Land of Oranges and ESL

For whatever reason I was both anxious and excited about our first week in Valencia. However, from the onset it was a fabulous trip. I bumped into Jonathan before boarding the train in London and we met Mark at the airport in Manchester. It was also enjoyable travelling with the UKLC group. It just reminded me of an episode of Are You Being Served, particularly when the security people refused to let go of Angela's shoes.

The UKLC hosts (Alicia, Mampa and Amy) in Valencia have also been fantastic. They accompanied all of us to our residences with a bag of food to keep us going on our first day.

I had an early start on Monday and had to wake up before 6 am to make it to the school on time. Alicia was waiting for me in front of the school at 7:55 am and accompanied me inside and introduced me to my host teacher Blanca. Blanca has really been nice and helpful throughout. She has given me a free hand for preparing my classes, and has just indicated to me the lessons she has covered and those which she wishes to cover in the coming days.

The ancient Greeks believed that all cannot be good, or otherwise the gods would strike us with a thunderbolt. Therefore, I had to get ill and lose my voice right after my first day of teaching. Again the UKLC team and their Spanish counterparts were fantastic. Amy and Mampa took me to a Clinic where a doctor saw me within 20 minutes. I am now on medication and was told that my voice should return within 4 days. 

It's a pity as I really enjoyed the school, watching and teaching the children (even the noisy Segundo) and interacting with the teachers in my bastardised Spanish which they all detect to be Italian after the second word!

I can't wait to take the stage and be in front of the students. I just need to find an entertaining song in order to strike a deal with the students and reward them when they behave (particularly the Segundo).