First Day of School

First day of school is done!

View from the top floor of the colegio. No complaints here!

I'm teaching pre-K through 6^th grade, both Science and English classes, so my schedule every day is totally different. I'm working with different teachers and different students every day.

Today, I had a little bit of everything- a couple 6^th grade science classes, English with the kindergartners, and then English with 3^rd graders. By far, my favorite was the 6^th graders. They know enough English to hold a conversation and were really excited and curious about the US.

One of the 6th grade classrooms: "lockers" along the back wall, and a black board and Smart board in front. 

They were learning about nutrition and digestive system, so I would read a paragraph, then one of the students would read it, then we would talk about any vocabulary they didn't understand. In the second class, the students begged the teacher to let me read it faster, so they could hear what English sounds like spoken at a normal speed. Jaws were dropping and I got a round of applause from the class for being able to speak so quickly. I tried to convince them that they speak just as quickly when they're speaking Spanish, but they weren't buying it! They also loved it when I *tried* to speak Spanish (they want us to speak only English with them, so the kids think I can't speak Spanish). They were begging me to say “Hola, ¿que tal?” and got sooo excited when I said it (I think the exact reaction was ¡Que guay!). At the end of the class, the teacher gave them 10 minutes to ask me any questions they had, but it had to be in English. The results were hilarious and included:

“Do you know Johnny Depp?” (Yeah and Brad Pitt lives next door.)

“Have you ever seen Obama?” (Thank God Obama visited Durham last summer so I had a cool answer for this one.)

“Do you see people wearing sunglasses and big hats to avoid the paparazzi?” (Not in NH!)

“Do you like Spain or the US better?”

“Do you have futbol in the US? Have you ever been to a futbol match? Do you like Chelsea? Do you like David Beckham?...”

Of course, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

And “Have you ever been on the London Eye?” from one girl who just didn't understand that England and the US are different countries, no matter how many times the teacher explained to her that I wasn't British.

Also, one of the girls, who had been to England, told me that I talked differently than in England but that she liked it much better (Ha! Take that Britain.)

I also got major bonus points for having been to both Real Madrid and Barça matches. Of course, they wanted to know which team I support. I was hesitant to answer, since I was clearly in dangerous territory, with the whole class chanting “Barça!” or “Madrid!” A quick survey of the room (particularly the pencil cases at each desk!) answered the question I´d been wondering since I was assigned to Tudela: is Tudela pro-Madrid or pro-Barça? And my guess proved right, about ¾ of the room erupted in cheers (I mean jumping out of their seat cheering) when I decided it was safe to admit I´m a Barça fan.

The kindergartners also had some time to ask me questions, wanting to know “Is Boston bonito?”, “Are you living in a hotel?”, and when I arrived in Tudela (They asked this last one about 10 times, and wanted to know the exact hour I arrived to Tudela). We looked at pictures of Boston (they think it looks really big and were curious about the snow). They also sang me this song in English (complete with a dance- every time it mentioned a snake or spider they would scream and grab onto the kid next to them):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TARreOtrWUg

The last class, the third graders, was more difficult. They never stop talking, and if they don´t understand something, they all start speaking louder so they can´t hear you when you repeat it. They´ll be my challenge class for sure!

The hardest part? Not speaking Spanish! They want us to speak only English, with both the professors, so they can practice, and the students, since if they know we speak Spanish they´ll use it as a crutch. The problem is though that they say the funniest things and it takes all my self-control to not laugh and let the cat out of the bag that I actually do understand them. We´ll see how long it takes them to catch on.

I spent recreo (recess) in the break room with a bunch of the other teachers. They´re all very young (about half of them are under 30, and there´s a handful who are only 24!). My brain got super confused though, because the English teachers want to speak English with me, but the rest of the teachers only speak Spanish, so I´m listening to and using both languages at the same time. I ended up saying “Sí” to the English teachers and “Thank you” to the Spanish-speakers.

Teaching is exhausting! I´ll sleep well tonight (and I didn´t even have afternoon classes today)!