Holy loud Spanish kids!

Holy cow!  I love my Spanish students, but man are they LOUD!  I'm not sure if it's an excitement thing, a cultural thing, or a kid thing... or a combination of all three... but they sure are noisy!  Days 1, 2, 3, and 4 are complete and went smoothly.  It's fun getting to experience the Spanish education system {there are so many differences, but that's a whole different blog post} and work in a new environment.  For the most part, I've been getting into a routine and learning the expectations.  But on Thursday I started getting to pull small groups.  I have my own little classroom... complete with a CHALKboard, and about 20 minutes for each group.

When was the last time you used a real chalkboard?

This week I worked with 5th and 6th graders.  But next week I will also have groups of 1st graders and groups of high school seniors!  Such a large age difference!  We are going to continue building their knowledge of the alphabet and numbers, but then I'm going to start teaching some vocabulary.  If anyone has some suggestions for how to do this- PLEASE let me know!

I'm going to start with a Halloween theme since that's easy and festive.  But I don't speak much Spanish so it's hard to communicate... so I'm trying to be SUPER organized and planned out!!  I have been scouring Pinterest for lots of ideas, but our internet decides to only work half the time so I'm trying to be creative on my own.  Whew!  It's been a while since I haven't had the help of y'all's blogs and the internet to help me plan! I forgot how hard it was.

Halloween Vocab, Flashcards, and a Crossword Puzzle!

On Friday I was invited to got to join my hubby's 5th grade class on their field trip to the nearby Bellver Castle!  It was built in 1311 by King James II of Mallorca.  It is unique because it is one of the only round castles in Spain!  Soooo cool.

I'm so happy to be back in a classroom but am very nervous to see how this new adventure goes.  I'll be back last in the week to share some more of what we're doing to build up these kiddo's English!

 

Back to School!

Well Wednesday was my first day back to work!  Holy long Summer.  It was orientation, where we got to learn more about the program, meet the teachers we will be working with, and meet other people who are from the US, France, Ireland, the UK, and Australia who are doing the same thing we are doing.  It just shocks me how I am reminded every single day how HUGE our world is.  There are so many people out there who are doing amazing things that I am completely unaware of. 

I think of one the coolest parts of our orientation was that I got to see more of the teacher strike up close and personal.  The director who is trying to implement this new language law, check out my post here or here for more information, spoke to us.  As soon as she was introduced, all of the teachers who are striking stood up and faced the back of the room.  Talk about awkward!  The director continued to share her speech with us in Spanish, English, and Catalan, obviously trying to make a point that she was able to speak multiple languages.  The teachers faced the back of the room the entire time she was speaking and when the director finally stopped {about 20 minutes later}, they all faced forward and sat back down. 

You can see the speaker on the stage and the teachers {in the
green shirts} facing the back of the room.

Before we went to break, the director’s assistant asked that we all went up to take a picture with the director.  It was obviously an attempt to make it appear like everything is kosher, but it was very awkward and uncomfortable.   So, it was cool that we got to see everything in action… not so cool that it was super weird. 

I start in the classroom on Monday!  My official job is to teach English to Spanish speaking students.  The most exciting part of this is that I will be working with ALL age groups {kinder to high school} and bouncing from classroom to classroom.  I can’t wait to be back in a class with kiddos!  

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Hey y’all I am super excited to announce the winner of my giveaway!!  It’s Laura R over at Adventures in Mutligrade!  Be sure to check your e-mail, Laura, so you can collect your $25 gift card to TpT!  Thank you to everyone who entered!! {And be sure to check out her super blog while you're at it!}

All is great here in Spain.  We had been on a serious apartment hunt this past week and finally found one last night!  We’re going to move in this afternoon and we are SO excited to have a “home” after living in hotels for the past two weeks.  I’ve had to hold off on all shopping knowing that I would have to move anything I purchased.  I am SO ready to go hit up Zara.  It may be a little while before we have wifi.  I'm still sitting in a café in order to get a little bit of internet :)

 

Today was supposed to be my first day of work but the teacher strike is still continuing in Spain.  We are living in Palma, which is the largest city on Mallorca.  But one of my school’s is in a smaller city outside of Palma, called Sineu.  We took the train out to Sineu yesterday to find my school and see how the strike is affecting the smaller towns.  Well, it seems as if the smaller towns are the ones really affected by the strike.  Which makes sense I suppose, because how often do the smaller towns have a reason to speak English?  They aren’t huge tourist destinations.  Or the base of larger international companies.  As we walked through the {beautiful beautiful} streets, we saw evidence of the strike hanging from windows and doors

Check out those green shirts

Green shirts everywhere

Even green shirts with the Catalon flag!

And on our way home, we got to even see some of the strike in action!  Teachers were holding a protest in downtown Palma.  We got to walk along, cheer, and support the teachers here, which was awesome! 

 

It was amazing how peaceful but LOUD it was.

Funny side story… I was telling my mom about the protest and she was very worried about “riots” or “violence”.  All it took was a reminder that these people striking are teachers. They’re like me, and any other teacher out there!  I laughed pretty hard at that one J

I hope y’all have a great week!  I am still working hard to finish Unit 3- Opinion Writing as soon as possible!  I am hoping to have it completed by the end of next week.  I apologize for the delay, life has certainly caught up to me these days, but moving into an apartment and getting into a routine will certainly help {I HOPE!!}.

The scary life of teachers on strike

The Majorca Daily Bulletin

Wow!  I am quickly learning so much about the schools here in Spain, and more specifically, in Mallorca.  I received an e-mail yesterday from one of the schools I will be working in.  The language department has been in communication with me and informed me that even though I am supposed to start work on Tuesday, the teachers are striking and so I should not plan on coming into school until I hear back from them.  WHAT? Oh, so that’s why I’ve seen all those green t-shirts….

I had heard bits and pieces about local teachers on stirke but assumed it wasn’t a big deal.  Well I was very, very wrong.  Apparently the government has enforced a rule just last month that states, instead of teachers teaching in Castilian (the Spanish we know) and Catalan (the island’s native language), evenly throughout the day, they are being forced to teach in Castilian, Catalan, AND English equally.  So 33% of the day they will have to teach in English- a language that many of them do not know or only know the basics of. 

Ummmm, what?  How can we blame them for striking?  Do you know Castilian?  Do you know Catalan?  What if our government suddenly told you that you would have to spend 30% of the day teaching in Castilian?  Could you effectively teach math when you are only able to teach it in Catalan?  I know I would not, could not, be an effective math teacher like that.  The amazing thing is however, the teachers are totally fine with having to do this.  It’s just that it was enforced last month.  Where’s the training?  Where’s the support?  There is none.  Give them time and they can adapt.  However, time is not being provided and thus teachers are striking. 

The other side here is the students.  Not all students have been raised in homes that speak English.  So even if you were trained in Castilian and walked into your classroom and gave a rockin’ math lesson, in perfect Castilian, would all of your students understand the lesson?  In order to implement something like this, teachers and students need time.  They need to slowly be immersed into this.  They need to learn together, not separately or all in one month.  There needs to be proper implementation, which it seems there is not. 

Source

I definitely do not have an answer to this problem but I am excited to learn more about it and see where it goes.  I know this is only the beginning of me learning about educational life in Spain.  I cannot imagine something like this happening in the States, unless a charter school begins a “Dual Immersion” program, or something of the sorts.  As a teacher here, I am so excited to broaden my knowledge of education and hope that we can all {as teacher bloggers and blog readers} start sharing what we do and what we know, so that we can all be better teachers.  What do you think about this strike?  What do you think about having to learn a new language?  Students having to learn a new language?  Have you ever heard or seen anything similar happen?   I cannot wait to see what you have to say.

In other, far less serious, news- be sure to check out my GIVEAWAY!!  You can win $25 to Teachers Pay Teachers!!  Go enter here NOW!!  It ends tomorrow J

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The woes of living in Spain...

Are few and far between.  Except that as a teacher blogger, it is near to impossible to find internet.  The initial flat/piso we were staying in had internet graciously illegally provided by the restaurant downstairs.  We then booked an apartment for the week that was supposed to have internet.  But we’re in Spain and when you are told there is internet, it turns out it may just be in the lobby.  And it may or may not work.  And you may have to go across the street and blog at a café while drinking café con leche.  {Which are heavenly, btw, as I currently am sipping on one at said café}.  This also makes it a bit more challenging to finish my most recent product {Opinion Writing- Unit 3}, which I am working on bit by bit every day!  Thank you to those of you who stop by and read my blog and support me- it makes the running around much more worth it J  We’re off to explore the Wine Festival in a nearby town!  Happy Saturday teacher friends!  Be sure to enter my GIVEAWAY celebrating reaching 100 followers on Tpt!!  The winner will get $25 to TpT!  It ends Monday!!
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May I also mention that as I sit in a European café, sipping coffee, working on my laptop, I feel this crazy need to smoke a cigarette... So very Carrie Bradshaw of me. 

Blue Water? Sandy Toes? Yes Please!!

Have you ever felt like you just had died and gone to heaven?  Well, that's exactly how I felt when we walked up to the beach today. 

We live only THIRTY minutes from here??

 I found a beach online that was a little trickier to get to than most, but still only 30 minutes away {via bus}.  So we took off to check it out.  And boy were we rewarded for our adventure. 

It's going to be hard to get back into a routine next week :)

GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY, GIVEAWAY!!

Woohoo!!  Mucho gracias!!  Thanks to you all out there- I have reached 100 (101 actually!!) followers on TpT!  WOOOHOOO!!  Y'all are just the BEST!  Thank you for your support. 

Soooo, in order to celebrate, I am hosting a GIVEAWAY for $25 to TpT!  Just enter using the raffle below.  The giveaway ends at midnight next Monday! 

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