Luke's blog: Número Uno

Hello blog fans!

    I've decided to write these posts as a series of self interviews in order to get my thoughts down about my experience so far.

What are your first impressions of A Coruña?

    To be perfectly honest I did not know much about the city before I arrived apart from that they had a football team and it was on the North West coast. That scared but also excited me as I was jumping into the unknown. However, ever since the first day I've felt at home and comfortable here, the local people are very friendly and patient with my broken Spanish. The varying weather conditions, which change drastically by the hour, make life fun and I feel the uncertainty with the weather has created a laid back and down to earth culture that is pleasant and relatable. Although not the prettiest city in Europe, the undulating hills that the city is built on create some lovely views especially at night when then street lights turn on and I am happy to be here.

Tell me about your first week at Calasancias school.

Rabiya and the rubbish

    A lot has happened in my first week teaching at Calasancias, I've felt more than welcomed since the moment I walked in on Monday morning. Jenny our coordinator has been brilliant helping with any problems at a moment's notice. I've got little experience working in a school and teaching younger learner however I have been given a lot of different ages on my timetable so I can get a taster of teaching all ages. Each age group I teach poses it's own challenges and rewards which by the end of the week had used all my brain's capacity to adapt to. The school can be quite chaotic and I've had to work with numerous supply teachers and Spanish teachers whose English is not so strong and which can be difficult however I feel this will get easier as the weeks progress. I've just gone with the flow so far and I feel this is the best approach. By the end of the week I have struck up friendships with some of the teachers and a lot of the students. Walking around the school with lots of familiar faces saying 'Hello Luke!' is such a nice feeling.

What have been the most memorable moments so far? 

    There are so many to choose from but the ones that jump straight into my mind are just little unexpected moments. The first is from my first class with 2nd grade primary, I decided to play a game with the flashcards that we had been taught the previous week at training in Chester. One of the tricks was to get the pupils to say the vocabulary in a variety of ways. It had been a lively and noisy class until I decided to make the pupils say the words as whispers and the pupils instantly calmed down and sat in a circle. It felt like a breakthrough in methodology for me proving that the class can be controlled by good activities instead of discipline.  
    The second was half way though the week coming out of my class to find the pupils sifting through rubbish that had been cleaned off the beach that morning. This had been led by an ex-fireman who had spent the last 10 years walking the globe to promote environmental issues and had turned up with his proposal that morning. It reminded me that there will be no dull moments when working in a school, which is a blessing.
    The final moment I remember is when I had spent the afternoon at the school alone, I had a couple of hours to kill and felt I had spent too much time in the staff room so I took an excursion to the playground What a revelation! Playing football, volleyball and holding impromptu English lessons with curious students in the pleasant January sun. I'm going to make that a regular occurrence.

Ok that's all for now, thanks for reading. Going to go to watch the  A Coruña vs Valencia game at a local bar this evening so shout out to the Valencia crew hope you are having a great time.

Luke