Pero que haces aquí?!

Whenever I meet new people here they're curious to find out why an American girl from Miami, FL is living in this small Spanish city.

So what exactly brought me to Albacete?

Well over two years ago in my first blog entry I wrote about the scholarship/grant I had applied for to teach English in the bilingual sections of public schools in Spain. That government-funded program sent me to a secondary school (here it's 7th - 12th grade) in Albacete, and I was there for two years working with the teachers and 7^th – 9^th grade students.

The job was pretty easy. It consisted of working 12-13 hours a week in the bilingual classrooms. Each grade takes English and in addition to that they also take three subjects taught in English. Some classes I worked in were Natural Science, Art and Biology.

In English class we usually played games and did interactive activities where the students were forced to speak and practice their English. Some days I gave a presentation about my life or American culture topics such as Thanksgiving Day, Black History month and High School life to name a few. The students were usually curious about what life in the States really is.

The other hours were dedicated to helping the teachers of other subjects. Depending on the teacher and the subject my involvement in the class differed. In art for example, we paid extra attention to improving the students’ pronunciation of the vocabulary they were learning. I would walk around and ask the students to explain in their own words what assignment they were working on. But in one of the science classes I was in charge of teaching the lesson. Sometimes it involved a worksheet and some exercises related to what they were studying. Here we would practice reading aloud, reading comprehension and most of all practicing their speaking skills. If at any moment I wasn’t sure about what to ask or where to take the lesson, the teacher sat in the back and helped me lead the class.

On my last day at IES Universidad Laboral

One of my students participating in a Thanksgiving Day activity
(I would like to post more pictures of me in the classroom but in Spain it's illegal to post pictures of minors) 

Because the job consisted of working for a few hours in the mornings I had plenty of extra time to give private classes. Some were with my own students at the high school while others were with teenagers whose mom or dad got my number from some other mom or dad. By the second year I was refusing new students every other week because I simply didn’t have the time to give more classes.

Most of the students in the bilingual section understand a lot of what I’m saying and can actually carry on a conversation in English. Some days I visited English classes in the non-bilingual sections and I saw for myself the impact the bilingual section and native speakers have on the students. In the other classes the students are rarely forced to speak English. Most of the curriculum consists of grammar and rephrasing. Basically a student can translate a whole piece of text but were incapable of having a conversation about what they did that past weekend.

this is a joke describing how some English-learning students can be

I was lucky to be in the same school both years. This allowed me to get to know the teachers and especially the students and watch them improve their English. I got the chance to work alongside some really great teachers who really love what they do.

Unfortunately, by the end of my second year the government had announced that they intended to cut the program for the following year due to the budget cuts in the education sector.

banners made by my seventh graders

A sign made by a student on the last day of my first year at the school

I didn’t want to end my work in teaching ESL so I’ve decided to do my Masters in English in Secondary schools. This will allow me to work in semi-private and public schools (if I take the state exam called the oposición). The masters lasts one year and consists of the first semester taking classes and the second semester interning at a public school for a few months and then presenting a final project.  I’m halfway done with my classes and eager to begin the ones that pertain to my specialty, English.