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 9th 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
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