A day in the life of a Spanish auxiliar

Authored By:

Claudia M.

Despite talking to a friend who was an auxiliar last year, and reading many blogs and Facebook posts, I still felt like I didn’t really know what to expect from a typical day of teaching here in Spain. And though I am honestly still figuring out my routine, here is a rough breakdown of a normal workday.

7:00 a.m. My alarm goes off. I have 45 minutes to shower, dress, get my bag together, and eat a quick snack.

7:45 a.m. I leave my apartment and walk about 5 minutes to the bus stop just down the street. Shelby, another American auxiliar who works at the primary school in Ajalvir, meets me here.

7:53 a.m. Our bus arrives (probably...like many things in Spain, the buses aren't completely reliable, but they're rarely more than 5 minutes early or late, but it's enough to make me nervous about getting to the bus stop any later). We use our abonos (transportation passes that work in the entire Comunidad [community or region] of Madrid; only €20 a month for those under 26!) and always sit on the right side, just in front of the bus’ exit doors. The bus ride takes about 30 minutes, which we spend people watching (we are beginning to recognize many people on the commute!) and trading funny stories from the previous day’s classes. My commute seems to be around the average; I know some auxiliars with a shorter trip and quite a few who travel much longer—it all depends on where you choose to live!

8:20 a.m. (roughly). We arrive in Ajalvir. Since primary school doesn’t start until 9:00 a.m. and my first class is at 8:50 a.m., Shelby and I often stop in a little bar-coffee shop for a café con leche before walking the 10 minutes up the hill to our schools. We don’t even need to order anymore because the barista-bartender, Katy, starts making our coffees as soon as we walk in.

8:45 a.m. I arrive at school and leave my jacket in the teacher’s lounge, talk to the other teachers, and make sure I have everything for my first classes.

8:55-9:50 a.m. I go to my first class of the day, which varies depending on the day of the week. Because I teach at a bilingual school, biology, history, technology, and sports classes are taught in English, so I get to help with some of these in addition to regular English classes (except technology, luckily for both me and the students). I also occasionally have a free period, which I typically use for preparing presentations or activities for later classes, and once a week we have a meeting with the teachers in the bilingual department.

9:50 a.m.-10:45 a.m. I go to my second class. Classes are 55 minutes long, but there are no passing periods built in, so classes typically start at least 5 minutes later. Students remain in one classroom all day while the teachers move from class to class. The main plus of this system is that halls don’t get congested the way I remember them always being when everyone at my high school was attempting to get to their next class, sometimes on the other side of the building.

10:45-11:15 a.m. It’s break time! The school provides a “breakfast”—for me, more of a midmorning snack—consisting of coffee and tea, bread, a tomato-garlic spread (“typical Spanish!”), cheese, cold cuts, fruit, those cookies that come in a large tin, and cereals (which I have only ever seen eaten by the other American auxiliar, Rodney). Once a week, there is also fresh tortilla Española (these are the best days). During the break, teachers gather in the canteen—really just a section of the cafeteria—to eat, caffeinate, and of course gossip about the students. Meanwhile, the students are out on the patio eating their own snacks, under the watchful eyes of whichever unlucky teacher is on guardia.

11:15 a.m.-2:00 p.m. I go to my third, fourth, and fifth classes, depending on the day.

2:00 p.m. Time to head home. If I am lucky, I can get a ride with one of the teachers who also live in Alcalá (which means I get home around 2:45 p.m.), otherwise I have to take the bus back. I can’t quite make the 2:02 p.m. bus, which means I have to wait for the one at 2:40 p.m., and I don’t get home until around 3:30 p.m. This used to be the worst part of the day, but I’ve started downloading audiobooks for the ride, and it’s a lot more fun.

Whenever I get home (sometime between 2:45 and 3:30 p.m.). I make myself lunch. This still feels quite late to me (and, even by Spanish standards, it is a little), but I’m always hungry when I get home. Usually I want something that I can make quickly and easily, so most often this is leftovers from the night before, or something that I have semi-meal prepped.

4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.(-ish). This is my free time! What I do changes day-to-day, but sometimes I go into Madrid, meet up with friends, go for a run, prep for classes, or take a siesta!

8:00 p.m. This is my compromise with Spanish dinner time—I’m used to eating dinner around 6:00 p.m. or so, but with such a late lunch that doesn’t work. My Spanish roommate, Natalia, still teases me that this is too early, and on Wednesdays when we have roomie dinner, she won’t let us all eat any earlier than 8:30 p.m.

Sometime around 11:30 p.m. Bedtime!