Moncada Mayhem

After arriving a day late in Spain, due to flight booking problems, it was a relief to finally arrive at our destination. Moncada is a small town to the north of Valencia about 10km from the city centre.  Our apartment is very nice but rather small for four people and it has taken several days to sort out a few minor problems (no Wi-Fi, electric cooker broken, not enough keys, etc.) but all has been resolved thanks to our wonderful local liaison staff.

The apartment is on a quiet street lined with orange trees and the smell of orange blossom is quite strong in the evening and intoxicating whilst sipping wine on the rooftop patio in the evening.

A trip to one of the local supermarkets is great fun as trying to determine what items that you would buy normally in the UK are called in Spanish. The size of the fruit compared to similar in the UK is quite a surprise as the local produce is two or three times the size of what we get back home. Some of the prices are unbelievably low, especially the wine – 5 litres for €5.00!!!

 The school where I am working is called Collegio de San Jose and is a relaxing ten minute walk from the apartment. The school is a semi-private catholic school which caters to kindergarten, primary and secondary levels. The primary and secondary levels have four classes each with a maximum of twenty students to each class.

On the first morning the Head Teacher who I was to meet at 0830 hrs was not in as they had broken their leg the day before. Cue instant mayhem! Another teacher had to take me under her wing, so off to the first class. Then, because of another problem, she had to leave me alone with the senior secondary class. Profuse apologies, and by the way here is the Teacher's Book - page 77, exercises 1 and 2, don't worry you'll be fine. 0835 hrs and in at the deep end!!! Well, after 10 minutes we doing fine and before I knew it the lesson was over.

The local English teachers that I am working with (one for the secondary and two for the primary) have been extremely helpful and full of advice as this first week has been about settling in, learning about the Spanish school system and being introduced to the students. I have also been able to help with clarifying vocabulary and some grammar points as well as suggesting some activities for the teachers. The suggestions for games and activities given to us by the staff at the UKLC training week in Chester have been really well received by the local teachers that I am working with. And yes, the Spanish kids are very loud but once you have their attention they are quite well behaved – so far!

I am the first teacher on an Erasmus placement at this school so they are very interested in my background and my training. Hopefully I will not be the last as I have been well-received by all of the staff and I am really looking forward to the rest of the month-long placement here.