Moncada Meditations

 As week 2 comes to an end I am still pinching myself at my good fortune to be here in Moncada and at the Collegio de San Jose in particular. Moncada is a lovely little town with orange trees lining the roadsides and is very tranquil and quiet throughout the day and the evening.

Moncada Coat of Arms

The staff have been very helpful with a few of them speaking excellent English and some of them were quite shy at first to speak English to me but as the days have progressed some of them have started to speak more English to me (perhaps because of my terrible Castellano).  This week I have had several reinforcement sessions which are additional to my timetable where I have been either holding a conversational class with the local teachers or where I have been invited into another class to speak on a particular topic.

The teachers here have been very helpful with a few of them speaking excellent English and some of them were quite shy at first to speak English to me but as the days have progressed some of them have started to speak more English to me (perhaps because of my terrible Castellano).  This week I have had several reinforcement sessions which are additional to my timetable where I have been either holding a conversational class with the local teachers or where I have been invited into another class to speak on a particular topic.

In the two conversational classes the teachers were more interested in what training that I had undergone and whether there was anything that they might be able to incorporate into their own teaching methods. So I described the various teaching approaches that I encountered on my CELTA course which they found to be most interesting. Hopefully they will be able to implement a few ideas into their own teaching methods.

I was invited to speak to a Religious Education Primary level class about the Reformation in England and Henry VIII as I come from England (and therefore know about Protestantism, naturally) and as I have an Irish surname (and therefore I know about Catholicism, naturally) and being of dual nationality that meant that I was suitably qualified in the matter. Next stop Wikipedia and some quick reading. With the help of one of the teachers to provide translation for any difficult vocabulary I gave a very brief overview on the English Reformation and Henry VIII but they seemed quite delighted when I mentioned about his six wives and the fact that some of them were beheaded. I can’t imagine what tales they are telling their parents!!!

"Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived"

Next week and the week after I have been invited to visit the Kindergarten classes some of whom I have already met and I am quite looking forward to meeting them.

And so the week closes with an invitation out to dinner with some of the teachers on Friday evening, some sightseeing in Valencia on Saturday and the King's Cup rugby match to attend on Sunday all wrapped up with a 4 day bank holiday weekend. On, and some lesson planning too, obviously ...