diff --git a/tests/spans/conftest.py b/tests/spans/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..710c47cf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spans/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import pytest
+from spacy.en import English
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def en_nlp():
+    return English(load_vectors=False)