Señooooooo

Hello Friends and Family!

It is high time I write to you all again, so here goes.  I haven't traveled much in the past month, Elisa's parents visited for a couple weeks and we went to Sevilla and Ronda, but for the most part, I want to let you all know more about what I do and why I am here in Spain.

I work in Atarfe, a small town very near to Granada with a population of 10,000.  There, 12 hours and 3 days a week, I work with the school's English teacher in planning and giving English classes, Science classes in English and Art classes in English to kids between the ages of 4 and 11.  The 4 year olds are some of the cutest and the older ones definitely can be the biggest pain sometimes. What I first found interesting is that my school has two English teachers, one who can understand well, but not speak, and the other who is great, has a very wide-ranging vocabulary, but needs lots of work on pronunciation. Now, you can see why it is so pertinent they have us Americans there to help bastardize the 'English' language and spread it as well.

When I first arrived, I expected that most of these Spanish kids would speak a little English because they are exposed to English so much, about 5 courses a week in nonbilingual programs in elementary school. This really impressed me when I first learned about the Spanish school system due to the amount of immersion and focus placed on a foreign language at such an early age (starting with 3 year olds).  Of course, this was far from the case.  My first few weeks were spent explaining what hello, good morning means.  And on a field trip with the first graders in December, the tour guide asked the kids what their teachers' names were and they shouted that my name was Teacher, not realizing that teacher was just english for maestro. So while I think it is great there is so much focus on English at an early age, it is not done effectively and needs improvement (but hey, at least it gives me a job :))

I should also explain what makes me laugh a lot about the Spanish school system.  Kids only go to school from 9am to 2pm! Siesta is ingrained into their very lives from the earliest age.  And not only that, out of those 5 hours of schooltime, the kids are given 15 minutes to eat a snack at 11am (which is where the Spaniards first learn the importance of eating a tapa at 11 in order to last until lunch, which is usually served at 2 or 3pm) and a 30 minute period to play outside.  So out of 5 hours of classtime, 45 minutes is dedicated to eating and playing.  And instead of holding to that schedule tightly, it is much more theory than practice.  Class usually doesn't begin again promptly after the 15 minute snack due to the difficulties in cleaning up and getting out the kids' classbooks once again.  And the bell to end playtime usually isn't pulled on time either!  S0 all in all, we may end up losing an hour of classtime each day. Even so, there is a certain charm to it all and plenty of kids that make my job worth it.

Out of all the classes, I would definitely say the first graders are my favorite.  One kid loves to pretend to be a lion and randomly jump on all fours and start attacking his classmates (which can get old).  Another loves to talk about pooping (definitely too much information sometimes) and some others are just really adorable.  They seem to really enjoy English class (not science since unfortunately the focus is completely inappropriate for such young kids, which is why the English teacher and I are going to start planning away from the units in the book). And of course there are gross moments, with the kids having runny noses (even eating their snot) or farting in class, but for the most part, we don't see too much of that.  Instead, we play games with them and try to teach them vocabulary and read them stories.  Last week, we brought in a huge book, each page was probably 3 feet by 2 feet, about an elephant named Ellie who was going to the park.  They loved it and it's really great to see the kids get so into it.  

It's also funny, I haven't mentioned this yet, that I am like the local celebrity at school.  All the kids get so excited when they find out I am coming to class. Not only do they love to laugh at me when I say things wrong or funny in Spanish, but a lot do have an interest to learn. They love to wave at me in the hallways or give me a high five, or ask me to play soccer with them.  Also, the first few weeks I was there, they loved to ask me questions, such as am I married and do I have children.  I thought those were jarring questions, since I still consider myself young and far from both those milestones, but it makes more sense when you realize that the parents of many of these kids aren't much older than I am. One 9 year old told me her parents are 24 when I was shocked that they kept asking me if I had kids.

I have also been learning about just how to keep control in a classroom with 25 kids, not only that, but 25 kids who know I am not their regular teacher and thus have the possibility of getting away with things they wouldn't normally be able to do. For instance, I'll ask them to tell me what we just said when I see them talking or even the simple act of beginning to write names on the board shuts them up instantly, even though we erase the names a few minutes later.  And on the other side of the spectrum, it's amazing the effect of stating we are going to play a game or we have a surprise, but only if the kids be quiet. One time the English teacher promised a surprise to the 5 year olds, which got them to shut up and all we gave them at the end was a big hug.  And they weren't even disappointed.

Also, just to explain the name of this blog. The kids usually call their teachers by the following three words, maestro (meaning teacher), profesor (usually just profe), and seño, regardless of whether the teacher is male or female. Señoooo comes from señor or señora, but it all gets blended together since the Andalucíans eat half their words and drop lots of syllables when they speak.

Well, sorry for the lack of pictures. Next blog, I will post some pictures of Ronda. Also, I will be sure to write more often especially as I have many travels planned (salamanca/segovia, bilbao/san sebastian, florence, sevilla, and the canary islands!!) in addition to visitors coming (adam and my parents). I hope you are all well and I hope to hear from you all sooN!