Adonde fueres haz lo que vieres: Long Overdue

Let me start by apologizing for not updating in so long, I lost track of time. You know how it goes when you're having fun, and I'm having a lot of fun. I absolutely love teaching. I spend my free time making new lessons and one thing leads to another and before I know it I'm geeking out on sites dedicated to ESL teachers. There are so many resources out there for people teaching English as a second language. I'm also realizing that it so much more than just teaching English as a second language, I am teaching my culture even when that is not the focus of lesson. Let me explain, the Spanish education system is very distinct from the American education system, in some ways it's better but in many ways it's not. I am trying really hard to learn all of the students names, something that would make one of the few, if not the only, teacher at this school to know all of their students names. It's just not one of the priorities in the Spanish schools. I find this concept one of the hardest to grasp, most of the differences I am able to manage without batting an eye, but I refuse to be complacent with this one. I also love to prepare activities for the students to do in class as opposed to the typical or traditional passing of information from teacher to student, lecture style. I am putting so much effort into providing a mix of teaching methods so that each student can feel catered to at some point during lesson. Teaching in this way is another cultural difference, it is not expected that the teachers provide a span of creative lessons, it is more solely lecture based here. Many of the teachers at CPI are working on changing this as they have noticed that the students aren't learning as much as they would them like to, and this in turn has led to an increased effort on the part of the teachers. I think it is wonderful to see that so many of the teachers at this school have noticed on their own that things need to change in the education system and are taking the initiative to do so. I have so much fun with the students when I get to teach on my own, something that happens with more and more frequency each week (but shhhhh, it's technically not allowed with my program, but I'm not complaining because it's the greatest). Last week I had half of the rowdiest class to myself (Isabel kept the other half and this week we swap halves) and I had a few activities planned to have fun with the grammar that they were learning. The students were so goofy and so talkative during the whole class time, but they did it almost 100% in English, I was blown away.

Another part of my job description is to directly share my culture through presentations. Doing this has given me a greater appreciation for where I come from. I've never had any reason to think about all the details or the "why's" of the American lifestyle, but I am so glad that now I do. Right now I am focusing on Halloween, this week and next week as well I have to prepare Halloween activities and presentations. I even get to make a presentation on "How to Carve a Pumpkin" for the Art class. The students are loving learning about American culture along with learning English.

Outside of school I am slowly learning how to live a more "Spanish" life. Trips to the grocery store often need to accompanied by a break for a caña or coffee, depending on the time of day, because Lord knows that the walk to the corner needs to be broken with a stop at one of five cafe options I am blessed with. Going out means we don't leave the flat until sometime after 1am, and a return home before 5am is lucky. Sunday's are for family, but for those of us who live too far from our families, they are for nursing the injury any Saturday night in Spain would cause.

I am also enjoying being Obama's advocate in Spain. I'm his fan numero uno, and I make sure everyone knows it. I mailed my ballot yesterday and fully expect that all of you will vote as well, even if you vote for the wrong candidate, democracy is the best! Speaking of which, Galicia had their state elections this week, and the people here are not happy with the outcome. The PP, partido popular, won the elections (here every vote is a straight-ticket vote, you vote by party not by individual candidates) and the party is said to favor the rich. This has led to many complaints about the what the future of Galicia looks like, and these complaints are starting to take the form of protests. Since the PP has their office in front of my apartment building I spent awhile enjoying this protest last night. Don't worry, the protests are just chants (warning that the re-election of the PP is a direct line back to the Franco era), and they are peaceful. Just an outlet of frustration.

Protest against the re-election of the PP at my front door (filmed from my window, Angel and I and all our neighbors had our heads out the windows, a bunch of looky lous)