Finally worked out how to put photos on !

WEEK FOUR

Monday morning up early and feeling pretty good about my Lesson Plan for  3A, which will be a dry run for   the Observed lesson, but first a lesson on Irregular verbs.  I had a game involving a crossword  (note to self  - check they all actually understand the words  Across and Down).    You have to think ahead and order photocopies if you want them for the whole class, and I thought that they could do this exercise by table,  as teams, but   children were soon leaving their tables to check answers and it became generally noisy and chaotic, but not in a bad way, and I think they enjoyed themselves.  We played  my fall back game  Listen at the end, and they finally got to 20 and there was a big round of applause, but Natti was laughing because they had cheated by just giving the numbers they had in the order of the Register !

Then   3 ESO when I was  lucky enough to have a dry run at  my Lesson Plan for  the Observed Lesson tomorrow  .  _  Disaster  - it did not work.  So I am back to the drawing board, when I have already submitted my plan.  My sixth form lesson also did not go to plan.  I was expecting to have another conversation class with a small group, but   Graciela asked me to speak to the whole group  about any topic and they would then write an account of it.  As this was the “science” strand of the sixth form, I decided to talk to them about   science in the theatre  -  Marilyn  Monroe meeting Einstein to explain the theory of relativity  in the play  Insignificance by Terry Johnson.  It soon became clear that  this was not the right level for most of them  (although one girl did say she understood the theory of relativity   -  joining the dozen others in the world who do !).  So I soon turned to giving them an account of my  tourist activities while I have been here.  It is constantly an issue  trying to find the correct level with classes that I have never taught before,  so there is often a period of re-adjustment .

The Primary lesson in the afternoon continued to be a challenge.  One thing I do know is that teaching Primary levels is not for me!  I suppose it is a good idea to discover this before I go to a foreign school for any period .

By the end of the day I was completely depressed, and not feeling in any way primed for the Observed Lesson.  Yet strangely the next morning went really well I repeated the  Crossword class with another group, this time with copies for everybody so that they could work in pairs,  checked they knew the vocabulary , and it all went very smoothly with good monitoring !  The next lesson on  Passive Voice also went well, and by the time I did my Observed lesson, I was on a roll, well sort of.  I had prepared extra materials for them to use, and so was able to get them doing some exercises in class.  They all liked the Listening Game  (even Reea and Andrea looked as if they enjoyed it) and wanted to do it again at the end .  Any resemblance to the original Lesson Plan was limited !

Feeling reasonably good about the day so far, I then had a three hour gap to my last two lessons with Primary, which sadly knocked the shine off the day .

Only one more Primary class to go !  Got a  message from one of my teacher students that he had hurt his arm and would not be able to make his conversation lesson on Thursday !

WEDNESDAY

            This is normally my easiest day because  I have had either writing or reading classes with  2A and 2B,  but today   I had to go over the marking that I had done last week, and highlight common mistakes, such as use of  prepositions and when holiday is used in the singular or the plural   (I don´t think even Cliff Richards knows).  So both classes were more challenging than usual .  I had also foolishly forgotten the request for name signs  as it had not really been necessary in previous lessons, and soon realized how important they are in making a connection with the class.  Vague pointing does not make a student feel special.

The sixth form this time  wanted a class on relative clauses.  I had read up on it and a colleague lent me a lesson plan she had used for the same issue, but   I still feel inhibited from playing games with young people that age  (although my colleagues assure me that 17 year olds love games and stickers as much as the younger ones !).  we were soon launched into the complexities of  defining and non-defining clauses, and when best to use “that”, but in the end the teacher had to explain one point to me and I was  probably the student who learned most about this area.  Finally we spoke about La Manada again, and the whole class was as passionate about it as  a couple of weeks before.   When they have something they want to say, they really do speak in English.

THURSDAY

So my last day of secondary school: and my first class was cancelled because they had an exam.  I took the opportunity to walk down to the Museu Faller and got my own individual English speaking guide for a 40 minute tour of the exhibition which was fascinating.  Models of some of the huge polystyrene figures that are like Spitting Image caricatures of local politicians and businessmen who have incurred the wrath  of the local barrios for  general shenanigans and corruption.  All of them   (about 40) are burnt at the end of the three day celebration in March, except one which is preserved each year,  and masses of work go into them, as well as the costumes that are worn during the festival.  It would be lovely to come back for that.  Then back to school for my final lesson  with the troubled PMAR class, their behavioural attributes which had got them there  a bit more evident this time.  Still we played games, did some actual written work and it was not too bad a class to finish on, although I did not get that spark that had been occasionally achieved of actually interesting them.

A last night in the flat making a sort of stew out of everything that was left in the cupboard, pretty inedible, but we concluded the evening with some riotous dancing : salsa, Tango, and whatever it is that I do !

FRIDAY

            My last lesson with the Primary class, but first got to see how it is really done by Mamen.   Then mainly games for the last lesson, with nothing especial to learn finishing with a game of hangman, and disposal of some of my remaining stickers (of superheroes).   A quick coffee and goodbye with Mamen and then back to the secondary school  to hand out small boxes of chocs and cards to my teachers and receive a card myself.  Empanadillas for the staff room were also much appreciated and a number of photos taken.  I have at least finally got the names of the teachers in my head,  if not most of the 350 or more  different pupils that I taught over the four weeks  sometimes only twice, due to exams and holidays.   Not surprisingly, the names that have stuck tended to be the naughtier ones, who needed more attention!  And those in the smaller classes of behaviourally challenged children.

 I have however tasted  the two top levels of Primary  (aged 10-12), and five levels of secondary school  (12-17 -  not final year Baccalaureat), so I certainly cannot complain about lack of variety.    I have also taught  first classes of the day, classes before break and after and before lunch in secondary, and at the end of the day in Primary, which  timing,  I am reliably informed, makes a considerable difference to the way the class reacts.  Certainly the  first class of the day, starting with a prayer, always seemed the  quietest.  They had still not woken up.   Generally they were all reasonably behaved and more loquacious than mischievous in intent.   Only on the penultimate day did I actually have to put a child in the corner  (!) to get her  away from her friends.

I had my  last conversation class with Pepe  - amazed to learn that Josephs are often called Pepe because Joseph was the Padre Putativo of Jesus!, when he very kindly bought me on book of Neruda’s Memoirs, which I must now learn Spanish properly to read. 

As always happens, I suppose,  I was finally beginning to feel at home in Gandia and more relaxed.  So I leave it and all the people at the school with real regret, feeling that only in the last week  was I beginning to get the hang of it all.  It has been a challenging and rewarding experience, and  I do now feel considerably more confident about the whole idea of teaching and really appreciate the training I had at both International House and with UKLC at Chester, and of course the inspiration and support from the teachers at Escolopia:  Graciela, Raquel, Mamen, Gema, and especially my liaison teacher Natividad.    One last night of Tapas in Valencia, kindly courtesy of SCOLA or UKLC, and sharing a room with Dave in the Convent Hostel in Moncado, and then it is up early for the plane home.  Andrea is helpful as always, and I am grateful to all the help both Andreas, and Alicia have given to me over the four weeks as well as Amy of course back home, reminding that she has already sent me an e-mail containing answers to any question I usually ask.  It will be hard too to say goodbye to my fellow Gandia Groovers, with whom I have shared the trials and tribulations and successes of teaching as well as an enormous amount of chicken  and old rock songs.

  Thanks to UKLC and the Erasmus Project for this experience, which I hope will enable me to be a much better teacher in the future !

Moncada Meanderings

Saturday:

We finally manged to get to down to Albufera today taking the No25 bus from opposite the Palau de la Musica. Unfortunately this No 25 bus did not go into El Palmar, going past the turning before we realised it. When we arrived in El Perellonet the bus driver realised that we and two other groups had wanted to go to El Palmar so he made sure that we got off at the correct stop on the main road. However, this still left us with a 3.5km walk along a road with no footpaths and only a narrow verge. Thus, on arrival we had an appetite which we duly filled with some Paella de Marisco before taking a trip out on the lagoon. The trip was very nice and tranquil with good views across the lagoon and of some of the wildlife.

After making a successful bus journey back from El Palmar to downtown Valencia we ventured into the Jardins Del Turia to look at the Andalucian festival. There were many women in traditional dress, some very beautiful, dancing in the many marquees and some were performing on stage for a competition presumably as there were hundreds of spectators. Amongst all of this there plenty of food and drink on sale and I tried mojitos for the first time. It was delicious, so I had another. My companion had a cocktail which had extremely large measures of alcohol in it and was slightly inebriated from just the one drink!

The fact that we were slightly inebriated does not explain why we caught the wrong metro at Angel Guimera and ended up on the line to Paterna and not Moncada. Apparently it was my fault! Fortunately it was still early enough to get the correct metro back to Empalme and then home.

Sunday:

Our final free day was spent down in the city centre having a mooch around the shops near the Plaza Redonda, the round square as the locals call it, and then to the flea market outside the Central Market – no fleas being sold, obviously. After slowly meandering round the old town we ended up back at the Jardins Del Turia and decided to head back to Andalucian festival for another mojito for me and fried cuttlefish for my companion. By early evening we were both feeling a little jaded from our travels and head back to prepare for work the following day. So ended our last free day in Valencia.

Monday:

Monday is the busiest day on my timetable with five classes that I am either teaching or assisting another teacher in. This was followed by another reinforcement lesson with two of the teachers to allow them to practice their English conversational skills which we did for 90 mins.

Tuesday:

Similar to the day before but with only four classes and another reinforcement lesson after school with two more of the teaching staff.

Wednesday:

My easiest day of the week with only two lessons so I’m free by lunchtime. The 4^th year primary class had finished their coursebook so today we played Word Bingo. Trying to get them to do the most simplest of instructions such as drawing a nine box grid (3 x 3 squares) and infilling the squares with a word from a vocabulary group (animals, fruit, numbers 1-20) took ten minutes each time. So, we only played three games. But it was great fun nonetheless.

Thursday:

A busy day with only three classes as the 4^th year primary class had a sports day with the other classes of the age group in the Moncada area. In the afternoon I had another visit down to the Kindergarten and Lower Primary where I had them singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, or rather I sang and they made the corresponding noises and actions, followed by “If You’re Happy and You Know It …” finishing with last week’s favourite “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. They were a little bit hot and bothered to be fair but they were as charming as last week.

Friday:

My last day here at the Collegio de San Jose in Moncada L with only two classes. Today I had my observed lesson by one of the staff from UKLC which went well. The audio player didn’t want to work at first so I resorted to the written text in the back of the Teacher’s Book whilst my able assistant (Maribel) fought with the audio player which we then duly played. The students in ESO1 were on their best behaviour for me today, not that they needed to be, as all of the students here at the Collegio de San Jose have been a joy to teach. I thank that the presence of Reea from UKLC who was observing me made them all very shy and quiet which is most unusual.

The school's Director, Jorge, presented me with a certificate and pen and keyring with the school's logo on them as a thank you for all the hard work that i have done these last four weeks. I was quite moved and my eyes did mist up a little - or was it the chalkdust in my eyes?

I am going to miss the students and the staff that have made my time here both enjoyable and enlightening as I have learnt many things from both watching and assisting the teachers here and from teaching the students, being able to put in to practice everything that I have been taught on my CELTA course (thank you Darren and Michael at IH London).

Tomorrow we all fly home. If I could pick up my house with all of my possessions in it and place it here in the Valencia area I honestly think I would. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “I’ll be back!”

A Tale of Two Cities

As most of my teaching has been with older students and adults, and my typical school day runs from 3-8 pm, I've had plenty of time to discover A Coruña. Most mornings, I've taken the bus into town and visited one of the many - and I mean many - museums, casas museos and art galleries. Often, I've been the only person there, apart from the staff. At the Casa des Ciencas, I amused the cleaner by running round all the interactive exhibits, pushing and pulling levers like a four year-old.

I've discovered that A Coruña was originally two cities: the old town, where the nobles and wealthy bourgeoisie lived behind the medieval walls, and the Pescadería, where the fishermen and traders tried to eke out a living. I like the fact that Maria Pita, the city’s heroine, had humble origins, but gradually rose socially by marrying four times, each husband being a little higher in the social hierarchy.  

Nowadays, the 'two cities' take a different form. About twice a week, the cruise ships dock in A Coruña's busy port, the huge edifices dwarfing the harbour front. They offload a small city-full of tourists into the old town, more than doubling the local inhabitants in one go. Dressed hopefully in summer clothes, while the locals are still muffled in scarves and winter coats, the visitors are immediately recognisable as they crowd the old town and local bars.

Cruise ship in A Coruña harbour

Today's visit had an unexpectedly feminist theme. Near the Obelisco, I noticed a demonstration gathering: mainly young women carrying banners, with slogans such as, 'No es no' (no means no), 'Mi ropa, mi vida' (my clothes, my life). As it hadn't started, I walked on to the old town, to the casa museo of Emilia Pardo Bazan, a 19th century novelist, who was a strong supporter of women's rights and education. Finally, I found the beautifully restored casa museo of Maria Pita, who defended the city against Francis Drake in 1589.

On the bus back to school were three girls from one of my 4th year classes. They told me that they'd just been part of the demonstration I'd seen earlier, which was against the acquittal of the so-called 'Manada' (wolf-pack), five men who were accused of raping a young woman during the Pamplona bull-running. The girls were in their school uniforms and had skipped class to take part. We got into a lively conversation about feminism which lasted the whole journey back. Their commitment and enthusiasm were really heart-warming.

Demonstration against the Manada verdict

Now the weather is warming up here, it will quite a wrench to leave. Liceo la Paz has been a great place to teach, my colleagues have been good company, and there are still many new places to discover in A Coruña.

The final countdown……………..

As I start my 4^th and last week here at School in Gandia, I am amazed at how different I feel about this now.  Whilst lesson plans are still a time-consuming and onerous activity, and teaching the class is still scary, I am much better both activities, and of course, I know the children now which makes it all so much better.  It is a particularly good feeling when the children ask when you will be doing their next lesson.  I’m sure games, fun and stickers have all contributed towards this! 

The children are often noisy and enthusiastic, generally I’ve managed to keep control of the classes and they have all participated in the activities I had planned.  There have been lessons where I could have done better, sometimes the activities were too hard or too easy, but I’ve learnt from those.  It’s a challenging experience and definitely has provided me with much needed practical experience in being in front of a class, without this experience I don’t think I’d have enough confidence or ability to go straight into the teaching world.

Living in a shared flat with 3 others is great fun, and the comradery has helped us all though those days when we can’t imagine why we ever thought this was a good idea. 

I’ve done my Observed Lesson – a massive relief to have that behind me now, and I wonder what the comments will be – time will tell.

Now I’m starting to say God Bye to my classes and the lovely teachers who’ve helped and mentored me and whose experience has given me the ability to stand at the front and teach the class!  Being in a school and seeing how it is actually done is really invaluable to any newly qualified teacher be it Celta or any other teaching skill – no matter how good the teachers’ learning is, you have to be in the school class to appreciate all the teaching skills and how to implement them. 

It’s been a great experience, thanks to everyone at UKLC and everyone else who has been involved, particularly the flatmates……………………The Gandia Groovers!

Non é o que parece

I notice it first whilst I’m drilling. I’m running through past simple and past particles and the harmonic energy is good. But that’s not what I’m noticing. My body is swaying. Subconsciously.

Somehow, in the midst of the early May heat, and despite the mild greenhouse effect that Calasancias school generates, my body still feels the need to move. There’s a rhythm is this class. It’s grown organically. I didn’t foresee it and now I’m not sure whether I can stop it. But there’s more to this. They’re doing the same. Facing me is wall of bobbing pale blue uniforms. At first I’m uncertain if they’re just mocking me or whether somehow, in this absurd moment, we’ve entered into some type of hypnotic and quirky routine. I listen for a faint snigger or cackle. Nothing.

I begin to monitor my gestures. They’re small, hesitantly subtle and definitely nothing dramatic. I decide to go bolder. I flick my leg out a little to the left. They follow my movement. I observe their faces. Amused expressions – they’re hooked, they’re into this and it’s not just me. I worry I may become transfixed with this power. They seem to mimic any movement that I do.

I can’t remember if this is something I’ve witnessed before in my teaching practices but damn it, I’m here, I’m enjoying it and they seem to be as well. I decide to raise the volume of my voice. One way or another I think this will inject a new level of enthusiasm into our choreography. It works. Now the mannerisms get bigger. I’m waving, gesturing wildly with my hands and now we’ve finally all synchronised.

There’s a moment when I forget what it is I had actually planned for this lesson, but I push that thought aside and continue. I hush my voice, and they hush theirs. I say a word and they repeat it. The beat continues. We’re making music or maybe it’s art. I’ll probably never know. My mind drifts – I’m thinking Sadler’s Wells and Wayne McGregor.

Unexpectedly, insecurity grapples me. Is this really how these kids are going to remember how to pronounce their set list of verbs? It’s all gone lucid and very David Lynch. I lose myself in this dilemma and our synchronisation stutters. I stare down at my verb list, in the same instance clamber at identifying movements that might invoke the correct verb. I’m all over the place and stumbling. Yet, I don’t think they’ve cottoned on. I’m bluffing well. I make a final effort to make body action equal verb but it doesn’t quite come off.

But by now it’s too late. We’re at that bit in the Thriller music video where Michael Jackson is dancing with the zombies. We’ve all committed to this eccentric and peculiar performance. And there is no stopping it. Not a chance. So, when I eventually arrive at the final verb, the only sensible thing is to start it all over again.

Regrettably there were no other teachers, video evidence or witnesses to this event other than myself and class Quinta A.

Some things go viral, other things just work out perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

A coruna tour

The second weekend ended with a tour of Coruna characterised by beautiful sights and bonding.

The pinnacle destination for me was el Torre de Hercules where high and beautiful views. Although getting to the top of the tower was an effort as inside of it was too claustrophobic with stuffy for me.

Another highlight for me was this experience...seen in the video.

The tour ended with the bad idea on the part of some of us, where we got ice-cream and froze after that.

Overall it was nice to see more of Coruna and hear some of its history.

~Maya M-S

Beach day

After a nice Friday night out and on the town there is nothing better than the...........BEACH!!!!

The beautiful but chilly sea was extremely refreshing during 5 minute swims. So refreshing in fact that I (slightly stupidly) bathed 3 times!!!

3 times seemed to be a bit too much for my body's ability to get warm as I was shivering for long after my last bathing extravaganza.

However despite this freezing feeling I can't say that I regret it being the true water baby I am. I also enjoyed exploring the rocks with my fellow corunian teachers and the football/ bonding experience that followed the beach.

~Maya M-S

The five best things to do if you’re living in Valencia for one month

1. Find a good local café

I first visited the café opposite school during my first week at Sagrado Corazón. All the teachers have one day a week free from playground duty and my tutor invited me to accompany her and some of the other primary teachers to the café over the road. The tostada was good and the coffee even better. When I went up to pay, I was astounded by how cheap the prices were. In fact, initially I was convinced there had been a checkout error. But there wasn’t … a break time snack that could easily average around £4 in the UK came to a grand total of €1.50.

Since that first week, I have been back most days after school and I really cherish the time, drinking coffee, eating tostada and not having to do anything at all for a whole twenty minutes.  

2. Walk as much as possible

With the river park running through its heart, Valencia is a city that promotes travel by foot. The sprawling flora that covers most of the park’s walls blurs into the periphery as futuristic sculptures and an assortment of gym equipment divert you from your path along the dried-up riverbed. The diverse range of sports and activities being enjoyed in the Turia adds further distraction (and entertainment) making your afternoon stroll so much more interesting than your average walk in the park. Last weekend, a group of twenty-somethings happily partook in a game of Muggle Quidditch, while three bagpipe players blasted out tunes mere metres away.

3. Drink sangria and catch a flamenco show

A Google search quickly yields the names of venues hosting traditional flamenco shows in Valencia. Last Saturday, we arrived at a tiny, crowded bar, ready to see real flamenco. The bar itself was tucked away and looked unassuming from the outside, but once inside, we quickly realised it was packed out and the bar staff directed us to the only remaining seats in the house. Glasses of sangria were ordered and swiftly brought over before the show began.

And it was a fabulous show. To be in such a small venue and so close to the performers and musicians allowed us to really appreciate the precision, passion and speed of the dance. At the end of each sequence, the crowd applauded fiercely.

Despite the show going on till well past midnight, one couple had brought their two toddlers along, who successfully slept on their parents’ knees through the entire show seemingly oblivious to the stamping, clapping and strumming from the performers and the audience.

4. Explore the quieter streets and discover the best shops

Valencia’s old town has an abundance of independent shops that sell some marvellous clothes and trinkets for the most reasonable prices. I visited one such shop and lost track of time altogether, busying myself trying on floaty smocks, diaphanous skirts and outrageously bright dresses. Below is a picture of the zany earrings that I couldn’t leave the shop without buying.

In addition to the shops in the old town, many of Valencia’s traditional markets have been revamped and now host a variety of cool cafés and arty pop-up stalls.

5. Take a cooking class

Before I arrived in Valencia, I knew (like most tourists in the city) that it is famous for its plethora of orange groves that cover the surrounding countryside. However, the list of other foods that you should try during your stay in city is long. Most cafés serve horchata, which is a bit like a Spanish marmite, not in the way it tastes (it contains no yeast extract, but plenty of tiger nuts), but in so far as you either love it or hate it. A safer bet is paella which seems to be universally popular. We were lucky enough to attend a cooking class where we learnt to make traditional Valencian paella and vegetarian paella, along with gazpacho and sangria. Learning to make gazpacho was a highlight for me. Ever since arriving in Spain, I always make sure to have a carton in the fridge, chilled and ready to pour. It is perfect when the days are hot and you have returned home for lunch after a morning of back-to-back classes. One of the tips from the cooking class was to remove the ‘heart’ out of garlic cloves before adding them to your gazpacho. Prior to the class, I didn’t even know that garlic cloves had hearts … but they do and apparently you should remove them in order to avoid your gazpacho tasting bitter. Because nobody wants bitter gazpacho.

Moncada Musings

Wednesday

Well after the long weekend it was a struggle for both teachers and students to get motivated with the students ‘forgetting’ to do their homework in some classes but the majority had done so. My timetable is an easy mix of secondary and upper primary classes.

In the upper primary classes I assist one of two local teachers, Pablo or Juan Angel, and the patience that these two gentlemen have is amazing as at times it seems like they are ‘herding cats’! The planning for one of these lessons is completely different that that done for the secondary classes as to achieve the simplest task a lot of thought has to go into it. I don’t know if upper primary will ever be my forte but I will need the patience of a saint to do so I think.

In the secondary classes I have been assisting and teaching part lessons with my teacher mentor Maribel. She has a sense of humour to match mine which can lead us to start laughing at something innocuous and sometimes leave the secondary students baffled. At other times my wayward sense of humour can cause me to start giggling during a serious moment in the lesson much to student’s delight. I ought to curb this but what is life like without some amusement?

Teaching the Secondary classes

Thursday

Normal service resumed (almost) in this short week with the students working with as much enthusiasm as they could muster.

As part of my timetable I have several ‘reinforcement’ classes which can be anything from conversational classes with the local teachers to practice their English or discussing methods of teaching to being invited to speak or teach another class. Last week I was invited to speak about the English Reformation and Henry VIII during a Religious Education class (being an English/Irish catholic I was suitably qualified, obviously).

This week I was invited down to the Kindergarten and Lower Primary to meet a class of 5 yr olds. I was given some idea of what their level of English would be and I admit I was quite nervous about meeting them. What a bunch of little darlings they are!!! I introduced myself and they giggled uncontrollably at my poor pronunciation of their names. Next I got them to perform basic movements (stand up, sit down, stand on one leg, turn around, hold your nose, etc.). Next I got them to sing and perform the action song ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees And Toes’ – they loved this! I followed this up with Word Bingo in a 2x2 square using the vocabulary groups animals and then fruit. As their level of English is restricted to speaking and listening at their age and they are only just learning to read and write is Castellano (Spanish) we had to resort to drawing animals and later fruits. That was a bit of an eye-opener as some of the drawings made no sense to me but at least the kids knew what they represented. This Word Bingo too was another success – I was on a roll! Finally they sang to me the song ‘I Can Sing A Rainbow’ to which I then sang back to them and they joined in (don’t worry Eurovision you’re quite safe, I won’t be entering). Lastly the hour was up but they wouldn’t let me leave and mobbed me like a rugby scrum that didn’t quite reach up to my waist. Quite amazing, I look forward to seeing them again next week.

Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Friday

I, like most of my fellow placement teacher, were busy preparing our formal lesson plans for our final observed lesson next week. Once our teacher mentors had agreed what we would be teaching during our observed lesson the planning was easy as it should take a maximum of a tenth of the lesson time, e.g. 50 mins lesson = 5 mins planning. However, then it can take an hour or two to type up the formal lesson plan – deep joy!

Today we said farewell to the three girls from Dublin who had been here on a month’s exchange with the school attending 4^th year seniors’ classes.

One of my weekly reinforcement lessons is with a mix and 1^st and 2^nd year seniors where we practice various vocabulary groups and grammar points using games. Once again Word Bingo is a success as it was last week – word must have spread. Last week ‘I Went To Market …” was a big hit so to keep things fresh I expanded the vocabulary groups for Word Bingo from animals and fruit to numbers (1-20) and then feeling really ambitious I tried regular verbs! A little too ambitious as it turned out as all everyone could think of was irregular verbs. So to round things off with I introduced Buzz using multiples of three (x3) and four (x4). Again, this went down very well.

Lastly, the school posted some photos of me teaching in various classes with the Secondary students and a (very) short video of me singing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees And Toes’ with the Kindergarten and Lower Primary. This was quite unexpected that they would mention me on their Facebook site so it is a very nice compliment by the school.

And now the last weekend L

Weekend Numero Uno

The eclectic style of the flat (as mentioned in my previous blog entry) only heightened my interest to meet the people who owned it and when that time finally came I can tell you that I was not disappointed. A very friendly, older gentleman gave us a full tour of the apartment and an in-depth demonstration of how to use all (yes ALL) of the flats appliances – with not a single word of English, might I add. He then proceeded to invite us all on a tour of Valencia. However, wanting to be sure that we had fully understood all of his instructions, appliance advice and invitations, called his son from Boston, USA to reiterate everything in our native language.

We accepted his invitation and our weekend officially commenced on Friday evening. He and his wife picked us all up and took us on a private tour of the city viewing some of the nicest and most famous sights that Valencia has to offer. We then went to a small and authentic juice café where we had the bowl sized cups of amazingly fresh and delicious fruit juices. We all sat and did what we could with our broken English/Spanish – See below.

Saturday was jam-packed and was genuinely one of the most fun days I’ve had here. We met up with the rest of the group, which in itself, was lovely to catch up and hear stories about everyone’s teaching experiences. We had a Spanish cooking lesson in the morning where we cooked a three-course traditional Spanish meal of Gazpacho, Paella, both a traditional chicken and an all veggie version too, (which suprisingly, was my favourite!) and a typical Valencia style cake.

After paella making we took a stroll through the beautiful park which stretches the entire width of Valencia. We walked to the science and arts museum, of which I can show pictures and describe as best as I can, but realistically you need to go and see for yourself just HOW beautiful it is because neither of the above will quite do it justice.

We had coffee and sangria and rode water bikes. (I’d never heard of them either, but see below to understand just how happy they made me.)

After this, we all went for tapas and more sangria in Plaza de La Reina where we could see the city’s stunningly beautiful Cathedral. The rest of the weekend was spend cycling around the park and the city and having lunch (more paella) on the beach front. This was where I ate my first (and probably last) Snail. My next beach trip will not include snails, but hopefully some swimming in the sea.

WEEK THREE  -   CASTLES, CELLOS , AND OTHER ATTRACTIONS

MONDAY

Valencia again.  Sheila still in Benidorm enjoying Tango,  Dave making his second attempt at getting up to sky dive  (in the end very successful).  So Polly and I went into Valencia for the day  to do the Free Tour,   with Valentina,  a very expressive and informed Italian.    Again this was worth doing, although in  2  and half hours, it seemed we only scratched the surface of what there is to see, just in the old part of the town. We went from the artfully submerged ruins of the Roman city looking down through a small   water feature (but not into the Archaelogical museum and down to the actual level of the ruins) across to the Serrano  Gate (nothing to do with the ham !), used as a prison over the centuries  with only one escapee  (using his bedclothes as a parachute !)  and a store for the art treasures  during the Civil War,then   to  the Bomb shelter used during that conflict when  Valencia was bombed 400 times, often by the Italian air force, for which  Valentina apologized.  There were ghost stories about a government building, and markets to see,   but we did not really go into any of the buildings and it would have been nice to have had more time later to go back to some of the places to get a better look.  No time for the “Tomorrowland” section of Valencia this time either.    It was soon time to come home, thinking that there is still a lot more to see.

Tuesday   we all tried to work on our lesson plans,   and not much else done  that I can immediately remember, and then a short week , during which I was introduced to the joys of marking after a written work lesson.  You really do have to go over them at least twice to see what mistakes you have missed !  Another  conversation class with the Sixth form, which was supposed to be about THE CLIENT by John Grisham on which they had a test on Friday.  Perhaps, not surprisingly, most of them had not yet read it, and so  ended up talking about Las Manadas  (the Pack), on which they were all quite passionate, and cynical about the politics of the judgment and sentence.  This class was not as committed as the last two, and I later discovered that   the teacher has asked for volunteers for each group, so that  as each week passes, the enthusiasm  and ability of the group is diminishing .  Next week should be interesting, although I think there are only a couple of students who have managed to avoid the class so far, so I may have some of the more interested students again.

On Thursday,  I had my second conversation lesson with a teacher, and on Friday picked up another, Pepe.  I now also have a third for the last week, so it will be a full schedule as far as teacher conversation is concerned.   These conversations are a real opportunity to find out more about the Spanish way of life, particularly for teachers.

I was also able to find out, in the staff common room,  some of the best places to eat in Gandia, and on Friday night we went to  a genuinely authentic  Valencian restaurant    Casa Senchis  (it did have menus in English).  We had tapas, but I suspect that we missed some of the more authentic dishes.  Still, we did feel we were in a proper local restaurant.

  Despite my comments about   Valencia above,  I also felt that I had not really  explored Gandia sufficiently either and decided to stay close to home for the weekend.  On  Saturday I finally found the foot route to Castle Bayren, following some flower  stencils in the road, and  enjoyed some beautiful views amongst the very reduced ruins at the top of the hill   (not really a mountain).  On the way back  I tried to get to Ullals Lake, but it eluded me again, and I ended in the centre of town where the flower marks end, at a beautiful park, with a moat filled with water lilies in flower and  little bridges.   It was a good three hour walk there and back, but I found that Dave had run up there and back in an hour, which slightly diminished my sense of achievement !

On Saturday evening, there was a cello concert in the Casa Cultura, which turned out to be the results of a day workshop for children from   about ten to 18.  Most of the pieces played were popular songs,  Ed Sheerin,  ColdPlay,  Halleluia,  and even the theme from Game of Thrones, done by different levels, but there was one solo by a very young girl of a Bach Sonata that was eye wateringly good.  Overall it was great to be standing out in the park watching them in the mellow evening.

Sunday

My plan was to visit the Museu de Faller, but access to a computer for the morning meant that I worthily decided to type up my Observed lesson plan, and so got there just after it had closed for the day.  Polly and I then walked up the footpath beside the River Serpis  (completely dry) to the Viewing point and into Playa Major.  We found a lovely restaurant for tapas just off the square with a waiter from New York, and  watched  rockets of confetti being set off for a first communion that had just taken place in the main church.  I know all this because I met one of my pupils, who explained that it was his cousin who had been taking her communion.

Back to cook a vegetarian supper, not my best  (i am no longer allowed to talk about my good meals !), but we are now thinking about using up all our food.

First impressions - A Coruña

A Coruña is a fusion of an Orwellian universe and a Celtic land with a Roman history, on the 

Atlantic part of a Mediterranean country. Ugly as its tall, stiff blocks of flats are, you have 

splendid beaches to compensate for the town's unimpressive architecture. But, if anyone ever 

claimed that this historic Galician town is not appealing or enjoyable, they would be a liar. I am 

many things -stubborn, weird, Greek- but a liar I am not. 

My first week in A Coruña has been pleasing in so many different ways. Food-wise, my 

Mediterranean palate is happy, since all the tastes are familiar, plus I had the chance to try fresh 

scallops, a gastronomic experience that

 left me with the best of impressions! The school I am teaching has a relaxed atmosphere and the teachers 

I work with are all very helpful and giving me all the space I need to practice my skills. Teaching 

7 year-olds and 13 and 14 year-olds, presents different kinds of challenges in the classroom management 

section. The teenagers in particular are harder to control, but I am not intimidated. 

Last but definitely not least, there are 13 other creatures here with whom I am sharing this experience in a much enjoyable way. Going for coffee and beer, having lunch and dinner together and playing football again after nearly fifteen years are all things I welcome with a warm heart. 

A Coruña is a lovely place and I'm glad to be here.