Teach & Learn in Spain Graduate Program

The Teach & Learn program is an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to expand his or her perspective on what it is like to live in a foreign country. Many students have the opportunity to study abroad in a foreign country and tend to return to their home country with the cliched phrase "life-changing experience" on the tips of their tongues. The T&L program allows for a deeper and arguably more "life-changing" experience. I have come to realize that one doesn't really understand what it is like to live in another country until one works in that country. The process of gather paperwork for the visa, finding a place to live, worrying about finances, feeling stressed at times, and meeting Spaniards is all part of what makes the program so transformative.

Part of what makes this experience possible is the support of the Instituto Franklin staff. One feels at home here. Staff work to ensure that your time in Spain is as good as it can possibly be and that you feel supported. Any issue that I ever had was either resolved proactively or taken care of with a simple meeting with Instituto Franklin staff.

The Master in Teaching program at Instituto Franklin-UAH provided practical and theoretical knowledge for teaching in an ESL classroom. The classes were insightful, and the professors were very knowledgable in their fields of bilingual and international education. I especially enjoyed learning about comparative education systems. Developing communicative lessons for the classroom was another highlight of this program. The feedback from the professors and my classmates helped me to develop and improve my teaching skills. The Master in Teaching program helped me to reach my professional goals once back in the United States. This experience impressed employers, and it helped me to land my dream career of working with adult English Language Learners in Chicago.

I completed my masters in Teaching in Institute De Franklin, in June 2016. I really enjoyed my time in Spain and was placed in a secondary bilingual school along side completing my masters. It was a challenge and I met some amazing people on the course. The lecturers were very helpful and encouraging. I continued to work another year in the school in IES Complutense as a teaching assistant. I returned to Ireland to work for 6 months and now I am starting work in Naples Italy in a school.
The masters was challenging at times but I found myself enjoying and rising to the challenge. We were given the tools to help us teach. We received great support from the staff of the university and have made some wonderful friends who also completed the course. I highley recommend doing this Masters in Teaching and loved my time in Spain.

In general I had a great experience. The program itself was well set up and the staff was very helpful. I found that most of my classes were applicable to the things I was teaching at my school. I learned a great deal, and all of my classes helped me to better serve my students in the Spanish education system. Although there was a lot of work to be done, I feel that the amount of schoolwork/ homework was compatible with the amount of hours I had to work during the week. It was a lot of work but definitely doable.
Something I loved was, the trouble free way that they go about helping you obtain your short-term visa. The Spanish bureaucracy can be difficult to navigate and their help with this process made things much easier.
As an alumna I keep in touch with the Instituto Franklin and find that it is a great networking tool.
Overall, the program served me well, I enjoyed my time there and I would definitely recommend this program for anyone who is passionate about the education system and who would like to learn about a different education system while getting hands-on experience.

I graduated class of 2017 and got my degree in Bilingual Education. There is a lot of support from staff members and they are very helpful. Although the classes are helpful and give you insight on how to prepare, plan, and manage classes, it is 5 hours every Friday. Which can be exhausting after working a four hour day and then later commuting to Alcala. Luckily many of the teachers are flexible and understanding to our situation and are always willing to help. This program can open up many opportunities for ESL teaching, at the moment I'm teaching and working in Vietnam because of it. There are also guidelines to getting the degree accredited in the states. I would recommend this program and especially to people who want to stay another year in Madrid and further their education.

I went to Alcala University to get a Masters of Bilingual and Multicultural Education in 2016/2017. I had a positive experience, where the tuition (in comparison with the US) was very low, and the benefits were high. The program coordinators go out of their way to help you and you study with the same group of people for every class so you become quite close. This particular masters that I studied is really aiming towards teaching ESL. Be ready to work a full time schedule in a school and take classes on Friday for 5 hours, as well as completing homework. As this is a masters overseas, make sure that the accreditation is valid in your home state. If you are planning to do a Phd after completing this masters, make sure to research that this masters will help you on your road there, as this is a one year masters called a masters propio in Spain. I moved to Vietnam after completing this Masters and with a recommendation from my program coordinator, I was hired in an International School here (I am also a certified teacher in the States). I highly recommend this program if you are interested in a career in Education.

Some of the instructors we had were excellent. I was really academically challenged in several of my classes, and intrigued with the material. I have used and will continue to use a lot of what I learned in some of my classes. Although I would have rather had a separate year for a teaching practicum, doing the masters and teaching concurrently assured that I could directly apply what I learned in the program into the classrooms I was working it.

I knew I was going to be busy, but I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. This program necessitates constant time management, and I was ALWAYS working, planning, or studying. This is definitely not the program for you if you're looking to spend a lot of time traveling throughout the duration of the program, and it's a very experience from a study abroad.

That being said, I am glad I pushed myself through the program. I grew as a student and also as an educator. I continue to stay in touch with many of my classmates, who were perhaps the best resource I had during the program.

I had a great experience with the Teach and Learn program. A majority of the classes were useful and very applicable to my teaching experience. I was able to learn a great deal about the Spanish education system. I also made great friendships from my cohort. Learning about this system helped me with my teaching experience in Spain. I felt that the workload from the classes was doable and compatible with the amount of teaching. It wasn't easy, but it was doable.
I know from others in my cohort that each experience is different. That's something that should be expected since there are so many different schools who are partnered with the program.
Overall my experience was a positive one, and I highly recommend the Teach and Learn program.