INTERVIEWING VIOLET TAYLOR

Violet Taylor is an English major at UC Berkeley who had the opportuniy of being an Intern while studying abroad in Universidad Complutense during the academic year 2023/24. In this conversation, she told us about how a Convenio de Practicas works and her experience in this Internship.

• How did you find out about your internship?

"So I am an English major and it was literally the easiest internship search of my life. It's much easier than it's been to find internships in California actually. Being a native English speaker is such a valuable skill here, so I just read a couple articles about what websites foreigners use to find similar types of internships and I started using one called 'Lingobongo'. I found a couple of postings offered by agencies. There are also private ones offered by just people and families, and I emailed them a cover letter and my resume. Every single posting I applied to, I heard back from, which is the opposite of my experience ever, so it was really easy. I had a couple interviews with different places and the company I ended up going with, 'Hello English', invited me to their office to do an in-person interview and I really liked the people that I met. Also, the time commitment was going to be a lot more flexible."

• What did you have to do next?

"It was one of those interviews where you already have the offer. But they said, you need to commit to establishing a 'Convenio de Prácticas'. So, I went to the university so they could help with this process. I know there are other ways to find prácticas through the university, which is really cool and a great resource. But because I was looking for positions that I could get because I was a native English speaker and that were specifically for people who weren't Spanish, I used a website for that. So, I think if I were looking to do something a bit more technical, I would go through the university through GIPE (Gestión Integral de Prácticas Externas).

So anyway, they had to sign a convenio with the university and register with the Oficina de Prácticas. They had to write an offer with my name on it. And then I had to turn in my visa, my passport information, and my bank information. I have a bank account here in Spain. If you're looking for other opportunities, there were babysitting gigs that I found on the website and similar things. So I think it's a really good way to meet Spanish families and give yourself a little bit more of an immersive experience."

• What do you do in your internship and what is your time commitment?

"Even though I have a lot of autonomy with my internship, they give me all of the lesson materials. It's up to me to do all the coordination with the parents and to decide what I teach each day and they give me a lot of liberty to be creative with my lessons. My title is 'Creative English Teacher'. It's also a learning experience, especially for me, being in a different country. I think this is my main opportunity to really get to know Spanish kids and Spanish families. And I'm really loving that part of it. I think it's one of my favorite internships that I've ever had. I work five hours a week. And I may go up to seven next semester. I don't feel like I'm stressed for time."

• Is your internship paid?

"Yeah, I can get paid. I think with my student visa, I can work 20 hours a week in Spain. Basically it was a long bureaucratic process to officially sign the contract. Complutense wanted to make sure I'm not working too much. And there was a lot of other paperwork that I needed. For instance, I needed to get a background check to work with kids in Spain. And, yeah, I'm able to get paid for this."