Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:49pm
Hi Tamsin,
I know Almeria City quite well, and visit and shop regularly, having lived outside the city itself for a while. We also have Spanish friends who live there. English language is not spoken as much as in the resorts as there is lesser demand for it, because Almeria is a quieter commercial place with mainly Spanish people living there. However a lot of expats visit, like me, but the number of tourists who visit the city are much lower than those who stay at hotels along the coast, where the hotels demand English skills in their customer facing staff. There are English language teachers around but they via group classes mainly, so I think one to one language tuition is probably your best bet for setting up, as it will be more valuable to teach conversation skills on top of basic rules. The rate for teaching Spanish to expats is €10 per hour and this would usually be for one person or a couple, so teaching English to Spanish I guess would be the same. No more people than 2 for that rate. Maybe you could work the hours around the children’s nursery or school if you have one to one clients, or work st home yourself. In fact, you could also approach schools and teach to children there, as I have another friend who does that in Murcia.
Whilst you plan your work, have lessons yourself to wake your brain up (lol!) and learn the local dialect and mainly lazy ways of local speaking. I don’t have a contact for you in the city, but if you have any dealings with the Albox area I can recommend someone who is excellent.....maybe you could Skype your lessons with her? She’s lots of fun.
As for the cost of living in Almeria, I’ve seen rent at 250 euros upwards, but I’m not sure about the area that’s is in. But of course, how long is a piece of string? It really depends on what you want, doesn’t it? I’d say maybe $600 euros is an average apartment. Very few houses, so it’s mostly apartments. Be careful about getting Huercal de Almeria and Almeria city itself mixed up.......they’re only a handful of miles apart, but Huercal de Almeria is a completely different proposition, much more commercial and industrial part of the area with car dealerships, DIY warehouses, car repair shops etc whereas the city is prettier, has offices and apartment blocks with trees, little squares with coffee bars, historical landmarks and of course, the lovely shops! The cost of food generally in Spain is in my view about two thirds of the cost of food in the UK, by the way, and that’s me not being careful. I think it would be much less than that if you wanted to.
You must be very excited about the proposition of coming out here. I hope this has helped. Let me know if you’re interested and I will send you a breakdown of the cost of running a small house here in a private message and we can a bit more specific about certain things then, tailored to what you want to know. I’m a bit hampered at the moment as I’m back in England for a while, but I can get most info for you.
Talk soon.
Warm regards,
Chrissie xx