About Barcelona

Most of our CELTA trainees seem to have considered other places, apart from Barcelona, before eventually deciding to come to Spain. Some consider taking a CELTA course at home, particularly those from the UK. But when they get here, and start to see something of Barcelona, virtually all of them seem to say they definitely made the right choice.

Architecturally and culturally almost without comparison

Partly it must be that Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. There's the Ramblas, of course, and all of the Gaudí buildings - the Sagrada Familia and the Casa Batlló, as well as the Park Güell - but so much more too. There's the old city and all of the other amazing examples of Modernista architecture (the Palau de la Musica, for example), not to mention the the fact that it's generally so bright and sunny here.

Culturally, as well, apart from the architecture, there are dozens of museums and art galleries, with the Picasso and Miró museums being particularly famous. There are two major arts festivals during the year, one in the summer (the Grec) and one in the autumn (La Mercé), and there are concerts and shows of different kinds happening all the time.

Nightlife and the beach

Barcelona has got the most amazing number of bars and clubs, too. Right, during your CELTA course, you're going to be good and really hard-working and abstemious... But just a little sample of it at the weekend, just to give yourself a break, you know... It never seems to do our trainees much harm.

Spending Sunday afternoon lazing on the beach doesn't seem to do them any harm, either... Barcelona has a 4km beach within walking distance of the city centre, so pack your swimsuit, won't you?

Barcelona as a place to find a job in TEFL

From the point of view of anyone looking to find a job in TEFL, Barcelona has a lot to offer, too. The fact that Barcelona is one of the largest Cambridge ESOL exam centres (i.e. for learners of English) is one thing that shows that there is a big demand for English teachers.

What also has to be said, note, is that because Barcelona attracts a lot of prospective English teachers, there is fairly fierce competition for jobs - so you really want to apply yourself on the course!

And, even if at the end of the course you find yourself moving on from Barcelona in search of a job, you're almost certainly going to come away glad that, if only for a month, you experienced living in one of the world's most exciting cities.

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Barcelona FAQs