Are we in England or Spain??

It's raining. I'm tired... Monday morning feels!
I want my bed...

Tomorrow will make us exactly half way through our time here!!

I hope today is a good day and the sun comes back tomorrow!! ☀

Stuck in the eighties

So today I got stuck in Professor G's workshop.  But I couldn't have been trapped with nicer people.  What a team!  Professor G you played with us.  Another 4 minutes and we would have been out. 

To my team members, thank goodness for you because I wouldn't have even got the first clue or key without you,  I mean.  WHAT WAS GOING ON???  I hope you noticed when I actually clued in and provided one helpful suggestion though.  We got our lucky Professor G badges anyway.  They are our lucky planning badges for next week.

Happy planning and happy teaching this week team.  Piru Piru.

New week

The class falls silent,
The textbook opens
The powerpoint is up
Ready to go!

Some photos from the City of Arts and Sciences...

A busy but fruitful week

At the end of a busy week teaching at Sant Bertomeu, I was able to finally explore some more of the verdant city of Valencia! After some lesson planning and coffee in Cafe Jardin Ubrano, I had time enough to see some of old town of El Carmen before heading back to Moncada.

This week has been long but fruitful one; I taught almost all of the lessons solo, and so gained a lot to reflect upon and take away from the experiences.

... back to planning!

Finally able to see Valencia after another tough week, luckily it was a sunny day and to see the clear water, made me want to jump in the pool 💃 Had a lovely time walking in Montfort Garden, and seeing everyone was as lovely as I thought.

India is still in Spain 🇪🇸

Hola !
Sunday morning in Moncada ...woke up and found Tom face down on our sofa! Lovely surprise! That sounds wrong ....but I assure you Emile everything was legal.
Kids been out dancing until 4.30 am ,the old lady confined to quarters with deli belly.
It's raining boo! But I guess that makes lesson planning easier as no temptation to go to the beach .
Full week of lessons so off to plan.
Hasta lluego
X

We are halfway through!

Buenos dias!  It's the end of our second week in Spain. I observed 4 P.E lessons this week and  it will be my turn to lead the PE activities in the playground next week. I like the idea of being outside in the sun.  It should be fun.
I do my placement in a relatively small village school, but my school is equipped with the modern technologies.  English teachers have an access to the Digital Course Books  with the variety of resources: videos, computer games, listening activities, flashcards, songs and so on. It makes planning so much easier. Every classroom has an Interactive Whiteboard and big speakers. In Year 6 all children  have computers to complete their work.

Pupils spend a long day at school. They start at 9.30 and finish at 16.30. The have one break from 10.30 to 11.00 and then a two-hour-break from 1pm to 3 pm. Some of them go home and some stay at school, have their lunch and then play.

One of the teachers drives me to school and back. It's a good opportunity for me to talk to somebody local and find out more about their way of life.

Nos vemos!

Godella

I got off the metro at a stop called Godella as it was called God + Ella, how could i not?
It was a beautiful little town full of Grafitti and open views.
Perfect just as its name described.

This past week......

It has been a difficult week in Moncada. Sadly, my phone has stopped working 😓😢😭 so it has been difficult to keep in touch with my family and my beloved Erasmus + amigos. I've lost count of the number of times I've gotten lost 💁 but I'm still loving being our here in Spain.

At my school there has been a strong focus on written compositions and essays in preparation for  exams which are due to be taken next week 😱. I've been informed by my tutor that 50% of all students fail every year from the year groups 3.ESO - 1.Bach.

On a personal level it has been difficult trying to build some teaching momentum. The teachers and students are so set in their ways so it's been tough trying to find myself as a teacher. In addition to this my students are very reluctant in to speaking any English.

On another note my madre turned 49 years old this week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY  Mama💓💓 Te amo.

I'm going to organise a lil party. Nothing too fancy but I was thinking of hiring a DJ and renting out a marquee. I still have enough euros to splash out on some vegano catering 👅 If you're reading this and still haven't received an invitation to my party then ...ummm.....AWKWAAAARRD  👀😙

Planning, teaching, dancing, and motorbiking...

Lesson planning! Lesson planning... and a bit more lesson planning.
Accepted an invite from one of my Spanish colleagues to attend a dance class this morning; and then she gave me her old motorbike to cruise round on!
Lovely, friendly, extremely welcoming people in Gandia.
Shout out to my 2nd ESO classes yesterday morning - loved every minute of the lessons with them.

Tom.

End of Week 1

Well, it is the end of the first full week teaching here in Valencia. It has definitely taken some getting used to, but it’s been a great help having the guidance of the school’s English teachers and my fellow trainee English teacher, Elena, who isn’t part of the UKLC posse but a Valencian training to be an English teacher.

I’ve been teaching in a secondary school in Beniferri and have met 7 classes across 4 school years, from 12-16 years old. From day to day (and from one lesson to another!) you encounter extremes. You can be witness to the equivalent of a civil war in which the point of contention was who poked who first, chairs almost being hurled across the classroom, then five minutes later you’re in a different class trying to get someone, anyone, to open their mouths to tell you an adjective that ends in -ed.

My highlight of the school week may be this: I gave 6 groups of students a different bundle of words and asked them to write a story that included every word, and had a beginning, middle and end. Afterwards, they read their stories out in front of the class. It was all going well until the last story, when we heard about the gruesome murder of a very unlucky rabbit who got lost and then run over by a bus “and it was upsetting”. At least they used the -ing adjective correctly. 

Madrid here I come

It's Friday. It's Friday!!!
The sun is shining and I am on my way to Madrid. I had such a good day teaching today. The kids really enjoyed my lessons and my observed lesson went really well - the class were so well behaved and a lot more of them were answering questions and so gaining more confidence to speak which makes me really happy!!!
So today is a really good day... I am currently sat in a car with 3 other Spanish people listening to them speaking and feeling like I can kinda understand what the conversation is about... *kinda* (lol) but unfortunately I still can't string any answers or sentences together myself. 😭
Anyway I will soon be seeing my friend in Madrid and I think its going to be a really good weekend!!! 🙌🙌

Hamburguesa

So this week I've really enjoyed teaching and I've learnt such a lot in a short space of time.  I know I shouldn't, but I have two favourite classes.  The first one in Primary (8-9 year olds) are just so cute.  Their English is fantastic and they are so willing and eager to learn.  My other favourite class are 15-16 year old B1 level students.  Even though they've already done a day at school by the time they get to me, they really try hard and participate well (occasionally needing a little persuasion).  Their regular class teacher said that they have really come a long way (reported speech/something I did yesterday), and I can see why.  Oh, I forgot about my other favourite class.  So I guess that makes it three,  Actually they're all fantastic!

So what about hamburguesa?  Well, Hamburguesa is a paragraph of course.  If you're still not sure then see me in class.  Adios for now amigos.

What's cool in Spanish school?

I think I've been placed in the Spanish version of school of rock... hopefully I'm a more competent teacher than Jack black's character!
I could not be happier with my mentor and the team of teachers supporting me in this role. Legends all of them!
The students seem baffled and fascinated by the image of an old rocker come English teacher I unwittingly embrace.
Teaching here is faced paced, hard work, challenging at times (mainly due to student's  fascination with someone new and foreign), but so much fun!
Shout out to my "year 11" and "sixth form" age groups - great students!
Enjoying life in Gandia.

Week one

The first week of living in Spain has been an all-encompassing and enriching experience, in that I've learnt so much from observing and speaking with the Spanish teachers in school, as well as with friends and fellow teachers; but finding time to relax in the gorgeous Spanish sunshine, lesson planning whilst staring at orange trees that line the streets.

"It doesn't feel like work when I'm here; my work doesn't take place inside the classroom, it all happens at home when I'm trying to plan great lessons." - Something my tutor, Xusa, told me during school on Wednesday.

First week :)

I have now settled in my school and absolutely love the school and teachers . I have taught and observed lessons from 

7 to 17years olds. My favourite classes have been 

primary 1-5. 

The children are just fascinated by me and makes me feel

Like a celebrity when I walk into the classroom. 💖 

I have also had a night out last weekend in Gandía and the shisha lounge / club was Litt 🔥 great music and people. 

I was also given a rose by a Spanish man which made my night  😁 x 

Reflections on the first week!

The first week has flown by... I have been teaching from the very first day and have begun to build a great rapport with the students and teachers at the school I'm lucky enough to be placed at. Every single lesson has been challenging but fun, and I've loved every minute.

The apartment we have is amazing, there is a great view from the balcony, and Moncada is a lovely place, I felt at home from the first day here. All of us teachers caught up with each other over the weekend and it's exciting to hear the stories from each other as everyone seems to be in similar positions - enjoying the challenge and experience that we have been lucky enough to have.

Valencia is a beautiful place with amazing, friendly people so the first week has only strengthened my desire to move to Spain and teach English.

7 Days have passed...

Have we only been here 7 days??? It feels like it has gone really quickly and that I have been living here for a year in equal measure!! lol

So had a really good day today... taught 4 classes, near enough by myself... Carmen (one of my spanish teachers) and I have been working really well together. I was told by one of the students that I was the best teacher ever !!! (his my new favourite) and all the classes clapped at the end ... They so cute!!!
Then I went for a 2 hour walk along the Turia and into the centre of Valencia. It really is a pretty place.
Now I am on the hunt for conversational meetings so I can practice me Espanol !!
All in all a pretty damn good day if I do say so myself :)

Mime

This morning I had my first lesson with the 1 ESO class (1st year of secondary school, so a class of 11/12-year-olds)

I was meant to teach them about computer gaming, TV and something else! The thing is, I wanted to use this lesson to introduce myself and to get to know the students I will be working with. 

I started the lesson by writing 5 words about me and students had to ask questions. For example, I had the word ‘fish’, and the question was “do you like fish?” (Yes, I love fish!!)

I then chose two other students, Roberto and Rocio, to do the same thing. I got the rest of the class to help me by asking questions too.

The main activity of the lesson was for students to mime various free time activities such as “swimming, dancing, shopping etc” in groups of 4. Each group had to cut out each cards which they then had to shuffle and place down in a pile on the desk! Students took it in turns to pick up a card and mime the free time activity on the card for the other students to guess. Whoever guesses it, gets to keep the card. 

I think we had a tie in the class of 10 points!

In the same group, the cards were shuffled again but this time they played a True or False game by making a personal statement about the activity written on the card. 

For example:

listen to music

I listen to music in the shower 

(True!!)

Just before we finished, 2 students shared their personal statement for the rest of the class to guess!

I was impressed with some of the statements I heard whilst monitoring, I remember a student saying ”two weeks ago I went fishing with my father!” (False)

I think the students enjoyed themselves, so I feel pretty good!

My Grandparents

My Granny and Grandpa just sent me this picture from Tenerfie. I've not made it to the beach yet as I've had too much work to do so my goal for the week is to have all my lessons plans done by Friday night so I can go exploring at the weekend, Hopefully i'll have some good pictures I can send back to them.

Monday morning

Monday morning: the start of our first full week!

My first lesson today is with the 4 ESO (4th year of secondary school) followed by another 4 ESO class and then a 3 ESO class. According to my timetable, I should finish by 13:05!

I wonder how today’s gonna turn out, I guess I’ll see!

A lovely first week in Spain.

Alas no song today because I am busy planning.  I will hopefully have a song for next weeks blog when I am a little more organised.  This week I met all of my teacher/mentors and most of my students from each group.  I have one class still to meet tomorrow as they weren't there for the first lesson I would've had with them.  Too much Fias fun!!!  Well what can I say.  Everything is BRILLIANT!!  The tutors are BRILLIANT!  The students are BRILLIANT!  The school is BRILLIANT.  My flatmate is BRILLIANT!  Meeting up with E+ group on Friday was BRILLIANT!  I think you get the picture.  I love Spain and I love the language.  Everyone I've met has been friendly and helpful.  I've been practising my Spanish when out and about with a little help from Google translate and its been a lot of fun,  I am looking forward to teaching this week.  Go teach!!

Ninots. - huge statues made if papier mache, card, wood or plaster.

                                                   LAS FALLAS FESTIVAL - for fire lovers
                                                                 
                                               

What a week 🙏

Had an intense week here in Gandía.. The school, so immense, I went the wrong way and floors a few times. Teachers very welcoming. Students, sometimes curious and sometimes not interested at all. One thing that I found interesting and scary? 

Spanish teenagers!! They can really be loud 😂 so full of energy.. Looking forward to see how this week will go, hopefully a bit better. 

India is in Spain  🇪🇸

Inglés en primaria

On my first day at Sagrado Corazón I was welcomed to the school with beaming smiles, excitable children, and glorious sunshine.

All the teachers at the school are lovely, and the headteacher (despite neither of us understanding what the other person is saying) has instantly made me feel like part of the familia. 

My beautiful mentor teacher, Andrea, already feels like an old friend and the learners have been curious, inquisitive and really rather wonderful.

Sunny People, :)

Tangerine trees blossom, birds sing and the sun shines. People around me smile and try to help even if they don't understand me. These are my first impressions of Spain. I feel welcomed and cared for.
On my first day at school, the School Principal hugged and kissed me and all the children were buzzing around trying to ask my name. Now, when they see me, they say, "Hi Natasha" and it melts my heart.
Teaching my first two lessons tomorrow. :)

Flowers

What a lovely week. The first thing I fell in love with was the smell of the orange trees, everything else soon followed suit.

Still in bed.Its10.21 am.The view from my window treetops,block of flats blue blue sky.The sounds,clapping,the Spanish are never silent,the excuse on this occasion a bike road race.Men in lycra ,in my opinion not worth stirring from my duvet cocoon to view.Other sounds dear Natalia mopping the floor.Jem still in bed as well.
Effing phone doesn't stop vibrating beeping and flashing what's apps.My teacher mentors sending me timetable updates and lesson material at gone 12 on Friday night.My fellow TT,s photos of their latest yummy meal,encounters with dogs or just simply themselves looking stunningly young and beautiful ( I delete those..bastardos ).
Highlight so far kid at the front of the class conducting the rest singing 'We are the champions ' at the top of their voices.All about the kids, although, of course, I couldn't resist joining in on the sidelines! I have been asked to do a reprise for my first class tomorrow at 8 am which means a 6.00 am alarm.School an hour commute ( thanks uklc )
As I said I am still in bed galvanising myself for a 6.00 am start !

One week in Montcada

Having now lived in Montcada for almost one week, I can say with confidence that I’m going to enjoy my time spent living here with the wonderfully like-minded and talented teachers as well as the extremely welcoming, patient and genuine local inhabitants. Streets awash with oranges from trees that hang heavy in abundance; azure-clear skies help provide an environment conducive to balancing a mind - unbalanced - with the prospect of cramming in lesson plans, warmers, activities, fillers, lesson plans, CCQs, first-time introductions in broken Spanish and lesson plans – I’m not sure I’ve mentioned those already, forgive me if I have.

I taught my first solo lesson last Friday, March 22^nd, as the student's usual English teacher was absent with flu. I enjoyed every minute of the lesson and truly believe the students benefited from and enjoyed it too; however, upon reflection I can see where I’ll need to slow down, take my time and exploit various methods and techniques in the future so as to really teach the students, and not the lesson.

I’m not one for writing these types of things, I don’t ever feel that it’s a true representation of my thoughts nor do I feel it is organic and so hope whomever may read this – and my future writings - can forgive me for my brief and ineloquent prose.

BREAKING NEWS!

I'm the new football coach of Sant Jaume Apostol. I've just signed a 4-week contract 😉 and have agreed personal terms with the school.

I have an interview with the local news paper to mark this auspicious occasion. The locals are calling me a a football genius and an inspiration to Veganos everywhere. Others say I am visionary who's shaping the future and openings doors for my vegano brothers and sisters everywhere.  Who am I to disagree 😃

Who knows what the future may hold. I do know that these next 3 weeks are going to exciting.

Some comments from my first week

The school's very big, it has over a thousand students and it's very old as well. It's got a massive playground and they've actually recently lost a bit, which has been taken over for a park. The school is owned by nuns apparently. It's a large building, it's got lots of floors and stairs, students go there from primary to baccalaureate level.

The teachers have been friendly and the ones that can speak English have been trying to chat to me. My tutor took me to lunch with her on the first day, which was nice of her and it was good to meet other teachers at lunchtime. The staff room I go to is just for some secondary teachers, it was good to have the chance to mingle with other teachers at the school. The school's got a small staff dining room which serves hot food.

One surprising thing is, there are students with special needs in the normal classes but there's no teaching assistant or extra help. There's one student in one of my year 1 classes who has different work set for him to do, my tutor said he has the mental age of an 8 year old. Another student in the same class seems content playing with a scientific calculator while the others work. Will ask my tutor next week about him.

The students' level of English seems to be fairly low. My tutor asked me on the first day if I spoke Spanish. I said 'no' and she said 'well I give the instructions in Spanish!' :) This is for secondary students. They know 'hello' , and how to answer to 'how are you?' and if I ask or speak about anything else then they're a bit stumped. It could be my accent that they're just not used to. When I've been talking to them about what they're doing and correcting their writing, I get a sense at times that they might be copying from books and don't understand what they're writing. But anyhow, these are first impressions, will get to know a bit more next week.

¡ Se acabó la semana uno! (Week one is over!)

And so week one is over... and what a interesting, stressful, excitable, over-whelming and fun week it's been!!

I am glad to say that as I sit here typing this I am ending the week on a high. From arriving at my new school on Wednesday to find out that my tutor was sick 😷and then having a very funny Spanglish conversation with the receptionist and feeling extremely lost and confused to a amazing turn around of feeling happy and content after leaving school today with a full schedule, meeting so many new students and having so many ideas for lessons for the upcoming weeks!! 😁

Everyone hat I have met so far have been so lovely and I think the highlight of my week was teaching a class of 4th graders today about directions and how to use a map and then, them creating a map for me!!!...and they even threw in a flag!!! 

QUE BUENO!!!

TGIF

I am so relieved to have taught my first lesson!

It was an 8:00 AM class with about 35ish 15-year-old students!

Marta, the English teacher, was awesome - I was able to teach the class exactly how I wanted to and when it came to telling the students to sit down or be quiet she was there to support me!

Oh, and I feel great because there was one student too cool to participate in our activities so while they were doing the activities amongst themselves I told him that I’d like him to help me demonstrate when everyone’s finished. At first he said ”no no no” to which I responded ”yes yes yes” hahahahha!

Funny thing is, he actually participated in the activity afterwards and he also did what I asked!

Simple joy!

Glorious Gandia



As soon as we stepped off the bus it was all go go go in Gandia, kids were setting off firecrackers and ladies were parading around in costumes. We got settled into our gorgeous apartment which is so dreamy - just what I imagined when I used to think about living here. The shop trip was overwhelming to say the least 4 overtired adults can take half an hour to buy some fruit apparently. Poor Hussain and his mate Sunni were not impressed. India has been treating us to glorious home cooked meals - I've been watching for tips on how to cook the perfect pasta! The first day was hilarious as Tom and I skipped to school together only to find that he was actually in one down the road. All the people looking after me are the sweetest I feel like Lucky Laura at the minute. Also loving the energy of the Spanish people everything is either a fiesta or super chilled- I seriously think I was born in the wrong country. Off to the beach with my new fave teacher Carol tomorrow which will be a hoot- she has taken me under her wing that one and I couldn't be more thankful. Could ramble on for a century but will leave it there as don't want to bore the crew.
Hope todo el mundo is todo bien xo
Adios for now

J

Valencia: The First 24 Hours

It’s 10 minutes to 7 in the evening and I’m watching the sun slowly go down over Valencia from my balcony in the apartment.

When I arrived in Valencia with my peers we were met with a great deal of noise, since it was the final day of the week-long Fallas holiday, during which huge, cartoon-like figures which are worked on throughout the year are finally presented and set on fire. Along with this, every other group of children that you walk past in the street is setting off firecrackers. It’s like a slightly more extreme Bonfire Night, but lacking the history of some Jacobean terrorists breaking in to the political hub of the country and attempting to blow it up.

With my two fellow teachers, we set off to do a practise school run, figuring our way around the Metro underground. I had my first encounter with Spanish shops and supermarkets and counting Euros too slowly.

Ed in the supermercado

After a long day travelling, it was time to go to bed, and despite the constant fireworks outside, it was easy to drop off. 

This morning, I found my school again (it was exactly where it had been yesterday) and the receptionist was confused as to why I was early - all the teachers seemed to arrive AT 8am, when lessons began. El camino Espagñol? Perhaps it will be different tomorrow.

The English teacher at the school was very welcoming and rather lovely, and the kids seemed curious about me, but had lots of questions to ask - en Ingles!

School ended at 10 past 1 - yes, you read that correctly, although tomorrow it finishes at 5 - so I headed to the centre of Valencia and explored around the cathedral.

Overall, a lovely first day at my school and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in!

“What do we mean by stuck?”

“It’s when you cannot move; you are in one place.” **

**ACTUAL excerpts from an English lesson today.

The Journey

I was a bit nervous about the flight, sure, but Ella and India were sitting next to me and asked how I was (either that or they were looking at me with pity). They kept their collective cool which encouraged me to do so.

It was fine once we were up in the air and I thought I’d post a small collection of photos since a few of us were asleep...

Over Valle de Lierp

Over Mequinenza