Adjusting to Teaching

Hola familia y amigos!

This past week just flew by. It was my first week of teaching at my school, I.E.S. Luz Del Mar (light of the sea) in the town of El Ejido. The teachers are absolutely incredible. They are so friendly and willing to help me. There is one teacher who seems to be very fluent in English, and she has definitely helped me out a lot. Upon arriving for my first day, she helped me figure out my class schedule and gave me part of her lunch because I didn't realize the school doesn't have a cafeteria. She also asked every other teacher if they would be able to give me a ride to and from school, so now I am driven from where I live in Almeria to El Ejido (a 30 minute car ride) by either Carmen or Mario each day. Carmen doesn't speak any English, so when I drive in with her to school, I get the chance to practice my Spanish, which is great. 

The classes I teach change every week. For the first week, I was only in English classes, and I spent each class period introducing myself to the students. They were so excited when I started telling them about Hershey--it was absolutely mindblowing to them that I come from a town that makes chocolate AND has an amusement park. They all say they want to move to Hershey, PA. Some boys in the class invited me to play chess with them during lunch, so I did that--we didn't finish our game, so we will continue later this week. But they were all very impressed in my ability to play chess — I had about 20 kids crowded around watching me play.

High school in Spain works differently than it does in the United States. Here, they go to high school from ages 12 to 16. School from ages 16-18 is then optional, so students who wish to pursue vocational school or a full time job at this time can do so. The age groups are split up into 4 separate groups, sort of like grades. So, it is sometimes difficult for me to go from teaching 12 year olds in one class to teaching 16 year olds in another. The 16 year olds tend to have better English skills, and so I have learned that I need to adjust the way I speak, the vocabulary I use, and the amount of time I allow for any of my slides or lessons based on the age of the students. I also learned that teachers in Spain are much more chill. If they don't have a class to teach first period, they aren't going to come into the school until their first class. They don't get to class early EVER. They walk in at the same time as their students, sometimes even later. Students also tend to speak as they are raising their hands, not after they have been called on. Students here seem to be a lot louder and be reprimanded less for talking over each other here in Spain than in America. Regardless, most of my classes behave well for me because I'm a new face. There are only two classes that get a bit loud, but I think I'll figure out how to handle it.

The first week of school was pretty easy--I was mainly just talking about myself, a topic I would like to think I am an expert on. Today (Monday), however, is my first day actually teaching. I had to come up with lesson plans for three different history classes for today, and I already learned a lot from this experience. Before this experience, I already had so much respect for teachers, but now that I'm actually doing it....wow. It is not easy. I have been overestimating the amount of time it takes to get through parts of my lessons, so each class I've finished about 20 minutes early and the actual teacher has had to save me and incorporate new questions. I also learned that these students will not ask me questions when I just generally tell them to ask me questions. I have to choose individual students out of the class and tell them what to specifically ask me about, or ask them a specific question.

I did have some success, though. I played a game with one group of kids throwing a ball around to practice English vocabulary from the chapter we were studying. They seemed to really enjoy that. 

One last note before I sign off for this blog--I found an apartment! I am now living with three other language and cultural assistants in Almeria. We moved in on Saturday, and it is a great location. Close to the city center, close to the bus stop, and close to a grocery store. 

Here is a picture of a fountain in the downtown area of Almeria at sunset: