work on IberiaTeacher, you can watch this video of Rhian's day at Lope de Vega in Seville, this video of our interns at Astoria International School and at EasyTalk in Lisbon or read recent case studies of Usamah, John and Marcos at OC Languages. Plus read the testimony or Instagram below!
- Continuous in country support from a friendly team who’ve done it. Our partners, 3Si are based in Seville and Synopsis Practice in Lisbon. Both staff teams have taught languages and speak fluent English. They’ll support you in your placement and your care whilst in Spain and Lisbon. Check out the Facebook pages of 3Si and Synopsis
- IberiaTeacher CPD sessions. During the internships we'll be running a free short online programme of professional development talks from teachers - including IberiaTeacher alumni - about their professional experience. Whether it is 'doing a PGCE' to 'teaching in Asia' these will help you make your next steps afterwards.
APPLY NOW!
Don't miss out on a chance to learn to teach with EU funded Erasmus Plus support
Who can apply?
Please read carefully
Whoever you are - you can apply for our scheme. It is highly useful to have gained TESOL, CELTA or a TEFL within the last year. If you do not have one of these qualifications you can also apply and you will need to complete a short LRN teaching English course as part of the programme. IbeariaTeacher is most suited to people who have less than one year's experience teaching.
Our criteria is simply focused on people who are kind and curious, as well as fully committed to English teaching, and to contributing something positive into the mix of the city's life whilst there.
We want to make sure we recruit from a rich pool of talent. We are able to make adaptions at any stage of the process should they be required. E.g. application by video instead of written document, video call instead of audio, further specific information about the working environment etc...
Whilst you will have support in Seville and Lisbon, it is also important that you also have your own forms of support (e.g. friends, family, personal habits) and an ability to take care of yourself.
Due to funding rules you must also be a UK National or any other EU citizen, but based in the UK....
We can't accept applications from Spanish citizens (for Seville - you can apply for Lisbon) or Portuguese citizens for Lisbon (you can apply for Seville however).
We have had IberiaTeacher participants from the UK, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Spain, France, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Ireland...and welcome all eligible nationalities.
Due to Brexit, British citizens must not have travelled to the EU (Schengen Zone) in the 90 days previous to departure (January 4th) in order to not break the law and immigration rules. This can help you to calculate this rule: www.schengenvisainfo.com/visa-calculator/
This means you must have been back in the UK on October 5th. We ask you to do your own calculations on this however and take responsibility for knowing whether you are within Brexit immigration laws.
For EU citizens - you will have 97+ day placements and no restrictions.
How to apply
Applications are now OPEN for placements from January 4th to April 3rd (April 10th for EU citizens).*
*Dates not confirmed until flights booked.
If you are interested in the April 12th to July 10th placements you are welcome to send an email to register your interest.
To apply, please send three things to the Founder of IberiaTeacher – Martin Cooper: martin@redochre.org.uk
- Download and complete an application form to send.
- Your CV
- A photo/scan of your CELTA/TESOL/TEFL certificate. If you do not have this yet - an explanation why (e.g. you haven't started a course yet or you are in the middle of one).
We’ll then select candidates for Skype interviews which will take mid-late November.
It may take time, but we will be in touch with ALL applicants with our decisions. Whilst we receive many applications and have limited resources, we try and respond to everyone who applies within the funding rules.
If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to make the application process accessible to you, please feel free to get in touch with Martin
TEAM
WE'RE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR PLACEMENT
Martin Cooper
Founder of IberiaTeacher,
Red Ochre
Martin takes care of business from London and directs the programme. He wishes he could have done something like IberiaTeacher.
Irene Cortijo
Project Lead, 3Si
Reeny ensures placements and accommodation in Sevilla go well. She is also a translator and fluent in knowing what it's like to move to another place and adapt.
Antonio Rosso
Project Co-ordinator, 3Si
Antonio works on recruitment, support and academies. He also organises our community teaching project in Sevilla and he has a PhD in Education.
Fátima Gutiérrez
Project Co-ordinator
3Si
Fátima handles support and placement activities in Sevilla. She has a Masters in anthropology and brings cultural and creative expertise to the scheme.
Eloy Miranda
Project Lead, Synopsis Practice
Eloy takes care of things in Lisbon, making sure everything is up to scratch. He is well travelled and well known to speak different languages.
Monika Wasik
Project Co-ordinator, Synopsis Practice
Monika handles academy liaison and is our Portuguese lesson leader. She also speaks five languages and knows all the best places in Lisboa.
Bruno Riobó
Overview, Synopsis
Bruno handles the overview in Lisboa. He's also a language teacher and fount of knowledge for both cities.
Uday Thakkar
Overview, Red Ochre
Uday is co-founder of Red Ochre and as a Chartered Accountant and social entrepreneur, he takes care of the financial stuff.
Robert Foster
Project Support, Red Ochre
Robert is also co-founder of Red Ochre and provides back up support and insight across programme activities.
Gallery
Latest photos: travel, arrival and review
OUR PARTNERS
Iberia Teacher is a partnership of organisations in the UK and Seville, Spain, led by Red Ochre in London
Our partners
UK, Spain and Portugal
Iberia Teacher is made possible through the support of some of the leading language schools in the UK and Europe.
All applicants from our partners get priority access to Iberia Teacher. And if you have yet to get your English teaching qualification then WEBridge Academy, The English Studio, and B3ST would be the best place to start!
We are also delighted to be working with Third Sector International (3Si) in Seville - one of Europe's specialists in hosting participants in Erasmus Plus schemes and an Anglo-Spanish organisation who provide exceptional pastoral support and placements for Iberia Teacher. You can learn a bit more about them and the Iberia Teacher team in this video. After years working together we have expanded to Lisbon and are loving working with 3Si's sister organisation, Synopsis Practice.
Erasmus Plus
Be part of the Erasmus experience
Iberia Teacher is funded by Erasmus+ through the European Union.
Whilst the UK is still in the European Union and negotiations about it's exit are continuing, you will be part of a wider movement to help people to study, train and get work experience in different European countries. Grab this highly valuable experience and opportunity whilst you still can...
