Putting theory into practice - Elche adventures.

After arriving in sunny Spain on the Sunday and settling in, Monday was soon upon us. Luckily for me, I wasn’t teaching until Tuesday.

On Monday we were introduced to the staff of Topschool and (finally) were told who we’d be teaching. After the initial shock of being handed the kindergarten timetable with my name on it, Hywel agreed to swap as he’d been given secondary when kindergarten was in his sights all along. With his secondary hours, however, came an additional three hours of adult teaching, which doesn't sound much, but after we were told we’d be at San Alberto Magno from 9-5 plus travelling time, I was a bit put-off by the situation. Despite this, these hours were to be a blessing in disguise as you will discover later in the blog!

First day at San Alberto Magno college. We caught the bus in the morning with the kids which took us to the school. The kids were all so interested and kept coming up to us to say “hello”.  It was as though they were pre-warned the ‘giddys’ would be arriving as they all immediately recognised us as the English people.

The school is great. It’s big and has everything. Swimming pool, tennis courts, football and basketball pitches and 3 modern buildings which separate kindergarten, primary and secondary.

The five of us (me, Natasha, Miriam, Tom and Hywel) were taken to the teacher’s office and were sat down in front of a desk. This was probably the scariest moment of the month as the memories came flooding back of our school years and having to sit and explain yourself to a genuinely scary looking authoritative person.

Our first lessons with this person, who I will now call Angel, because that was his name, were good. Natasha and I (the Secondary-allocated Leonardos) introduced ourselves and I made use of some photos I brought from England, although I didn’t carry out any activities on my initial lesson plan due to lack of introduction time as the students had to take a ‘pre-test’ for their KET exam in a week or so. After this lesson we commented on how well the students were behaved and Angel told us we would have no problems.

Well. The next lesson was Science. Yes, it appears there weren’t enough English hours to go around so we got to ‘teach’ a subject both me and Natasha were poor in during our school careers. We were pretty intrigued as to how it would go. We arrived and the teacher didn’t seem to know a lot about why we were there.  I could go into a lot of detail here but I won’t. Long story short, the lesson was a shambles. Students were given a task to “talk about global warming” in groups. Well, can you call that a ‘task’? Not really. Anyway, students spent the whole lesson running riot, shouting, going to the toilet in groups of at least 4, and generally causing havoc. The science teacher is also new to that school, and unfortunate enough to be teaching a lesson the majority of students told me they don’t care about, but for those students that do want to learn, you have to feel for them.

The following day we were faced with another science lesson. I and Natasha felt a bit sorry for the teacher so played hot seat (back to the board as you lot like to call it) with vocab they’d learnt previously. They really enjoyed it but things got a bit violent and loud towards the end. Kids are so competitive!

Hot seat is a game I’ve sworn never to do again with under 16s due to the competitiveness and cheating involved. The first time I tried it as a lone teacher, there was a full-on brawl I had to separate. I then introduced an imaginary line across the room and said if anyone crosses it, they lose 5 points for their team. This stopped the fighting, but the students would then spend half the game at the line taunting their opponents to cross, forcing them to suffer the consequences. I then had to introduce the rule whereby if they left their seats they would lose 5 points. This worked well, despite having to deduct a total of 15 points during the game (for you new teachers, make sure you carry out your punishments!). If you are going to try this with children, I recommend no more than two teams (more than two is far too difficult to monitor), and enforce these rules from the start.

Our first week in the English lessons, most of the students were preparing for KET and PET exams. There was not a lot of teaching involved here which was a bit disappointing, but I’ve recently discovered some job vacancies asking if the applicant has experience with these exams, to which I can reply with a ‘yes’ – A basic yes, but a yes nonetheless.

In addition to Science, PE was another subject the secondary teachers were allocated which I was happy with as I love sports. These classes were always fun and it was interesting to see the number of well-thought out activities planned in the lesson. In these classes I was always the ‘assistant’ but I enjoyed helping out and encouraging the use of English.

A few PE lessons I was able to join in with the students, enabling me to show off my basketball skills and (lack of) footballing talent. On occasion, the PE teacher and I would organise a 1v1 basketball match while waiting for students to get changed, and one time, the two of us played against 10 primary kids. Great fun!

There was more English teaching involved in the later weeks, although the school had a curriculum to follow which meant we had less freedom as students had to work their way through a textbook. This wasn’t ideal but we were given the freedom to pick and choose activities from the book, in addition to creating our own, so long as they were directly related to the topic.

The staff at the school were all very nice people, one colleague in particular we all got on really well with, our P.E teacher Juan.  One of the few Spanish teachers making an effort to speak ‘real’ English, and not the formal ‘posh-talk’ I’ve heard from many of the teachers. “Good morning my dear fellow” was a common greeting in the secondary staff room. Really?!

I don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘hello’ as much as I did during that month. I never say it in England, but it’s the only greeting those kids are taught. Occasionally I greeted with “Hey, how’s it going?” only to get a blank look and a “What?” in reply. This motivated me to find a way of getting this vocabulary into a lesson – not an easy task when following books. Luckily I taught a lesson about the differences between formal and informal speech, and jumped at the chance to teach phrases such as “How’s it going?”, “What’s up?” and responses including “Awesome” and “All good”.

If I achieved nothing else, I was proud of this lesson and would go on to subtlety test students when passing in the school corridors.

The adult classes in Topschool I was allocated I was initially worried about, but after the long days at San Alberto Magno either teaching from books or exam prepping, it was a breath of fresh air to have the complete freedom to do whatever I wanted with adults. I really enjoyed these classes and got some great feedback from the students. The highlight of this was the long-running story beginning with “Kill the teacher”, leading onto “alibi”, to “prison break” to “island politics” to “design your island” which lasted a total of four lessons. If I can find time I will explain this in more detail in a later blog post.

I feel I have done a good job at the schools, and built good rapport with both students and colleagues. My final send-off at San Alberto Magno consisted of many high-fives, a few hugs and a few “I love you” comments. The adult class send-off was a nice after-school café visit with some of our students. 

The final Leonardo send-off was an interesting one. Obviously, the night before we had to catch our flight, we went partying. Some of us returned home at around 7am, just a couple of hours before we had to jump in our pre-booked taxi. I set two alarms, and slept through both of them. Natasha, who normally had an alarm, forgot to set it, and Miriam and Tom usually use me and Natasha as their alarms. I finally woke up to the sound of Natasha shouting "Get up, we have to catch the taxi in 5 minutes!" - We still had tidying to do (made worse from hosting the party the night before...), packing to finish and loads of rubbish to get rid of. This combined with massive hangovers, it just wasn't possible. We then continued to tidy up and went outside to hunt down another taxi. We were all panicking a little, but luckily we found one, which just happened to be the same taxi that was waiting for us earlier, and we made it in time to the airport. After all the morning happenings, it turns out our story was not even the most dramatic of our group, as one Leonardo had lost his passport (luckily he found it a day later and made it home safely). This took some pressure off us, although we still all felt bad for our mistake, one which I will definitely learn from. Set 3 alarms. No, wait, I mean don't go our partying before the flight. Yes. That one.

I am writing this just over a week after leaving Elche, and I am already missing the lifestyle and the Leonardos so much! The experience has been invaluable and for all you future Leonardo applicants who have probably seen the tefl.com ad and thought, “That sounds too good to be true”, I can assure you there is no scam here. Of the 30 people that were accepted to France and Spain this year, everyone loved it. Make the most of the opportunity. Apply and enjoy!

I have left Elche with many friends, some of which live in Elche, giving me another great reason to return in the future. 

To conclude, I want to do the obvious thing and thank UKLC and Topschool for this opportunity. I have gained so much more confidence in teaching and enjoyed every minute.

Good luck to everyone in the future!

Mike.

ps. Sorry this blog is so late…

3 year olds to retirees in a day

Ok, now I’m sat back in the UK with Elche a world, or at least a good chunk of a continent, away. Here are a few final thoughts.

The first and most striking thing is that trying to distill a typical Leonardo project teacher’s experience is impossible. What I experienced as a kindergarten teacher would be completely different to the teachers who taught adult classes at Top School. The best way to illustrate this is with a description of last Thursday. As well as teaching kindergarten, I taught an adult class observed by Michael in Top School, so I did everything from 3 year olds to retirees in the space of about 8 hours.

At the end of the morning I taught the 3 year old class. They are a very sweet group to teach, but I doubt any adults had to be instructed to go to the toilet and wash their hands upon arrival at Top School classes! With the 3 year olds, repetition of activities is not only not a problem, but really helpful for them to learn. So I did the Slippery Fish song as I had done countless times with 3 and 5 year olds and it still goes down a treat with them no matter how many times they’d done it before. Classroom management is so much more challenging with kindergarten however, and once they were on to their book activity which involved a pop out tadpole that becomes a frog, managing the concentration of children who do the activity at a different speed to the others is very challenging. As the disruptive students can tend to be the ones who gain all the attention, the idea of having all the children’s names on the board moving towards happy and sad faces on the left and right of the board depending on their behaviour in class works well in giving the good children attention, and setting the class the goal of all being on the good side. Once the pop out activity was done, the class really responded to the chance to jump like the frog in the story, but the challenge is to get them to stop! For all the exhaustion they can cause by the end of the day, the level of the English that these children have is phenomenal for their age, and seeing a 3 year old do something very well is enjoyable in a very different way to teaching a lesson where an already competent upper-intermediate adult produces good language that they were in all likelihood capable of producing with or without the teacher.

The early afternoon saw a five year old class where the children were preparing work for a display on the wall about the animal theme that they had been studying in class. After the usual routine activities such as who could tell me the day and date (move to the happy face for those who did
it after putting their hand up and not shouting) and the hello song, we revised animals with flashcards and the Sounds that the Animals Make song, before they had the chance to draw and colour their own favourite animals to go on the wall in the kindergarten building.

This all sounds very straightforward but 5 year olds in the afternoon, when they have been in school since 9am are the height of distracted irritability and disruptiveness, and the energy it takes to manage 18 children this age in the afternoon makes me admire full-time kindergarten teachers but not envy them. I should also say though that I loved doing the kindergarten activities and will really miss some of the children in case anyone thinks I am downbeat
about kindergarten teaching. I really can’t wait to be in a future role in Japan where I will be doing kindergarten classes among other age groups.

After doing a similar class with the other 5 year old class, then assisting Isa as she taught a 5 year old class at the end of the afternoon, I took the bus to get back to Elche. On arriving, I went straight back to the flat to pick up my laptop and drop off kindergarten stuff and headed to Top School where I met Michael who had an idea for the first hour of my adult class. When I got there I found out that I’d be teaching with Steph who was going to bring her class in with mine. I was very pleased about this as after getting used to kindergarten, I was really nervous going back into an adult class. We did a listening lesson based on Elvis Presley’s You were always on my mind. It was great to teach an adult class after several weeks of kindergarten just because the
challenges are so different and I would have missed out if I hadn’t had the chance to teach adults. It was enjoyable having a really motivated small group of adults but I did realise that team teaching is a skill in itself. As much as I think Steph and I understood the activities we were doing, being aware what we were expecting the other to do in class could be a bit stilted.

In the second hour, I had just two adults, both named Jesus. I did the Empire State Building lesson with them which worked very well and felt very easy. Whereas kindergarten involves a lot less preparation than an adult class, once you are confident that the idea for an adult class is good and that you know your lesson, the class runs relatively smoothly. In class with two strong intermediate adults who were keen to learn, compared to the afternoon with 5 year olds felt like everything ran itself. It also gave a chance to deal with more interesting language. The pronunciation drilling that we did at the end with a few words I noticed they had difficulty with also led them to start asking about other areas where they had queries, and drive the class along with problems they had come across in their own use of the language that they wanted to resolve. This was really enjoyable as they were immediately engaged with something they had taken the initiative in wanting to know how to communicate in English. Michael observed and gave great detailed feedback which was extremely valuable for me going forward.

The day ended with Christine, the Top School boss, treating all 15 of the teachers to a fantastic meal which was a great way to celebrate the last week of the project.

My overall final conclusions? I’m really glad I ended up doing kindergarten as I’m so much more confident tackling this again in the future having had this experience, but I couldn’t work full-time in a kindergarten. I loved teaching the adult class, and if I could have four more weeks and sample more adult classes and other age groups I would definitely do it as I would have no problem doubling the time I spent in Elche and getting to experience all the different types of teaching. I was lucky to have great flatmates, other teachers on the project, fantastic colleagues at San Alberto Magno and support from Top School, and superb training from UKLC, and Michael in particular while in Elche. If you’re a new TEFL teacher reading this and thinking of applying in 2013, do it! You are crazy not to take this chance if you get it.

Hywel

My introduction to teaching

It has been a lively month at San Alberto Magno as I´m sure every month is during term time. My introduction to the world of teaching has been a roller coaster ride with some notable highs and a few hitches. I slotted straight into the Spanish lifestyle and I could see myself going back there to teach in the future.  It has been a hectic and eventful period that has left me thoroughly exhausted and with a vault of unforgettable memories. I have been given a massive confidence boost in terms of my own teaching ability. When standing in front of a class becomes part of your daily routine you learn to harness your nerves and to channel them.  On top of this it has been a great opportunity to experiment with different teaching and classroom management strategies some of which were less successful than others but the only way to move forwards is through trial and error.

From the moment we boarded the school bus for the first time, I and my other colleagues felt like celebrities as the children were fascinated by us. Walking through the school we would hear our names being screamed in high pitch voices from every corner of the playground. On the bus back to Elche one of the children noticed I was chewing gum and asked if they could have chicles. I reluctantly gave one to her, remembering what the paramedic had said during our first aid training about how chewing gum should be banned. This turned out to be a huge error as children have excellent memories and they would continue to ask me if I had chicles on every bus journey for the remainder of the month.

Whilst teaching at the school I had plenty of opportunity to experiment with different classroom management techniques. In some of the early classes I struggled to get children to stay in their seats and found it difficult to keep them engaged. This was partly due to my lack of preparation. For instance, I planned to do an activity in my first class with year 5 that required me to draw a spider diagram of my own interests and hobbies on the board. However I did not have the opportunity to do the necessary board work before the lesson as I had come straight from another class. I turned my back on the class for a few minutes to draw it and all hell broke loose. Children were getting out of their seats and changing the settings on the electronic white board whilst I was trying to draw. From this point on I always made sure that I had the board ready before the students arrived in the class room and that I never turned my back on them for a second.

A game that I often played with my students was one in which you are out if you say the word 10. Students sit in a circle and take it in turns to say either one or two consecutive numbers. After one student is knocked out, the next student starts from 1 again. This game was hugely popular and the excitement level would reach chaos when only 2 people remained left in as students would crowd round chanting the name of the person they wanted to win. After I witnessed the effect it had on them I used it as an incentive for them to behave during the class by telling them they might be able to play it at the end.

After one particularly tough class in the opening week in which the children were distracted, Michael advised me that I should play to the competitive aspects of the children’s nature in order to get them to behave. One way to do this is to separate the class into two teams and operate a points system. I found this trick very helpful as the other children keep the trouble makers in line for you.

In one of my free periods on Wednesdays I would come into a kindergarten class to help out one of the staff who I became friendly with. We would usually get them to play simple games such as throwing hoops over cones or playing catch. On one Wednesday the teacher whose class it was could not come in so we arranged for me to take the class. When I entered the class and found myself alone with 15 5 year olds I must admit I felt quite daunted. I had planned to play some simple games as I had done before with the other teacher but I could not get them organised. The amount of energy and noise they emitted collectively was overwhelming and for the first 15 minutes they were getting out of their seats and fighting over objects. Then I remembered that I had some A4 paper in my bag and I started to put paper down in front of each seat at the tables. One by one the children began to sit down and start drawing and within a few minutes order was restored. At the end of the day two infant classes would be put together to have their hair brushed and sprayed with cologne before they were sent home. This was very difficult for the member of staff who had to do this by herself every week. On the last Thursday I came in to the classroom to help out. Again the classroom was like a playground with children running around and shouting. Whilst the other member of staff ran around frantically after individual children in an attempt to spray their hair, I sat down and started drawing a cartoon monkey and one by one the children all gathered round the table to watch me. This made it easier for her to spray them all together as they were kept still. After I had drawn it I began to label each part of the monkey and then they all started to fight about which one would get the drawing so I made photocopies for all of them. When I gave them out I could see that they were all studying the pictures and the labels and digesting the information so I was glad that I had actually managed to do some teaching in such a chaotic classroom.

In the evening I taught some adult classes at Top School which provided a refreshing change from San Alberto Magno where I was often instructed to do exercises from text books, as I could plan whatever I wanted for an hour. In the first adult class I taught I opened with an introductory exercise in which students are faced with a grid containing answers to questions about their teacher that they must guess. This engaged them effectively as they seemed genuinely interested to find out about me. Then I asked them some questions about the two teachers who usually took the class, getting them to describe their physical appearances and personalities and asking if they thought either of the teachers had ever committed a crime. If they had, which crime and why and did they get caught? This was followed by a brainstorm of different types of crime in which lots of phrases and language surrounding the topic of crime came up. The class contained only two students whose level of English was lower than I had expected so I had to adapt my lesson plan in order to cater to their ability. Brainstorming a topic on a board is helpful for students at this level as they lack vocabulary and often express themselves in a longwinded way because they don’t know a specific word.

In conclusion, I’m grateful to have been a part of the Leonardo Project which has been an invaluable experience with many twists and turns. I will miss Spain, the students at San Alberto Magno and all of the other trainees who I got along so well with. 

Tom Fisher

Blog standard : losing the fear (by The Aaron)

I can't speak for everyone, nobody can, but if I could speak for everyone, not that I'd want to, I would say, "On behalf of everyone, thank you UKLC for letting us be a part of this adventure."

Some people seem to think that I'm a sort of unemotional robot who travels through life without feeling the things that people feel.  But I do feel.  I'm a sensitive person really.  I suppose my apparent apathy towards last days and final farewells stems from the fact there have been so many in a relatively short period of my life.  And they don't half drag on.  The truth is, though, I don't like them because it's hard to say goodbye when you care and when you realise what you've got before it's gone.

I'm writing this on the last day of teaching, the day before we fly home to England, and I realise what I've got, or had, because now all my lessons are finished.

What I had was a plethora of secondary school students to teach, and teach them I did. I was given the opportunity to implement games and activities I'd learnt from Michael and during the training week in Denbigh. The teenagers, ranging from fourteen to seventeen years old, responded positively to types of lessons they rarely get the chance to experience. They enjoyed moving about the classroom, swapping places if they like to sing in the shower, for example, a game that really puts the active into activity (I realise you lose the 'e'). Most students took advantage of having a native English teacher in their midst by practising their English and listening intently. Was I a popular teacher at Sixto Marco? Well, I did receive a Spanish flag full of messages, amongst other wonderful gifts, and a farewell party......you be the judge.

Not all I saw at Sixto Marco was perfect and brilliant. I feel they rely too heavily on exercises from books and hold too much of a focus on exams, which can get students down. Almost inevitably I wasn't always utilised, and on the odd occasion became redundant in class, a mere puppet. But overall it was such a pleasurable and rewarding experience.

What I also had was an adult class that on the final day told me they have "lost the fear." I was touched and delighted. Worries and fears can take over too many parts of our lives, so if I helped them stop feeling these emotions with regards to practising English then I'm bloody chuffed. I was extremely lucky to be given such a tremendous group to teach. Building rapport was a walk in the park and capturing their interest a piece of cake. They suggested that every lesson was enjoyable and beneficial, but I remember them saying in particular that they appreciated listening tasks, including that involving 'Message in a Bottle.' Throughout there was a good reaction towards pronunciation drills and hearing language spoken naturally with a focus on connected speech. They loved reciting crisp flavours and have a strange affinity with Worcester sauce flavour, not that they have a clue how they taste despite my best efforts of description.

As for my fellow newly trained teachers, I had fun with you, whether you think it or not, and I liked being in your company. You have my respect, and that's one of the greatest compliments I can give. Personally, I had already lost certain fears, but now I can tick another one off, and I'm sure you can too.

Can't believe it's nearly over...

So it’s the final week of our teaching placement here in Elche and I can honestly say it has been one the most enjoyable learning experiences I have ever had. The weather and the teaching, obviously the most important things about being here in that order, have just got better and better as the weeks have gone on; I never want to leave!!

When I first saw the Leonardo Project advertised on tefl.com it seemed too good to be true. Having said that the prospect of spending a week at a boarding school in Wales with people I didn’t know and then going on to spend a month with them teaching in a foreign country was daunting to say the least. However, during the first week in Denbigh the timetable was so packed that I didn’t even have the chance to think about it; everything new I learnt I couldn’t wait to put into practice when I got to Spain. The training given during that week was invaluable; having finished my CELTA not that long ago I was not looking forward to trying to plan for more than 15 hours of lessons a week. However, Michael was brilliant at showing us how to take a topic and come up with fifty million ideas for lessons. Our time with Carol and Jaque in Denbigh was also really useful and so much fun...singing, colouring, acting-they made me wish I was a child in their class!

I didn’t find out what age group I would be teaching until I got to Spain; I found out I would be teaching at San Alberto Mango but the school has classes from kindergarten through to sixth form and there were five of us placed at the school. On the first Monday in Elche we were given our timetables and I was told I’d be teaching secondary school four days a week. Being at San Alberto Mango, Tom, Mike, Miriam, Hywel and I have to get the bus to school at half 8 every morning and arrive home at half 5 but I have a couple of hours each day where I’m not teaching and get Friday off which has been good. Initially I was sceptical about teaching at a secondary school, not feeling much older than a lot of the students there (a point that was proven when I was asked by students in my 4^th ESO class if I was 16, the same age as them!) and knowing how difficult it can be to hold a teenager’s attention having not been in their position not that long ago. However in most of the classes, this has worked to my advantage, allowing me to connect with the students on a level that allows me to be in control without being too controlling. Classroom management can be difficult at times  ...apparently sixth formers still like to get up in the middle of class and start play fighting!

San Alberto Mango is a bilingual school so my timetable not only consists of English lessons, but also Science lessons, P.E lessons and I.T lessons. Initially I was totally sceptical about this as Science was probably my least favourite subject at school but we were given the textbooks and the lessons have been more like using task based learning for revision purposes. The teachers at San Alberto Mango have all been super helpful with classroom management, advice on planning lessons and in general guidance on how to become a better teacher. The level of English from most the students, is excellent which is great for me because having such a low level of Spanish, communication is never an issue. I can’t say my Spanish has improved immensely but given I arrived having never studied the language before I’m definitely coming away from the experience with more than I arrived with. The Spanish lessons provided in Denbigh and at Top School have proved useful as even though I don’t quite have the confidence to speak the language I can understand a lot more. It definitely helps that everyone wants to speak English all the time at the school to you, even some of the teachers thought it was great we were there to help them practise their English. The primary school students are the cutest though, being pretty much in awe of native English speakers it becomes normal to answer “Hello, what is your name?” several times a day.

Having only been given hours at San Alberto Mango I was excited at the opportunity to be able to teach several of Jess’ classes at Top School at the end of the first week and beginning of the second. It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped; I think because I was used to the high level of English at school I began the lesson chatting away with myself not realising until they told me I was speaking too fast and they didn’t understand! It got better and hopefully I’ll remember this tomorrow as I teach my final lesson in Elche to one of Jess’ classes...

Several of my lessons, both with adults and teenagers, have deviated from the topic; one comment has been made leading the lesson off on a tangent. It’s not been a bad thing though, it just means they’re learning things they want to know, and generally it involves more discussion which is great for them practising their English. I had one lesson with 15 year olds the other day where they were supposed to be learning about senses through various activities. Instead they just wanted to chat to me about my life and tell me about theirs. I agreed on the basis that they only spoke in English and tried to explain words they didn’t know instead of looking for a direct translation. I then geared the conversation towards what they liked to listen to, what they like to watch, what they liked to eat etc so that when asked by their teacher if they knew how to talk about they could without realising they had been learning it.

I can’t stress enough how amazing this opportunity has been, and without wanting to sound too emotional it’s been made so much better by the fact that I’m here with 14 other people who get on so well with each other and are all in exactly the same position. Even on nights out our conversations seem to gravitate towards our teaching experiences which in a lot of ways in brilliant because you’re not only learning from your own experiences but from everyone else’s too! I’m going to miss living in Elche with everyone and of course my classes (who despite their protests I will of course remember) but can look forward to the opportunities to come living and teaching abroad!

 

Natasha x

Mimi's spanish adventure

Wow, I seriously don’t even know where to start! So much has happened in such a short space of time…

I remember seeing the advert for the project on TEFL.com and showing my mum. She’s very cynical and immediately thought it was a scam “It sounds too good to be true” she said…well…turns out it definitely has proven to be too good, as well as true!

I’m still in awe at the fact we got fully funded training, flights, accommodation and a month’s allowance for food. I feel extremely lucky to have gotten a place on the scheme as it has opened my eyes and made me realise that you just have to ‘go for it.’ If you’re active in applying for jobs/schemes you never know where it might lead you in life!

I feel like this experience has definitely had an impact on my life already…

Starting out with an unforgettable training week in a beautiful school in Denbigh where we were made to sing, dance, act, colour, draw monsters/desert islands, play aeroball (so fun!) rock climb and generally made to feel like kids again – as well as being fed enormous amounts of food…I couldn’t have asked for a better training week (as well as having fun at night singing karaoke in denbigh's fine choice of pubs :P )

Michael, Jacqui and Caroline are sources of endless teaching knowledge and experience, really helping you to think outside the box and making sure your students have a great time in your classes.

The amazing thing about the scheme as a whole, is that you’re all in this together. 30 newly-qualified teachers are all put into the same boat, and are all enthusiastic about meeting new people and helping each other out as much as possible. You feel really supported the whole way through, with Michael pouring out his fountain of ideas and everyone soaking them up as much as their brains can hold (lol).

Added onto this is the wonderful feeling I got every morning walking onto the bus to San Alberto Magno school with all the kids smiling and calling out our names. Teaching primary school kids is so rewarding, they see you as a role model and are so interested in getting to know everything about you. It’s been a journey ranging from complete chaos with excited children shouting and running around the class miming ‘flying a plane’ ‘riding a bicycle’, ‘driving a lorry’ etc. (as they practice the present continuous) to more relaxed classes where they created their own bands/raps/poems and sang along to songs.

During the training you’re also taught really helpful classroom management techniques which I’ve used during the placement. These include counting down (5…4…3…2…1 – the kids seem to think something terrible might happen like an explosion), putting your hand on your head, clapping to a rhythm, standing completely in silence and giving everyone ‘the stare’, and of course bribing them with stickers, which they go crazy for.

If I could sum up the Spanish adventure in a few words I’d say it’s a teaching experience filled with sun, sea, beaches, bars, paella, palm trees, cana y tapas, clubbing, waffles and ice cream, all shared with your newly found group of friends. What more could you want? 

Advice I would give: keep an open mind, don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself whilst teaching, make good impressions at your schools, practise the language as much as possible, help each other out with lesson plans/ideas, and just generally make the most of the experience as it’s truly a unique opportunity!

Carpe Diem and Carpe Nocturn! 

*Also who knows where it may lead you…this project has given me the guts and confidence to move to Spain as soon as possible…I can’t wait for the future ahead :)

** Finally, thanks to Celine and Michael for making this experience possible.

The Denbigh experience.

Day 1:

Woke up 5am. I don’t think I've ever had breakfast so early. After getting the car to Slough and the train to Paddington on completely quiet roads, I arrived at Paddington. From there I was a little confused by which underground train to catch, and ended up letting two pass me, of which both would have got me to my destination. I caught the third, and assumed everything would be straight forward, and it would have been if not for two people telling me I was on the wrong train when it was actually them that needed to change!

Anyway, I got to Victoria coach station with enough time to spare to introduce myself to my fellow ‘colleagues’, who had chosen the worst place to meet. I had to push through a queue all the way to the front to meet them, with every other person I passed complaining at me for queue jumping.

Most of these people had a group interview together before being accepted so they already know a little about each other. I, on the other hand, had my interview 2 weeks before we left over the phone while my interviewer was driving in her car! The reception was bad but I must have got myself across well enough as I got accepted within a couple of days.

Coach to Wales was long, and incredibly quiet. People barely spoke, except for Mark and Aaron who I assumed knew each other before coming. The only other sound was coming out of Tom’s headphones. A sound I would become very familiar with over the forthcoming month.

Delightful Denbigh

The initial training week is now over, and while I planned to update this throughout, I was far too busy! Here is a fairly detailed, and possibly quite boring rundown of events.

Our coach arrived late in Denbigh so as soon as we arrived we were thrown straight into the action.

We were then gathered in a very large room with 30 chairs. We were introduced and straight away were given ideas for fun games teaching kids.

In the evening of the same day they took us to a nice quiet pub. The barwoman was slightly shocked seeing 30 people turn up to an empty pub. She’d already sent her colleagues home because it was so quiet! After 20 minutes getting everyone their drinks, everyone spread out and enjoyed a good chat until around midnight.

The following day we started with language lessons. I was in the Spanish group with an English guy speaking Mexican Spanish, which for the majority wouldn’t make too much difference, but for those of us with higher levels of Spanish Spanish, it probably wasn’t as helpful. The teacher had previously lived in Mexico and some of the things he taught were not used in Spain (I’m proud I managed to spot them, it shows my Spanish is pretty good!).

It also didn’t help matters that our class was so mixed in levels, from complete beginner to degree level!

The rest of the day consisted of a 6 hour long first aid course. I learnt so much from this but there was also a lot of what I’d consider irrelevant information being taught. The inside of the heart? Really? I’m not saying it wasn’t interesting, but knowing this information isn’t really going to help me save lives, unless I give up teaching to become a heart surgeon. Who knows?

The first aid trainers were extremely knowledgeable and great at their job, although some of their comments may have been better kept to themselves rather than sharing with the class.

The next day we had another useful lesson and in the evening, something different. Sports leadership. We met Keith who is quite a character. He taught us simple games to keep kids entertained, how to project voices and other useful tips. Such a long day though. 8am breakfast, and classes from 9am to 10:15pm! And of course we went to the pub again…

The following day we had two new teachers who were really good. I enjoyed what we were taught. It was more geared for primary & kindergarten but most of the activities can be adapted in one way or another for older students.

In the evening we were supposed to set up blogs but the internet was down, so we played more sports! Aeroball was the most memorable. Imagine basketball, on trampolines. You may be thinking ‘slamball’ but it wasn’t like that. I’m not sure how I can explain it, so like, google it or something. What I do know is that it’s a fairly new sport in the USA which Howells school decided to spend a large amount of money on. It was great fun, and an excellent workout.

This was followed up by climbing which was a good challenge. Our arms were quite tired after that so some of the guys decided to have a little football match. This was fun, and very tiring. I didn’t play very well and our team lost badly, but never mind.

Nearly everyone went out this night. It was the last night out we’d have with everyone (French + Spanish group together). We went to a small pub with karaoke first. Some dodgy people in there, but great night. Leonardo project karaoke included The Doors, The Spice Girls, and my choice, Tenacious D. So much fun. I found some new rock fans! That pub kicked us out at 12 so we went to another that was still open. There just happened to be more karaoke which many of us joined in for. That pub was due to close at 1, although we ended up staying until almost 2 before everyone finished their drinks. After we got back, most of us went to the common area to drink lots of lovely tap water and have a good chin-wag. Four of us even stayed up until 4am chatting about very random things such as carpet and melons.

The next day, after 3-4 hours sleep, we got up for breakfast and another session until 12:30. Followed by lunch and the coach home. There were so many traffic lights in Manchester against us, we almost missed our coach to London. We were the last people on so had to take whatever seats were left. I made sure I sat next to a small person this time to avoid the mistake of the first journey where I had very little space...

Denbigh --> Home --> Denbigh --> Elche

We returned home with a lot to think about but it wasn't long before we took the long trip back up North for the pre-departure weekend.

This was more of the same. Useful lesson ideas, a little bit of sport and a lot of fun. 

Our flight was a very early one which meant leaving Denbigh at 4ish in the morning. Me, Alex and Ben decided it wasn't worth sleeping only to feel terrible in the morning, so we stayed up and watched some TV series. We both slept like logs on the bus and plane though.

That's all for now. I'll chuck in some lesson ideas and personal experiences from Elche later in the week. 

Mike.