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!”