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.

Esteph’s Blog. 

This is our last week (*sob*) in Elche, our last week of the UKLC Leonardo Project and I feel like I’ve come a long way from when I arrived, green as a palm leaf, to Denbigh for our training week. It’s true a lot was crammed into that week, but still I remember thinking that it would never be enough for a whole month of teaching. But here I am three weeks in with so much material and so many ideas still to use! I will be very sad to leave the sun, the palm trees, the tapa, the company of the fantastic bunch of people who make up the Spanish teaching crew, and all my lovely students.

I have been working at Salesianos with Alex, which has been absolutely fantastic. We were thrown in the deep end on the first day with four classes, and we haven’t stopped teaching since. We have total freedom to teach what we want and the teachers are very supportive. Similarly to most other guys working in secondary schools, we teach a total of 18 classes but see each class only once a week for their freer English class…which has its pros and cons! It’s a hell of a lot of kids to get to know, so, despite getting each child to introduce themselves in the first week, I’ve long since given up on remembering 300 names! On the plus side it makes for a lighter work load, as two or three lesson plans will do for one week, and I can teach each lesson until I’ve got it down to perfection J

            The first week I focused on introductions, which was really successful, and after a few changes I found my best ‘get-to-know-you-lesson’ consisted of the ‘write your name and draw two things you like doing’ activity followed by noughts and crosses (apparently called ‘three in a line’ in Spain) which is always a hit because they get so competitive! Finally I do the question swap game, where they all get up, move around and speak English to eachother. Awesome. By the end of week one I had this lesson so perfect I was getting applauded at the end of it!

            If only all lessons went that well! Week two I moved onto The Empire State Building lesson, which didn’t go down quite as well as it did with us eager teacher trainees in Denbigh. I often found myself frustrated at students’ lack of imagination when confronted with the puzzle of how you can jump off the Empire State Building and survive. ‘Impossible’ they all said. And then, when persuaded that it definitely was possible: ‘I can’t think of anything.’ Arghh! I did eventually did get some good stories out of them, and one thing that rings true from our training week in Denbigh is that you get the energy out of the students that you put into your lesson, it’s all about selling it! 

            Third week in we moved onto Prison Break! A lesson thought up by someone on the previous Leonardo Trip. I thought, it’s got everything…violence, creativity and it’s all about breaking the rules…what’s not to love for a teenager? Well.

 The lesson starts with students calling out objects beginning with C and animals beginning with S. I split the students into groups and give each group two objects and one animal with which to plan my demise. They love it. Hmm I wonder why! This leads into murderers being criminals and criminals being thrown into jail. I then get them to design the most secure jail in the world and send them off with paper and pencils expecting barbed wire fences and dragons…what I actually see is a football pitch, a Mercadona and a swimming pool! Eh!? At first I was mystified as to why teenagers saw prison as a holiday park. Alex, obviously far more down with the kids than I, put me straight. I’d thrown them in prison, they’re designing a prison for themselves and therefore, it’s got to have a football pitch. Duh. The solution? I put loads more energy into getting the students enthusiastic about making a prison no-one can escape from, or, failing that tell them to throw their classmates into jail.

As well as Salesianos, I have been teaching evening classes at top school with a group of intermediate adults. A whole different kettle of fish! I generally only have about three students, maximum five, which makes group work difficult. They are very motivated and really want to speak English, so I have been preparing discussion topics for them and working on error correction and bringing in more colloquial English phrases which they won’t have been able to learn from their other teachers. My most successful lesson so far has been one where they discussed good and bad laws in Spain and then in groups made they’re own perfect country - choosing the language, whether there would be a death penalty, a religion etc. They all loved it and loads of good language came up. I thought teaching such eager learners would be much easier than a class of teenagers, but it’s a real challenge; they constantly ask questions and want to learn new language which requires a lot of skill to explain. I still have a long way to go! 

             

One thing I've had to learn outside of the classroom in these last few weeks is how to share.  Sharing a flat has been no problem, a last minute switch saw me relocated to a spacious and airy flat with two living rooms and an open plan kitchen.  Every silver has its

Hi French lot! Hope all is going well? Just thought I would share a 2hour lesson that went really well the other day. I can't take full credit- Fozia, Amelia, Jocelyn and I came up with it during our training at Denbigh. It's great for adults and I'm sure teenagers will love it too.Works best with even numbers (over 4) but sure you can wangle it with odd numbers. I think we called it A Famous Scandal or something. Anyhow, it goes a little something like this:

• Handout post-its and ask students to write a world wide famous person on it, but they have to keep it a secret! Put it on a partners head.
• Students ask yes/no questions to find out who they have on their head. For lower level groups I elicited then modelled a few "Am I....." "Do I have...." questions on the board.
• Tell students they are now this celebrity and in their pairs they need to make up a scandal that's happened between the two celebrities. (I had a pair who had Homer Simpson and the Pope!)
• Before I set them off making up the scandal we together went through the difference between rumour, gossip and scandal on the board. I mimed gossip and asked some CCQ's for rumour and scandal (has this definitely happened?) I also went through some possible topics that a scandal might be about i.e relationships, sex, affairs, murder, money, an accident, drugs and drink, morals and religion (The Pope!), debauchery etc etc and where this might appear (tabloid/ radio/ TV/ magazine) It's also key that you get across that although there's one scandal they need two sides to the story (I put this on the board and asked what they thought it meant- they said two different opinions) for lower levels I used a model of a fight in a bar "Tom Cruise started the fight" said Brad Pitt, "NO! Brad started it!" said Tom Cruise.
• Gave them quite a long time to get their stories straight (good phrase to teach also), helped with language and put any new vocab on board. I also gave them What, When, Who, Why and Where on board so they could get lots of info in their stories.
• Then I told them that they would each take it in turns to be newsreporters trying to find out the truth about this scandal through interviewing the celebrities (let them know one person will be interviewing the two celebs at same time). When it comes to it, split up one pair at a time and get them to interview a celeb pair so more than one interview is going on at a time. Then another pair is split and become interviewers etc.
• Put beginning of interview on board (elicited it) and said you can't just start asking questions about scandal straight away, you have to be natural and subtle about it. So start to conversation like: "It's a pleasure to meet you..."etc etc and after they have asked a few questions I then linked back to the idea of rumour by giving them the phrase "rumour has it/ there's a rumour something happened between you two....can you tell me more?" to find out about the scandal. I also told them to use the wh words to ask questions and find out as much as possible in the middle of interview. Tell interviewers to take notes on what they think really happened.
• I elicited the end of the interview (ending conversation in natural way) and elicited phrases for the celebs to disagree with each and give opinions i.e "I'm sorry, I have to disagree" or "I think your wrong" or "In my opinion" etc etc. My students came up with some really good ones ranging from very polite (above) to "You're a liar!" (accompanied by slamming of fists on tables) and "Look here!" etc- there's loads.
• Listen to interviews (each could have lasted 10mins a piece so give them a time limit), note down good and not so good language for delayed correction at end.
• When they've done all interviews tell them they they are going to write a news report detailing the real story of celebs they interviewed- BREAKING NEWS!!!! I mimed a TV news report on a juicy scandal "News just it that Homer Simpson and the Pope were caught..."
• Help with language, then hear news reports. Some of them were hilarious and really creative (I kept telling them be as creative as you can)
• If you want to extend it further you can have the celebs writing a reply (a facebook or twitter feed for teenagers) defending their reputation (I put this on board and elicited meaning).
• Et voila! 2 hours easily. Cheers Joss Fozia and Amelia, was a fun lesson. :)

Elche, about blogging time!

Sitting here in a spacious apartment in Elche, listening to the swallows chirping their evening chorus to each other, I think to myself how much I don’t want to leave.

It all began in Denbigh* with pre-project training and the whole gang of Leonardo aficionados. From the word go all 30 of us were spoon fed mouthful after mouthful of task based learning activities over a five day period to use in the classroom, certainly leagues apart from the strictly scheduled lesson plans you draw up on your CELTA and nervously stick to for fear of reprimand. Those days (you will be ecstatic to hear) are long gone for now my friend you can actually relax in your lessons and enjoy the teaching experience! With UKLC Leonardo training (and the fountain of EFL teaching knowledge that is the course director, Michael) you learn to go with the flow of your lesson, make learning fun, to turn your thinking away from the bullet points of a plan and turn instead to the needs of your students. Oh yeah, and you don’t need reams of photocopies and resources. All you need is a good class activity and yourself.

And so to your students...You will get to the end of your first week, I’m sure, and dread the last Friday that you will have to say goodbye to your classes. I’ve been given three different classes at Topschool (the partner school for the Project) full of wonderful people; all adult classes, all fantastic characters and I am certainly dreading the last Friday. I must admit when I discovered in Denbigh I was teaching just adults I was a little disappointed and not to mention nervous. I’d really hoped I’d be teaching secondary school kids, but I wouldn’t change that for the world right now (although I would obviously still love to teach kids and teenagers). During lessons my students have taught me about the Elche way of life and they’ve made me feel welcome and part of the city “imás español que inglesa!” They’ve been crucial in making my first taste of real teaching fresh out of CELTA a great experience and they’ve embraced a new style of teaching that many of them were unused to.

Talking of lessons, one thing I learnt quickly in the first week is that your best resource is each other. Speaking to each other in the evenings and sharing what went well and what didn’t go well is invaluable, not to mention a lot easier than trawling through text books and fretting on your own in a darkened, hot room, freaking out about what you’re teaching the following morning (hrmph!! Me? Do that on the third night? Nooo, never!! Honestly, just go out and get a caña y tapa and chat to your fellow teacher buddies. Relax. It’s a much happier experience).

Elche is a place where life soporifically cranks down a notch or two (or ten) on the life speedometer. Plazas and outside bars, palm trees and beautiful old buildings, narrow back streets and lizards scurrying along the pavement in 31 degrees heat - and more toy dogs you can shake out of Paris Hilton’s handbag (the majority of which seem to be Yorkshire Terriers with palm tree ponytails and florescent hair grips to keep their fringes out of their eyes. Slightly odd.) And we have a Pug that lives on the roof terrace, a friendly chap that snuffles in your face and definitely looks like an Alan. He looks like an Alan to me anyway, I'm sure you'll agree...

I envy those of you who are going to be here in Elche this time next year. I’m tempted to tell you all the best places to eat, to have a drink (or chipito) or the prettiest streets to wander through but that would take all the fun out of exploring the city. You might not get lost (essential in a new city) and you might not wind your way through the inviting streets and stop off at any one of the friendly cafes to plan your lessons….so all I will say is happy teaching, happy exploring and happy travels! Good luck and enjoy!

*An aside about Denbigh; the karaoke in The Vaults is a must, the food will stretch your stomach in preparation for the copious amounts of tapas y cañas you will inevitably eat (although try to resist) and it’s bloody cold in them there hills boyo. But it is beautiful. And the training is more than a bit useful.

Elche - The City of Palm Trees

Can´t believe week two is nearly over and this is my first blog! That´s how crazily fun my time here in Elche has been so far!

I am now sat in an after school kid´s club next to top school (where I have made many lovely friends) and I am going to attempt to tell you all about my shannanigans here!

Since the first day, it has been a wonderful experience everyday. In the mornings/afternoons I teach at a Secondary School (Sixto Marco) where the teachers are extremely nice and laid back . Every other evening I teach adults at Top School which I enjoy very much. The students are absolutely great and I love teaching them. So much that I am going out for dinner with them next week! Aaron teaches the evenings I have off, and we often discuss our lessons beforehand to avoid any repitition. My timetable overall has been really good, teaching no more than 5 hours a day between sixto marco and top school. I think I am one of the lucky ones with a fairly easy timetable.. which means I have had plenty of time to make somes friends here.

As I don´t drink or go out partying I have managed to occupy my time in other ways. At the after school club I met two beautiful Morrocan ladies and one Algerian/Spanish. I often visit them most evenings even when I am not teaching at top school. They allow me to join their Spanish and Arabic lessons with the young kids, and also use the Internet whenever I wish. I have been out with them a few times now for ice cream and turkish tea. This weekend we hope to go to the beach!

I have also made friends with some guys from the local turkish restaurant (the only place that sells halal meat that i know of yet!) They have been very welcoming and often give me free tea and sheesha! So definitely can´t complain there!

Tomorrow I am going to lunch at Zainabs house (Zainab is one of the students from the after school club). Although her English is just as bad as my Spanish, we still manage to find ways of communicating. Thats the beauty of the people around here.. so welcoming and kind.

The rest of the group and I often meet up during lessons and in evenings, the weather is great so we go for walks, ice cream, frozen yogurt and have a drink in the evenings.

I am really enjoying my time here in Elche. UKLC have set up this programme so nicely, and thank God I have no issues so far. Life is great here.

I don´t want to come back!

Fozia Ali

There was a man in short shorts

So here is finally the promised post on the half-marathon and the non-teaching stuff. Given the attractions of Spain's fiesta culture and the chance on Friday and Saturday to have a more indulgent night, why would I choose to forgo these for a 21.1 km race at 9:30 on a Sunday morning?

Well, I do have a bit of history in this area. I'm very much a morning person who includes "Where can I run?" before "Where can I go out at night?" in the list of questions I ask when I arrive somewhere new. I first gained Wales international vests in road & cross-country running in 2009 and arrived in Spain hoping to maintain fitness in the hope of selection for Wales in the Great Manchester Run the day after returning from Elche later this month.

For most of my colleagues on the Leonardo project, however, I would be known for my distance runner's typical split leg shorts rather than any athletic accomplishment by the end of our time in Denbigh. This was helpfully reinforced by Michael's locked room mystery on the theft of my shorts on the last Saturday before leaving Denbigh.

Once I got to Elche and started to recce places to run and a track to train on when not teaching, I quickly found out that a half marathon was due to take place in Elche on May 6th. My curiosity suitably piqued, I asked one of the distance runners at the track if the registration was still open. He directed me towards "the bald guy with the beard" on the infield for all information on the half marathon. Having found out that the start was a less than 5 min jog from our apartment and that this was the oldest half in the world, I was sold. I was told that I could either enter online or in person at the tienda de Caldon, I thought I'd go for the latter option, where I could get information in person if I wasn't confident in Spanish dealing with all the details on the website. This was however where my Spanish did let me down, as while I was asking if anyone knew roughly where this shop called Caldon was, I found out within a couple of days that what I had in fact been told was tienda Decathlon. Having got my entry sorted, I learnt at school that PE teacher Juan Llopis had also entered and a pint was bet on the outcome of our battle to add a little bit of spice to the race.

Now often for a Sunday race, I'm rooming with other athletes the night before or travelling with other athletes on the morning of the race. This race involved passing Saturday with a more than slightly hungover group of teachers in our apartment whose Friday night had not involved resting for a race. Not wanting to particularly spend all day on foot around Elche the day before the race, I was more than happy to have company that was not in the mood for moving anywhere fast. I got the tea and food that they needed to fight very sore heads and the next morning, I got the support round the course from Alex, Jess and Steph that I very much needed to overcome the protestations of my legs. As I passed them on the Ferrocaril bridge for the first time at 2km, I was tucked in to a lead group with five Moroccan guys who would be my company for the next few kms.

Unfortunately after a nice steady 5 kms in 16:05, they injected a 5kms so fast that my 15:30 for this section still saw me dropping off them, and facing a long and gradually slowing Sunday slog. By the time I came back through Paseo de l'Estacion where we had begun, the race was in its 17th km and they were well out of sight but I was greeted by the support group of earlier in the race on the bridge, and believe me, at this point I needed it! One more encounter a couple of kms later with Alex and his camera, and it was just a matter of hanging on for the finish in warmth now up into the 20s - which I'm sure was nice for spectating, but not for a runner already losing time hand over fist.

As I turned into the finish straight, I could see the finish clock just ticked past 69 minutes, and I had a half marathon personal best dating from 2010 of 69:28. I might have been dropped by the leaders but I was not letting the personal best go, and what passed in that state of fatigue for a flat out sprint was unleashed to bring me through the line in 69:24 for 6th place, a new PB and my bet won as Juan would not cross the line for another 25 minutes.

(above) early on in the lead group

(left) battling away on my own later on

The sprint for sixth

A post race massage and telling off from a chiropodist for the lack of attention I pay to my battered distance runner's toes later, I was reunited with the fantastic supporters I had en route. Alex, Steph, Jess and I enjoyed the rest of the day indulging in a marathon of a more gourmet nature, but Alex's blog is the place to go for that story and the accompanying photos of great food.

Possibly amused by another 'short shorts' joke after the race

So what other extra-curricular activities does this trip offer? Well for some it's the beaches that you can get to a short bus ride away, for others it's Spain's late night fiesta opportunities, or just sun-bathing in Elche's amazing palm grove. My own favourite experiences have included going to church over here where I received great hospitality and the chance to test my Spanish skills by following a Bible study with some of the other young people in the church. Also, getting out to run in the hills to the north of Elche and getting to see bits of the area on foot that nobody else has got to explore in the group was cool. Miriam, Steph and I also took the chance to travel to Alicante where we met up with Mary from the Leonardo French group visiting her Spanish beau, while also taking the chance to meet up with us on the Saturday evening of the first weekend. There were also two birthdays as Alex and Steph became a year wiser.

Steph and Alex giving an accurate assessment of how nice the birthday cake was!

The owner of the short shorts is enjoying life in Elche and best of all I've received confirmation of my selection in the Wales team after we get back. Next time it'll be back to blogging about the teaching and maybe an end of project post about my overall feeling about how it's gone.

Hywel

Waffle waffle waffle... O gofre gofre gofre :)

A picture says a thousand words.. This picture says one.

Hey! I’m Alex, I’m 20 and my UKLC adventure began a couple of months ago. I’d been looking for summer jobs as a sneaky way to jump onto the tefl ladder - I didn’t think I had a chance of finding a job as a full time teacher without experience and a degree - when I stumbled across the Leonardo Project that UKLC were offering.

A month’s experience in France or Spain, a First Aid qualification and a sports leadership certificate as well as a goody bag of other treats aimed at newly qualified teachers? Yes please!

I was invited to an interview in London where I met Celine, Michael, Catherine and 11 interviewees. After some formalities, we were given some information on UKLC, who they are, what they’re all about, who’s behind it etc. and then conducted our own 3-5 minute warmer/fluency exercise to the rest of the group. 

Some good ideas floating about already, I jotted a couple down and we all had a chuckle when Hywel put his jeans on his head.

We were then given the task of planning a lesson in 40 minutes, drawing inspiration from what some might call a textbook. Any one fresh out of CELTA will know this is no mean feat. We did it though! To round it all off, we presented our lesson plans to the other groups and were given a bit more information about the project.

10^th April 2012

The next time I saw the crew, we were in Howell’s school in Denbigh, North Wales and had been joined by everyone from the Manchester and telephone interviews. After refuelling on free cups of tea and coffee in le cafe rouge we joined Michael for fun games for the language classroom and an introduction to TBLT.

By the end of the afternoon we each had an arsenal of games which were easy to set up and could be used as some curious platforms to some really cracking lessons. We managed to get 6 theoretical teaching hours from Michael asking “How old are my shoes?”! En serio!

Howell's School, Denbigh

11^th April 2012

Day two kicked off with some language lessons in the morning but soon we were doing chest compressions and giving mouth to mouth as our First Aid course got underway. The guys giving the course were great, they knew their stuff and the hands on approach made the content easy to learn, as well as being a good opportunity for a giggle.

12^th April 2012

Day three was a long, old day! 9-10! That’s 13 hours! Although, in fairness, it was 13 hours of golden information. TBL actually meant something to me after today! The morning session was making the most of resources, which in the first example was, well, no more than a whiteboard, some paper, a few pens and the teacher. “You are only limited by your imagination” Michael Hudson. And he was spot on when he said that as by the afternoon we were creating our own lessons to give to the rest of the group – lessons that really had to be extracted, not from text books but live music posters and tourist brochures etc. I felt the lesson my group and I ended up creating was a bit poo really but we’d restricted ourselves too much. Can’t quite break this rigid CELTA thinking! The other groups produced some fantastic lessons and really showed what was capable if you allowed yourself to think a little freer.

Every day starts with this view. Not too shabby!

In the afternoon, a couple of guys from Big Tree Training gave us our first aid training. We’re all certainly going to remember it – maybe for different reasons – but they certainly knew what they were on about. They imparted some great knowledge onto us which, hopefully, we will never have to use. That said, it another thing to add to the CV and that knowledge may one day save a life. Sweet!

The evening was spent with Keith and Nathan for our sport leadership certificate. Nathan is as cool as a cucumber, very calm, very measured. Keith, on the other hand, is a coke and freddo fuelled bundle of energy. Great guys really, and with their help we’re now all set to coach kids who find themselves wanting to impersonate various types of bean.

13^th & 14^th April

These two days were pretty similar really – that’s not to say that they were boring or anything like that though. I’d say it was the perfect way to wind down the training week. The information Jacque and Carol fed to us over these days seemed to round off everything that we’d learnt from CELTA and the three days previous. Jacque and Carol, by the way, are younger learner teachers who have considerable experience teaching English to this demographic and had flown from Switzerland especially to teach us for these two days. (If you’re reading this, by the way, thank you so much!)

They covered everything really; classroom management, techniques for creating silence and how to build a good rapport with your students, to name a few. We were told what they were teaching us was for younger learners but there were 31 people in that room (all 20+ years old) enjoying these lessons as much as the 5 year olds that are lucky enough to have these two as teachers.

The training week ended just after lunch and it was genuinely quite sad knowing the next time we’d be seeing each other, 16 of the 31 weren’t going to be there. On the bright side though, we had a few days to practice ‘the look’ before we’d be teaching!

Happy teachers!

19^th April

Back in Denbigh again! I arrived a bit earlier than the rest of the group as I wanted to have a bit of practice teaching before leaving. Spent the day with Hywel, Richard Gunion and Kiri playing about with lesson plans, swapping ideas etc. Very laid back day! :)

20^th April

Kicked off the day teaching a three hour lesson to a group of Italian kids, preparing them for their afternoon in Chester. Good lesson and I’m now a bit more relaxed about the month ahead. As an added bonus, the rest of the group will be joining us tonight. Woop!

Nervous much? Of course not..

21^st April

Full schedule today! Started with classroom games and activities (more goodies!) before going to to complete our europass CVs and language passports. Not the most exciting but it’s necessary for future funding bids! Finished the day with a language lesson from native Spaniards and a cheeky trip to one of the finest pubs Denbigh has to offer.

22^nd April

SPAIN! Very early start today. Too early, in fact! Left Denbigh at 3am and went to Manchester airport from where we would be flying to Alicante. Made it into Alicante without any hiccups, although there was some nail biting when the bags took a more than a while to come through the airport! We then met Libertad who issued us all with our information packs before heading our separate ways to our flats. Spent the afternoon exploring what we’d call home for the next month and, of course, getting well acquainted with Flashpoint.

Oh, hello Spain..

..and hello Glorieta!

23^rd April

This morning we met at top school to receive our timetables for the next month and then were divided into two groups for our first of two language lessons; lower level and higher level. The higher level class was good and the feedback from the other half of the group seemed pretty positive too. Happy days! Some of us were teaching tonight but there were a few hours to plan, although with Michael’s help, that was maybe an hour of planning and a couple more to chill out and discover the beautiful palm parks Elche has to offer.

24^th April – 27^th April

Rocking up to Salesianos

I’ve joined all these days together as many of these lessons were very similar. I’m teaching 11-18 year olds with Steph in a semi-private school called Salesianos and we’re sharing evening classes teaching adults in Top School. The class sizes in Salesianos are anything between 25+ and 10, whereas the Top School group is rarely more than 5 people. This said, on one occasion I found myself standing in front of 36 13-14 year olds for the last lesson of what had quite easily been one of the hottest days so far. This is not a situation one can prepare for and should you find yourself in such a situation, I wish you the best of luck. All of the classes are about an hour in length.

Ooh, Salesianos again.

This week I spent mainly focusing on introductions – if there’s one thing I took from the training week, it’s that a good teacher student rapport is essential. All of my lessons started with a bit of an introduction about me; my name and two of my favourite things which I asked the students to guess from the pictures. I got them to produce their own name card thing before asking them to tell the rest of the class their name and what they like. A couple of extension questions broke the monotony and gave them each a chance to say a bit more. This also proved quite effective for gauging the students’ actual levels.

Depending on how well they did that, I either did a quick grammar focus or moved onto the next activity. ‘I like play football’ is a very common mistake so 5 minutes spent on discussing how we can say this is pretty useful really. The next activity was either noughts and crosses, where the students formed the questions needed to produce one of the answers that were in each section of the grid or Who am I?, where I asked the students to rummage through my bag and make a few guesses at who I am and what I’m all about. Both of these can be tweaked to push the students but as a general rule of thumb, leave the who am I? game for higher level students.

With some of the younger learners we discussed classroom rules and got them to create their own and also some for me. Seems fair really! With older learners, this really isn’t necessary – they’re aware of all this.

Time permitting, I’d finish with either a game; the alphabet game or the count to 10 game, or I’d finish with the question swap milling activity. You’ve got to remember, it’s VITAL to model EVERYTHING and if you’re doing the who am I? activity you must empty your wallet of money before someone does it for you. Not that I’ve made that mistake!

Did someone say something about Leonardo?

30^th April – 5^th May

Monday’s lessons followed the same format as those in the previous week. I hadn’t met these students so it was necessary really. Tuesday was May bank holiday so there were no classes in Salesianos although I did 

teach in Top School in the evening.

Lesson planning like you've never seen it before!

This was my 4^th Top School lesson and something about these lessons isn’t clicking. Can’t quite put my finger on it, maybe it’s just that it’s lacking the energy that goes hand in hand with teaching teenagers but whatever it is, these lessons don’t seem to go as smoothly as I hope even though the group is very cooperative. Stand by for updates.

The lessons I chose for the rest of the week were either “I’ve just jumped off the Empire State building..” or Prison Break, both of which passed with varying degrees of success. Some lessons were awesome; I came out having covered everything I wanted to and even had a bit of time spare, whereas some felt like I’d been flogging a dead horse for 55 minutes in a class of students who couldn’t have cared less. Very frustrating!

The Empire State building lesson usually felt like it lost its momentum by the end of the hour, but that’s my fault. The prison break lesson, I found, was so successful that when the bell went I was always surprised at how quickly the lesson had gone. If you’re going to do this, by the way, do not ask them to design prisons for themselves – it will have a theatre, a selection of live music acts, a penguin zone(!) etc. Instead, ask them to design a prison for their classmates. It’ll work better!


I've tried to make teaching the main focus of this blog but I couldn't not share this with you. You've seen the crystal clear cyan skies, you've read about the teaching techniques (OK, enough alliteration) and now.. THE FOOD! We're eating like kings here and following Hywel's half marathon, the man in short shorts, Steph, Jess and I went on a marathon of our own - Maratón de tapas!


I think we made it to 5 different restaurants and had about 8 dishes of spectacular tapa. As for the winner, it had to be the sepia and chive burgers with black ali-oli topped with a prawn with a valiant effort from the tempura prawn and vegetables.

Om..

nom..

nom..

nom..

NOM!

7^th May – 9^th May

Half way through week 3 and things are coming together now. Woop!

Classroom management takes time to learn – please realise this! As Jacque and Carol said, rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove. You need the balance of being friendly and jolly and being assertive. You must nip any bad behaviour in the bud. It’ll come with practice. Chill.

Glorieta by night!

With regards to my Top School lessons, they seem to be working a little better now. All of my lessons are running over the hour as students aren’t shuffling towards the door as soon as they sense the 8pm finish approaching. These are adults, they respond much better to challenging or, in some cases, controversial topics. Also, as there is less of them, they tend to finish their work sooner so prepare for this. I have learnt, however, I need to improve how I keep a conversation alive while not actually participating in it. I’m learning though.

Also, I’m getting a feel for the students in Salesianos. I know which classes are going to be tricky and I know which classes are going to gobble up the work I give them before hungrily asking for more. It’s a shame I have each class only once a week (and in some cases only once a fortnight) as the student teacher relationship takes a lot longer to form when it’s like this but I understand why the school works it this way. Anyway, it’s late and I have lessons to plan. Hasta pronto!

14^th May

Week 4 is under way and I'm astounded by how fast everything is going by. The majority of us have just spent the weekend sunbathing and relaxing at Arenales - a pleasant change from Santa Pola, which is more suited to kite surfers and wind surfers than sun bathers.

Windy Santa Pola

Mmm :) Sunny Arenales

Back to teaching, I still have lessons which bomb completely but I also have the lessons which exceed all expectations. I guess I'm still learning - I wouldn't be doing this if I was a perfect teacher! Things are definitely coming together though.

This week I'll be continuing with the Prison Break lessons, asking students to break out of their super secure prisons with some bits 'n' bobs from around the flat (dental floss, a light bulb, a plug, etc.). I did it with some groups today and it went pretty well. I had some fantastic stories from some really creative students. I'll keep you posted how it goes with the rest of my classes this week.

For my lowest class (both age and level) I looked at the weather and got them to create their own forecasts using various future constructions. Some of them were great, many not so great. Next time I teach the weather, I either need to put in some more ground work to really engage them in the topic or vary the exercises they use to practise talking about the weather. 

4 days of teaching left in Elche! :(

15^th May

I'm tempted to delete everything I blogged yesterday. What an awesome day! Every lesson ended on a high and I'm sure (or at least I want to believe!) that it's because both the students and I enjoyed the lessons and covered more than we expected and not because each lesson this week is the last lesson I'll have with these guys. 

Elche's Cathedral

More Prison Breaks and even a weather lesson that I felt was needed in order to redeem myself after yesterday... Well, that was nice obviously but the main aim was to get students talking, using future constructions forecasting the weather, not to make myself feel better!

Yesterday, for my Prison Break lesson, I asked one student per group to come up and collect up to 3 items their group would use to escape their prisons. Today, however, I laid out all 15 objects and said they must use a minimum of 5 in order to escape. For one, their stories were longer and more detailed and secondly, it gave them a chance to learn vocab that they otherwise wouldn't have learnt. Happy days!

My weather lesson today, started much as my weather lesson started yesterday; with a clip of Prince Charles presenting the weather forecast. 

However, today, before watching the video, I asked them to have pens and paper at the ready and to scribble down any weather words they heard. This acted as a lovely little springboard to get them to brainstorm all weather types before eliciting forms and getting them to produce their own 7 day weather forecast for a city of their choice. This is where my lesson flopped yesterday as many found it too easy. 

Today, I pushed them and was rewarded with some excellent weather forecasts, utilising the IWB and google maps. Derek Brockway eat your heart out!

3 days of teaching left in Elche! :'(

21^st May

I'm back! I'm in the UK and my time in Elche is over - at least for now. The last three days there just got better and better, complemented by two awesome nights out with my fellow Leonardos. The first of these was a group meal, kindly paid for by Christine Top, and the second, a chance (for those of us with it!) to let our hair down. 

The Leonardos in Top School

Mmm! Even more good food!

Steph and I with Susi, Ana Cari, Begoña (in a very appropriate t-shirt!) and Gloria.

I'm now in Denbigh where I am teaching this week and will be teaching throughout July. There was also talk of work going in the new academic year in Elche so it appears I've already made that jump onto the TEFL ladder, and not all that sneakily.

So, I've gone from CELTA accredited newbie to genuine English language teacher in little more than 6 weeks. I'm still learning but I've already learnt things I'll never forget, I've met some of the most amazing people imaginable and I couldn't be happier.

None of this happened by magic, though. There was a whole host of people working away in order for us to have this truly unforgettable start to our new careers and I'd like to say a MASSIVE thanks to all of them: Celine Aloe, Michael Hudson, Catherine Grieveson, Christine Top, Libertad, Vicky, Gloria, Begoña, Ana Cari and Susi in Salesianos, Jacque, Carol, Richard Gunion, Nathan, Keith, the guys at Big Tree Training and anyone that I might've missed out. You've all made this experience what it was and I think I speak for everyone when I say "Cheers!".