This weekend I had to sleep in and relax. It was much needed. I also started preparing for this upcoming week, and stumbled upon these pictures of the "Natives" in the school. There are 4 teaching auxiliaries which are known as the "Natives," by everyone else or "los nativos." I am one of them, the other 3 are April, Jo and Kristin. I thought it would be nice to tell you a little about them, they are great to work with and I'll show you some pictures of us "goofing off" at work.

Jo (pictured on right) is from Worcester, England and she teaches 3rd,4th, and 5th grade. April (pictured on right beside Jo) is from Brooklyn, New York and she teaches pre-school. Kristin (pictured on left beside me) is from Pittsburgh, PA (Some township on the east side of Pittsburgh) She only knew slightly about Mt Lebanon and had no idea where Bethel Park was and she teaches 7th, 8th, and 9th.




Here are some other goofy pics we were taking while we had some time off.












Here is kind of what I've been writing down for lesson plans since I haven't really been taught how to do it yet. I find myself adding more and more as the week goes on and changing a couple of things on the spot. I also had a surprise this week, when I had planned on doing "ABC's" with 1º and the director told me its not a good idea to do that with them because they will get confused. I wanted to say, "Well they look confused in every class I'm teaching, so what's the big deal." She just wants to make sure that they understand the Spanish alphabet and phonics before learning the English. So here's a look at last week's lesson plans.

So I teach 1st=1º=Kindergarten and 2nd=2º=1st grade classes. 2 sessions of science in 1º, 1 session science in 2º, 1 session of Art and English in 1º and 2º.

Science 1º

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) Have students’ re-call:  “What is my name? Where am I from? What is my favorite…?” Etc.

2) Hello Greeting – Students greet each other in different situations.  Greet each other angrily, happily, sadly, friends, work, Students are given instructions ***Pick a good example and have them present in front of the class***

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation: Draw a map on the board of the country, include different weather types. Draw a weekly weather map with different weather types.

Supplies: Paper for drawing and writing activity. Clothes to dress students in (coat, hat, gloves, umbrella, bathing suit)

1)    Weather man show: Students will show understanding of different types of weather in the different seasons (Sunny, rainy, snowy, cloudy, stormy, windy)

a.      Have one student come up and present the weather with me as an example

b.      Student will point to map on board and call on other students to answer the question.

c.      Student will use props according to weather (go over vocabulary of what the student is putting on: coat, hat, gloves, umbrella, bathing suit, etc.)

d.     Write days of the week on the board with weather changes.

2)    Weather Pictionary: Have one child come up and draw something you use for the weather on the                                  chalkboard and the other students have to guess what it is.

3)    Weather matching: Have students come up to the board and match weather pictures to words.

4)    *IF more time needed* Have students draw sun, wind, rain, clouds etc. and write Sunny, Rainy etc. underneath

Science 1º (2^nd Lesson)

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) “You-me-left-right” "You" is the person being pointed at. "Me" is the caller. "Left" is the person to the left of the one being pointed at. "Right" is the person to the right of the one being pointed at.

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation:

Supplies: Laptop with movie loaded and ready to go.

1)    Busy Bee: Students move around and I will call out a letter, students will act out something that starts with that letter. Work in groups.

2)    Read Harry the Dirty Dog online by Betty White.

a.      Ask students, “What are some things that you don’t like to do?”

b.      “Why was Harry digging in the backyard?” “What was he looking for?”

c.      “How did Harry get so dirty?” “Do you have a dog?”

Science 2º

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) Have students’ re-call:  “What is my name? Where am I from? What is my favorite…?” Etc.

2) Hello Greeting – Students greet each other in different situations.  Greet each other angrily, happily, sadly, friends, work, Students are given instructions ***Pick a good example and have them present in front of the class***

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation: None

Supplies: Food flash cards

1)    Food Group sorting: Students will demonstrate the ability to sort foods according to its appropriate food category.

a.      Have a quiet student from each table come up and sort food according to food groups.

b.      Memory: Flip cards over on board so that students can’t see them. Ask them to find a “pear” and have them flip one card over, if wrong they have to tell me what the food is and then sit back down.

c.      Jo’s Fridge: Have students come up to fridge to grab something to “eat.” They must tell the class what they are eating.

This was a fun activity for the younger kids. They LOVE "Simon says."

English 1º

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) Name with action: One student says his or her name and invents a movement, the next student does a different movement and copies and says the name of the previous student. ***Emphasize loud names so that I can hear their name and repeat myself***

2) Have students sing the alphabet song. Students will have ABC cards, and will hold them up as we sing song. We will switch cards so everyone has a turn!

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation:

Supplies:

-Have students go over the body parts by playing “Simon Says” Include:

                  Arm                           Face                           Knee                         Teeth

                  Back                          Finger                      Legs                           Toe

                  Belly Button          Foot                           Lips                           Tounge

                  Bottom                     Hair                           Mouth                      Tummy

                  Ear                             Head                         Neck

                  Elbow                       Hands                      Nose

                  Eye                            Hips                          Shoulder

-Use articles of clothing and ask, “Where do I put this? Do I wear this on my head? Do I wear this on my feet?”

-Draw a body on board and have students label parts on it

This plan was a disaster for some groups, especially as the day progressed and they were ready to go home. They really don't know their English alphabet, so I'll have a lot to work on in this group.

English 2º

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) Name with action: One student says his or her name and invents a movement, the next student does a different movement and copies and says the name of the previous student. ***Emphasize loud names so that I can hear their name and repeat myself***

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation: None

Supplies: Student’s and pencil and paper for each group

1) Review the alphabet with students.

2) Students will make shapes using their bodies and floor space. Each group will be given a letter then they must write down as many things they can think of that begin with the assigned letter.

I teach 8 sessions of Art, one in each class.

Art 1º and 2º

Warm Ups (5-10 minutes)

1) “I went to the store and…” Students go around saying what they bought at the store with their name one by one and repeat the last persons. ***Emphasize loud names so that I can hear their name and repeat myself***

2) Review alphabet and write on board in upper case and lower case letters.

Lesson (25-30 minutes)

Preparation: None

Supplies: 1 piece of paper for all students, Colored pencils, examples of artwork by Georges Seurat

1)    Pointillism Butterfly

 Students create their first pointillism picture using the subject of butterflies as their inspiration. They use a butterfly tracer to map out the shape of the butterfly, then fill in the wings and body with patterns and color.  They also need to think about mirror symmetry since the patterns on a butterfly's wings are always the same. The challenge to their project is that the entire thing must be done only using "dots", much like the artist George Seurat.  From a distance the colors come together to form the patterns, lines and shapes. It is a time consuming project that helps teach students patience and discipline.  When they are complete the students are always very proud of the work they did!

Grade:  1^st-2^nd grade     

Learning Objectives:
-To introduce students to the method of Pointillism, and the artwork of Georges Seurat.

-To teach students about patience and taking their time to complete a detailed drawing.

-To fine tune students' motorskills.

Silent activities for misbehaving students: (still working on this section here!)

-Sit out (Time-out)

-Put heads down

Spanish discipline is a lot harsher than what we use in the states in school. If a child acts out in class, they use public humiliation to discipline, so they will ask the student "why are you talking while I'm talking?" If the student doesn't respond, the teacher usually yells in their face, slams things in front of them on their desk and makes them apologize to the class. They are asked to stand in the furthest corner in the classroom without moving or they are sent to a lower level classroom which is the "ultimate" discipline. They also grab and pull children more so than I've ever seen. There's really no clear lines as to how far a teacher can discipline a child.  


I am trying to follow the standards I've seen so far. I usually just use "the corner," which a lot of kids hate because they have to stand still and face the teacher. I also have stickers and start handing them out to kids working quietly and its amazing how fast everyone gets quiet. Haha! I've also noticed that they quiet down if I start whispering directions to them. They want to know why I'm whispering! 


There are also don't have special education, so there are some children in the classes with mental disabilities. The teachers don't look at it as a disability but more so something they can "break." So they will set these children closer to their desk and yell at them a lot. One of the kid's has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and really hasn't developed any language skills in English and the teachers think that yelling at him to keep his attention will help, when he really is just so far behind in cognitive thought, let alone understanding another language from all of the other students.

Outside of the discipline though, there are a lot of great students and the teachers really work hard. I'm sure this is just something I'll have to adjust to because this is a completely different culture and I didn't come to change their culture. I don't know how to teach effectively yet, let alone handle kids with disability in the classroom.


Hope you enjoyed my blog and pictures. Maybe I'll try to get one of my classes this week! 

 

Just wanted to show you some quick photos from my school.  I have a favorite class already. They are so good, listen to me and draw me pictures! I had to share these because there are too funny!


This little boy Luca had a playing card that said ghost rider. I can tell he is fascinated with it because he carries it with him everywhere and its very ratted. He shows me that its in English five times a day and says, "¡Mira una fantasma!" "Look a ghost!" to me all the time. So today when we were coloring, I taught him how to write ghost rider, because he clearly drew it! Take a look!

This next drawing is from Alvaro. He tries to speak English a lot, and he knows that I am proud of him. Today, he wanted to give me his drawing, so he came up to me and said, "This is you!" And I started laughing and he looked angry. So I said, "This is me? Or is this for me?" (Pointing to myself and my pocket). He pointed to my pocket, so we had a slight language barrier! He was happy that I wanted to keep it!

The last drawing was two drawings from Lucia B. She is very sweet and good in class. She was my official, "1st drawing ever given to me in a classroom!" She's very studious and takes initiative to write things on her own. Check out how my name is spelled, "Endi!" Haha! I told her I was very happy and Marta, the cooperating teacher in that class thinks that she will be drawing more for me! Haha! I told her I like sharks, so we'll see what happens!


Sorry I don't have much more to say, it's been VERY busy with classes in El Escorial and homework for my master's program, everything is good, its just a lot of work and time consuming! Thanks for reading!

I started my first days (Monday and Tuesday) in class observing the students and teachers.

I have 1st and 2nd grade, which is the equivalent to the US Kindergarten and 1st grade. There are 4 1st grade classes and four 2nd grade classes. Each class has nearly 30 students in a room half the size of an American classroom. I have a lot of names to learn!

I've had a great experience so far. The teachers are very amicable with the students and very helpful in showing me how they run their class. It is a lot different than US classrooms. First difference I noticed was that there was no air conditioning. All of these warm bodied children in the classroom turn the classroom into an oven quickly. The teachers also stress doing any type of heavy moving activities in the morning when its cooler. Other than the temperature, another major difference is probably how much the teachers and students interact. They scold the kids like a parent when they do something bad, they know which kid needs more help on certain subjects, what allergies they have, who can't sit near who, who likes to be hugged and kissed a lot and so on. The teachers hug the students, tickle them and give them the "spanish kiss" (two kisses on each check) when they do good things.

A lot of the kids are confused because I tell them that I don't know Spanish and they will ask me questions in Spanish and the teachers said to answer them in English, especially if its a tough question to ask in Engish. So a lot of the kids are quickly catching on to how much Spanish I really know, so at least they feel comfortable asking me questions like, "Can I move because Pepe is bothering me." in Spanish without feeling like they have to use English.

I work mainly with teachers Cristina and Marta. Both teachers are great. My favorite so far is Cristina because she is very good with the kids and helps me, not just because her name is Cristina! Sorry to burst your bubble if you're reading this. Ha!

Marta warned me about Jesus, yes Jesus but pronounced (Hay-zeus). She said, "He will want to constantly hug you and hold your hand and be in contact." What happened the second I walked in that classroom, here comes Jesus running towards me grabbing my hand and shouting, "¿Eres profesor nuevo? ¿Como te llamas? ¡Dame un abrazo!" "Are you a new teacher? What's your name? Give me a hug! Great kid, sad story. He doesn't make friends easily with the other kids because he's more interested in what the adults are doing. He also seems to have some sort of social disorder. The teachers are quick to say which kids are "especial" or "special". One of the teachers, Cristina, even included the "chinese speaking" child as "special" with the attention deficit children. I feel bad for the chinese speaking kid Dani because he's thrown into a school to learn Spanish on his own while taking classes in English. He's so confused! Another kid Pepe, knows a lot of English and he likes to answer all of my questions even if he doesn't know the answer. He will use his spanglish to fill in things he doesn't know. He also waves to me and says in his Spanish accent, "Hallo Ahndy, Hallo Ahndy, luk at me, Hallo!" everytime I see him in passing.

I made a powerpoint presentation for the kids and put things like: Where I am from, My house, My car, My family, My favorite food, My favorite drink, My favorite dessert, and My favorite sport. They loved the pictures and had so many questions. They were shocked to see how many brothers and sisters I have. I also put a picture of soccer beside a picture of football and they were so confused why I kept telling them football is football, and "fútbol" in Spanish is "soccer" in English. Pepe was smart and caught on right away. He kind of reminds me of Tony. He's very smart but says he does not like school.

I also do not like that they use British English. It makes it harder for the kids to understand my accent. The teachers and kids say things like, "May I go to the toilet?" "Perhaps you can pass me the pepper?" "What colour is that?" "Quiet children, I can't tolerate anymore rubbish from all of you today!" "Put the unused paper in the can." Haha! So funny to hear!

Well I'm really enjoying my time at this school! Tomorrow is a big day for me because I have school all day and then I go to the University in Alcalá to meet the professors for my classes and receive the instructions for our online learning and syllabus.

First Day of School!

Today was my first day of school in Gredos San Diego El Escorial.

Today I left Majadahonda (Where I am living) at 7am. I caught the bus in Las Rozas for the school at 7:15 and got to the school around 7:45. The school doesn't open until 9am, so I sat with the other girl, April, who is in the same Master's program as I am until it opened. We talked about how we are going to have to find something to do while we were waiting for the school to open. We were thinking maybe we could bring some homework to work on while we are there and possibly prepare for other classes we will be teaching. I think since it was the first day, it was slower to open than usual, but someone opened the door shortly after 8. We sat in the lobby awaiting our tutor to come get us until about 9:15. We were a little worried that they had forgotten us, but in Spanish time, 15 minutes late is on time. There were some kids there today, but they were older and the ones that were making up summer exams that were not completed. School for the fall starts tomorrow.

One of the coordinators, Maria met April and I in the lobby. She spoke all in Spanish because she teaches French as a foreign language at the school and doesn't speak English. She was very nice while she showed us all around the school. The staff lounge which was incredibly nice. There were leather couches, meeting rooms for each department. Storage bins and work tables everywhere. We all had our own shelves where we can store materials we need for lessons. This was such a nice school. During the tour we ran into Jo, she is London and was a teaching assistant last year. She is not in the Alcalá program, but she is teaching there again this year. She was very helpful in letting April and I know what to expect this year. She had nothing but good things to say about the school. She said it is well worth the commute as she's been doing teaching assistant jobs for about 4 years now. She described the school as, "one of the best she's been in."

Later in the day we got our assignments. Jo was a returning teaching assistant and she requested 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade again this year. That left Pre-K, 1st, 2nd and high school available. High school was assigned to another teaching assistant that was not there today. Pre-K was assigned to April (wait until you hear about our tour of this hall!) So I have 1st and 2nd grade. Not particularly what I wanted, but I think it will be great! The kids seem to listen pretty well at that age in school, and at least they have started writing so I won't be too limited in lesson plans. I feel bad for April who got the Pre-K school. They accept ages 0-5 in that school, so when we were touring on the first day all we heard were kids crying and screaming at the top of their lungs. Even Maria who was showing us around seemed a little disheveled from being in that hall! Haha! We still haven't gotten our schedules so I don't really know what classes I will be in, but Jo told me that last year the teaching assistant was a guy too and he was assigned to a mixture of Art, Science, English, and History. So sounds like I have plenty of work cut out for me.

So the rest of the day we sat in the teacher's lounge reading manuals, fire escape plans, other teacher's lesson plans and met a whole bunch of people. I'm glad I picked Majadahonda to live in because there are apparently a lot of teachers that live in this town that offered to take me to and from school! Hopefully tomorrow I can meet up with someone to take me to and from!

Well I am pretty tired and want to be well rested for tomorrow's work! Goodnight and thanks for reading!

I've had both my of my orientations at La Universidad de Alcalá and UCETAM Private Schools Main Office in Madrid.

Orientation at La Universidad de Alcalá:

Picture of the square near the university...



This orientation was on Thursday. I woke up at 6:30 am to catch the 7:00 train (direct) to Alcalá. It takes a little over an hour to get there, but I only have to go there every other weekend. The orientation lasted from 9am to 5pm, without siesta (so I was a little grumpy when I couldn't have my afternoon nap!) But it was fun! It was so great to meet everyone. I meet a lot of people from all over the US and world! There are people in my program from Sweeden, UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada!

I made good friends with Bill, Mat (yes spelled with one "T"), Lupita, Eva, and Leanne. Bill is from NC and went to a military college in SC. He is taking this year to do this program, improve his Spanish and apply for law schools. Mat went to Pittsburgh and studied architecture. He has been doing a zillion different teach and learn programs all over the world. Lupita is mexican and roommates with Eva and Leanna here in Spain. They are hilarious together, may need to be separated in class so they won't distract each other. Ha! Eva is from Arizona and still figuring out what she wants to do after this program. Leanne was pre-med and is thinking about applying to medical school while she is here. I talked a lot to her about joining a rescue squad to "up" her resume. I think I convinced her that it would be a good idea. Ha! Not that I'm bias or anything! We all sat together at orientation and call ourselves the cool ones of the group. We ditched the tour of Alcalá since we have all been here to go grab drinks afterwards! It was optional and we had had a long day, and thought we deserved it! Bill is probably the coolest of them all, and I can see myself hanging out with him a lot while I'm here. Glad I was able to meet so many cool people. There were some odd encounters though...

I have to tell this story, not to be mean, but because this girl is really that crazy. We were in the middle of orientation in a classroom, the next professor walks in and greets us in Spanish and asks if everyone is ok with him speaking Spanish (since half of our classes are in Spanish anyway.) She raises her hand and says, "I'm sorry what did you say, I don't understand you. Can you just speak in English?" Everyone kind of started looking at each other thinking "Why is she here?" One of the girls sitting near me whispered, "She might want to just pack her stuff and go home now." I couldn't help but agree, we were sitting in the back so she couldn't hear us. She was constantly asking questions and commenting on everything throughout the presentation with her own personal experiences. I don't think she's going to do too well in this program!

This next one is for those that I shared the facebook "Lady Gaga" guy that posted on the program's group page. This guy posted a youtube video of himself on the facebook page for our master's program of him playing the ukelele singing Paparazzi by Lady Gaga. Very strange and disturbing. I met him. I didn't like this whole facebook group thing for the program was because I didn't want to judge or make assumptions about people before I met them.

Orientation at UCETAM Private School Main Office in Madrid:

This orientation was Friday from 10 to 12. It was very quick and touched a lot of what we had already gotten information from in the first orientation. We did meet a couple of other individual people that signed up to teach in these schools outside of the La Universidad de Alcalá. The coordinator for the area is from Texas and speaks great English. She was nice and let us know that we have nothing to worry about while we are here. She gave us her office and cell phone number and e-mail in case we have any questions or need any help. We touched on how to live in a foreign country (accepting cultural differences and applying them to our life while we are here), how to pick housing, how to buy a phone, and how to get an abono (discount travel ticket)

I went right after the orientation to get my Abono. Its a transport ticket that works with all public transportation (metro, bus, trains) in Madrid. I paid €77 for one month of unlimited transportation. This is a great deal and will save me a lot of money! The metro is €1.50 each ride, the train is almost €5 and the bus is €2.

Heres what it looks like.... the picture was taken after a siesta, not one of the best I would say! Haha! But it works!



I also took some shots of the commute on the train from Majadahona to Alcalá. Its a pretty cool commute, I get to see Madrid a lot! Theres one of the 4 skyscrapers (rascacielos in spanish) that you see in Madrid. You can see them from miles away, mainly because they are the tallest things built here!