So today was my much anticipated observed lesson. My
internal clock had decided that waking up at 4 am would give me enough time to
be punctual. As a result I felt a little jaded and nervous when it it was time
for me to teach. Especially as the lesson before was a lower level class and I
began to wonder if they had lost the ability to comprehend English. This class
being a higher level I was hoping the lesson would be smoother. It didn’t quite
go as smoothly as I had hoped. Certain things escaped me such as timings and the
logical sequence of events. However this is all a learning curve and I am now evaluating
and making notes to make the next lesson better. To this end I am about to plan
a lesson topic on film making, and to make it even more topical with a look
back at the Oscars. And a lesson on crime, which will incorporate a YouTube
video on a burglar busting Granny.
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Last Kilos of Oranges
To be honest, I had never eaten as many oranges as I have here in such a short amount of time: freshly squeezed orange juice at the café near my school, fresh oranges as soon as I reach home, oranges before I go to sleep....
The little souls at my school have so much to learn; and so many of them seem lost early in the morning. I feel like cutting oranges for them whenever I present an exception during a grammar lesson. Today the Primeros (Beginners) were learning how to conjugate regular verbs in the past tense. I told them to watch out for the consonants 't' and 'd' as it affects their pronunciation of verbs in the past tense, and to beware of vowels before the 'y' (y before 'ed' turns into 'i' but not if there is a vowel such as 'a' or 'u'). To make their life more complicated their book had also given the verb 'to stop' to conjugate but had not given its correct form in the past tense (none knew that the 'p' doubled). Their teacher wants me to stick to her usual teaching style and spend an hour correcting exercises.
But the upper levels (Segundos, Terceros, and Cuartos) have an insightful teacher, and get a taste of contemporary up-to-date teaching. The rest of the week I will be dealing with them, and they will benefit as usual from the energy I have ingested from their local oranges.
The little souls at my school have so much to learn; and so many of them seem lost early in the morning. I feel like cutting oranges for them whenever I present an exception during a grammar lesson. Today the Primeros (Beginners) were learning how to conjugate regular verbs in the past tense. I told them to watch out for the consonants 't' and 'd' as it affects their pronunciation of verbs in the past tense, and to beware of vowels before the 'y' (y before 'ed' turns into 'i' but not if there is a vowel such as 'a' or 'u'). To make their life more complicated their book had also given the verb 'to stop' to conjugate but had not given its correct form in the past tense (none knew that the 'p' doubled). Their teacher wants me to stick to her usual teaching style and spend an hour correcting exercises.
But the upper levels (Segundos, Terceros, and Cuartos) have an insightful teacher, and get a taste of contemporary up-to-date teaching. The rest of the week I will be dealing with them, and they will benefit as usual from the energy I have ingested from their local oranges.
Monday, 27 February 2017
A few random thoughts
We're into the final week and I will be sorry to leave Valencia on Sunday. The city has really grown on me. The good weather has obviously helped - having the warmth of the sun on your face in February is lovely - but I will also miss the friendliness of the people and their relaxed attitude to life (even though it can be challenging when trying to prepare lessons), the Jardín del Turia, patatas bravas, and a whole host of other things.
The teaching side of things hasn't really changed since I last wrote. What I am being asked to cover is more conceptual than during my CELTA e.g. how to write a CV, how to write a formal email, and how to act in an interview. However, during a morning lesson last Friday, when the students were supposed to be working on some English computer programme but I could see some browsing fashion and holiday sites, two girls called me over and began a twenty minute conversation, initially on the upcoming fireworks (which, by the way, were the loudest I have ever heard!), and then on bullfighting. Although they struggled with vocabulary it was heartening to see them making an effort.
I have also been able to visit a primary school (Vicente Trenco, Jemima's placement). It is so different to where I am! So much colour and music; so many smiling faces. I'm not sure I have the patience to teach young children but it was definitely a worthwhile way of spending a few hours.
The teaching side of things hasn't really changed since I last wrote. What I am being asked to cover is more conceptual than during my CELTA e.g. how to write a CV, how to write a formal email, and how to act in an interview. However, during a morning lesson last Friday, when the students were supposed to be working on some English computer programme but I could see some browsing fashion and holiday sites, two girls called me over and began a twenty minute conversation, initially on the upcoming fireworks (which, by the way, were the loudest I have ever heard!), and then on bullfighting. Although they struggled with vocabulary it was heartening to see them making an effort.
I have also been able to visit a primary school (Vicente Trenco, Jemima's placement). It is so different to where I am! So much colour and music; so many smiling faces. I'm not sure I have the patience to teach young children but it was definitely a worthwhile way of spending a few hours.
The Festival of Fallas
The Festival of Fallas
What a weekend! Saturday started off with lesson planning,
housework and washing. As I was hanging
out my on the rooftop of the block of flats I am staying in. Manu, my host, and
the other half of ‘Manu and Rita’ the lovely couple we are staying with, tells
me to look over the edge. My immediate thought was of some adrenaline junkie
view. The view was in fact of people in red fleeces setting up tables and
chairs, with water and a paella pan in preparation for a street party to celebrate
Falles pronounced ‘Fayas’. This is the
Festival of Fire and everyone has Festival Fever. There is loud music emanating
from a street further away.
The celebrations continue into the evening with a firework
display and I had already arranged to meet some of the others and head into
town. Once in town we simply followed the throng of people all heading towards
two bridges where the fireworks were going to take place. What a show! We were treated to a ten minute non-stop
extravaganza. Fireworks exploding all over the place – stars and rockets lit up
the sky, smoke billowing everywhere, all this was followed by a long rumbling
noise which thundered through me, which ended the show with a big bang.
Afterwards we looked for somewhere to eat and stumbled
across a restaurant not far from the main square and more importantly was not
fully booked out. The mother and son who ran the restaurant were very
accommodating and with my basic Spanish and help from other customers we worked
out there was special menu in place due to the festivities.
This consisted of a large salad, goat’s cheese and samosas
looking pastries times two, and a main meal of meat or fish, finished off with
a selection of deserts all one plate. This was a non-tourist restaurant and the
staff bent over backwards to accommodate us – it was a great evening. After a
coffee we headed home.
Sunday morning, more lesson planning and my hostess Rita
informs me that there are more fireworks this evening too! I meet up with Yve
and we head off to the beach, which we find in a round about way due to my map
reading skills. On the beach we find a restaurant with a view of the sea and
order paella, once again we have some confusion over the menu, but we sort it
out even if it was more expensive that we originally thought.
Being so impressed with last nights firework show, I am
eager to see another display and head to another part of town to join the
crowds. This starts with a light show being projected onto the towers of
Valencia, followed by a speech by the Mayor in Valencian, women in their
traditional costumes. The speeches are followed by the national anthem and a
finale of a quick three minute firework display. In contrast to the previous
night this was not the formal kind of show I was expecting. But I can’t
complain as I have witnessed a great event in a wonderful city.
Monday
has come around and we are into our final week of teaching
Thursday, 23 February 2017
The sun always shines on Valencia
While the sun continues to shine, I am not sure I could say
that lessons are shining. I find my nerves have not abated as I can’t seem to
get into the swing of things and I become nervous and forget my lines so to
speak. However this is not stage fright as I enjoy extracting English from the
students.
I feel I have nailed one classroom management
technique – hands up and look around the class. If anyone is struggling with
this easy-on-paper technique, I have realised that the key is to make eye
contact with any student making noise.
Once eye contact is made with the student they realise their culpability.
While I am not suggesting we all go power crazy, it does emit a fleeting sense
of respect between student and teacher.
The school has a great atmosphere with an emphasis on
learning but with fun activities thrown in too. All the teachers in the English department are
very helpful. Other teachers in general
are very friendly and give me an ‘Hola’ in passing despite that fact I am not
the usual teaching staff.
I am not in school today due to exams, but I am busy
thinking about how to incorporate visuals into my lessons and am playing around
with PowerPoint and finding ideas in general which I hope will engage my class.
Also the CIFIRE project rolls on – with presentations to be
given this evening about teaching techniques. So far we have used how to
incorporate the following into lessons: an
activity using a smartphone, a house which made from folding a sheet of A4,
ways to make the textbook more meaningful, blogs and not to mention a host of useful websites
delivering anything from a random name selector
to worksheets/wordsearaches and song lyrics…
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Valencian Oranges
Finally this week I was my good old self again. The Valencian oranges did me more good than the half a dozen medicines I swallowed last week. At least that is what I would like to believe.
But to be honest even when I was ill, I was still in control. This said all the teachers are happy to see me in good shape.
Due to the limited extant facilities at the school the old saying "the early bird catches the worm" has been changed to "the early teacher catches the printer" in Valencia. And until now I have beaten all the teachers in the printing contest by getting to the school before all of them. YouTube has been quite inspiring when it comes to finding supporting material for the lessons. Today's lesson was on ethical fashion and I found a two minute documentary on the subject made in Australia. It helped me to develop a controlled practice exercise for the Tercero students and expose them to the Australian accent. I was looking forward to getting a freshly squeezed orange juice from a nearby café, but the art teacher asked me to observe a student presentation in her class, and share my thoughts. She believed that my Italian would help me understand the entire presentation. At the end she had to ask one of our competent students to translate a section of it into English. I thought they had done a good job at their level. After I left I had only time to get a take away orange juice before starting teaching: "para llevar" is a useful Spanish phrase to know in these conditions.
By now you have guessed: I love oranges, and Valencia is a perfect fit for me.
But to be honest even when I was ill, I was still in control. This said all the teachers are happy to see me in good shape.
Due to the limited extant facilities at the school the old saying "the early bird catches the worm" has been changed to "the early teacher catches the printer" in Valencia. And until now I have beaten all the teachers in the printing contest by getting to the school before all of them. YouTube has been quite inspiring when it comes to finding supporting material for the lessons. Today's lesson was on ethical fashion and I found a two minute documentary on the subject made in Australia. It helped me to develop a controlled practice exercise for the Tercero students and expose them to the Australian accent. I was looking forward to getting a freshly squeezed orange juice from a nearby café, but the art teacher asked me to observe a student presentation in her class, and share my thoughts. She believed that my Italian would help me understand the entire presentation. At the end she had to ask one of our competent students to translate a section of it into English. I thought they had done a good job at their level. After I left I had only time to get a take away orange juice before starting teaching: "para llevar" is a useful Spanish phrase to know in these conditions.
By now you have guessed: I love oranges, and Valencia is a perfect fit for me.
I can't believe that we're halfway through our third week already in what has been a truly fabulous and positive experience alround.
Last weekend was probably my best time for socialising during which I actually found the Anglican Church (don´t die of shock folks LOL)! The whole congregation were so welcoming and friendly and I even learned some of the liturgy in Spanish. A taste of things to come perhaps? We even had sandwiches and cake with tea or coffee after the service which was a lovely, if unexpected surprise!The rest of Sunday was spent finally looking around the beautiful city centre of Valencia with all it´s grand historic buildings, lovely cafe´s´ restaurants and of course the botanical gardens where Hazel, Laura and me were entertained briefly by a young male student practising his saxophone! A lovely moment. The group tapas meal which Alice had arranged for us proved to be the best meal I've had here so far probably because I was able to have some fish which I love. This came in the form of garlic prawns, cod croquets and pilchards on a bread base with salad all washed down with the largest glass of San Miguel I´ve ever seen! After a brief foray to the English Speaking gathering which was fun, I made a mad dash to the metro station to catch the last train back to Masies. On the Saturday morning I´d played the role of interlocutor with a B2 intensive group preparing for speaking exams and taught a session on prefixes and suffixes with a B1 intensive groupwhich I wasn´t expecting but went well nevertheless. Maybe I don´t need planning time LOL!!! I wish!! My best lessons do seem to go well when I haven´t had much time to prepare and over think them and therefore I can improvise more as I love to do! After a late breakfast at the wondeful Bar Valencia,I went home and took Laura´s beautiful golden retriever Thor for a long walk in the 18 degree sunshine before spending an hour relaxing and swimming in her pool in Thor´s wonderfully playful company! LUSH!!
As for the teaching, a critical overview might look like this. Some good lessons with A2, B1 and B2 classes full of interactive activities and games during which I have built a great rapport with my students. Timing has been an issue on occasion but feedback from my first assessed lesson was really positive and encouraging so feeling good about my progress. I might become an EFL teacher yet LOL! Some students have even asked for additional help with preparation for their speaking exams which is nice. The CEFIRE sessions just keep getting better and as far as I´m concerned, I am learning so much from the Spanish teachers as we seek to help develop their proficiency in English. This week each of the native Erasmusers are supervising a small group of teachers who have been given a topic and age group for which they have to plan some activities and other ideas for how to present this. Each group will present to the whole CEFIRE group at the penultimate session next week. This has been a brilliant experience but leaves me feeling like I need to take an ICT as well as a Spanish course when I return to the UK!!
I know I´m nowhere near the finished article and still have much to improve on but thus far I have shown myself more than competent which together with my desire to empower these wonderful students with the English language skills they need to have the chance of the life they wish for themselves is a pretty good foundation to build on I think. My heartfelt thanks to all at UKLC, Laura, Oana and all my fellow Erasmusers for their kindness, support and this golden opportunity, and especially to Jemima, the best house mate ever!
Until next time, keep living and enjoying the dream everyone. I have a speaking exam practice lesson shortly then planning a permanent move to Spain!! Adios amigos and amigas!
Last weekend was probably my best time for socialising during which I actually found the Anglican Church (don´t die of shock folks LOL)! The whole congregation were so welcoming and friendly and I even learned some of the liturgy in Spanish. A taste of things to come perhaps? We even had sandwiches and cake with tea or coffee after the service which was a lovely, if unexpected surprise!The rest of Sunday was spent finally looking around the beautiful city centre of Valencia with all it´s grand historic buildings, lovely cafe´s´ restaurants and of course the botanical gardens where Hazel, Laura and me were entertained briefly by a young male student practising his saxophone! A lovely moment. The group tapas meal which Alice had arranged for us proved to be the best meal I've had here so far probably because I was able to have some fish which I love. This came in the form of garlic prawns, cod croquets and pilchards on a bread base with salad all washed down with the largest glass of San Miguel I´ve ever seen! After a brief foray to the English Speaking gathering which was fun, I made a mad dash to the metro station to catch the last train back to Masies. On the Saturday morning I´d played the role of interlocutor with a B2 intensive group preparing for speaking exams and taught a session on prefixes and suffixes with a B1 intensive groupwhich I wasn´t expecting but went well nevertheless. Maybe I don´t need planning time LOL!!! I wish!! My best lessons do seem to go well when I haven´t had much time to prepare and over think them and therefore I can improvise more as I love to do! After a late breakfast at the wondeful Bar Valencia,I went home and took Laura´s beautiful golden retriever Thor for a long walk in the 18 degree sunshine before spending an hour relaxing and swimming in her pool in Thor´s wonderfully playful company! LUSH!!
As for the teaching, a critical overview might look like this. Some good lessons with A2, B1 and B2 classes full of interactive activities and games during which I have built a great rapport with my students. Timing has been an issue on occasion but feedback from my first assessed lesson was really positive and encouraging so feeling good about my progress. I might become an EFL teacher yet LOL! Some students have even asked for additional help with preparation for their speaking exams which is nice. The CEFIRE sessions just keep getting better and as far as I´m concerned, I am learning so much from the Spanish teachers as we seek to help develop their proficiency in English. This week each of the native Erasmusers are supervising a small group of teachers who have been given a topic and age group for which they have to plan some activities and other ideas for how to present this. Each group will present to the whole CEFIRE group at the penultimate session next week. This has been a brilliant experience but leaves me feeling like I need to take an ICT as well as a Spanish course when I return to the UK!!
I know I´m nowhere near the finished article and still have much to improve on but thus far I have shown myself more than competent which together with my desire to empower these wonderful students with the English language skills they need to have the chance of the life they wish for themselves is a pretty good foundation to build on I think. My heartfelt thanks to all at UKLC, Laura, Oana and all my fellow Erasmusers for their kindness, support and this golden opportunity, and especially to Jemima, the best house mate ever!
Until next time, keep living and enjoying the dream everyone. I have a speaking exam practice lesson shortly then planning a permanent move to Spain!! Adios amigos and amigas!
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