El Secundo Blog!

Hi ya folks,

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last blog!

It's certainly a fast pace of life here in A Coruna!

Had an amazing (albeit somewhat draining) weekend with everyone staying here at A Coruna, involving a couple hours of Spanish and many sights and bars.

I'm now into my last week at Salesianos San Don Busco School and I'm amazed that what once appeared as a daunting name for a school now trips of my tongue so easily.  Maybe helped by my lesson to 2nd Eso this week on 'El Dia de San Juan Bosco' which coincidentally happens to be today 31st January!   As well as learning so much about Spanish children and teenagers, I feel I have learnt so much more about their culture, Saints and Catholicism from my time spent in this delightful school.  Students are quite excitable this week due to the celebrations at the moment and it's really lovely to be greeted by them both outside and within the school.  When the students wave at me in town, I really start to feel like a local.

After the city tour on Sunday (of the bars) no, the sights, I mean, A Coruna has really impressed me.   I already thought that the city centre is charming with it's mixture of large historic plazas, little paved alleyways and Colonial buildings and boulevards, but having seen the impressive coastline that this city is situated on I really was blown away!  And for once I don't mean this literally, as the evasive sun had decided to grace us with it's presence that day and at times it was a balmy 15 degrees or so.  I think we all welcomed the sunshine on our faces and I certainly appreciated the opportunity to upack  my sunglasses and take some 'blue sky' photos to send to the folks back home enjoying the January drizzle.

Yesterday, again the sun was out and I enjoyed a short but stimulating stroll at lunchtime along the seafront and found the sculpture of the two surfers, which I had spotted on Sunday on the coach tour.  Also, to be seen were several sunbathers on the beach tucked into the sunniest corner and having a picnic.   After teaching finished in the evening, I enjoyed my best hot chocolate, ever! Such a good idea, Harry! It honestly tasted like chocolate custard and took me back to memories of school dinners.  I used a teaspoon to consume most of it apart from what stuck to my lips.

I need to get myself into school soon for the fiestas so I shall blog again.

Luke's Blog: Número Tres

Hello everyone,

Time for  another blog entry, after a very eventful week and weekend.

Flashcard fun

How's your third week gone working at the school?

    I have to admit it wasn't all plain sailing last week. A combination of lesson cancellations due to exams, the adrenaline wearing off from the first two weeks and thoughts of uncertainty about returning home and what happens next did get me down in the middle of the week. Although the news of lesson cancellations is a dream for some people, I learnt the unwelcome truth years ago that happiness only comes from being busy, productive and feeling useful. The beer just doesn't taste as sweet if you haven't earned it. There were some successes, my 6 B primary class is such a joy to teach, really lovely kids who i get to do a mixture of English and Art classes with. It's definitely an age group I'd like to work with more in the future.

The not so rubbish 6 B, in the process of making Harry Potter outfits

Your coordinator Jenny invited you out for a meal on Friday, did you enjoy yourself?

    What a legend Jenny is, Rabiya, Anna and I joined her and two other teachers from the school at a tapas restaurant in the old town for an overdue soiree. It was such a good evening and exactly what the doctor ordered. Jenny even surprised us by inviting us to use her families season tickets to go watch the football with her the next day (Deportivo are 18th out of 20 so maybe that's why). It was definitely a good thing socialising with the other teachers, getting advice from those who had been through it and survived to tell the tale as well as having a laugh outside of the formality of the school. It was a great game of football on Saturday, Deportivo threw a 2-0 lead away to draw 2-2 but there was plenty of action and atmosphere. Everyone got something different out of the game,Rabiya definitely enjoyed the excitement whereas Anna (a former music teacher) was more interested in the choral chanting than the football. Sunday was aptly named as the Sun finally arrived in time for our organised tour of A Coruña, it was such a lovely day seeing the beauty spots and learning more of the history of the city.

Front row football

It's your final week, how do you feel?

    This weekend has been my busiest but the best one since I arrived, Jenny's generosity and having a bit of fun has rejuvenated me and I want to enjoy my last week here and make the most of it. It has been a steep learning curve and I must have been nervous in the first week as it has been mentioned to me numerous times now, even by a set of parents of students I teach who had been told by the teacher. I'm still a bit anxious about what happens next but it's been a fantastic experience so far and one of the best decisions I've ever made. So a big thanks to all the people who have made this possible. 

Sometimes all you need is a different perspective

That's it for this week. I'll be writing a final summary once this last week is over. Enjoy your final days and I will too!

Luke

Having a blast

Our last weekend.

Next week is partly winding down, finishing topics, saying goodbye; and partly panicking about the final observation! So, our final weekend was chilled and delightful, like the Albarino.
Before I plunge into a final session of lesson planning, I made a wee presentation of some of my memories of Coruna. My heart is here now, and always will be.

Santiago fun!

It’s halfway through week 3 and I think I’m (finally) starting to get the hang of things here!

At the weekend we visited the beautiful Santiago de Compostela and received a guided tour. As we sat on our minibus and watched the countryside glide past, it became foggy and started to rain. Pulling into Santiago, the mist added to the city’s medieval intrigue and we began our tour.

It turns out that the origins of Santiago are a bit of a mystery. Founded in the 9^th century when someone spotted a glowing box (later discovered to contain relics), the cathedral was built across two centuries. It contains amazing sculptures, shrines and a large model of Saint James in the altar. Whilst we were there we saw a huge incense burner swinging around the church—pictures below 😊. I stood at the side, under the cathedral’s stone arches. Apparently, the burner has come loose and fallen into the crowd during this ceremony before, so I wasn’t brave enough to sit in a pew!

After we had seen the church, we looked around the town and the park. Walking through the narrow streets, the city felt very peaceful. We later discovered that Santiago has its own special cake—made from almonds, yum!

School has been busy, fun and lively. This week I am focusing on uncountable and countable nouns (still managing to confuse myself 😊) with Primary 6. I decided that I needed to model the language explicitly, but I also wanted to make it fun and interactive. To do this, the students are sorting nouns, making shopping lists and asking each other what they have in the fridge. I even have a food rapping video as a warmer 😊). I’ve also been creating ‘fake news’ for an upper secondary group to practise writing news articles. Meanwhile, my infintil class are obsessed with ‘wind the bobbin up’ and 'Tommy Thumb'.

Luckily, and I say this with a deep sigh of relief, the paper mache balloons are finally..FINALLY starting to harden. I don't think I have ever been so worried about paper, glue and balloons before. Thankfully (hopefully) the masks will work and Primary 5 will have beautiful masks by the end of next week. Watch this space.

I'm still trying to make every lesson as interactive as possible (not always a success), but the help and support from the school each step of the way has been incredible; I feel very lucky to be here. Next week I'm attempting to move tables during a class to play a game of 'I have never...' - wish me luck!

That’s all for now,

Harry

Finally managed to negotiate the site and be able to post a blog - albeit at the third attempt, several security alerts from google and 300 emails which filled up my inbox from a site created by Nathan. Had a good experience so far. I have learned a lot especially about the Cambridge system for assessing English and the exams that students have to take to get through it. I’ve also been lucky in the sense that it has been possible to implement some of the useful techniques learned in Chester through UKLC and also theCELTA course. Moncada is very quiet - to put it as charitably as possible. But it is a very friendly place and seems completely safe - unlike many places in the uk. Valencia is a great city and it has been really good to see it and spend time socialising there with the other people on the placement in this area. Although I am much older than almost everyone, everyone has been really inclusive and friendly, and that aspect of the experience has been really great. The staff at schola - my language school - could not have been more accommodating so I would recommend this experience to anyone. The cost of living is quite low as well so the 10 pounds a day subsistence allowance is easily enough to buy food and any other essentials.

Just like being back home..

I knew it couldn't last.

Twenty four degrees of sunshine, a soft sea breeze, sunbathing in January...  it's hard to believe that this time a week ago I was paddling in the sea on a beautiful remote beach in Valencia.

This morning I woke at around 5 a.m to flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, followed later by heavy intermittent downpours. It's a blessing in many ways, as apparently there has been no rain here for months, and sitting in the flat on a dull Sunday afternoon listening to the rain hammering down outside is a good way to prepare myself for a return to Welsh weather (rain) and conversation (complaining about rain).

It's the end of my third week here in Gandia; one more week to go before we fly back next Sunday. When I reflect on my time here, the first thing that comes to mind is the wonderful welcome that I have received from the teachers at my school. Even the dinner ladies speak to me in English, going out of their way to help me. Nothing has been too much trouble for anyone, and I feel very lucky to be placed here. But it's the children that have really made it for me.

It is obviously a novelty for them to have a foreign English teacher, but the way that some Primary students call out and wave when they see me is nothing short of delightful, and more than makes up for the deafening noise they make when they are all together in class! They pronounce my name as three syllables, so everywhere I go in school I hear 'Hello, Cath-e-rine!" 

Watching the way that lessons are carried out has been a revelation, and there are some surprising paradoxes. All the children have ipads now, which I think is a double-edged sword, as pupils often start playing games of their own, or use the translation service to hand me a screen with a sentence of English that they have merely pressed a button to reveal. This is not how they will learn a language.

But technology brings advantages too, not least the wide range of speaking and listening exercises that can be carried out. Several lessons have involved a Kahoot, which is an interactive multiple-choice quiz that is displayed on a whiteboard in the class. The game is taken very seriously: scores are kept, and at the end the winner's name appears on the screen. He or she is then treated to a round of applause by the rest of the class, followed by ecstatic hugs and kisses from close friends.

Instead of handing work in, pupils take a copy of it, email it to the teacher, who then marks it, makes comments and sends it back to them via the school's internal software. Yet the school has no colour printer, and when I asked for blu-tac to stick my Rules on the board, none could be found. (Luckily Anna gave me some, which has been a blessing.)

Each teacher takes their own white-board pen to class, so I have had to order four for this week in order to be able to do a Board Rush with one class. And classrooms are not heated, but the Staff Room is heated to 22 degrees, which is often unbearably hot for me.

I do think that it would be a great idea for UKLC teachers to be issued with coloured, laminated copies of the Rules, as they have gone down well. One of my teachers commented that she had noticed a change in the behaviour of the students since we started using the Rules.  But my four black-and-white copies need replacing now, and would stand out far more in the classroom if they were in colour.  In the future, good quality laminates could perhaps be left as a reminder for pupils once the teachers have returned home to the UK.

On Tuesday it's the Day of Peace, and the whole school will be singing a song for Peace in the playground. I wonder how long peace will last once they go back to their classrooms afterwards....!!

So, CLIL....did anybody ask the kids what they thought??

Coming from a secondary school teaching background, I'm well familiar with the  problems of teaching an Arts subject. It's not a core subject, it doesn't matter, it won't get you a job, it's boring, etc. etc. But, the schools have to offer it, so they fill the dead spaces in the timetable with these lessons. Last thing before lunch, last lesson on Friday afternoon, you get the idea. The few musical/artistic kids don't mind, they look forward to these lessons as much as they dread them. The rest of the class behave like zoo animals, all inhibitions thrown to the wind. They have behaved themselves all day, concentrating on their English, Maths, Science, Technology, because they grudgingly accept they need these subjects to succeed in life. They enjoy feeling smart, their schools value them and reward their good work (these are the grades that count, in the league tables!) But, put them in a Music class, or Art, or Drama, at the end of a busy day..? All you will hear is "Miss, why do we have to learn this? It's boring! It's stupid! It's pointless, I'm dropping it next year anyway!"
 And so on. Week after week. Grinds a person down.

So, the solution? Add yet another layer of opportunity to disengage! Not only is the subject boring, difficult, pointless, a bit lame, not even compulsory next year, but....

We're going to teach it in your second language! 

Pity the poor TEFL teacher who is faced with a non-core CLIL subject. In Spain, no school is forced to teach Music after Senior 3 year. So my school doesn't. If you want to study Music post-15, you have to go to another school. So, it's not that high on anybody's list of priorities. Madrid forces them to offer CLIL, to improve English. But, for whatever reason, my school has opted for the 'safe' option of attaching the CLIL to non-core subjects, where the final grade doesn't really matter to anybody. Perhaps I am being terribly unfair and this is not an accurate picture. But it seems that way to me. And I love my school, I really do. I love working there and I'm really going to miss it. But, just right now, I don't mind if I never see another Senior 3 Music class!! This is NOT what I moved into ELT for!!

It's been good for me to learn this. I will plan my job applications carefully.. So, looking on the bright side. But, OMG I'm very, very tired!

BLOG 5 24 out of 25 is a high success rate

BLOG 5 24 out of 25 is a high success rate

Thursday is my busiest day in school and yesterday was the first day in 3 weeks that overall, I didn’t enjoy it. So, to date in 2018, 24 out of 25 days have been happy, joyful and challenging in a positive way for me. That is a great success rate.

So, what happened yesterday? I had a good, deep sleep. I was at school in good time. Maybe I felt a little less prepared, a little less confident … and that seeped into my whole day incrementally. With each class I felt a little more tired, a little less able to manage, a little less good-humoured, and so by my 5^th class which I thought would be great … I just wasn’t coping anymore.

I met this group of teens last week. We did one to ones and spoke about travel and holidays together. They were lovely! So interesting, expressive and well-mannered. Already a well-travelled bunch, with aspirations of solo trips in their adult lives, especially to the US.

Yesterday, with the whole class, things were not so good. So yes, it was the 5^th class of the day – I was already feeling very sensitive and by the end of it I had to put my hands up and say to my fellow PAIS teacher and our co-ordinator, ‘I need to go home now’.

And I did. And it was the best decision for me – and my students in the last class of the day. Small children do not need to see a sad Sara if there is cover in place.

So, I came home. I asked Anna for a brew and a hug and she kindly obliged. And then I got into bed and slept the whole night …

What could I have done differently yesterday? Think further ahead.  Plan further ahead. To make myself feel secure and confident. This is not my strong suit. But I know it isn’t from my previous career and it’s something I will always have to continue to work on. Over the years I have found some tips that can help and am always looking to learn from others to find out how they do it. So I can find MY groove.

Today is a new day. A new beginning. I feel bright again.

I have space to plan, to do my laundry, to get out in the fresh air and see something of the city. I would call that – very, very fortunate.

Albufera Sunset

Yesterday afternoon I had a relatively early finish from school and took the metro into Valencia to meet up with four of the nicest people I know in Spain. Haroun is like God, insofar as he has long hair, a beard and is known by many names... and he's very good at organising. So totes props to Haroun for organising our trip to Albufera. As you can see from the pics, it was a beautiful evening, so peaceful out on the lake and our boatman, Paco (centre) told Haroun all about the history of the inland lake which he then translated into English for the slower members of the class. 

There's a mystical light on the lake, a huge population of cormorants, wild ducks, geese and even one or two eagles.

 Mi companeros Valencianos (y Paco)

 The locals fish and hunt from these lake houses, and the water is used to irrigate the rice paddies. Albufera is the second biggest region for rice production in Spain. You're welcome.

 As I said, the light has a mystical quality and the late evening sun presented us with a very calming sunset. We were all super-chilled, especially Tom who apparently, does not own a pair of socks.

So, that was yesterday evening. Chilled as a chilled thing.

Tonight, I went for a short run out of Moncada and saw these two out for an evening stroll

- 75, if they are a day. Cute or what?

Whatever the question, love is the answer.

Exploring

Wednesday Waves

After a great day at school, Dan phoned to tell us (Cameron and I) that we HAD to walk down to the beach to meet him and Aminah. He wouldn’t tell us why, so naturally our imaginations were running away... Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the beach to witness the largest waves I have ever seen! It was incredible! Most of the water looked white because of the bubbles, and the spray was reaching at least 10m – if not higher?! (I’m not the best at judging things like this, but it was very high!) There were small crowds of local people also taking photographs, and expressing the same excitement as us.

Saturday Sightseeing

After our well-deserved lie in, the Calasanz crew went out for a day of exploring around A Coruña. We started off on the bus… but soon decided that it would be more exciting to get lost walking to, and around, the Old Town instead. First stop: Aminah needed tea – shock! (Big love) 😄

After wondering around some of the shops, we then were in search for some food and found a pizza place… I know, fully experiencing the Spanish culture.🙈 Once fed, we walked to the María Pita Square (the most important square in the city). It is known for the City Hall and statue of the local heroine, María Pita.

Following a deep and meaningful conversation in a beautiful café, we meandered towards the sea to watch the waves and take some more photographs.

Our final stop was The Tower of Hercules. It was breath-taking. The sun was setting and you could hear the crashing of the waves. It was perfect. 😍 We didn’t want the day to end and so we followed the path to the end of the peninsular and contemplated life... It was late, and almost dinner time so we headed back home to see the rest of our fabulous Erasmus family!

View from the Tower of Hercules

The Tower of Hercules

I had so much fun, laughing and reflecting on this amazing experience. Couldn’t be happier!

Sunday Strolls

Our first excursion started with an early breakfast and a fairly short minibus journey to Santiago de Compostela.

What a beautiful city!! Our very informative guide met us at the café, provided us with a headphone and radio set, and then directed us towards the Cathedral (highlighting points of interest on the way).

The cathedral is spectacular! It has a medieval structure that has been preserved since 1075.   After looking around the museum and viewing the relics, we had the opportunity to watch the large incense swing. It was originally used to cover the smell of the pilgrims who would stay in the cathedral overnight. (I hope the video works on here 🙈)

The Cathedral of Santiago is open all year round for visitors and Pilgrims who have either walked, cycled, or ridden on horseback to view the Tomb of the Apostle Saint James the Elder. Here, the pilgrims receive their last stamp from their journey and the traditional certificate, known as the Compostela.

There are over one hundred different pilgrimage routes to Santiago, including the French Way (the most popular), the Northern Way, the Primitive Way, the English Way, the Portuguese Way and many more. The pilgrimage has become more popular over the past few years, bringing more tourists to the city.

In the afternoon, we had some free time to eat and look in the shops. I ordered a hot chocolate but received a glass of melted chocolate… obviously something was lost in translation. 😊 It tasted amazing! But I couldn’t finish it...

At the entrance of Santiago park, we were greeted by the 2 o’clock ladies. They were women (now statues) who used to dress in brightly coloured clothes and wear lots of makeup, whilst everyone else mainly wore black. They were the light during a very difficult time for their family.

I wish I recorded all of the information that we were being told as it was really interesting. I think the next picture describes the day best:

Such a great team! 💖

 A massive THANK YOU to Fran for organising this trip!!

Chloe J

Oranges Are The Only Fruit

Before I came to Valencia in January, I had visions of wandering through scented orange groves and eating a healthy diet of tomato salad, fish, locally-produced extra-virgin olive oil, cheap wine and the occasional tapas.

So far I have managed to do the first, as you can see from the photo below:

Orange trees are everywhere in this region - we passed groves of them on the train to Gandia; they line the city streets and squares, and the markets are full of their fruit.

Last weekend I went to stay with a Spanish friend in Valencia, and she squeezed local oranges to make juice for breakfast.

I'm still waiting to have my tomato salad, although at least there was some raw tomato mixed with oregano and olive oil to spread over the toast with local ham that we ate with the orange juice..
.

For lunch, we decided to try a tapas bar near the market. Great, I thought, some nice little nibbles.

This was our first starter, a sharing plate of calamares (squid).

After that came this dish of pork with potatoes:

followed by a plate of Morcilla de Burgos with onion and honey. Morcilla is a type of black pudding from the North of Spain. To be fair, we couldn't finish this.

In the evening we drove to watch the sun set over a beautiful lake called La Albufera. It's a very popular spot and the atmosphere was magical, with lots of people standing, sitting by the lake and just watching the sun go down.

After that we rounded the evening off with a typical Spanish drink called Horchata, which is made with tiger nuts and is drunk cold, accompanied by a type of doughnut called churros.

The next day the temperature reached 24 degrees, so we drove to the beach. I must say that I had found the beaches around Gandia and Valencia very built-up and rather soulless, so my friend took me to a quieter spot called Almarda, where we paddled. I had intended to go in the sea but it was just too cold.

Before I caught my train back to Gandia on Sunday evening, we stopped for a quick supper, which proved tricky as we were outside normal restaurant opening times. Luckily we found a chain called The Gourmet Burger and managed to order an Eco Burger each, served with sweet potato fries. It was so delicious that I didn't want to stop eating it long enough to take a photo, though I did manage to photograph the beers.

That's one good thing about metrication - at least the beers come in nice big glasses.

We go back to the UK a week on Sunday, and I'm determined to fit in a tomato salad at least once before I go. Definitely.