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Published: October 8th 2008
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Ok… so here is what has been happening in my life for the past few days:
Monday morning we got up at like 7:30 and made sure everything was packed up. I showered and got ready for my first day at school = ] After breakfast Vincente (our landlord & he works at Cecilia’s school) came and picked us up and got some of the luggage. He took us to their school and since Rachel and I didn’t have to be at school for another hour and a half, we just walked around. Nothing here really opens until 9 or 10 so we didn’t have much to do. We ended up going to the public library which is very small.
We had to be at our school at 10:45 to meet with the school’s bilingual coordinator, David. Everyone at the school was very nice. Our school is very small, its called CIEP Virgen de la Cabeza. There are only about 180 students, from age 3 to the 6th grade. We were greeted by the secretary, Lourdes who also doubles as the music & art teacher. She showed us around the school and then took us to meet David who was
finishing with a class. We went to the teacher’s lounge with David to discuss our schedules.
I will be teaching (which basically means just assisting with) the 4 and 5 year-olds, 3rd grade English and Science, 4th grade English and Science, and 6th grade English. I will be with David for the English classes and with an older teacher named Antonio for the science classes. He is very nice.
Monday was just a day for us to see the school. We went with David to his English classes and helped with pronunciation and introduced ourselves. We did a few activities, but the children and school structures are much different in Spain. There is pretty much no form of discipline. Children seem to do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. Everyone talks at once, even when the teacher is trying to explain something. They get up and walk around. If someone doesn’t have a book, they just do whatever they please. Its very frustrating to me, but it seems the norm here. Its as though the teachers don’t have any control over the students. It’s a wonder to me that any thing gets accomplished or that people can
learn anything. The level of English is not very high, but some students are better than others.
After school on Monday we just walked around since we couldn’t move into our apartment until 5:30pm. Everything in Priego is closed from 2-5 because of Siesta (it means nap), except for a grocery store. We bought some food from the grocery and went to Jessica, Erin and Aleks apartment. Jessica was in our program, Erin is the one from New England and Aleks is the one from Poland. We ate lunch there and then called Rafael to come pick us up to move into our apartment! We had to drive to the hotel, get all of our luggage and check out then we headed back into Priego to our new place. Vincente met us there and he had already taken the luggage upstairs from the morning. He just re-did the bathroom so everything was brand new. He even put new sheets on the beds and made them. After the tour he left and we put our stuff into our rooms then headed to the dollar store and the grocery store to get things for our apartment.
We came back and started to
cook our first meal in our new apartment!! We made pasta and salad and had a bottle of champagne to celebrate. (we got cava of course!-- cava is a special champagne only made in a certain region of spain). After dinner we started unpacking and getting settled into our rooms. I put up my white sox pennants and my bears flag of course. It felt so good to finally unpack and take my clothes out of my suitcase. But while unpacking, I realized that I definitely brought a lot of clothing that I will never wear in this city, since there isn’t much of a night life. So I will definitely be bringing a lot of clothes back home at Christmas time. By that time we were all exhausted and went to bed!
Tuesday:
Rachel and I had to be at school at 10 to meet with David again to introduce ourselves to some of the classes. We went with David to some other English classes and then we went to recess from 11:30-12. All of the students bring a little sandwich (bocadillo) and a juice box to recess every day. The teachers just stand in the corner and
watch. But the children run around and talk and play with the teachers also. Most of the teachers are between 20-30, with a few exceptions. After recess we went to 2 more English classes, where we worked on clothing and colors. We were in a 6th grade English class and at first I felt like no one understood any of the English, but then we split into smaller groups and most of the students in my group understood more than I thought, so that was reassuring.
After school Rachel and I walked home (yay!!) because as I said, everything is closed from 2-5. We made lunch and rested. At 5 we went and got cell phones and went to the grocery store to see what we could make for dinner. After we got home, Jessica called us to see if we wanted to come over for dinner because her boyfriend (who is Brazilian but lives in Granada) was here to visit and he was cooking. So we made a delicious looking salad and got a bottle of wine and walked over there at about 9:30 pm (they eat late!). Her boyfriend (Rafi) made fried potatoes, pasta and he cooked onions
(lots and lots of them) and chicken with some seasonings and then added cream to it. He put some yellow coloring in it as well. It was actually really good! So we all ate dinner together (Jess, Rafi, Ceci, Erin, Aleks and myself-- Rachel didn’t come cuz she was feeling sick) and talked about teaching, cultural differences, funny stories. It was an enjoyable meal. Ceci and I got home around midnight. I read a little then went to bed.
Wednesday:
I woke up and had a shower -- European showers are always a blast, but at least it was hot! I of course had to hold the shower head to use it…. But it was still good. Ceci and I had some strong coffee for breakfast and then went to the library to use the internet since we still don’t have it at our apartment yet. I then went to school for my first day on my actual schedule. In addition to doing class time, I also meet with 3 teachers to work on lessons and to help them improve their English. I met with Antonio, who I will be assisting in science. We went over what the students
are supposed to be learning and just talked. After that we had 4th grade science. I went over food vocab with the students, working on pronunciation and then I tried a matching activity with them. Then I read from their book and had them repeat it to me and translate it. Some of them had very good pronunciation. After that, I was done for the day. So I walked home and started working on an activity for my 3rd grade science class that I will be in on Friday. Rachel and Ceci got home and we talked and made lunch. I am now trying to do some laundry, but we haven’t quite figured out how the washing machine works yet. Now I am just working on school stuff and trying to figure everything out. There is a teacher at our school who’s birthday is today, she is turning 24 and we are going to meet the teachers for a little bit this evening. Then I’m sure we will make dinner at our apartment and help each other with lesson plans.
I think its going to be a good, but frustrating year. I don’t think I have as much freedom in
the class as I had originally thought, but that is ok with me right now because I’m not exactly sure where they are and what they are supposed to be learning. But the important thing is that I’m here and I’m helping them with English in some form or another.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me or comment and I will try my best to answer!
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marebear
non-member comment
OH WOW
Hey girl - glad you're moved in. How long walk to school? Can you post photos of your apt., street, and school please. I LOVE YOU BUNCHES!! Su Madre