23 October 2011

Almendralejo, Appetition & Agendas

I am nearing the end of another great weekend! It is hard to believe how quickly time is going by- I have already been here for 5 weeks. I took a trip to Almendralejo with Angela for Friday and Saturday. We took a train after finishing up our clases particulares (private English lessons/tutoring). It was my first train ride in Spain! The train station in Mérida is less than 5 minutes from my piso and the prices are comparable to taking a bus, so I am sure it will not be my last! One surprising thing I found out is that the trains almost always run late, which is the complete opposite of buses here- running a couple minutes behind often means the bus will be long gone when you walk up.

Most of our group from Friday night :)

We stayed with Sophie, an auxiliar from England, for the weekend. I had met her at orientation, so it was fun to catch up again. On Friday night she organized a get-together with the other auxiliares in town. We went for drinks and tapas at 2 different places then headed out to a bar. On Saturday a few of us girls went shopping. I found a jacket that will be perfect for in-between weather (too chilly for just a light cardigan, but not cold enough for a wool coat). I also bought a few scarves for 2€ each! ...speaking of these things, it is starting to cool down here. Considering summer stuck around until Oct 20th I know I cannot complain that it is over, but I will say that it still took me by surprise. It almost seemed like summer would last forever!

Exploring Almendralejo

This afternoon Angela's host family had me over for lunch. A few others from our church were there as well, so it was a pretty large group. The meal consisted of a Columbian salad, the Spanish equivalent of pork chops, 2 kinds of potatoes (some with herbs in a buttery garlic sauce & the others with ham in a creamier sauce), fresh bread, a rich raspberry custard (that's probably not the right word, but I'm not sure how else to describe it), assorted fresh fruit, and coffee. Everything was so good, and needless to say I was very full when I left. They slowed down their Spanish so we could understand them better, which was very nice. As long as I remained focused, I could understand a lot, but when my concentration slipped, I had to have Angela fill me in. I actually understood more towards the end of the lunch because during the beginning I kept forgetting to concentrate on the Spanish instead of just relax. ...Angela and I are planning to cook them a Thanksgiving meal, which I am really looking forward to doing. It probably will not be on Thanksgiving Day, but sometime that week. If anyone has Spanish-ingredient-friendly holiday recipes, please share!

I did not take a picture of our meal, but here's a similar version of our main dishes.

Since I have only posted about the primary school, you are probably wondering how the secondary is going, but to be honest, I am still figuring that out! Here's a breakdown of how my first week at the secondary school went:
Day 1- Met my tutor, the principal, and a few other teachers.
Day 2- Attended an English department meeting. This was when & where my schedule was made. I do not have any Tuesday afternoon classes, so I was able to go home after the meeting. I will be working with 4 different English teachers, and I will only be seeing each class one time per week.
Day 3- School holiday, no classes.
Day 4- This would have been my first and only real day at the school. However, I ended up being pretty sick so I was not there for very long.
Day 5- I have Fridays off every week, so this does not really count towards my work-week.
Tomorrow starts week 2 there, so I will be getting a better feel for it soon.

My secondary school

I only ended up being at the school for an hour the entire week, and I only met once class of students. Students were allowed to ask me questions about myself, but they had to do it in English. They were a bit shy to use their English in front of me, so they only came up with 3 questions:
1- What part of the U.S. are you from?
2- Do you like Spain?
3- Do you like Spanish boys? (haha, I guess that student wasn't so shy...)

I actually came close to having a 4 day weekend, but ended up with a 3 day weekend plus Tuesdays off. Definitely a good schedule, even though I cannot use the extra free day towards traveling :/ For both of my schools, I will start late on Monday & end early on Thursday, so I really can’t complain! Here is a breakdown of things worked out:


Primary
Secondary
Mon
11:00-2:00
10:20-2:20
Tues
10:00-2:00
---
Wed
11:00-1:15
8:30-2:20
Thurs
  9:00-1:15
8:30-12:40


My plans for the upcoming break have changed! Guess where I'll be going for my 5 day weekend?? Other auxiliares, how will you be spending our first long break?

09 October 2011

Home Away From Home

I spent most of the weekend in Mérida (other than a short day trip yesterday) and I really feel like I'm starting to settle in here. Since arriving, I've encountered a variety of situations- in some cases, the people I interacted with were very welcoming; other times, not so much. The past few days though, I've experience a lot of hospitality, so I wanted to share...

Jess and I in Plaza de Constitución during our day trip to Almendralejo. 
Scenario 1: The lunch with teachers from my school (that I mentioned in my last entry) went great! We meet at a restaurant called El Castuó, near some of the Roman monuments on the edge of town. We got several raciones (platters, more or less) to share. They were excited about introducing me to some new dishes. Everyone was very nice to me even though I ended up doing a lot more listening than talking because my Spanish is kind of rough. A couple of the teachers have kids visiting/studying in the US! Although a few of the teachers know English, most of them happened to be at the other end of the table; however, my tutor was very helpful in explaining things to me when needed. (I finally learned the difference between jamón iberico & jamón serrano!) I prefer to use my Spanish anyway, even when it means I miss certain parts of the convo.  They talk quickly most of the time, but one of the teachers told me I knew a lot (of Spanish), which is the best compliment anyone can give me right now. They said they will invite me to come with them when they go out again :) ...oh, I can't forget to mention that when the check came, they didn't let me pay a cent!

One of our raciones had 2 types of chorizo & 2 other types of jamón- all very tasty!
Scenario 2: I went to a church service for the first time since being here, and the congregation was extremely friendly! Several people introduced themselves to me while waiting for the service to start. They seemed enthusiastic to get to know me, and asked lots of questions such as what's my name, where am I from, how long will I be here, when did I arrive, what am I doing here, do I go to a similar church back home, how did I find out about the church, where I live in Mérida, etc. That might sound a bit overwhelming, but every person did not ask every question, though I probably answered each of those at least twice this morning. I had not been sure what to expect beforehand, and actually thought there was a good chance no one would talk to me- turned out quite the opposite! They also introduced me to another American auxiliar, Angela, who had attended the previous week. She then introduced me to more of the congregation whom she remembered from her previous visit. (I had been wanting to find a church since I usually attend one back home, and just found out the exact time and location for this one yesterday afternoon. I will definitely be back on the weekends I'm not traveling!)


Scenario 3: Walking home from lunch today, I passed one of my primary students on the street. She said hi & that she was looking forward to seeing me in school tomorrow. So cute! ...although I did have to explain to her that I will be teaching at a secondary school this week and will only see her class every other week.
Another friendly face from this weekend.
Us auxiliares are sharing a bit of our own hospitality with each other too! Our potluck dinner on Friday was fantastic! There was plenty (or possibly too much) food and lots of good conversation (and in Spanish as often as possible)! The dinner was at our piso, and it was the first time my flatmates and I had  the group over to our place. It was fun to host & we hope to do something similar again soon :)

Sorry to be behind on pictures again, but the potluck photo is only on my flatmate's camera
...so for now, here's one from the Cáceres orientation- Jessa, Edward, me, Sophie
We have also begun discussing travel plans for our first long weekend at the end of the month! Nothing is finalized, but I am leaning towards País Vasco in Northern Spain. If anyone has advice on things to see and do there (Bilbao & San Sebastián), please share!

07 October 2011

1st Week as an Auxiliar de Conversación

Since I have 2 school assignments, I will alternate weeks at each of the schools. This week was primary. I was happy to start there, as it is less intimidating to teach younger students. My school has...

  • 1st-6th grades, so the kids are 6-11 years old
  • Only 1 class per grade (the elementary school I attended in the states had 4-5 per grade)
  • Very small class sizes, which I love! 10-14 kids in the younger grades, and 14-18 in the older grades
  • English taught 2-3 hrs/wk per grade. There is a homeroom teacher who teaches math, science, reading, etc, then students attend English classes with a separate English teacher- in the same way that elementary students back home attend art, music, and P.E. for an hour at a time on certain days. 
  • School hours of just 9 am- 2 pm. Most days I only have to be there for part of that time.
I found this photo of some of my students on the school's website.
Since these kids are just starting out with the language, I get to use both Spanish and English when teaching them. It's been great to practice my Spanish, as I only expected to be able to use English in the classroom. I have felt pretty comfortable with my Spanish in class, though it is easier to say something to them in the language than to understand what they are saying. 


There is only 1 English teacher, so it's nice to work alongside the same teacher for all my classes (secondary will not be this way). I have helped with portions of activities, but I have not taught an entire lesson solo (or anything close to that). I have also helped students one on one, especially with their speaking skills, as they have been working in their activity books. I am still getting a feel for how much English they know. It's been nice that the teacher has not put too much pressure on me at the start. Some teachers at other schools just throw the auxiliar into teaching to whole lesson right away. I think that is more common in secondary positions, but it seems more effective to first be given the chance to observe and pick up on the way the students are used to doing things. I am looking forward to having more responsibility as the year progresses, as I have learned that when I know I am responsible for presenting a topic and making it interesting, I am both more effective and more creative. Some people thrive on responsibility more than others, and I did not realize how much that it true for me until this week. 

I do not have any pictures with my current students yet, but here I am helping
some kids while student teaching in college.
One of the teachers is retiring (as of today), so everyone is going out for drinks and tapas this afternoon, and they invited me to go with them. Later tonight a lot of the auxiliares in Mérida are having a pot luck dinner together at my piso. I'm not sure of the rest of my weekend plans yet, but I'm sure we will discuss it at dinner. Hopefully the secondary school next week will go as well as the primary did!


Besides teaching, here are some other things I accomplished this week...
  • Applied for my NIE/TIE (which allows me to stay in Spain for a year) ...it took 3 visits to the extranjería!
  • Opened a bank account
  • Several smaller things such as emailing about private lessons, practicing Spanish, and looking into upcoming travels