It is officially November! I'm a month into my life in Spain and to be honest, it's flown by! It seems like some night's go so slowly since it's such a small village, but time has really just passed by! I guess that's good! :) It's been a fun month; a month that I have had to adjust to different styles of teaching and learning; a month that I have had to learn to be patiently disorganized (still trying to grasp this concept wholly); and a month that I have had to dig deep into my Spanish knowledge to survive and have come out on top, for the most part. It's been a great beginning to an experience I am sure to never forget!
Now that we've had a full month of school, I'm getting adjusted to my schedule. It's pretty freakin' cushy. HaHa... My Monday's and Tuesday's are the longest days I have and I work 5 hours each of those days. Pretty trying. HaHa! Monday's, I start at 9:55 with a 4th grade English class. I follow that with 3rd grade English, a 30 minute lunch break, my 4 year old class, and then end with 4th grade PE. Then, we are starting to go in at 4:30 on Monday's to 'teach the teachers.' This just started last week. It was really strange. Isabel, our director, told us that we were just going to 'talk with the teachers.' That leaves things pretty open... I had no idea what to expect. We went in and no one showed up until 10 'till 5:00. (Typical of Spain, I'm learning) She had originally assigned me with the teachers that have very little knowledge of English. I was terrified that they'd ask me questions in Spanish and I'd have zero idea of what they were asking, so Joanne and I switched groups. I then got to 'talk' with the people that knew a bit more English. It worked out very good for me. I hope Joanne was alright. When she said we needed to talk with them... she meant literally. It was a forced conversation among a group of strangers that I was relied on to teach them proper English. I was really uncomfortable, to be honest. But, then we started talking about a topic and it just kind of worked itself out. There was a teacher there that spoke very little English and she kept saying that I talk to fast for her to understand. I was like, "That is how I feel when you all speak Spanish, haha!" :) Good to know I'm not alone, right? Anyway, it lasted a whole 20 minutes before we all left. I'm just going to come up with topics each Monday now that I am a little more aware of what is expected of me. So, that's my Monday. Nothing too stressful! Tuesday's begin at 9:00 with 5th grade science followed by 6th grade science, the other 5th grade science class, an hour and a half break, and the other 6th grade science. Tuesday = Science Day! I should mention that many of these topics I haven't covered since I was in junior high or whatever, so I am not real confident in it. Good thing they aren't wholly relying on me to be their source of education! HaHa!Tuesday's and Wednesday's are our day to have the English Club from 4 to 5. We are still really trying to figure out the best way to manage this. We have a 3 year old to a 6th grader. Their needs are very different. And keeping the attention of young children... not so easy. Not even for an hour. It's been kind of frustrating. It's extra money, so we aren't required to do this, but why not, I suppose? Save a little extra for my summer trip across Europe. I can survive anything for a little while. :) Anyway... Wednesday and Thursday are pretty simple days. Wednesday, I have two classes that begin at 10:50. The first class is 3rd grade English and then I have 2nd grade science. The 2nd grade class is actually very good at their English. I have to speak really slowly, but they figure it out pretty well. I really like this class. It starts after their 30 minute lunch/recess and their teacher walks in and puts on a tranquil CD and makes them all relax and lay their heads on their desks for a few minutes to wind down from an exciting recess. HaHa... makes me wanna go to sleep! :) And on Thursday's I have one class. I have to be there at 9:55 for a 5th grade Art class that, so far, I have had to do very little in. The teacher likes to do what she wants to do and doesn't really expect much outside contribution from me (aside from just aiding in the classroom, of course). And that's it! That's my week! Pretty relaxed compared to my previous jobs, haha!
Along these lines, I was going to mention that the teacher's all have different expectations of me. I work with only 5 teachers, some more often than others. I work with Isabel and Dulce the most. Isabel has said that she is going to take advantage of us and she wasn't lying. She is probably the one that has me do the most and is willing to let me bring in outside ideas and stuff for her classes. In the older classes, Isabel does her best to speak English as much as possible, translating when needed. Dulce is the other 'director' of the language assistant program and she also expects a little more than other teacher's do. However, she was the one my Halloween story was about. She may tell me she wants something, but it seems that she either forgets about it or is just telling me so that I am prepared. Either way, I do what I'm told. She speaks Spanish much more often than Isabel does in her classrooms. The third teacher I work with is Encarna. I only have her twice. She's the class that I am not utilized in, really. Her English is not very good, so it's sometimes very difficult for the two of us to discuss class stuff. She really just wants to do what she wants to do and I am there to help pronounce words that she comes across and may not know in English. I don't feel like I'm of much help in her classes, but she's still a very nice person! She dresses really nice every day! HaHa! Then, there is Blas. He is the teacher of my 2nd grade science class. He's very good with his class. You can tell how much the student's respect him. He is also very excited to learn words in English and how to pronounce them from me. Some words are pronounced differently between Joanne and I, even, and you can tell it frustrates him. Tomato... TomAto... I hear it. HaHa! He doesn't really give me assignments or have me bring ideas to class, we just stick to his agenda pretty much. The last teacher I work with is Manoli. She teaches the 4th grade PE class that I am involved in. She's always happy with a smile on her face. Her English is not that great either, so we've had to really dig deep to maintain conversation. It's been working, though. We've done more about the vocabulary of the body than any physical stuff, but it has been kind of chilly lately. I have not been required to bring or prepare anything for her class either. I'm not sure what winter months will bring. I'll let you know! I have no idea if our schedules will change during our stay here or if this is it for the year. I'm kind of hoping it changes, just for a change of scenery, but I am also quite satisfied with how it is now. :) I won't complain either way.
When I first read about this program and especially once I got accepted, I kept reading that I was not supposed to be ALLOWED to speak ANY Spanish in the classroom. According to what I read, the students were not supposed to know that I even KNEW any Spanish. That has simply NOT been the case at all!! At all! It's not hard to pretend I don't know what they're saying because many of the times, I don't! The older classes, some of them, seem lazy and don't want to practice English. But I can also tell a difference between the teacher's that teach in English vs. Spanish, the classroom reflects that difference. The young kids are pretty good at speaking English. They may not know many words, but they do fairly well at the words that they do know and they tend to try a lot harder. I was totally expecting there to be more knowledge of the English language, but that has definitely not been the case; in the town or in the school. I do feel like I get better every day. But it's been much more difficult than I anticipated.
Yesterday was Halloween. I know it is an Americanized holiday, but I was told that student's do trick-or-treat. So, I bought some candy to be prepared for visitors. Dougie also had this box full of Spanish treats that he didn't like so he wanted us to get rid of them if we did have visitors. Well, Joanne and I thought we should try these treats, too. They were not good. They were individually wrapped cakes/cookies that just did not taste good. I don't think we found one that we could solidly say we liked. I really don't know how to describe them to you. The consistency was what threw a lot of it off, for me. They fall apart in your mouth, kind of like a chalky chocolate. Not good. One candy that Joanne picked up to try was a little chocolate treat, like a hershey's kiss kind of thing. She was going to break it in two to let me try half of it and when she went to break it, it squirted liquid everywhere! Whatever this liquid was smelled of alcohol and the whole thing tasted nasty! It really smelled like some sort of liquor I've smelled before, but can't put a name to right now. It was gross. And messy. But quite funny, at the same time! :) Anyway, we had a total of 3 visitors. They extent of their costumes was plain clothes and a frankenstein mask. One of them didn't even take the time to put on a mask. I was super disappointed in Halloween, but I also think my expectations were a bit too high. I loved looking at all the pictures from back home, though! Made me less disappointed! HaHa! Some good costumes! :)
Today is our last day of "holiday" before we go back to school for the week. And we only have to work one day now, just Wednesday. Thursday, we are going to Jaen to begin our NIE process! YEAH!! Hopefully that means I can begin to get paid! I'll feel much more relaxed when the money starts coming. It will be great to get that started, even if it means I have to spend my birthday in a police station in Jaen. HaHa! It's been a long "holiday." I'm not a huge fan of them simply because school allows us to have at least a little bit more to do during the days. I don't think there are too many holiday's coming up, though, until Christmas. Yesterday, I did some grocery shopping and cleaned the upstairs. I vacuumed, cleaned the toilet, cleaned my room, did laundry, cleaned the mirrors, and mailed some letters. I've been just the regular domestic goddess! HaHa! I'm even cooking! And well!! I baked some steaks (yes, I found a butcher with beef!) in a sauce that I found and it was freakin' delicious! I made new potatoes, my favorite, and they were all quite tasty! I really want to learn how to cook some Spanish food, though, so I can bring it back to the states. I'll need some guinea pigs for my trials! HaHa! Let me know if you're interested!
I have some more notes, but I think I'm going to spread them out among my blog entries, so this will be the end of this one. :) I hope this finds you all well!! I heard the Chiefs now have a winning record! What the hell!?! I'll take it, though!
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