Oh, and I am a teacher...

So I have been here a while now and haven't really mentioned anything about the teaching part of my Spain experience, which is the reason why I came...well, not really the reason why I came, but the means by which I am able to be here. I haven't talked much about cultural things either, but I will save that for another day.

For those who don't know, I work at IES, (Instituto Educación Secundaría), El Fontanal, for a strenuous 12 hours a week. The Spanish school system is broken down a little bit different than home. They start prescolar around 3-4-years old, which is comparable to our Kindergarten; primería follows, which is our Elementary; instituto is kind of like Middle school and the first half of High school because it is 12-16-year olds, this is where I work; bachillerato is the kids from 17-18, and is optional, it is mostly for kids who want to go on to a trade school or university. Within my level of instituto there is primero, 7th graders; segundo, 8th graders; tercero, 9th graders; and cuarto, 10th graders.

I have a core group which is primero bilingüe. I have them for 5 hrs of the 12, so I know them better then the rest, who I only have for one hour a week. I have the primeros in English, Social Studies, Science, PE, and Math. The other 7 hours are all English classes with mostly terceros and cuartos, which are not bilingual groups. (Don't let the name "bilingual" deceive you, none of the bilingüe are bilingual, but their teachers hardly talk to them in Spanish, almost completely in English. It is really impressive, it has to be really hard, but it is probably the best way to learn.

In the beginning my role in the classroom was mostly the "perfect" English pronunciation parrot, the teacher taught and looked to me for confirmation. Slowly it phased a little more into the teachers handing me a textbook or worksheet a few minutes before class and giving me full reign of the class, but Spain didn't bring 1,300 of us over to cover textbooks, which the current teachers are perfectly capable of covering...or at least most of them are capable of doing. So upon the arrival of Halloween I took the opportunity to start creating crazyfunbutstillinformative lesson plans.

I presented a slide show of last years Halloween party and had the kiddos guess who or what the people were. I didn't think about how much would be to old or uniquely American. So two California Raisins were unidentifiable, Amy, the dancing silhouette from the iPod commericials, became a primitive in their minds because she had painted herself jet black (gosh), but they got Tetris, (cheers Mar)...which I happened to steal for my costume this year...money and time mandated it.

This week is my greatest lesson yet, and I have had a lot of fun teaching it. We cover Obama, the Presidents, and the Election process. We vote in the class for "Which American President had the coolest facial hair?" I am usually a beard man, but my personal fav is B., Martin Van Buren, however, most of the kids go for the Taft-stache, I think it is a cultural thing...I then try to demonstrate the differences in tallying the results in a style of complete democracy, or a republic, or a tyranny, which means that since I like B, Martin Van Buren was the best facially haired president to date, period. I then try to convey the subtle difference in a democratic-republic, but think that it isn't very important and harder to explain. I have already gotten noise complaints from teachers in the neighboring room. Always a sign of some hands on learning going on next door...

Today me and the primeros had a blast in Math moving numbers on the positive/negative integer line. I kind of just wish they were the only class I have. They are too young to constantly ask me if I get high. They are more respectful and quiet.

Also, I have started helping out a little in the art classroom, not too much yet though. The art classroom is incredibly overwhelming, the behaviour of the students is absurd sometimes. But one thing has come out if it thus far and that is first hand accounts of a Spanish educational system policy that we should perhaps look into, which is regarding mentally challenged and autistic kids in the classroom. So far as I have observed there are no "special ed" teachers or classrooms, the handicapped children sit in the class just the same as all of the other children.

When first arriving in Spain I had thought, and others, the same, that Spain had an abnormally high handicap percentage. Upon further thinking, the new theory is that Spain doesn't have a higher percentage, but rather a higher rate of inclusion of the handicap into the flow of things. I have heard incredible stories from other auxiliares about how students who can't use their arms are fed by other peers and wheelchaired to and fro, etc. It shows obvious benefits for both of the parties.

Next week I will be going over my Uganda trip and tying it in with our recent geography lessons. I am excited to see what else comes of my role in the classroom.