Saturday, November 7, 2009

Welcome Back to School: Spanish Edition

Everyone knows, going to class has never been my forte. Ever since I first got my driver´s license, class has become...well, a bit of an inconvenience at times. There just always seemed to be SOMETHING more pressing to do. Nap time, the occasional personal day, happy hour ;) So no one could be more surprised than me when I became extremely interested in pursuing a grant program that would require me to go back to school, albeit in a very different role.

Friday was the first day at my new job, a Language and Culture Assistant at an elementary school. The school is located about 30 minutes outside the Jaen city in Arbuniel - a small village of only 800 people. I was very nervous on my first day because I didn´t know what to expect at all. What would the kids think of me? Would they be receptive to what I had to say? Or would they be little brats, as I know sometimes we were as students? I soon breathed easily because when I pulled up in the front of the school, all the kids were waiting out side, anxiously and excitedly to meet me.

This is the first year my school is a bilingual school, and therefore the first year that a foreigner has been a teacher there. The kids only spoke a few words of English, but seemed anxious to try it out and learn more. The older kids vocabulary mostly consisted of ´Hello Brittany´(insert thick Spanish accent here) ´My name is Maria (Juan, Jose, Jesus, Angel, etc etc) and I have 8 years old.´ They are all so adorable!

Overall, the first day of school, I mean work, went very well and put my nerves to rest.


Arbuniel



My school: C.E.I.P Gregorio Aguilar

2 comments:

  1. I like the beginning of this post. I know how much trouble you had in high school going to school, but now it is different. You are now the teacher.

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  2. ah, high school...everything was more important then: starbucks, shopping, hanging out...that is how i spent most of junior year chemistry class! but alas, i am a teacher now, so therefore i am responsible! thanks for reading :)

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