Half-way through!

Buenos tardes, blog-ogglers. More like "buenos tardies", considering how late I am to this particular party.

Let's start from the beginning.

The week of training in Chester was, in a lot of ways, a complete joy. One of the best things about TEFL is how effortlessly it brings together people from all walks of life, and as the week progressed I was constantly amazed by the wealth and breadth of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and, above all, silliness.

I found a lot of the input extremely helpful and brilliantly delivered. Jen (smiliest woman bar none) and Emile (badass polyglot, cool as a cucumber) took us through a lot of very interesting material to do with young learners, and equipped us with some very handy games, activity approaches, and planning advice. There were plenty of ideas to steal, and boy, did I steal 'em!

Personally, a slight downer about the training came in the form of the group lesson planning. Planning lessons in a group can be a frustrating experience, as every teacher has a unique approach. When you get five or six teachers to plan one lesson it can often become an exercise in diplomacy, rather than planning, and the end result is a mish-mash that no-one in the group is very happy with. That being said, it was a great way of sharing and stealing ideas, so swings and roundabouts...

So, after a crammed week, we hopped on a plane and "yo, Holmes, to Valencia!".

It was on the plane that I really began to contemplate what a wicked thing this whole shebang is. We're being flown out, put up, given the opportunity to gain some essential and hard to come by experience...and we get to hang in Valencia for a month?! Not too shabby! Thank you very much, UKLC!

We got dropped off at our apartment, which is GORGEOUS, and, like the ridiculious Brits we become when abroad, cracked out some tea, biscuits, and Red Leicester.

The ensuing two weeks have been a non-stop ride, full of thrilling highs, a few considerable lows, and ALL THE LESSON PLANNING IN THE WORLD.

Advice to prospective Erasmus-ers: Don't get roped into teaching on your first day.

I did, and it's my own silly fault, really. What started out as some "Getting to Know You" activities became whole, completely unplanned and really quite manic lessons. A low point was teaching a whole lesson to about 30 17-year olds on Great Expectations, with no plan and only a vague recollection of the book itself. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Something that added to my sense of impending meltdown was the sheer, unrelenting noise in my school! Good lord, those kids can holler. I normally don't mind it, and as the days have gone on I've honed my "Teacher Voice" into a booming, (hopefully) authoritative baritone beast. But yes, on day one my ears were ringing.

My tutor, Salut, is the nicest, most patient person I could ever hope to meet. In fact, all the teachers I have met have been utterly lovely. One of them recently asked me if I would come round to her house and play with her kids (in English). I was really touched, and of course accepted. I've become so much more confident in my lesson planning as the days have gone by, and I can't tell you how gratifying it is when a lesson you've spent hours preparing comes off well in class. On the flipside, I've had one or two classes where I've been severely tested, and the frustration and anger can knock you for six, I tell you. But you dust yourself off, try not to take it personally, and onwards, towards Utopia!