And so the time has come,when I must face my final curtain. Or at least my observed lesson. Still no idea of what I am teaching whilst feeling vague disquietude about the fact that my fellow trainee teachers are polishing and honing their jewel like lesson plans and in some cases purchasing bribes in the shape of Chinese armies of chocolate rabbits .
I have fallen into the Spanish sueno of sauntering on the metro whilst casually occupying most if not all of the escalator,sipping the dregs of my cafe con leche and crumbs of farton with a mere 30 second time gap to arrive at a lesson and then take a further 5-10 minute of said lesson debating with the students over colours of the rainbow or some other such compelling topic.
The Spanish can talk and do talk mostly at full volume and with stunning disregard of their classmates and teachers.
They have moved from a rigorous disciplined authoritarian mostly religious imbued autocracy to a skewed meritocracy where teachers are called by their first names and there appears to be little accountability for transgressions.
Ok I am from a different era where corporal punishment was the norm ( horrendous and barbaric) but now the pendulum has swung too far in my opinion.
I find it irritating in the extreme where students have worked on and prepared spoken projects only to deliver them to a class chattering amongst themselves paying no attention to the speakers to the point where I can't actually hear what is being said.
There is a balance I believe and respect should be earned both for the teacher and between classmates .There are many excellent teachers dedicated caring and hard working but in my opinion this constant chatting is disruptive and disrespectful to teachers and fellow classmates.
I would be interested to know what others think ....
However I do like the relaxed attitude to time and strong family values and I like being called Susan rather than Miss and the students are all lovely .They are not naughty just too talkative at times!! I like a hubbub in class just need quiet to present .
As for my observed lesson Qué Sera Sera !