Would you believe that this is how they spell Halloween in England?: Hallowe´en (the English they teach to the students here is for the large part all British English... quite different). Who knew? I guess they are just splitting up the word into what it used to be: All Hallow´s Eve. I´ve actually studied a little bit about the origen of Halloween with the help of my profesors so that I can teach our students.
All Hallow´s Eve was once a Pagan festival of the dead celebrated by Celtic tribes in the ancient British Isles. They believed that this was the night when spirits and other supernatural beings came around, looking for trouble. Soooo, their bright idea was to wear scary costumes to ward them off while their druids or other people lit bonfires and performed other such fanfare to do the same. There are a bunch of other legends, but basically after many years the Church officially created All Saints Day out of All Hallow´s Day, recognizing the memory and worship of various saints, along with marking a day of remembrance for deceased family and friends also. Halloween, therefore, came from the Celts, who eventually left their homes and (along with their traditions) came to America. Kind of crazy.
So they don´t celebrate Halloween so much in Spain. Not much at all, actually. I was talking to my students about it, and I agree: it would be much more difficult to celebrate it here in the same way that we do back in the U.S. First of all, they all live in apartments here. Trick-or-treating would consist of ringing someone´s bell from the ground level and talking to them over the intercom, while they (wondering what the heck is going on) are up on the second, third, and fourth levels are asking: what? candy?
My profesors insisted that Halloween was gaining in popularity in Spain... though it´s still nothing at all in comparison to what we do in the U.S. I think that people are just more aware of it now than ever before. It´s celebrated widely in England... though I´m not sure of similarities between us and them.
Anyways... Abby and I are hosting a little Halloween party tomorrow night with our fellow auxiliares (assistant teachers). We´re getting everyone over to have pizza and pop. A real American style get-together. Actually, pizza is very very popular here also, especially amongst the youth. Their pizza is much like our pizza at home (I think we even have a Pizza Hut here in Logroño...).
The principal of my primary school gave me some free tickets to a local basketball game late last week; and so Abby and I went, had some concession food, watched, and had a pretty good time. The team is semi-professional, and not too bad as far as their division goes (I think they´re fifth of like 15 or so). They lost to a pretty good team. It´s fun and different to watch them play zone defense all the time. Logroño´s team has three African American players on it! A couple of them are very good. Abby and I laughed and cheered the whole game (especially when the announcer or the fans would talk about Stevie Johnson--the star from America). Not as good as Kevin Garnett, but we might go and watch them again sometime.
We are planning on going to San Sebastian this coming weekend. We already booked a bus trip (we think about two hours straight north in Basque Country--a different Spanish province located on the northern coast) and a hotel right in the middle of the city. San Sebastian is a big resort town, and it has two gigantic beaches along with a lot of ancient cathedrals and interesting monuments. I visited there the last time I went to Spain in 2004. It was summer when I was there last, and so I think this time will be a very different experience. The weather will likely be about 60 (I hope) and so it´s safe to say that I will not be swimming, nor will I be taking any sun while lying sprawled out and relaxed on the beautiful sandy beaches. Siiiigh, que pena (translation: bummer...).
But nothing to worry about. We´re going to see the sights and report back. San Sebastian, like I said, is in Basque Country, a unique place in Spain where they have their own separate culture. They speak a different language and everything. I hope to learn a little bit more about how they´re different.
Well, if you´ve read this far without the help of pictures, I salute you. Still waitin for the internet at our apartment, so it´s tougher for me to upload pictures whenever I want to. Things will be getter, I promise. Stay cool for me.
Ben
I dunno if this link will work... but try it out. There some great photos of the city of San Sebastian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebasti%C3%A1n
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Photo Update
Hey everyone. Just to let you know, I updated the photo section of my blog with a bunch of shots I took when I was in Zaragoza. Here is the site again: http://picasaweb.google.com/b2kohler. You can also see it at the left margin of my page if you scroll down. It's called My Pictures. I hope to put up some more soon of my adventures here in Logrono. Well, I must go. I am going to try to make tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette) for Abby and I tonight. I hope I don't burn down our beautiful kitchen--that I cannot afford. See ya!
Quick Blog Before Class
So I thought I´d describe a little bit my school and my day here for you. My hands are very cold, so I might not be able to type as fast as I would like... the weather has been typical fall I think: which means about 50s and 60s during the day and 30s and 40s during the night. I´m always cold in the morning.
So I´m at my secondary school, Batalla de Clavijo, this morning, sitting in the computer lab typing before class. We have five computers in here that the teaching staff share, so I don´t go on much when there are many people (I don´t like to type emails while they are typing work). Anyways, my first class of the day is with two accelerated ninth graders named Germán and Olmo. They have been taken out of their regular class once a week to come spend the hour with me, reading stories, chatting it up... I really like this, especially to start the day, before they are very good, and because I can basically do whatever I want to do with this hour. I´ve taken advice from their teacher, my boss, in how to proceed with them so as not to go too far ahead in their workbook. We´re reading a little novela right now in English and talking about it and answering questions. They´re good kids, and I like talking to them.
Until now I´m just getting over introducing myself to a bunch of the classes. They will be switching me about just a little bit. I will be with the two ninth graders every week though. Next, I generally am sent to what they call the Bachierato classes (eleventh and twelfth grades). They are 16-18 years old, generally, although they seem much older I think, and they know more English, but most times they are less willing to speak. I am glad that there are teachers with me in the classrooms at times because they threaten them with homework if they don´t listen to me.
I have another regular class at the secondary school called the Escuela de Idiomas (School of Language). This is an accelerated high school level class that follows a different course of language classes for their high school years than the other students. They are the same age and everything, they just have extra classes in language. So I have them for class twice a week! And I am basically just doing my own thing in front of the class the whole time. The profesor helps me pick out lesson plans and I do them with the students. Because this is a specialized curriculum, there are only six students per class (great!). In the other classes of students their age (Bachierato level) they have about thirty per class. So it is much easier to work in a large group, and easier to manage the small groups as well.
I better go get ready now. We have a separate break and ready room for the English department here at Batalla. There are seven teachers in the department counting me. I´ve met them all, and met most of their classes. They are very nice people, and yes, of course, they all have different teaching styles. Some of them like to yell at students, some speak more English, some speak less, some make the students speak, and some think writing is more important. I am more of an observer when I come to their classes for the most part. I am glad I have several classes to kind of do my own thing with... I guess that is how you really learn. Soon I hope that I can simply implement my own lesson plans on them...
Tell me how this sounds: An entire unit devoted to baseball-- America´s pasttime. ? That´d be pretty great I think. I could start right now with the World Series, and work in the beauty of small market teams like the Twins. Ahh yes. Let me know if you have other ideas for things I should put in the brains of these impressionable young Spaniards.
Goodbye for now! More coming later!
So I´m at my secondary school, Batalla de Clavijo, this morning, sitting in the computer lab typing before class. We have five computers in here that the teaching staff share, so I don´t go on much when there are many people (I don´t like to type emails while they are typing work). Anyways, my first class of the day is with two accelerated ninth graders named Germán and Olmo. They have been taken out of their regular class once a week to come spend the hour with me, reading stories, chatting it up... I really like this, especially to start the day, before they are very good, and because I can basically do whatever I want to do with this hour. I´ve taken advice from their teacher, my boss, in how to proceed with them so as not to go too far ahead in their workbook. We´re reading a little novela right now in English and talking about it and answering questions. They´re good kids, and I like talking to them.
Until now I´m just getting over introducing myself to a bunch of the classes. They will be switching me about just a little bit. I will be with the two ninth graders every week though. Next, I generally am sent to what they call the Bachierato classes (eleventh and twelfth grades). They are 16-18 years old, generally, although they seem much older I think, and they know more English, but most times they are less willing to speak. I am glad that there are teachers with me in the classrooms at times because they threaten them with homework if they don´t listen to me.
I have another regular class at the secondary school called the Escuela de Idiomas (School of Language). This is an accelerated high school level class that follows a different course of language classes for their high school years than the other students. They are the same age and everything, they just have extra classes in language. So I have them for class twice a week! And I am basically just doing my own thing in front of the class the whole time. The profesor helps me pick out lesson plans and I do them with the students. Because this is a specialized curriculum, there are only six students per class (great!). In the other classes of students their age (Bachierato level) they have about thirty per class. So it is much easier to work in a large group, and easier to manage the small groups as well.
I better go get ready now. We have a separate break and ready room for the English department here at Batalla. There are seven teachers in the department counting me. I´ve met them all, and met most of their classes. They are very nice people, and yes, of course, they all have different teaching styles. Some of them like to yell at students, some speak more English, some speak less, some make the students speak, and some think writing is more important. I am more of an observer when I come to their classes for the most part. I am glad I have several classes to kind of do my own thing with... I guess that is how you really learn. Soon I hope that I can simply implement my own lesson plans on them...
Tell me how this sounds: An entire unit devoted to baseball-- America´s pasttime. ? That´d be pretty great I think. I could start right now with the World Series, and work in the beauty of small market teams like the Twins. Ahh yes. Let me know if you have other ideas for things I should put in the brains of these impressionable young Spaniards.
Goodbye for now! More coming later!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Zaragoza - Fiesta del Pilar
Hello all. Sorry I have not written lately. We are in the process of getting a new internet connection at our apartment, and it is coming soon. I've been so busy with classes and other things that I haven't taken the time to write much. I'll let you know what has been up though.
Abby and I went to the nearby city of Zaragoza for their town's big festival known as Fiesta del Pilar (Pilar being the virgin saint of the city). Zaragoza is a little bigger than Logrono, and their festival was a little bigger than Logrono's also. Zaragoza is about two and a half hours away by bus, through rolling hills, vineyards, and pueblos (looks a little like Arizona / Nevada desert land actually). It is the captial of the province of Aragon... and so they have a slightly different Spanish accent there than in La Rioja, also, they have different customs and regional products they are very proud of--much like all of the autonomous communities of Spain.
The big day for fiesta was also the same as a national festival day for Spain (we had school off, and everywhere in the country was closed). It was Spain's equivalent of Columbus Day, though I'm not really sure why they celebrate it when they do. I would love to have time to research a little more about many of these topics, but the truth is that when I have access to the internet I am always writing people and doing other necessary things. So, if you're at all interested, you'll have to log onto Wikipedia.org free online encyclopedia and tell me about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaragoza%2C_Spain Ooo... there is a nice picture on this website also--check it out.
Anyway, everywhere in Zaragoza was booked on Friday and Saturday for fiesta (celebration wasn't near as huge in Logrono). Abby and I wanted to see Zaragoza though, and so we booked a night in a nice hotel on Sunday night (the last night of fiesta) because our day off of work is actually Monday. So Friday we hung out around the apartment for the most part, watched the festivities in Zaragoza on the television (they had a huge military march and parade) and then we went out to eat at a restaurant in Logrono that was having a sale on their Crianza red wine. The meal was especially delicious now that I think of it. 
Sunday we took off for Zaragoza and we were sitting in our hotel room on the tenth floor looking over the city by early afternoon. The rating on the hotel was decent (as was the price), but we found out that it was much underrated. We were quite impressed with everything, except the shower didn't run the best, and the jacuzzi jets in the tub didn't function. Honestly though, it was the best place we stayed in so far... called Zenit Don Yo. I think Zenit is a pretty big hotel chain, since they are located all over Spain... I dunno about Europe.
We picked up a couple maps of the city, dropped our day-bags in the hotel room, and stepped out into the city. One of the main roads right outside our place was empty and blocked off. We walked a mile or so down it past street venders of all kinds. This street was usually very busy with traffic (being about six lanes wide and in the middle of town and all) and we thought that it was probably the street that we had watched the military march on earlier that Friday.
Zaragoza, like Logrono, has an old part of town with the majority of the cathedrals, churches, and large plazas. We made our way to Plaza de Nuestra Senora Pilar and found the center of the fiesta. There were so many people. Imagine a giant European city plaza with a huge cathedral (six great spires spiking the sky behind), large hundred-year-old churches on either side, cafes running up and down the entire length filled with Spanish festival goers enjoying coffees, beers, wine, and snacks of all kinds, a massive bandstand ready and tuning for the evening's musical performances, a great pillar of a flower monument for the Virgin Pilar at least twenty feet high packed with different varieties of flowers coming from the entire city and all the commercial enterprises responding also with their personal flower concoctions, a dancing, chanting, circling group of traditional dancers lighting up the scene with drums and horns and special feathered costumes and outfits--eventually making their way over to the monument for Pilar to conclude their musical tribute, and finally there were 
two bright-eyed Americans taking in the spectacle, cameras clicking and flashing, legs rambling behind our active brains, spinning from an explosion of sensual excitment. Maybe that will do more justice to the scene than my pictures will.
two bright-eyed Americans taking in the spectacle, cameras clicking and flashing, legs rambling behind our active brains, spinning from an explosion of sensual excitment. Maybe that will do more justice to the scene than my pictures will. We hung around the excitment and thought about the evening's schedule of activities over a cafe con leche (coffee with steamed milk) at one of the outdoor cafes. Then we went walking again and scoped out some of the city, the Ebro River (the same river that runs through Logrono!), the back-streets and the front-streets, soaking it all in the best we could. Eventually we went back to the main plaza and went into a restaurant we discovered gave us a three-course meal for only six and a half Euro (app. $9?); a meal that had seafood paella as an option for the first course! We couldn't believe it.
The food is to die for here. We're glad the cities of Spain force you to do so much walking, because otherwise we'd really be gaining weight. Spanish cities are different than many European cities in that they are all scrunched together very closely, everyone living in apartments on top of each other. The city buses run most everywhere, but if you want to go somewhere you'll usually have to walk a good deal. Abby and I walked everywhere in Zaragoza, with the exception of taking the bus to and from the bus station, which was new, and located on the outskirts of the city. For the Sunday night, the last night of the week long festival, and the first night of Abby and my first-year anniversary, we ate a few snacks along the plaza, listened to some Spanish pop-rock at the bandstand, and skipped over a few blocks to the river front where we took what night pictures we could from the various bridges and watched the fireworks that kicked off the end of the fiesta. They were pretty good. We drank a colimocho (red wine mixed with lemon and orange Fanta--pretty dang good and refreshing when you're thirsty, and if you're thinking of making one, do not, do not use good wine, since it will be mixed anyways) and we talked to an a few older Spanish couples from Catalonia (northeast Spain, Barcelona region) who were very friendly. They told us about how good it was to be young, and we liked that very much.
Such a long day under our belts and all, we went back to the hotel after the fireworks were over, ready and prepared to head out exploring again in the early morning. The beds at the hotel were exquisite (especially when compared with the shabby set we have at our apartment in Logrono), so I think we slept very well, even if it was a little less than usual.
We checked out of the hotel and walked a couple miles over to a famous old castle called the Aljaferia. The castle has a profound Muslim influence, and the artwork, ceilings, and walls are testiments to it. It was very beautiful, and I'm glad we went. We saw the outside of the bullfighting ring also... which was huge, and packed with spectators and aficionados alike just the day before. We saw the bullfight on the TV the day earlier while we were sitting having supper in the restaurant. I will likely be attending some bullfights while I am here, since I have never seen one and they are such a big part of contemporary and well as ancient Spanish culture.
We mosied about the city for our last remaining hours, snapping photos, grabbing a bite to eat at McDonalds quick, and jumping on a bus to take us back to the station and the two and a half hour ride back to Logrono, where we both had classes early the next day. We got back in plenty of time though to crash on our sofa, watch some Spanish gameshows, and catch-up on some of our lesson plans for class.
I need to be getting along now. We might go to the theater tonight (Abby and I just got student discount cards the other day from the bank, so we'll get cheaper rates at the movies, the theater, and busrides out of town). The act starts at 10:00, and it is a Belgium mime called Zic-Zac, or something like that.
I took about 500 pictures in Zaragoza... so this is just a small small taste. I don't even know if these are the best of the bunch. I will post a bunch of them on my picture site soon (soon being sometime within the next week or so, hopefully). Thanks for reading everyone! I'd love to hear comments from you, as I hope to writing more regularly when we get set-up with the internet in our apartment soon.
Much regards from Spain! Hasta luego!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
VinoBus
Abby and I took a tour this Sunday of several bodegas in La Rioja. We heard about a VinoBus (Wine Bus) at the office of tourism and bought our tickets online, along with our friend Kadda (Katarina) from Germany. We had a café con leche (coffee with steamed milk) at a little restaurant and boarded our bus at 10:30 in the morning. We immediately became acquainted with a Spaniard named Juan who knew Kadda through mutual friends. It’s really funny how people become connected with each other on this side of the world.
So it was the four of us on the VinoBus on the way to our first destination, and the name is a dewsy: Abadía Cisterciense de Santa María de San Salvador de Cañas… in the city of Cañas. Basically the place we visited was a fantastic old church with some vineyards. It used to be a convent… or something? It was a great place. Very pretty. I didn’t listen very well during the tour. I was, though, taking a bunch of pictures, which I will share on the internet very soon. 
Abby and I have the internet at our apartment right now. We found a deal at a place called Orange for a USB-router that we’ve successfully connected to both Abby’s Mac and my PC. The problem with the router plan is that it has a monthly-limit for loading information on the internet. We don’t exactly know what this means (if it’s talking about traffic of information, downloads, uploads, everything, nothing?), but we have 3 Gigabytes to use per month, and then we start paying extra. Sooo, we are thinking of changing internet plans again to the first option we looked at (which, subsequently, is looking much better): a telephone landline that would allow us to use a wireless router for WiFi internet (a system that would allow us both to log onto our own computers at the same time without any limitations on loading information). We shall see.
Back to the bodegas. Next we got back in the VinoBus and went to another small country town called Badarán. We visited a bodega owned by a guy named David Moreno, who returned from Barcelona to his hometown to start up his own vineyard. He is doing quite well now. His establish is amazing. They explained the process of the wine to us (I’ve heard it on every wine tour I’ve been on—though it’s still very interesting), showed us the huge tanks where the wine ferments, walked us through the cellars where the wine sits in oak barrels made in America and somewhere else (America though!), and fed us chorizo sausage, bread, and various types of their wines. We tried a Crianza from 2004, I think the year was. They gave us quite a bit, and then just left the bottles out there for us all. It’s a good thing I have control. It was really good, and Juan decided to buy some for his family. He and I sampled some of the wine he ended up getting: Tinto Reserva 2001 (Tinto means red wine; Reserva signifies how long the wine has been aged: in this case, over five years).
I didn’t buy any wine today. I was very content with drinking for free. Abby and I actually bought some box wine the other day from the little fruit shop on our street. It cost us one Euro (about $1.41 or something—gooo exchange rate!) and didn’t taste too bad. Obviously it was nothing like what we drank at the bodegas today; but, there’s always that special feeling you get when you know you get a good deal that kind of overwhelms all the other doubts. Anyways, the guy at the second bodega we visited urged us to look the bottles for the official seal of La Rioja so that we know it isn’t imitation La Rioja wine… (not only did our box-wine have no official La Rioja seal, it was also sealed in a cheap carton and labeled ‘Wine from Spain’… so, while that may be, it is doubtful that it actually came from La Rioja, our topnotch wine producing region of Spain).
The second bodega was back on the outskirts of Logroño. It was called Bodegas Ontañón. They were big on the mythological elements of the wine there. They showed us art about the Greek and Roman gods of wine: Dionysus and Baco. I thought it was interesting that as well as being the gods of drinking and debauchery, they were also the youngest of all the gods (who would have thought?). We listened to their schpeal, saw their art, and then went down to try to wines. They gave us a couple different kinds: the first was a Reserva and the second was a sweet tasting white wine. Very nice. Juan bought some more of their wine too. He said he had a large family.
I was slightly disappointed that the tour didn’t consist of a visit to the actual grape plants. We saw them out of the windows of the VinoBus, and Abby and I could actually see the fat blue-purple grapes below the leaves on the vines. I wanted to check out what the product looked like before it became the wine we know in the bottles. Right now is harvest season. They will be stopping the VinoBus tours very early in November, and we’re not sure that we will go on another; not this year at least. It was a fantastic experience though that led us to meet another really cool Spanish friend. Thank God for wine!
Other notes: You want to try Spanish wine? Go to a liquor store / wine store that you know has a good selection, and then check out their international supply. Stores usually have the Spanish wines grouped together. You should be able to check on the bottle to see if the wine is from La Rioja or not. The marks of the wines I tried today are called 'David Moreno' and 'Ontañón'. They were both excellent. Give anything from La Rioja a try I would say though. It was my favorite wine even before I was selected by my program to go to La Rioja; and the price is usually reasonable too: anywhere from $6 to $20 (and obviously more).
Gotta go. Hasta luego!
Abby and I have the internet at our apartment right now. We found a deal at a place called Orange for a USB-router that we’ve successfully connected to both Abby’s Mac and my PC. The problem with the router plan is that it has a monthly-limit for loading information on the internet. We don’t exactly know what this means (if it’s talking about traffic of information, downloads, uploads, everything, nothing?), but we have 3 Gigabytes to use per month, and then we start paying extra. Sooo, we are thinking of changing internet plans again to the first option we looked at (which, subsequently, is looking much better): a telephone landline that would allow us to use a wireless router for WiFi internet (a system that would allow us both to log onto our own computers at the same time without any limitations on loading information). We shall see.
Back to the bodegas. Next we got back in the VinoBus and went to another small country town called Badarán. We visited a bodega owned by a guy named David Moreno, who returned from Barcelona to his hometown to start up his own vineyard. He is doing quite well now. His establish is amazing. They explained the process of the wine to us (I’ve heard it on every wine tour I’ve been on—though it’s still very interesting), showed us the huge tanks where the wine ferments, walked us through the cellars where the wine sits in oak barrels made in America and somewhere else (America though!), and fed us chorizo sausage, bread, and various types of their wines. We tried a Crianza from 2004, I think the year was. They gave us quite a bit, and then just left the bottles out there for us all. It’s a good thing I have control. It was really good, and Juan decided to buy some for his family. He and I sampled some of the wine he ended up getting: Tinto Reserva 2001 (Tinto means red wine; Reserva signifies how long the wine has been aged: in this case, over five years).
I didn’t buy any wine today. I was very content with drinking for free. Abby and I actually bought some box wine the other day from the little fruit shop on our street. It cost us one Euro (about $1.41 or something—gooo exchange rate!) and didn’t taste too bad. Obviously it was nothing like what we drank at the bodegas today; but, there’s always that special feeling you get when you know you get a good deal that kind of overwhelms all the other doubts. Anyways, the guy at the second bodega we visited urged us to look the bottles for the official seal of La Rioja so that we know it isn’t imitation La Rioja wine… (not only did our box-wine have no official La Rioja seal, it was also sealed in a cheap carton and labeled ‘Wine from Spain’… so, while that may be, it is doubtful that it actually came from La Rioja, our topnotch wine producing region of Spain).The second bodega was back on the outskirts of Logroño. It was called Bodegas Ontañón. They were big on the mythological elements of the wine there. They showed us art about the Greek and Roman gods of wine: Dionysus and Baco. I thought it was interesting that as well as being the gods of drinking and debauchery, they were also the youngest of all the gods (who would have thought?). We listened to their schpeal, saw their art, and then went down to try to wines. They gave us a couple different kinds: the first was a Reserva and the second was a sweet tasting white wine. Very nice. Juan bought some more of their wine too. He said he had a large family.
I was slightly disappointed that the tour didn’t consist of a visit to the actual grape plants. We saw them out of the windows of the VinoBus, and Abby and I could actually see the fat blue-purple grapes below the leaves on the vines. I wanted to check out what the product looked like before it became the wine we know in the bottles. Right now is harvest season. They will be stopping the VinoBus tours very early in November, and we’re not sure that we will go on another; not this year at least. It was a fantastic experience though that led us to meet another really cool Spanish friend. Thank God for wine!Other notes: You want to try Spanish wine? Go to a liquor store / wine store that you know has a good selection, and then check out their international supply. Stores usually have the Spanish wines grouped together. You should be able to check on the bottle to see if the wine is from La Rioja or not. The marks of the wines I tried today are called 'David Moreno' and 'Ontañón'. They were both excellent. Give anything from La Rioja a try I would say though. It was my favorite wine even before I was selected by my program to go to La Rioja; and the price is usually reasonable too: anywhere from $6 to $20 (and obviously more).
Gotta go. Hasta luego!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
English Classes
I started coming to my English classes this week, and so far I am just introducing myself and telling them a little about my home. The most interesting part of my introductions has been the question and answer sessions I have with the students. Everyone asks me if I have a girlfriend; some even were very interested to hear if I had a Spanish girlfriend. A couple classes asked me what I thought about Bush. They all wanted to know what I thought about Spain. They were very pleased to hear that I like their wine. I talked to them about tennis and basketball and life in the United States and the Midwest.
I will be teaching at two different schools this year. One is called I.E.S. (Instituto de Educación Secondaria... Institute of Secondary Education) Batalla de Clavijo. The secondary institutes in Spain are like the middle schools and high schools of the U.S. There are students from the ages of 12 to 18, and they have a variety of different levels of English. I was very surprised to learn that there are many students here from other countries as well; for example, in one of my classes there were several students from Ecuador (Central America). I met some other students who were from Argentina and Pakistan. Like in the U.S., there are some students who are interested in learning about English and about the U.S. and there are others who don´t really care too much to apply themselves. It is very much like language classes that I took when I was their age.
I really like the professors I will be teaching with at the secondary school. There are about six professors in the English language department of the school. Lola, my friend who helped me to find an apartment, is the head of the department. They all speak English (of course) and I have been speaking a mix of Spanish and English with them. They are all incredibly nice and good people, and they have a variety of different teaching styles (of which I will have to get used to in order to assist with their classes).
I have introduced myself to twelve different classes in the past two days here at the secondary school. I have seen all the levels of English, and clearly there are some who are much more advanced than others; but, it´s okay. The English department is going to try to fix a schedule of classes for me to go by this semester. It may be that I will be attending some classes every week and others only once every two weeks or once every month, depending on their capacity to benefit from my presence there. We will have to see what happens.
My program requires that I work a grand total of only twelve hours a week at my Spanish schools, and since I have two, they will have to split the time. The secondary school is going to take eight of the hours, which leaves four hours a week for me to go to the primary school.
My second school is called C.P. (Colegio Primario... Primary School) Juan Yague (pronounced Hwwan Yah-Way)... they are teaching me... The primary schools here in Spain are for students of ages six through twelve. There are also schools in Spain for children of ages three through six to attend; they are called Infantiles (Infant ... schools?... something). Anyway, I have only briefly been to my primary school, and I introduced myself to a class of third graders who I will not be teaching this semester. I have been told by the head of the English department there that I will be assistant teaching in two classes from 9 in the morning until 11 on Thursday and two more classes from 9 until 11 on Friday. I will have one fourth grade class, one fifth grade class, and two sixth grade classes. I am excited to meet my new students, especially since I know I will be with them for the next four, maybe eight, months (I do not know if my classes will switch after the first semester).
Abby is also attending two schools, a secondary school and a primary school, and she has already met her classes at her primary school (she´s been visiting her secondary school today, and I haven´t spoken to her yet). She told me that at her primary school the third through sixth graders sing songs in English and perform many different oral exercises and activities. I was very much impressed that she could already remember their daily sing-alongs (I think they were stuck in her head, because before the end of the evening they were also stuck in mine...). I cannot wait.
In some respects the classroom environment here is very different from in the U.S.; for example, the students here do not call their teachers ´Sir´or ´Mister´or ´M´am´or ´Miss/Missus´, nor in many cases do they call them teacher or professor; here, an educator is simply called by their first name. The relationship is more casual, and because of this, maybe, the entire class seems to be more casual. I will have to see how the year progresses. Obviously they have their homework here, their quizzes, their exams, and with their final exams this year is a new oral requirement for language students; that is to say that for the students who are in programs of foreign or secondary languages (I think they would have to be eleventh or twelfth graders) there are new ´speaking´portions of their final exams. Imagine their terror and their extreme gratitude and relief to learn of these new requirements and then to learn that I, ambassador of the English language, have come to help them. Oh yes!
Sometimes I feel very important here, and indeed, I think I am, and other times I feel and look more like a student than one of the staff! Other teachers have already declared that they thought I was a student, and that I will be youngest among them in the teachers´ lounge. At least I have been used to this already from my last job as tutor at the Community and Tech College in Moorhead. There I needed to wear a nametag at all times so that students, teachers, and staff alike could tell that I was indeed there to work.
Here I am just Benjamin. Or Benjamín. Or Ben... I think students here have heard a variety of things from me. As long as they know who I am it´s okay; and that I´m from the United States; North Dakota... or Minnesota... or wherever.
I will be teaching at two different schools this year. One is called I.E.S. (Instituto de Educación Secondaria... Institute of Secondary Education) Batalla de Clavijo. The secondary institutes in Spain are like the middle schools and high schools of the U.S. There are students from the ages of 12 to 18, and they have a variety of different levels of English. I was very surprised to learn that there are many students here from other countries as well; for example, in one of my classes there were several students from Ecuador (Central America). I met some other students who were from Argentina and Pakistan. Like in the U.S., there are some students who are interested in learning about English and about the U.S. and there are others who don´t really care too much to apply themselves. It is very much like language classes that I took when I was their age.
I really like the professors I will be teaching with at the secondary school. There are about six professors in the English language department of the school. Lola, my friend who helped me to find an apartment, is the head of the department. They all speak English (of course) and I have been speaking a mix of Spanish and English with them. They are all incredibly nice and good people, and they have a variety of different teaching styles (of which I will have to get used to in order to assist with their classes).
I have introduced myself to twelve different classes in the past two days here at the secondary school. I have seen all the levels of English, and clearly there are some who are much more advanced than others; but, it´s okay. The English department is going to try to fix a schedule of classes for me to go by this semester. It may be that I will be attending some classes every week and others only once every two weeks or once every month, depending on their capacity to benefit from my presence there. We will have to see what happens.
My program requires that I work a grand total of only twelve hours a week at my Spanish schools, and since I have two, they will have to split the time. The secondary school is going to take eight of the hours, which leaves four hours a week for me to go to the primary school.
My second school is called C.P. (Colegio Primario... Primary School) Juan Yague (pronounced Hwwan Yah-Way)... they are teaching me... The primary schools here in Spain are for students of ages six through twelve. There are also schools in Spain for children of ages three through six to attend; they are called Infantiles (Infant ... schools?... something). Anyway, I have only briefly been to my primary school, and I introduced myself to a class of third graders who I will not be teaching this semester. I have been told by the head of the English department there that I will be assistant teaching in two classes from 9 in the morning until 11 on Thursday and two more classes from 9 until 11 on Friday. I will have one fourth grade class, one fifth grade class, and two sixth grade classes. I am excited to meet my new students, especially since I know I will be with them for the next four, maybe eight, months (I do not know if my classes will switch after the first semester).
Abby is also attending two schools, a secondary school and a primary school, and she has already met her classes at her primary school (she´s been visiting her secondary school today, and I haven´t spoken to her yet). She told me that at her primary school the third through sixth graders sing songs in English and perform many different oral exercises and activities. I was very much impressed that she could already remember their daily sing-alongs (I think they were stuck in her head, because before the end of the evening they were also stuck in mine...). I cannot wait.
In some respects the classroom environment here is very different from in the U.S.; for example, the students here do not call their teachers ´Sir´or ´Mister´or ´M´am´or ´Miss/Missus´, nor in many cases do they call them teacher or professor; here, an educator is simply called by their first name. The relationship is more casual, and because of this, maybe, the entire class seems to be more casual. I will have to see how the year progresses. Obviously they have their homework here, their quizzes, their exams, and with their final exams this year is a new oral requirement for language students; that is to say that for the students who are in programs of foreign or secondary languages (I think they would have to be eleventh or twelfth graders) there are new ´speaking´portions of their final exams. Imagine their terror and their extreme gratitude and relief to learn of these new requirements and then to learn that I, ambassador of the English language, have come to help them. Oh yes!
Sometimes I feel very important here, and indeed, I think I am, and other times I feel and look more like a student than one of the staff! Other teachers have already declared that they thought I was a student, and that I will be youngest among them in the teachers´ lounge. At least I have been used to this already from my last job as tutor at the Community and Tech College in Moorhead. There I needed to wear a nametag at all times so that students, teachers, and staff alike could tell that I was indeed there to work.
Here I am just Benjamin. Or Benjamín. Or Ben... I think students here have heard a variety of things from me. As long as they know who I am it´s okay; and that I´m from the United States; North Dakota... or Minnesota... or wherever.
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