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 4th 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
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