Españolé International House Valencia

Placement organization

Name of organization: Españolé International House Valencia
Town/city: Valencia
Country: Spanje
Website: http://espanole.es

Name of student: Floor Pertijs

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: private language school
Organization’s activities: offering language courses and cultural activities to students. The language courses that we offer are Spanish, English, German, French, and Chinese.
Target group of the organization: people from 20 to 40 years old
Company culture: There is definetely hierarchy here. Contact with colleagues was at the beginning really formal, but it´s starting to get informal right now.
Number of employees: 15
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? No

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? marketing, reception
Brief description of your daily activities: – lending and selling books
– subscribing students for the activities and transferring it into the system
– being the contact person for the students
– doing the post
– doing the inventory
– preparing and assisting activities
– solving the problems of students (someones bike got stolen, I had to go to the police station. I sometimes have to guide a blind student to the other school building, if a student needs a monthly personal metro ticket, I have to get it in the metro station.)

Brief description of your company assignment: making a marketing plan for the American market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor doesn´t have enough time for me, and she doesn´t really helped me in the beginning. I had to figure many things out myself.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, flexible, representative, stress-proof, polite, strict
Additional company requirements for this placement? word, powerpoint, google drive
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane + metro/taxi

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? myself, I got this appartment via the father of my friend
How did you go to work every day? bicycle or bus (both 15 min)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? no
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes!

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 160
Accommodation (monthly): € 300
Local transport (monthly): € 60
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? a language course at the school

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I moved one week earlier to the city so that I could find out what the city is like. In that week I analyzed the Spaniards but I think I learned most from working in the company
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, because there is such a hierarchy, I was scared to stand up for myself. And when I did and when I proposed other solutions to the problems that we have, they ignored it. Furthermore, because the boss didn´t have time for me, I couldn´t ask many things to her concerning my assignment.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: pertijs_floor@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Rent an appartment from a spaniard, not from a foreigner. This is way cheaper. Make sure you speak a little bit of spanish before you arrive here. From week 1, demand the hours agreed on to work on the assignment. Rent a Valenbisi, it´s a public transport bike which you can rent for 1 year (=30€). Don´t come to Spain alone. I lived here for 3 months now and I still haven´t met a Spanish friend, only international students. (Maybe it´s different if you speak Spanish fluently).

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: there is a park, a beach, many shops, many museums, many bars… It´s a really big city so there is always something to do.

(I don´t have a youtube video, but I do have the facebook from the school. They post many pictures daily, https://www.facebook.com/InternationalHouseValencia?pnref=lhc )

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link