Life as a teacher

Sooo...quite a bit has happened since I last wrote in the blog, so I think this will be a long post. I'm now finally getting settled in at school and have a set schedule- which makes life much easier. I really enjoy school so far- all the teachers are really great; they all work really hard and are happy to have me there to help. They are friendly and helpful and generally quite welcoming. Most of the kids are great too; they are eager to learn and excited to have me there and help them with their lessons (and especially their English). As is true with any group of tweens/ teenagers, there are a few that are a bit roudy, but overall, they are quite good.

I am teaching/ helping to teach English and Social Science classes for kids who are between 12-16 years old (so the equivalent of 7th-10th grade in the US). I can definitely see a BIG difference between the youngest and the oldest kids- the classes with the first years are completely different than those with the 4th years, but I think they will both have their unique advantages. In social sciences, I have already started to plan/teach my own activities/ lessons on the material, in addition to helping the teachers with language issues and English vocab and grammar. I did a jeopardy activity today with the first year kids, as a way to review the material they had learned in the previous lessons, and it went over really well. The kids had a lot of fun and definitely learned a lot. The teacher also seemed really happy with the idea and how the activity went, so it was my first really rewarding moment as a teacher :)

In the majority of English classes, I'm doing one of two things- conversation lessons or reading lessons. In the conversation classes, I just pick a topic (or use a topic that relates to the teachers lesson), and lead some sort of conversation activity, just to get the kids practicing their conversational English. In the reading sessions (for the younger kids), we read a book out-loud together and discuss vocab that they don't understand. I also ask them comprehension questions to make sure they understand what they are reading. Also, with the third year students, Noel (my colleague) and I are in charge of running the Global Classrooms Program in the English classes (like Model UN). So, we will be doing one GC lessson with the third years each week as well. Eventually, once we get further into the year, we will be pretty busy with the GC, as the kids prepare for the competition.

My schedule is also really nice; while I have to wake up quite early to get to school (school starts at 8:30 and i have a little over a half hour commute), I am done for the day by either 2:15 or 1:25, depending on the day. So, this means that I'm back at my house around 2 or 3 and have time to have lunch, go to the gym, see friends, relax, talk to people back home, plan my lessons, or do whatever else I want to do. Also, I'm only working mon-thurs--so hooray for three day weekends! My schedule will really be great for exploring Madrid and for planning trips. I am only now available to start planning trips--i'm hoping I can get something planned for the weekend after next, because there is a holiday- so I have a long weekend...but it turns out that flights are quite expensive, since i didnt plan too far in advance. Hopefully, I'll at least be able to book something tonight or tomorrow and then in the future, i'll hopefully be able to plan further in advance (now that my friends and I all know our schedules).

I did take a day trip with another Fulbright friend, on Saturday, to Segovia. It was a really great day- we took an AVE (high velocity) train and it only took 30 mins to get there- so it was super easy! Segovia is a beautiful, small city- it has lots of historical, beautiful buildings and its just a great city to walk around in for a day. Saturday was my first day outside of the city since I got here, and while I love Madrid, it was nice to have a break from the hustle and bustle and be in a more tranquil environment. It was also fun to spend the day with my friend Kara and get to know each other better :)

I have also made some new friends in Madrid in the past few days. It turns out that there is a girl from Duke (Katie), who is a year older than me and who is also an auxiliar in the Madrid school system (although not as a fulbright). We didnt' really know each other well before...but we met up and we have a lot in common- so she'll be another great person to know! I also met Sara, a Spanish woman about 10 years older than me who lived with a family friend of mine in the US when she was in high school. She's still very close with my family friend...so she put us in touch- and Sara was really great! We had a lot of fun (had dinner w/ her and a friend) and they were both soo sweet- telling me to ask them if I needed everything. Sara also introduced me to her younger brother- and I met some of his friends as well...so just another way to expand my group here. At the same time, I'm still spending time with Ruth and her group of friends, and seeing other Fulbrighters every so often. So, all in all, I've met a lot of great people here!

Tomorrow, I'm actually going to my first private tutoring lesson; so, we'll see how that goes. The head teacher at my school gave me the name of a young student who wanted private English lessons, so I'm hoping this will be a weekly commitment (and that I will end up doing a few others too). Anyway, I think thats all my updates for now...more to come :)