This is an aerial view of my school.
We officially started work on Oct. 1 and I have been working on my schedule and figuring out what is going on at this school. The school has 3 classes for each grade they work on English from first through 5th grade, but we are only with kids from 1-4. There were supposed to be a grand total of 5 Assistants at this school, but one was unable to make it due to some type of complication or business she had to take care of at home. So in addition to myself there are three other Assistants. Jen is from London, Amanda is from Philly, and Anna is from Poland, but she had been living in Spain for 9 years with her Spanish husband and she has 3 children. Her oldest is 14 and then 9 and 4. This is her second year doing the program. The other two are my age. Jen is living in Madrid and Amanda is living with one of the other teachers in Moral. (Everyone there calls it simply 'Moral' instead of saying the whole darn thing...makes sense, no?) It is interesting to work with Anna because she was a teacher in Poland and I think she does her own thing and maybe she teaches her own class...? One of her kids is at the school.
We basically work with the classes when they have class in English. The kids switch subject matter every 45 minutes and we are in the class when they do the subject in English. They do art, PE, science, and English in English. Their other subjects, Spanish language, math, and geography/history are in Spanish. The school is on whats called a 'continuous schedule' which means that they are only in class from 9-2. They have recess at 12 and then they have lunch at 2. After lunch they go and do the equivalent of extra-curriculars until 4. The other Assistants work with the same teacher and follow that teacher around as they go from class to class. I chose the schedule that lets me start later so I don't have to get up quite so early. Originaly I was going to work with two 3rd grade classes and 1 first grade class, but on the second day I realized that the 2 3rd grade classes did not have an English teacher and that there was nothing for me to do because we are not supposed to be teaching classes on our own. The second day I went to a different class because I had nothing to do and ended up switching my schedule. I now have two first grade classes and one 3rd grade class. The first graders are super cute, but they don't understand any English so everything that is done in the classroom takes FOREVER. The 3rd grade class has pretty good English and the teacher is really nice and enthusiastic. They went through and recited the months and the greetings for me.
The teaching methods are very different here than what I'm used to at home. The teachers straight up shout and grad their kids if they are doing the wrong thing. I think part of it is just because they are Spanish and the tend to be louder and more brusque, but it seems like the reason their kids don't pay as much attention is because the discipline methods are not very effective.
I have a lot of breaks in my day and with my new schedule I don't have to be at the school until 10.30. They feed use snack at 12 which is usually fruit and some type of prepackage pastry and then a 'main' dish' We had tortilla española one day and sandwhiches the next. We also get fed lunch if we want it. The kids eat at 2 and then we are suppoed to have lunch at 2.30 or 3, but the teachers eat in the staff room and after 2 there is always a staff meeting and we don't get to eat until 3.30. Part of me wants to stay because it is free food that is not bad, but then I have an hour and a half where I'm just sitting around doing nothing. Its not enough time to go swim or to the gym because it takes around 15-20min to walk up there and there is not a lot else to do. A small group of teachers and staff go get drinks everyday before lunch, but that will add up. The internet is slow and I have it at home so there is nothing I need the computer for and I can use it when I have another one of my breaks. I will probably stay most days, but the time gaps are really annoying.
I'm still getting the hang of things at the school and I have a lot of time to figure out what the game plan will be for the rest of the year.
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