What’s it like to teach English in Spain? An interview with Kristina Robinette (FSU BA 2024)
Kristina came to FSU in 2020 and double majored in History and Philosophy. A member of the Honors College, she worked on FSU History’s social media team for three semesters. After graduating in 2024, Kristina applied to be a teaching assistant at a grade school in Spain. She started her position in October 2024 at a small primary school on the outskirts of Valencia. Kristina is the only native English speaker in the school; all other teachers are from Spain. She shares an apartment with four other people in Valencia. “In the beginning there was a lot of bureaucracy to master, getting a residence card, a bank account, a new phone plan. That took some time. Once all that was fine, life became quite predictable.” Life in Spain is very reasonable. “The quality of food stuff is amazing, and things are very cheap.” As FSU has a study center in Valencia, Kristina runs into FSU students all the time.
The Teaching in Spain program is quite large, and Kristina is in contact with about a dozen people who are all teaching in the region of Valencia. Kristina’s school is connected to Valencia’s subway system which makes it an easy commute for her. “I work in this cute village elementary school with their English teacher. We go from classroom to classroom to teach the children. I work primarily with grades 1 and 2; the children are six to eight years old. I am in charge of small group activities. I also participate in outings like going to the zoo.” The English teacher is very open to suggestions from Kristina about activities and presentations. “I did a Christmas presentation and a Thanksgiving presentation, and I organized a performance of ‘If you give a mouse a cookie.’ I introduced them to line dancing too. I do all the fun stuff!” Kristina handles all the spoken English. Besides group activities, she also hangs out with the children at recess which is how they became friends.
Because she worked in a village school, the teachers and pupils knew each other, and were often related to each other. “There is an incredible sense of community. Everybody is welcoming and very trusting. The children address their teachers by their first names; they are all very huggy and touchy. The area is very safe, and children don’t grow up with the ideas of stranger-danger.”
What surprised Kristina was that Spanish was the second language that children learned in school. The language of instruction in her region was Valencian. Kristina was fluent in Spanish before she left, but did not initially tell her charges that she could speak the language. “Speaking Spanish was not a requirement for being selected to go to Spain,” she confirmed. “However, I am teaching the children British rather than American English, and that was a bit of a learning curve for me. While the languages are so similar, they are also so different!”
Kristina was at school when the big flood happened in fall 2025. She went home early to avoid being trapped in the village. Her school did not get damaged, but several teachers were directly affected by the water and mud floods. “The whole public transport system was down, so it took a couple of weeks before I could travel back out to work.”
The big festival that Kristina witnessed in Valencia was Las Fallas in the middle of March. “It is a combination of nightly firecrackers and fireworks. And then there are these giant statues all over the city, often satirical-political in content. You have a few days to walk around the town and view them all. They are made from flammable material and are set alight on the last day of Las Vallas. It reminded me of Mardi Gras.”
Valencia is also the hub for Ryan Air, one of Europe’s budget airlines. This has enabled Kristina to travel to many places: Budapest, Majorca, Florence, Milan, Barcelona, Portugal. “Majorca was my favorite place so far, the mountains and the sea so close together was just amazing.” Most of her trips, Kristina did with visiting friends, but she has also undertaken a few solo trips to places within Spain.
While Kristina fell in love with the culture, food, and location of Valencia, it also made her realize how much she missed the United States. “It is incredible here, but I miss my friends and my culture. Being abroad has made me realize how American I am, while when I was in the U.S. there were all these distinctions between Italian-American, Polish American etc. I am American by culture, and I miss it.”
Kristina recommends the program to all who want to live and work abroad for a time. “I would do it again, no question. But you have to apply with an open mind because you don’t know where you will be working, whether it’s the school’s first time having a language assistant, whether anyone speaks English. I was very lucky with my school. I work three days a week and have the rest of the time to explore and have fun. Here in Valencia, I don’t need a car, the food is very cheap, and the weather is great. I am so happy I came here. What is not to like?