January: Feeling at Home

January, at last, was the month I truly felt at home. Though things were much tighter for me financially, I was also at my most content. This is when I discovered a writer's group, and was writing more than I had in five years. I fell in love with a cafe there. I felt like I truly was meant to be here, right now, in this time and space. I was meant to make the friends I did, to learn the lessons I have been learning. I felt I had a better handle on how to assist in classes, and got a new schedule for my first school. Once again, I did another round of introductions. If there is one thing I would recommend before you come to Spain, or to any teach abroad program, it would be to make an introductory powerpoint presentation about yourself (favorite things, hobbies, etc), and about your city. I must have used different English level versions of the same presentation over the course of three different weeks collectively. One of the most beloved parts of the activity, particularly for ESO, is to get students to come and try to find your city on a blank map of the United States. 

Another good lesson or activity for the first day back, is to ask students how they spent their break. It's a great icewarmer to get back into the swing of things, or can even be used as a full lesson. I also came prepared with a few back up games, just in case. For the admin class, I ended up preparing a class on how to create a personal statement for resumes, which coincidentally, the teacher had been teaching about. He got so excited about the lesson that we used it in a couple of his ESO classes as well. In some other ESO classes, I also went around the room and asked students questions on different themes such as friends and family. It was very different from the one on ones I had been doing in November and December (talking to each student one on one for 5 to 7 minutes at a time). It was good for testing the general knowledge of the class. I also recently prepared a lesson for Martin Luther King Day. The schools had not requested me to cover it (they typically do for American holidays), but I wanted to cover it as it does feel like a very important American holiday, and one that is still relevant to us today. I also prepared a presentation for my hairstyling class, on how to choose the best hairstyle for your face. It was a bit of a challenge, as I felt I was learning about the subject while typing it up. I also had to greatly cut and reduce the original information I had provided, in order to adjust to the student's level. Still, I felt my ideas for activities and lessons as a whole were ever stronger, and with a little input from my teachers, became even stronger. It's always fun to see how a class will react to the information and what they will discuss.