Life at Liceo La Paz

Liceo La Paz is situated in the Mato Grande area of the city and houses around 2800 students, ranging from 3 to 18 years old. It's huge and pretty amazing to think that all these people work and learn together like a well-oiled machine.
I'm very happy to have chosen this placement. Our group all live at the school, and even though we're not all teaching here, we meet up daily for coffee, a drink (or two), or maybe just a trip to Pina Colada, the local laundrette. Despite having packed over 24kgs of clothes, its often chilly here at this time of year and a lot of the stuff I brought is unsuitable. The weather's quite unpredictable.
I'm working alongside an amazing teacher called Beatriz LaPierre Regaldie, she's from Boston, Massachusetts. She has a Spanish mother, originally from A Coruna and they moved back to Spain over twenty years ago. Having studied in Boston myself in the eighties, we had plenty to talk about from day one and got along great right from the start.

We were all a bit nervous when we arrived, and I definitely wasn't expecting to teach on the first day. Apart from the fact I hadn't planned anything at this point, we were told we wouldn't be. However, I was thrown in at the deep end and taught class from day one. Without Bea there as my lifeline, I doubt I would have been so relaxed about it. I've hit the ground running so to speak, but am really enjoying the experience. Last Thursday she took me to the beach for lunch, during our long lunch-break, it was so lovely. There is actually plenty of time to plan and get organised during our breaks, share ideas with the teachers and the rest of the group. I feel really supported.
The kids here are pretty lively (some livelier than others), but keen to learn. Their English is much better than I expected, lessons are quite a buzz, and walking round the school hearing them call out, 'hello Liz, how are you?', is sweet. The school offers heaps of after school activities, which sometimes go on 'til after 11 at night. They also have one of the best roller hockey teams in the country.
My last class on Friday afternoon I was told, would be challenging. 'They're going to be boisterous' Bea warned in advance. I'm not going to lie, they were, but by 5 o'clock we were rounding off the lesson with a rendition of Ed Sheeran's 'Shape of You" - result!!

Liz :)