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 !