This weekend was a puente (holiday weekend) here in Spain. Actually, it's still going on, as schools got Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off. See, Monday was Constitution Day and Wednesday is Day of the Immaculate Conception, so they throw in Tuesday for schools as well. Since I have Fridays off, that means SIX DAY WEEKEND for me!
Originally, the two other American Auxiliares in town (Courtney and Will) and myself were planning on going to Madrid and Toledo for the weekend. But our plans were really last minute so we LITERALLY couldn't find any vacancies in any hostels or hotels in Madrid. So we had to change our plans and stay in Socuéllamos. This turned out all right. On Friday night I went out to fiesta in the local bars with a bunch of the people I've met here: Teodora (my flatmate), Gunita, Jesús, Javi. It was Friday night, which would usually mean that all the bars would be filled with people, but because of the puente it seems that many people had left town and the bars weren't that action-filled. In any case, we still proceeded with the usual fiesta routine. We started off at La Komba at around midnight. This is my favorite bar in town because it always has the most people and the best music. And it's a pretty little place, too. Anyway, what we typically is stay here a couple hours and have a couple drinks. As it gets later, we'll move on to either Rivera or Pórtico. The order of these two is usually interchangeable for. After one or two drinks at each, we'll move on to the last place of the night: Moma Lounge. We always go to Moma last because everybody seems to have the same idea, therefore Moma always has more people the later it is. Moma had a surprisingly good number of people and Gunita and I (as usual, we were the last two left standing. Party animals!) had our last drink there: tequila shots! Because the number were dwindling, we finished early (4am instead of the usual 7am hahaha. But seriously). Besides, I had to be up at 7am the next morning to go get a refund for the train tickets of our cancelled trip.
Saturday was mostly lazy in the daytime (when isn't, right?). But I had a ticket to go see a play put on by the high school students, so I went to that in the evening. It was a play called "Las Dichosas Faldas," about a woman who discovers her husband is a chronic cheater. Don't worry, it's actually a comedy, and a very funny one at that. Because I was so tired, I didn't go out that night, so that was the extent of my Saturday. I also decided that I wanted to go to mass on Sunday. Now, you all know that I'm NOT religious. But I went because I felt like seeing what it would be like and it would also remind me of home. Turns out the mass I went to was a special kids mass, so it wasn't very interesting. But I did see a lot of my students!
On Sunday night, I went to Albacete (a large city about an hour away) with Gunita, Jesus, Will, and Courtney. After settling ourselves in our hotel rooms, we went out to dinner followed by a night out on the bars. We really only went to two bars, and stayed at both the entire night. We expected it to be really busy because of the puente, but it wasn't that busy, much like Friday night in Socuéllamos. Still, we had a relatively good night. My drink of choice in Spain is Barceló rum with Coke (sometimes Red Bull or Sprite). In restaurants, my new drink of choice is Tinto de Verano (red wine with lemon flavored sparkling water). Anyway, after a long night, we went to the hotel and slept until check-out the next day. We had breakfast and walked around for a couple hours. But stores weren't really open (apparently, here holiday weekend doesn't equal keep businesses open to attract tourists) so we headed to a shopping center near the edge of town. After a couple more hours of walking around and playing some arcade games (air hockey!), we decided it was lunch time and went into a "Chinese" buffet in the center. For some inexplicable reason I've been really craving sushi lately (I didn't even eat it that much in Ca), so imagine my ecstatic mood when I realized they had some. After stuffing ourselves, we made a final stop at McDonald's (oh yeah, McFlurrys!) and finally headed home. The day ended pleasantly with a movie night at Gunita's, Will's, and Courtney's place. We watched Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, which I had seen before but it's too good so it's not a problem.
Today has been really rainy so it's been a really lazy day for me. Though I did manage to get out of the house long enough to reactivate my phone (which had been stolen) =)
Days here: 31 (yesterday was my month-iversary)
Cravings: sushi (resolved), Indian food, Tapatio, churritos
Currently reading: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Life at Colegio Publico Bilingüe "EL COSO"
Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Late Night, whenever you're reading this post!!
I've now been in the beautiful (read: colddddd) town of Socuéllamos for about three and a half weeks now. Things are settled: I have processed my DNI- my National ID card (now I have to wait a month to pick it up)-, which allowed me to FINALLY open my bank account, which allowed me to FINALLY install internet in my flat. Well, the internet-installey-guy finally came over on Monday and installed the line. So, almost a month after I arrived in Spain, I finally have my own internet. Then, when things are completely in place, something happened to screw up my perfect existence. HA, you know what they say about the best laid plans... On Tuesday somebody "took" my phone from my jacket from the staff lounge in my school. Everyone found this impossible to believe, but it's obvious to me that somebody took it and turned it off (calls were sent straight to voicemail). Sadness, right? Pero, vale, no pasa nada. I'm not going to get my phone back so I'd rather not think about it. In any case I blocked my SIM card so nobody's going to waste my recently purchased minutes.
Wow, what a tangent. Apologies. The point of the first paragraph is that I'm starting to fall into the daily routine of living in Socuéllamos and working at my school. Besides two trips to the provincial capital- the small and unexciting city of Ciudad Real. Not much to see there. I tried to go into the Cervantes museum, but it was closed. Gahh- for official business matters, I haven't traveled much out of town. Things will have to wait for later this month and the new year, after I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY settled. So my school! El Coso is a bilingual "sección Europea" preschool and primary school. "Sección Europea" means that students don't have just English language class, but science is also taught in English. The purpose of this program is that English doesn't become just another class to pass, but that it's an indispensable tool for study and academic success in general. Anyway, enough about that. Here's my school website, if you're interested:
http://edu.jccm.es/cp/elcoso/joomla/
On to important stuff. My school is pretty small and there is only one class each of Preschool Age 3, Age, 4, Age 5, and 1st-6th curso (grade). I circulate around the classes and go into each classroom at least twice per week for English and Science (except preschool, just once). As somebody who is planning on working in either middle or high school, needless to say that I enjoy the older classes more, but they're all sweet. I only work Tues-Thurs (OMG four-day-weekend every weekend! Ugh, I'm so lazy). I work 9am-2pm each of those days. So basically what my work consists of is helping the teachers with pronunciation, leading textbook and workbook activities, and helping the children with their work in general. I'm also not supposed to let the kids know that I speak any Spanish because if I do they'll never speak English to me again (ugh, they already don't. STUBBORN!) But I pretend not to understand unless it's something incredibly simple and I respond only in English.
In all three of my preschool classes, all I do is read stories with flashcards and lead songs and dances. You know, with preschool it's all about theatrics. Then we do games with the flashcards (vocabulary, etc.). Each week it's the same stories and songs for each class. Blah. Pretty boring but the kids are adorable. And loud. Gawd, they're loud.
1st grade is less theatrical than preschool, but the gap in level of English comprehension between these kids and the 2nd graders is vast and obvious. Anyway, as mentioned much of my work consists in leading activities from the workbook. I always read from the book and let somebody translate to let them practice their comprehension and to make sure everybody understands. The 1st graders are currently learning the five senses, and much of the work consists of matching pictures with other pictures (example: match an ear with a radio, etc.). As I walk around, I make sure to talk with the kids about the lesson and make sure they practice their vocabulary. But other than that, the actual activities don't integrate much English-language development.
The 2nd and 3rd graders are currently learning animal classifications in science (mammals, birds, fish; vertebrates or invertebrates, etc.) and ability phrases in English (I can, they can...). In the past couple of weeks my work has consisted in reading the lessons, then having the students read the lessons and translate the lessons into Spanish. This way, they hear the pronunciation from me and work on comprehension by translating. Then I ask various questions about the lesson which they are required to answer in English. Then they do activities related to the lessons. Simple. PS- the activities are much more verbal and English-intensive than the 1st grade activities.
I only go to 4th grade once a week, and the first two weeks I had to miss those classes because I was taking care of some business (wow, this sounds sketch!). I've been to 4th grade once, so I still don't know the class very well.
In 5th and 6th grade my work is much simpler, made so by the nature of the way the class is taught. For each lesson, the students read from the textbook then they translate each paragraph. Then they answer questions and do activities at the end of the lesson. I'm just there to help with pronunciation and vocabulary during the lesson and help out the kids during the activities and questions. It's much the same structure as in the younger classes, but with much more independence for the students. Since I've been here, the 5th grade lessons have been the circulatory system, outer space, human societies and interaction, and now the nervous system. The 6th grade lessons have been ecosystems, ecology and environmentalism, and currently the human impact on the earth's natural resources.
The nature of these 6th grade lessons makes these classes very interesting and entertaining for me. The teacher is an activist of sorts and, instead of just asking his students to absorb the facts and information from the book, always tries to create consciousness among them. For example, during the lesson on ecology, in which one of the themes was the impact of consumerism on nature, he got very heated about the way in which some people might buy things without thinking of the fact that those products come from nature. The way he does this is very representative of the way teachers and students relate: very familiar, like old friends and less formal than in the USA. What I mean to say is that he would single out individual students and grill them about their buying habits and ask them to take this lesson into consideration in their lives. I feel that if this happened in an American elementary school, it would everybody very uncomfortable. But the kids didn't really seem to mind. They just took it in stride. Plus these kids are the perfect combination of precocious and being a little more conscious of what they're doing in their work that it's just enjoyable to be there.
Exciting! Christmas is in the air. My school is going to hold a Christmas festival at the local municipal auditorium. Each class is going to perform an Xmas song. I've already heard some of them and I'm excited. Also, the staff (very small because of the small school) is having an annual Christmas lunch on the last week of school before break. We are going to have a secret Santa gift exchange (Amigo invisible, or invisible friend) and we picked names today! Yay! Now I need to start getting to know my person better. Geez, Christmas is so difficult. Oh yeah! I got paid today =D
Books read: The Prophecy (blah), Bridget Jones' Diary en espanol (how delightful, I realize I've never seen the movie and now should)
Spanish tv series I have developed an addiction to: Hispania (awesomeness about the Hispanics' war against Roman domination), Fisica o Quimica (soap-operatic drama where everyone hooks up; think Grey's Anatomy but in high school)
Ahhhhh! Once again, sorry for the incredibly long entry. But now that the foundations are laid, things will be much simpler. Hahahaha. I promiseeeeee. Toodles!
I've now been in the beautiful (read: colddddd) town of Socuéllamos for about three and a half weeks now. Things are settled: I have processed my DNI- my National ID card (now I have to wait a month to pick it up)-, which allowed me to FINALLY open my bank account, which allowed me to FINALLY install internet in my flat. Well, the internet-installey-guy finally came over on Monday and installed the line. So, almost a month after I arrived in Spain, I finally have my own internet. Then, when things are completely in place, something happened to screw up my perfect existence. HA, you know what they say about the best laid plans... On Tuesday somebody "took" my phone from my jacket from the staff lounge in my school. Everyone found this impossible to believe, but it's obvious to me that somebody took it and turned it off (calls were sent straight to voicemail). Sadness, right? Pero, vale, no pasa nada. I'm not going to get my phone back so I'd rather not think about it. In any case I blocked my SIM card so nobody's going to waste my recently purchased minutes.
Wow, what a tangent. Apologies. The point of the first paragraph is that I'm starting to fall into the daily routine of living in Socuéllamos and working at my school. Besides two trips to the provincial capital- the small and unexciting city of Ciudad Real. Not much to see there. I tried to go into the Cervantes museum, but it was closed. Gahh- for official business matters, I haven't traveled much out of town. Things will have to wait for later this month and the new year, after I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY settled. So my school! El Coso is a bilingual "sección Europea" preschool and primary school. "Sección Europea" means that students don't have just English language class, but science is also taught in English. The purpose of this program is that English doesn't become just another class to pass, but that it's an indispensable tool for study and academic success in general. Anyway, enough about that. Here's my school website, if you're interested:
http://edu.jccm.es/cp/elcoso/joomla/
On to important stuff. My school is pretty small and there is only one class each of Preschool Age 3, Age, 4, Age 5, and 1st-6th curso (grade). I circulate around the classes and go into each classroom at least twice per week for English and Science (except preschool, just once). As somebody who is planning on working in either middle or high school, needless to say that I enjoy the older classes more, but they're all sweet. I only work Tues-Thurs (OMG four-day-weekend every weekend! Ugh, I'm so lazy). I work 9am-2pm each of those days. So basically what my work consists of is helping the teachers with pronunciation, leading textbook and workbook activities, and helping the children with their work in general. I'm also not supposed to let the kids know that I speak any Spanish because if I do they'll never speak English to me again (ugh, they already don't. STUBBORN!) But I pretend not to understand unless it's something incredibly simple and I respond only in English.
In all three of my preschool classes, all I do is read stories with flashcards and lead songs and dances. You know, with preschool it's all about theatrics. Then we do games with the flashcards (vocabulary, etc.). Each week it's the same stories and songs for each class. Blah. Pretty boring but the kids are adorable. And loud. Gawd, they're loud.
1st grade is less theatrical than preschool, but the gap in level of English comprehension between these kids and the 2nd graders is vast and obvious. Anyway, as mentioned much of my work consists in leading activities from the workbook. I always read from the book and let somebody translate to let them practice their comprehension and to make sure everybody understands. The 1st graders are currently learning the five senses, and much of the work consists of matching pictures with other pictures (example: match an ear with a radio, etc.). As I walk around, I make sure to talk with the kids about the lesson and make sure they practice their vocabulary. But other than that, the actual activities don't integrate much English-language development.
The 2nd and 3rd graders are currently learning animal classifications in science (mammals, birds, fish; vertebrates or invertebrates, etc.) and ability phrases in English (I can, they can...). In the past couple of weeks my work has consisted in reading the lessons, then having the students read the lessons and translate the lessons into Spanish. This way, they hear the pronunciation from me and work on comprehension by translating. Then I ask various questions about the lesson which they are required to answer in English. Then they do activities related to the lessons. Simple. PS- the activities are much more verbal and English-intensive than the 1st grade activities.
I only go to 4th grade once a week, and the first two weeks I had to miss those classes because I was taking care of some business (wow, this sounds sketch!). I've been to 4th grade once, so I still don't know the class very well.
In 5th and 6th grade my work is much simpler, made so by the nature of the way the class is taught. For each lesson, the students read from the textbook then they translate each paragraph. Then they answer questions and do activities at the end of the lesson. I'm just there to help with pronunciation and vocabulary during the lesson and help out the kids during the activities and questions. It's much the same structure as in the younger classes, but with much more independence for the students. Since I've been here, the 5th grade lessons have been the circulatory system, outer space, human societies and interaction, and now the nervous system. The 6th grade lessons have been ecosystems, ecology and environmentalism, and currently the human impact on the earth's natural resources.
The nature of these 6th grade lessons makes these classes very interesting and entertaining for me. The teacher is an activist of sorts and, instead of just asking his students to absorb the facts and information from the book, always tries to create consciousness among them. For example, during the lesson on ecology, in which one of the themes was the impact of consumerism on nature, he got very heated about the way in which some people might buy things without thinking of the fact that those products come from nature. The way he does this is very representative of the way teachers and students relate: very familiar, like old friends and less formal than in the USA. What I mean to say is that he would single out individual students and grill them about their buying habits and ask them to take this lesson into consideration in their lives. I feel that if this happened in an American elementary school, it would everybody very uncomfortable. But the kids didn't really seem to mind. They just took it in stride. Plus these kids are the perfect combination of precocious and being a little more conscious of what they're doing in their work that it's just enjoyable to be there.
Exciting! Christmas is in the air. My school is going to hold a Christmas festival at the local municipal auditorium. Each class is going to perform an Xmas song. I've already heard some of them and I'm excited. Also, the staff (very small because of the small school) is having an annual Christmas lunch on the last week of school before break. We are going to have a secret Santa gift exchange (Amigo invisible, or invisible friend) and we picked names today! Yay! Now I need to start getting to know my person better. Geez, Christmas is so difficult. Oh yeah! I got paid today =D
Books read: The Prophecy (blah), Bridget Jones' Diary en espanol (how delightful, I realize I've never seen the movie and now should)
Spanish tv series I have developed an addiction to: Hispania (awesomeness about the Hispanics' war against Roman domination), Fisica o Quimica (soap-operatic drama where everyone hooks up; think Grey's Anatomy but in high school)
Ahhhhh! Once again, sorry for the incredibly long entry. But now that the foundations are laid, things will be much simpler. Hahahaha. I promiseeeeee. Toodles!
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