Masterchef, a board meeting and a hidden gem

It's hard to believe that we're half way through our whole Erasmus experience already. I've settled into the school and met all my classes now. Many of the students are working towards English exams in May and June, which means they're following text books and practising tests and there's not much scope for creativity, but I have helped with some mock oral exams, which have been really interesting - and hard.

I also take four parallel 4th year classes (15-16 year-olds), who are focusing on speaking and listening, so there's much more scope for using CELTA approaches here. We've been looking at food and cooking, and the students have been preparing party menus and thinking about recipes. Role plays have been particularly successful: last week they tried ordering food in a café and this week they prepared Masterchef scenes, which were very amusing. The lessons are exhausting, as they're one after another in one day, but the UKLC rules have helped. Sixteen year-olds like stickers too!

Role plays have also gone down surprisingly well with my Transport group. These are adults from 20-40, who are training to work in transport and logistics - anything from driving a truck to managing a warehouse. Next year, they'll have internships at the main employers in A Coruña: Zara (whose founder was born and still lives here), the Estrella Galicia brewery (also founded here) and the ever-growing port. The students' knowledge of English is very basic and their motivation is varied; they struggle with the grammar and the three-hour evening classes (so do I). Much to my surprise, though, they came to life with a role play of a board meeting, perhaps because I had taught them phrases such as, 'I don't agree at all', 'Please don't interrupt me' and 'Let me finish please'.

At the weekend, we had an enjoyable tour of the city and coastline, climbed the Tower of Hercules and posed on the giant octopus.

I also managed to find the Picasso museum, which is tucked away down a side street in the city centre. You have to ring a bell and be let into an old building, then climb two floors up to the beautiful apartment where Picasso lived from 10-14 years of age. He had his first exhibition in A Coruña at the age of 13 and some of his early sketches and portraits are here.

This coming weekend, we're off to Santiago....