Tornado off the coast of Cullera yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sec9aJvz_E

I am not sure if you can view this but I will try it anyway.  There was a marine tornado yesterday morning off the coast near Cullera.

El tiempo es el que es

Entry 5, Sun 27 Nov

Well, unfortunately it seems all good things must come to an end, and the end of my time here in Moncada is fast approaching :(

On Saturday however, we were all invited to spend a few hours at the 'Valencia Club Cocina', where we had the opportunity to cook some fantastic recipes and get to know a few typical Spanish dishes, such as: Andalusia Gazpacho, Paella Valenciana and Coca en Llanda. Whilst the food tasted great, and I had a lot fun preparing the dishes with the others, the best part of the day was seeing everyone again and finding out about their teaching experiences after several weeks apart. In many ways, it felt like a final farewell dinner, and one in which we all recognised the hard work that both UKLC and the staff at Scola had put into organising everything for us.

It's also definitely worth mentioning my observed lesson on Friday with 6° Primaria, which actually went really well. I chose to revise the past simple with them, as they've only recently started getting to grips with it and I felt they needed more practice. My 45-minute lesson was made up of two main parts: a relatively easy listening comprehension activity and then a more difficult writing exercise in the context of summer holidays. The students were remarkably well-behaved during the observation, (perhaps Carolyn's permanently serious expression helped me out there haha) and they were duly rewarded at the end of the lesson with sweets all-round.

In order to give them an example so as to form a basis for their essays, I decided to tell them about my summer holiday using a PowerPoint presentation and then got students to answer my questions using the past simple. They really respond well to visual stimuli like holiday photos and it got them really engaged which was awesome. I hope they enjoyed learning during that lesson as much as I did teaching as, sadly - with my time being their teacher finally coming to a close - there won't be many occasions like it in the near future. But hey, time is what it is.

Hasta la próxima vez,

Giacomo

(｡◕‿◕｡)

Having now been in Valencia for a fair old time, I feel like i'm finally beginning to find my feet. The prospect of 25+ students no longer fills me with a metric tonne of anxiety and I find myself actually looking forward to teaching (gasp). I've had some strange experiences such as students wanting me to explain Wiz Khalifa lyrics, constant 'dabs' and a certain student who point blank refuses to believe that I'm not Spanish.

Three things I have I learnt so far?
- Sushi trains work wonders... They have to talk!
- Get the students to draw... Suddenly the shyest student is involved.
- Be prepared for the Spanish pronunciation of 'beach'... groups of teenage students find it hilarious for some reason. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Adios

Dom-estic life...

Heya.
Been slowly adapting myself to my school's methodology.  It has been frustrating observing the teacher of the older age groups, the teaching is kind of traditional, very much directed toward the textbooks and upcoming exams with plenty of explanations in their native language.  I think by the time I leave I will get the nickname "Mr Radical".

Anyway, I have been getting involved in domestic side of things like cleaning...( a new sense of responsibility) it's partly down to a light timetable.  I've really got into cooking.  My recent brainwave was to make homemade pizza for the housemates which we've done at home, although a family member usually makes the dough.  This big challenge started in the shop as the supermarket didn't sell yeast!  When cooking, I was using every utensil I could get my hands on, I was getting flour everywhere and my hands were covered with sticky wet dough (I did clear up my mess...).  It was hard to create the bases without a rolling pin.  Putting together the pizza topping wasn't too bad though.  Took ages to complete - I'm not doing that again. 

I'm sure I'll feedback more about my teaching exploits soon.  

End of the day games

I've been carrying a ball (the size of a tennis ball) since we arrived in Chester and have not found the opportunity or courage to use it till today.  Mainly, I haven't used it because the classes are generally so large and there are so many chairs and tables in them that it's difficult to play the game in a circle.  However, today, for the last session I had a group with some difficulties (called PMAR in Spain). They are a smaller group and they have a lot of nervous energy.  So, anyway I 'bit the bullet', asked people to push chairs and tables to the sides of the room, and we all got in a circle.  I threw the ball having said 'My name is Tara. What's your name?'..I'm sure you all know how to play it..You might well have played it already with your students!

So, we did that for a while making sure everyone got the ball, and then we started with a new question like 'My favourite colour is green, what's your favourite?' etc etc.  The game is so adaptable and simple but it requires quite a lot of concentration.  I think it worked well because it was the last lesson of the day, we were probably all tired and they have all recently been doing exams and so it was like having some fun with basic English sentences..

What I found interesting was that the boys found it most tricky.  They giggled and crowded together and were generally a bit 'all over the place'.  Also, all the girls stood next to each other and all the boys did too!  The emphasis at the school seems to be very much on academic learning and it's quite serious and intense so I hope this gave them some light relief today.  I enjoyed it!  It was fun and good to see them laughing even if it was just because they were a bit embarassed.

Meter la caña

Entry 4, Wed 16 Nov

Following on from my previous post, I thought that today's lessons were definitely worth a mention. Over the past 2 weeks, I've found that 5° and 6° primaria are the most difficult classes to manage, as they outgrow the teaching methods used for the younger children and they also realise that they can get away with a lot more bad behaviour.

Today I decided to give the students feedback on the present simple worksheet that Maria gave them to do as homework. Before starting the lesson, I explained to the children that each time they speak without putting their hand up, a line will be written on the board (representing 1 second) which is the extra time that they will have added on to the end of the lesson before they can go for lunch.

It started off really well, as normally when nominating students to give answers they start talking/shouting over each other. Not anymore! haha. Later on, after they had completed one of the exercises in pairs, they started talking over each other again at which point they quickly started racking up extra time which they did not like. I'd turn round to them and say, "More?" and by then they were soon telling each other to be quiet and we got on with the lesson.

I think I remember Michael showing us a similar classroom management system during the training week...in any case, it helped a lot! Maria was very pleased, and she even used it with them later in the afternoon in Spanish class. This also leads me to a new idiom I learnt in Spanish today - meter la caña or 'crack the whip' - some of the classes really are in need of some discipline and structure, especially when there's so many of them!

¡Hasta la próxima vez!

Giacomo

El tiempo vuela

Entry 3, Wed 16 Nov

My goodness how time flies! To think that we only have 2 weeks left! My observed lesson on Friday feels like it was weeks ago. I've certainly noticed a big difference by now when it comes to teaching children and teenagers, although I'm still not quite sure which I prefer after the past few classes I've had.

Friday's lesson with 1° eso went really well, they were really engaged when I was telling them about my daily routine (related to adverbs of frequency) and they enjoyed answering all the questions I threw at them.

I think they particularly enjoyed the speaking task in the final part of the lesson as it's not something they do very often. I also managed to try out the technique of getting them to correct my 'poor' Spanish at the end of the lesson, and they really loved that! (Grazie Emiliano)

¡Hasta pronto!

Giacomo

A vision from the past

He's got a beard, a pony tail and a deceptive British accent. Oh, and he died twice during First Aid training. Who is it? Whoever it may be, he's been reading your blog posts and shedding a tear every now and then (mostly caused by how proud he feels). He would also love to hear of any games and activities that you felt just brought the school d-- I mean the house down! Hasta pronto!

Dabbing, apple pen and bottle flipping 101

After almost two weeks at my school time is flying by! I am still a huge novelty in every class and still asked daily by the students if I have a boyfriend, how old I am, can I dab and can I flip a bottle of water. It's a strange experience to walk across the playground and hear dozens of 10 year old children shouting (sometimes screaming) my name at me.

The vast majority of the classes are very cute and well behaved. I have realised how effective creating teams within the lesson is, one team (the apple pens) even made up a victory dance and the competition between both teams led to paper and pencils being thrown.

Feeling more confident by the day.

La comida española es precioso, pero......

That's weird!  I was sure I had typed something in the box other than the title but when I checked, there was nothing there.

I just wanted to share that much as I love Paella and Fideva de Marisco, I miss chutneys and pickles with cheese like they do in good ol' Blighty!

I was just wondering if anyone else misses anything like that from the UK...

On losing my voice and the way to stardom

We are now nearing the end of the first week, and my voice is getting raspier each lesson. Will it go completely before the weekend? Find out next blog...

Other than abusing my voice, teaching the lessons has been an interesting experience. Don't know what it's like for you others, but in my school there's very big differences between each class. Some classes are speaking English all the time, are actively engaged, and are easy to work with. Other classes... Not so much. In one class I was met with blank faces every time my sentences exceeded over three words, and in another one they all started running around and talking once I turned my back.

So it's definitely been a bit of a learning curve in that regard. But now that I know what to expect I can hopefully adapt my lesson plans to better meet the needs of the particular classes.

On a side note: walking through the school can sometimes be a bit of a bizarre experience. I think this will probably be the closest I ever come to stardom. Kids shouting my name, flailing their arms wildly, yelling 'I love you!', coming up to give me a hug... It's all a bit much sometimes, but it's endearing at the same time.

Commendations & Teeth.

Fellers,

Sincerely hoping you are all having a great experience and fun.

Both my mentor and school are happy with me and it more than makes up for the tooth or 2 I am about to fill or remove soon. It's a great new feeling for me! In fact I am encouraged to make it a lesson.

One idea is to use it in future forms of "going to" or a future possibility of "I might" + infinitive of fill or remove a tooth. So, "I'm going to remove a tooth next week" - a decision taken before speaking. Or, "I might have a tooth filling next week" - a future possibility.

And since it's a real, live example would make the lesson more captivating and engages the learner. Make sure though to tone down the agony. Try using the fill rather than remove a tooth.

Any more or better ideas welcome.


Basil.

Take a chupito

Entry 2, Tue 8 Nov

Today was an (unusually) uneventful day, as the primary school children all went out on a school trip so there were no classes to teach in the morning/early afternoon.

Instead, I happily volunteered to mark the tests which the children had done yesterday and the week before. I actually enjoyed it - but my god that was a lot of marking! Still, Maria was very pleased as it gave her time to plan her lessons for the rest of the week, which is not something she normally has much time for.

We also had a very interesting exchange in Spanish yesterday, whereby I learnt that 'chupito' means 'shot' and she learnt that a shot can come out of a bottle as well as a barrel haha.

One final thing that struck me today was a brief conversation I had with one of the nuns at the school. She asked if I was enjoying my stay there and then asked how long I was staying for: she seemed quite disappointed that I was only there for a month, "why can't you stay for longer?", she asked. It's quite wonderful how quickly you're made to feel welcome at the school in Vinalesa, and it honestly makes me wish I could stay for longer :)

¡Hasta la próxima vez!

Giacomo

Flying solo first thing tomorrow!

I promise that this will be my last blog of the day!

I'm quite chuffed because some of the Batchillerato students have asked their teacher to ask me to come in early tomorrow to help them whilst the teacher is away.

I'm a little nervous but happy too to have been asked to do the teacher a favour!

I hope all are well.

Tara x

In all it's glory, the original and extended version of Pineapple Pen!  Get down with the kids, peeps!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ulMJgeTkcM

Pineapple Pen and other matters

Today, I was in a class two of 12-13 year olds assisting the teacher.  They are doing Present Continuous vs Present Simple currently.  As you can imagine, it's not that exciting!  I ventured to do some introductions with them in pairs but I think the teacher seemed concerned about time so she pressed on with the workbook.

One thing that is worth mentioning though (perhaps) is that one girl asked me to ask the teacher to let them see the video 'Pineapple Pen' at the end of the session.  She agreed and they watched it with great glee and enjoyment.  Personally, I don't think I've ever seen anything more pointless.  The singer doesn't even have a pineapple OR a pen and the video is over in the blink of an eye!  Such are the tastes of (some of) the youth of today!  Bless them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9TpRfDdyU0

Ola amigas y amigos,

We arrived last Tuesday and I, for one, was feeling quite exhausted.

The apartment was a pleasant surprise especially since we ALL have our own room and I won a toss of the coin for the en-suite (lucky me!).

We are based in Central Gandia and it is pleasant enough with amenities and (my) school fairly nearby.

For the first few days, I did a lot of presenting myself to groups of young people - As in 'Hello, my name is Tara.  I live in Worthing, UK.'  etc etc...Generally, after a brief introduction, I would ask students to ask me questions if they wanted to.  Mainly, the questions were like 'have you got a son or a daughter?', 'do you like Spanish food?', 'do you like paella?' and then, also, about the dreaded Brexit!

My mentor is called Natividad and I like her very much.   I also work with 2 other teachers called Gema and Raquel.   Last week, on Thursday, I was asked to do a lesson on 'Uncountable and Countable Nouns'.  I put this on a Powerpoint and it went really well.  They were a noisy class but they want to learn!

Today, I took part in 7 lessons in a row!  I took a more active role (by which I mean 'leading') in at least one of them.  In the rest of them, I walked around the room and offered help where it was needed. During one lesson, the class were so rowdy that I decided to go ahead and talk to them in English as they were not listening to their teacher!

I feel more settled than last week for sure! I'm learning something new everyday!  It's a marvellous experience.

Hasta luego,

Tara xxx

4 days down, 26 to go!

So here I am 4 days in to this adventure with my first full day of teaching tomorrow! I don't know how we only arrived on Wednesday, it feels like a month has already gone by.

My first class tomorrow is 4th primary.. Kind of nervous but also really excited to start teaching again and using what I learnt in Chester & CELTA in real life. I've got my mouse and cheese at the ready!

Yesterday was my first day off since starting CELTA in September (really) and it was lush just wandering around Valencia, eating tapas and drinking cocktails with the Moncada and Valencia guys. A much needed break!

The 'getting lost every time I leave the flat' streak is still holding up. Maybe one day I'll make it to school and back without spending an hour wandering aimlessly or getting on the wrong train...

The Smell of Fear

First and foremost, I must apologize for taking so long to post my first blog entry; the combination of a lack of time, sleep and technological prowess conspired against me, delaying my long-awaited entry into the world of blogging. Those of you who know me well will know that I don’t do things in half-measures, so I hope the following, lengthy, dispatch makes up for the delay.

Training week was full of lessons, activities, brainstorming, and, of course, a couple of trips to the lovely pubs of Chester (where, you’ll be happy to find out, the price of beer is significantly lower than in the south of England, where many of us live). While not as difficult as the CELTA, the training course was nonetheless very demanding, entailing long hours spent learning new tricks, gathering tips and practicing the art of teaching English as a foreign language on hypothetical children, the roles of which were invariably played by us teachers-in-training, often to comedic effect—I’m thinking of you, ‘Boris’ and ‘Vladimir’! After filling our teachers’ toolboxes with language games and activities ready to be unleashed on unsuspecting Spanish kids, we finally headed off to Valencia, taking a circuitous route that lead us from Chester to Manchester, then to Alicante and, finally, to our base in Valencia.

The following morning I was met by the lovely Mampa and Alicia from Schola, as well as two of my brilliant tutors from UKLC, Carolyn and Amy, who drove me to Domus, the school where I’ll be teaching for next month. I was all nerves as we made our way through the crowded schoolyard filled with hundreds of screaming children. An old, traumatic memory flared up in my mind: that of my first day at primary school, when my mother dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the classroom, except this time I was smiling on the outside while kicking and screaming only in my head. I muttered to one of my colleagues that I’m of the opinion that children can smell one’s fear and she nodded in agreement, ‘oh, yes, they certainly can.’ This did not bode well for me. I was then ushered into my first class by Inès, my talented mentor at Domus, where I felt all 58 eyes of our 29 13-14 year old students sizing me up. I smiled and said ‘good morning’ to the terrifying little creatures, somehow managing to hide my anxiety and therefore succeeding in concealing the stench of fear rising up inside me. They are a loud and rambunctious group, curious about this new, strange person in their midst.  I answered their questions and breathed a sigh of relief when I was allowed to take my seat to observe Inès working her magic.

España siempre es España

Entry 1, Fri 4 Nov

Well here I am...back in Valencia after a year of absence. Sometimes it feels like I never left - the people are as friendly as always and the weather is just lush (as Carolyn would say). The teachers and the students have really made me feel welcome and part of the school and I haven't even started teaching yet!

I will admit however that it's starting to hurt my head having to speak and understand Spanish all the time. I have to try really hard to pretend that I don't know what the students are saying, and then concentrate really hard to listen to what the teachers are saying to me!

I can't believe I've only been here a few days, sometimes it feels like weeks - a lot has happened so far and my brain is really having to cram it all in. It's been fun though, all I need to do now is try and remember everyone's names! :D

¡Hasta la próxima vez!

Giacomo

From today :D

I didn’t end up seeing the sea but also, I did not get lost today. I also saw more classes, which somehow made me feel more nervous to start. The main teacher I am working with is helpful and seems happy to have me on board. I hope I don’t squander expectations.

Adding some pics from my phone:

                                          Breakfast area at homestay in Chester:

View from the plane on the way to Valencia:

                                          Walk around the science&art area yesterday:

(Actually from Yesterday)

I’m writing a hypothetical blog in MS word because I am not connected to the blog yet due to getting locked out of my email (Still). Hotmail sucks by the way.

I’m sitting on my bed in the apartment I am sharing with Louise and a Spanish couple. We have everything we need and more. The decoration of the apartment is pretty cool and the couple cooked us a nice dinner to welcome us last night. We went to the supermarket before and I couldn’t tell what half the food was cause of my low level (barely existing) Spanish but pictures on products do help :D Also, bag in Spanish is bolsa. Useful in a supermarket.

I got lost on the way to the school and even more so on the way back. The streets are large and confusing, but I have only been here two days though. The school itself is like an inner city high school.  The kids I saw today were about 14 years old I think. Watching the teacher focus on the grammar rules really made me want to try out some activities we learnt during the training session. SO yeah, that’s the report today. I am meeting a friend to go to the beach tomorrow after my observation, excited to see the sea!

I've been given away

So, it turns out I am a raffle prize! Last month Schola held a raffle and two people had the chance to win six hours of private lessons with a native English speaker. The pressure is on! If anyone has had any experience in one to one teaching I would love to hear any hints or tips you might have.

First day

So better late than never it’s time to finally report in on my first week. After a very intensive but worthwhile and interesting week I have just completed my first day in Schola.

But before I get to that I want to thank Emile and Michael (and of course Amy and Carolyn) for all of their help and support over the training week. I'm really looking forward to using some of the great ideas for activities and the different teaching methods we covered.

I'm very excited by my placement, Schola is a fantastic school with extremely friendly and helpful staff. All of the teachers I have worked with so far have made me feel welcome in their classrooms and the students all seemed to enjoy having a native speaker to talk with. All of my worries and concerns have gone out of the window and now I'm just looking forward to start teaching.

The apartment we have been provided is very spacious and has everything we need, it’s in a great location with everything in walking distance.

Bring on tomorrow! 

I survived!

So I survived my first day at school! Did a lot more learning that I did teaching but generally had a pretty fun day painting, introducing myself 100 times and being mobbed by cute Spanish kids. Why are 10 year old girls so keen to know if I have a boyfriend?!

Godella seems like a nice place from the hour I spent walking around lost after getting off at the wrong stop but I finally made it home (after bumping into an also lost James B, asking every local for directions and finally rescued by Iris!) to the view from our balcony which is #flawless.

Actually excited to go to school tomorrow which is definitely something I've never said!

My sense of direction is as terrible as Spanish hospitality is amazing.

Of the 9 hours I've been out of the flat today I've spent roughly 4 of them lost. In the morning I spent 45 mins looking for Burjassot-Godella station, which is only 3 minutes from my flat, and in the afternoon I spent 3 hours and 15 minutes looking for my flat leaving from Burjassot-Godella.

For those of you who're familiar with the very first Legend of Zelda and 'The Lost Woods Puzzle' (don't let it be said that I don't bring great literary references into this blog...) imagine that, but replace the forrest with endless ochre coloured streets.

This aimless odyssey was mercifully put to an end when a lovely Spanish lady walking an adorable puppy offered to walk me back to Burjassot-Godella station, whereupon I bumped into Daisy - also lost - and we were ably guided by Iris back to the flat.

The intervening time between my two strolls around Godella (and likely quite a few other places, as very often when asking for directions I was informed that "Godella...this is, very, very far away...very far) was spent being shown around a charming school by charming people. However, I don't think they got the observation memo as I was asked to teach 30 seconds before going into my first class! This was made up for by being offered red wine at lunch by the headmistress!

Roll on day 2.

I'm so relieved to be in a nice, warm and cosy bed! What a full-on day!  We had a wonderful surprise when we saw how nice our apartment is this afternoon and then to make it even better I won a coin-toss for the Ensuite!

We had a rather exhausting but informative trek around this lively city checking out where all our respective schools are.  Night night to everyone!  All the best for tomorrow. Tara xxx