General Information:

Academy:
International House Madrid

Webpage:
http://www.ihmadrid.com
http://www.ihmadridtraining.com/

Date updated:
Jan. 12, 2011.

When did academy open?
28 years ago.

Contact person and title:
Alex Bishop, HR Director, does all the hiring.

Contact phone:
902 141 517 (However, don’t call if you can send an e-mail.)

E-mail: selection@ihmadrid.com
Send your CV in an e-mail as an attachment. All CVs are looked at and kept in a database for future reference. Most of their hiring is done from May to September for the Fall, but sometimes they have to hire a few more teachers in October. (They took on 4 teachers in October who had done the academy’s own CELTA last summer.)

Address:
Zurbano, 8 – 28010, Madrid, Spain. This academy is just up the street from well-connected Alonso Martínez Metro station (three metro lines pass through here, including the very important “blue” or “ten” line). These are the six schools: Sagasta centre, in C/Covarrubias 1. – C/ Fernando el Santo 24, Alonso Martínez – C/ Zurbano 8, Nuevos Ministerios – Pº/ Castellana 102, Ciudad Universitaria – Pº / Juan XXIII 9, Las Rozas – C/ Camilo José Cela 9, and Diego de Leon centre, in Calle Francisco Silvela, 54.

"Pasajes" English bookshop is on the corner at Alonso Martinez (Zurbano 8 centre) and there are plenty of restaurants and shops in the area, including “Burger King” and a relatively cheap “all-you-can-eat” called “Frescos”.

Facilities and classrooms:
Facilities and classrooms – there are well-equipped classrooms in each centre. Six centres: International House Alonso Martinez, International House Colón, International House Ciudad Universitaria and International House Nuevos Ministerios and International House Diego de Leon. The IH Madrid academy at Sagasta is the headquarters. IH Nuevos Ministerios is a new academy with a new building.

Have good materials support, photocopier?
The staffrooms are fully stocked with resources and equipped with computers with internet access for all staff.
IH Alonso Martinez has plenty of resources and a large area with tables and computers for the teachers. There are 5 computers with an ADSL internet connection in a cafeteria and 5 computers in the staffroom without an internet connection. There are also lockers for the teachers in the staffroom.

Have "Director of Studies" support?
Each department has a Director, a DOS, one or more ADOSes, senior teachers and supervisors. IH Madrid has two “Young Learners” DOSes (one for onsite classes and one for offsite classes), a “Adult English” DOS, “Teacher Training” DOS and “Senior Teachers”, who help less experienced teachers. There is also a DOS for the in-company teachers as well as a team of supervisors. Teachers have regular meetings at the beginning and end of each term as part of an on-going effort to standardize the courses so that all the students in a particular level will reach their objectives as per exams and such. Teachers also undergo “well-received” observations, which are followed up by constructive feedback sessions.

VIPs on staff?
Roy Norris is author of “Ready for First Certificate” by MacMillan Publishers. Steven McGuire, head of teacher training at IH Madrid is a past coordinator at TESOL and frequent speaker at conventions and seminars in Spain. Kate Pickering has written books in the Global series. Several staff members are currently writing coursebooks for major publishers.

Qualification requirements for employment?
Require a minimum of a CELTA and prefer teachers who get an “A” or a “B” rather than those who simply “Pass”. Will take “equivalent” TEFL certifications (Equivalent qualifications recognised by IH World Organisation, mainly the Trinity TESOL or Irish CELT - post 2007 only), but will carefully examine the circumstances of the course (i.e. whether the classes were observed, etc.). There is a TEFL certification course, the Cambridge CELTA, offered by International House Madrid.

Employment Information:

Experience requirements for employment?
IH Madrid would love for every English teacher to be really experienced, but that’s simply not realistic. There is no experience pre-requisite for employment. Due to a high demand for teachers, they sometimes hire English teachers right off the CELTA courses providing they have demonstrated the quality expected. At the moment, IH Madrid has a higher demand for young learners teachers and prefers teachers who are willing to take at least some YL classes.

Hire at a distance?
With the exception of their internal transfer process they require face to face interviews, and do not hire at distance. IH Madrid will ask for your CV and check your references.

Hire Americans and do their papers?
Hire Americans with legal status, but won’t do their papers.

Preference for British or Americans?
None apparently. IH Madrid gets plenty of companies that ask for American English teachers.

Estimated teachers hired yearly:
Estimated teachers hired – 50 / 60 a year, they tend to stay for an average of 2 -3 years. Apart from this, they tend to hire fewer strictly in-company teachers as they need teachers who can do every type of class.

Teachers at International House for over 4 years?
More than 25% of their workforce have been there for more than 4 years.

Number of students:
More than 2,500.
About 1,000 young learners.

Best part about working at International House Madrid?
… the people, because most try to be professional. Also, there is a general feeling of being part of a “family” because people help and support each other.

Other benefits?
… the feeling that the training continues. Teachers like to come to IH Madrid because it’s a place where one can develop quickly. Teachers are encouraged to do seminars and they stay because they feel they are developing. Also, teachers only get more difficult classes when they feel they are ready for them. IH Madrid makes an effort to cater to requests and to give teachers the courses and work loads that they ask for.

IH is made up of a network of schools internationally, including 23 in Spain. As part of the internal recruitment programme, teachers who move around within the system will actually receive financial help with flights, etc. in order to better make the moves.

Offer teacher training or development along with job?
Teachers are offered an in-house IH Young Learner certification. There is also an obligatory paid 36-hour-per-year in-service training programme, which is written into the contract. The class schedules are doubled up so as to give teachers double the opportunities to choose their best seminar times. In terms of training they also offer the IH Language Awareness Course, the IH Business English Teaching Certificate, and this year we will also be offering the newly written IH Teaching 1 to 1 Certificate.

Starters' average salary?
Starting salary: contract – from €1,372 / month + supplements for experience as well as paid holiday, abono transporte (if travelling more than 6 hours a week), and Spanish classes, autónomo - €18 – 21 / hour depending on experience.