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.