Classroom Shenanigans

Greetings humans,

Ten days in, it's time I tell you a little more about my place of work. I work at Sagrada Familia Valencia which is one of seven schools run by nuns. When a Valencian teacher explained that to me in broken English, I thought she meant that there were seven schools ran by seven nuns. I got excited thinking some kind of prophecy had to be fulfilled. No oracle or prophecy (this time), but a collective of nuns doing a great job at educating kids between Valencia and Barcelona. It's a very family-oriented school, I do feel like I fit in well there as staff have been welcoming and really friendly to me. 

Walking past the Nou Mestalla on my way to work every morning

Having spent the last five years in Manchester, I am in a good mood every single day because the sky is blue. Actual blue, not a pale shade of white. How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky? My timetable is pretty packed but the gaps I have in between lessons gives me just enough time to lesson plan and to feed my coffee addiction. 

I work with three different teachers (two in secondary and one in primary) and I feel really grateful because they give me a lot of freedom to teach and adapt my lessons. I wasn't told when one of them was ill for a couple days which meant I was thrown in class for a few hours without any preparation. It confirmed for me that it can be the best way to learn as I used to spend too much time lesson planning and struggled to only prep for a bit, but I managed it and it showed me it was possible therefore I'm quite glad with that first week achievement. 

First class with primary school students

I worked as a teaching assistant in England in a secondary school therefore I was well happy to get given a couple of classes in primary for the first time. It's a pleasure to go to class to teach any species that isn't a teenager. 

To finish with some feedback about the actual teaching, so far it's been a positive experience for me thanks to the following: sticking to the rules, peer-teaching, working in groups and especially praising kids a lot. I don't think they're that used to getting positive feedback at times, so it means a lot even if they haven't done much. I've also been telling them that I will try to speak a little Spanish if they try in English and they love it. Did I mention "Finding Nemo" stickers? I almost lost a finger handing them out. 

I am not a teacher but an awakener. 

Haroun 🙌