diff --git a/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.sh b/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3b6d6a9d922
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2020 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License..
+
+# Fail on any error
+set -e
+
+# Display commands being run
+set -x
+
+export SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST=localhost:9010
+export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=emulator-test-project
+echo "Running the Cloud Spanner emulator: $SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST";
+
+# Download the emulator
+EMULATOR_VERSION=0.8.0
+wget https://storage.googleapis.com/cloud-spanner-emulator/releases/${EMULATOR_VERSION}/cloud-spanner-emulator_linux_amd64-${EMULATOR_VERSION}.tar.gz
+tar zxvf cloud-spanner-emulator_linux_amd64-${EMULATOR_VERSION}.tar.gz
+chmod u+x emulator_main
+
+# Start the emulator
+./emulator_main --host_port $SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST &
+
+EMULATOR_PID=$!
+
+# Stop the emulator & clean the environment variable
+trap "kill -2 $EMULATOR_PID; unset SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST; unset GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT; echo \"Cleanup the emulator\";" EXIT
+
+mvn -B -Dspanner.testenv.instance="" \
+  -Penable-integration-tests \
+  -DtrimStackTrace=false \
+  -Dclirr.skip=true \
+  -Denforcer.skip=true \
+  -fae \
+  verify
diff --git a/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.yaml b/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ac27f8e17ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+    - master
+  pull_request:
+name: integration-tests-against-emulator
+jobs:
+  units:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - uses: actions/setup-java@v1
+      with:
+        java-version: 8
+    - run: java -version
+    - run: .kokoro/build.sh
+    - run: sh .github/workflows/integration-tests-against-emulator.sh
+      env:
+        JOB_TYPE: test
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITWriteTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITWriteTest.java
index 1f084d5fdbf..d7a007eaf66 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITWriteTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITWriteTest.java
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ public void incorrectType() {
       fail("Expected exception");
     } catch (SpannerException ex) {
       assertThat(ex.getErrorCode()).isEqualTo(ErrorCode.FAILED_PRECONDITION);
-      assertThat(ex.getMessage()).contains("Expected STRING");
+      assertThat(ex.getMessage()).contains("STRING");
     }
   }