Major Cultural Differences

Spain. The United States of America. Very different countries. Here are some major differences between living in Spain and the U.S. that I may not have mentioned previously. If any of these are repeats from previous posts, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Grocery Stores: Think of your local ma and pa corner grocery, oh wait, there aren't any. There are a few small grocery stores around Seattle, but not many. That is how all of the stores in Madrid are. Even the gigantic stores are smaller than your average one at home. The variety is limited and you may need to go to more than one store to find all of the things you need. On the up side, there are less decisions to make while shopping! "Do I want frosted flakes, frosty crunch, sugared flakes or...damn, which one's the cheapest?"

Dryers: The U.S. is really the only place in the world where most people use a dryer. They are rather rare in the rest of the world, Spain included. I have been hanging my clothes to dry all year and it's now starting to seem a little less awkward that everyone sees each other's underwear hanging about all the time. A little.


Ovens: Many of the apartments for rent in Madrid do not have ovens. One of the other Seattle folks brought home a frozen pizza one day and when she tried to put it in the oven realized that there was no oven to be found! Oops! Luckily we do have one, a crappy old one, but still an oven nonetheless.

Family: Spain is very focused on family. You get an absurdly long time off after having a baby or getting married. When someone in your family is unemployed it becomes your duty to care for them. This may mean letting them live in your house or paying their rent. I'm not talking just parents caring for kids either. Your mom doesn't have a job, you support her. Your cousin is fired, you support him. I think that's why the country has managed to stay afloat during "the crisis". Sometimes it's really sweet and other times I want to shake people and say "grow up and get a life" or "go somewhere other than your parents' house for vacation" or even "traveling to your family's house every single weekend is completely unnecessary"...but I usually limit those phrases to my mind only.

Public Transport:
There are buses, metros, local trains, medium distance trains and long distance trains accessible from many places throughout the city. You could essentially get anywhere you want in the entire city or the suburbs and only walk a few blocks. Not the case in Seattle. And here things run in every direction, not just North-South. Such a silly layout Seattle!

Car Size: Cars in Europe are much smaller than cars in the U.S. Someone told me today that she has never understood why people in the U.S. drive such big cars. She said this while we were driving down a Spanish freeway and I looked out the window at all of the tiny cars driving by. She has a good point, we generally don't keep them full so why all the space? They're harder to parallel park, they use more fuel and they cost more. Why, indeed? I would like a small, used biodiesel when I move back to the states someday.


Ham: In the US we don't have pig legs hanging in the window of every restaurant and in every grocery store. Some of the kids going to England next week are panicking about bringing ham so they can make their own sandwiches for the week they'll be gone. Really? You can survive 7 days without ham!!! Plus, England has ham too. So silly! And I still have yet to see a real live pig in Spain. Don't know where they're getting all this ham...

Greetings: In Spain, instead of politely nodding across a circle of people or shaking hands with a stranger as you're being introduced, you get to do the dos besos. Yup, as you kiss each of their cheeks you mutter your name in their ear as they do the same to you. Luckily I'm a touchy feely person and I don't have much of a personal bubble, for those that do I'm sure this is a tough adjustment! I now realize how standoffish we must seem with our handshakes. So impersonal compared to a nice to meet you kiss!

Hello: If I hear anyone say hello in the halls at school, it is directed toward me or Monica (or both). Even if I have never seen the person before, I know they are talking to me. Weird!

Miss Rowland: None of that crap. I get to be Rachel here. Good thing too, Miss Rowland seems super formal. I kind of felt like I was being forced to grow up against my will when kids were required to call me that. It's like making Peter Pan leave Never Land even though he's not ready. Not cool, not cool.

Well, those are the ones that have come up in conversation in the last couple of days so they're fresh in my mind. I should probably write this sort of thing down so I can be better and updating y'all on life here. Next time? Yeah...

Saving the World? etc...

As some of you know, I am currently doing a 2nd Masters degree through Miami University, OH that has a strong focus on conservation and education. Lately there have been plenty of points brought up in our online discussion boards that can leave you feeling pretty helpless, like the world is coming to an end in a short while and there's nothing anyone can do other than prolong the inevitable. On the flip side, there are also some fantastic ideas on ways you can make a difference.

Here are some examples of things that anyone can do:

• Purchase this or similar toilet tank toppers to reduce water use by gallons per day (http://sinkpositive.com/site/).
• Implement the old brick in the toilet tank trick to reduce the amount of water used in each flush.
• Compost (if this option is not available in your city you can use plastic bottles http://www.bottlebiology.org/investigations/decomp_main.html)
• Recycle anything you can including clothing by shopping at second hand stores.
• Try to eat food that was grown or packaged locally.
• Avoid purchasing foods and other household items that use unsustainable palm oil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-1DQwaauwE)
• If you or anyone you know drive a biodiesel, try not to purchase fuel made from palm oil, instead purchase a converting device so you can put used oil from restaurants in your car instead. Free fuel for you, no messy disposal for the restaurant and the Orangutans will love you!
• Use cloth grocery bags or at least take old plastic/paper bags with you to the store.
• Purchase energy efficient light bulbs and dispose of them properly by recycling them when they die out. Be sure you do not break them! Many contain mercury which is extremely toxic for you and the environment!
• Turn off electronics when not in use. Up to 10% of the energy used in a given household is actually from things like the light on your phone charger and the digital time display on the microwave, so it's even better to unplug when not in use!
• Use cold water to wash your laundry and try to take the coldest showers you can tolerate.
• Don't let faucets or showers run when you're not ACTUALLY using them. 
• When choosing between foods, try to go for those with the least amount of packaging or at least recyclable packaging. 
• Participate in events like Earth Hour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mxjbip6y04).
• Reuse your plastic water bottle 'til they are far beyond they point you should have stopped consuming their contents or purchase a washable bottle.

Well, there's a few to get you started. There are plenty more but I don't want to drone on so long that you stop reading.

Now we'll proceed to life in Spain. Today was one of those days...not good. The kids were a disaster and it's like they all act with mob mentality all the time! If 3 people are little terrors somehow it spreads through the entire school by the end of the day. Such is the life of teens, I suppose. I was in no mood for it today, not sure why. Sometimes I can smile and laugh off their treacherous behavior, but not today. I even caught one of the kids cheating on his science exam, the one time he actually studied too! We'll see what happens, his cheat sheet didn't have much on it so a lot of the responses really were from his mind, not the paper. Let's just say after a bunch of farting noises, a red pen projectile shooting ink across a few desks and my hand, a teacher showing up for class exactly 15 minutes late (only because a student went and told him that he needed to come to class) and various other events, I was in desperate need of getting of the school and taking a siesta. I ended up leaving a few minutes early so I could catch an earlier bus home. My nap was sooooo deep that when I woke up to my alarm I was drooling! I realize that this is normal for a lot of people, but I generally sleep with my mouth shut and haven't drooled while sleeping in years!

On Saturday I head to Brighton, England for a week as a chaperon for a group of 36 kids. Oh deary! Why would you ever travel with that many students? I get to go for free so I can't complain, but if it were me planning things I'm sure it would all go down a bit differently.

The day after we get back I fly home to Seattle for two weeks of AWESOME...or at least I hope so. I'm a little concerned that culture shock is going to hit me so hard I might explode. Full speed conversation in only English that includes idioms and slang, say what?! Restaurants that have individualized menus and serve a variety of food that is entirely different from the restaurant next door, say what?! McDonalds serves milkshakes, not beer, say what?! Fruits and veg cost how much, say what?! This is a grocery store, not a shopping mall, say what?! No metro, say what?! Wine with dinner costs how much, say what?! Dude, it's really going to be a mind_ _ _ _!

On another note of the completely different variety, I am pretty much obsessed with Macklemore, a Seattle rapper who speaks from the heart and isn't afraid to tell the truth. Uh-Maze-Ing! If you haven't heard any of his stuff or if you're thinking about ignoring this because you don't like rap, I call you on your crap right now! The Town is by far the best song but pretty much everything he does is good. No lie! Anyway, my obsession with him comes in waves, but today is one of those times that it is overwhelming my thoughts!

Another obsession as of late is Tom's shoes, although I don't own any yet. They don't have any retailers in Madrid so I have to wait 'til Brighton or Seattle to try some on. For each pair purchased, the organization donates one pair to someone who cannot afford shoes. In many undeveloped countries and rural areas, kids are unable to go to school without shoes. I know someone who met two brothers in a small village in Guatemala who only had one pair of shoes to share between them. Because of this, they alternated who got to go to school each day. Imagine, half of a child's education down the drain simply because you didn't want to buy a pair of shoes! How dare you! Psychological tricks that make you feel bad aside, they really are a great organization that believes in providing what is best for the people in the ways that are best for them. Now there is even a vegan line that contains no animal products of any kinds. Who knew you could have vegan shoes? Well, now you do! If you saw anyone walking around without shoes yesterday (April 5th), it was probably for their movement "One Day Without Shoes", not because they were completely insane. Check them out at http://www.toms.com/

Well, I suppose I should finish my book...I mean, hang up my laundry. Fine, I'll do both! Buenas noches al mundo!

I told you I was bad at this...

Turns out that I was right. I do suck at updating this thing! I was never one to keep a diary and write down my feelings or relive the memories of what I ate for lunch and who said what to whom. In high school that always seemed like a great way for friends to get mad at each other and kids to get grounded. None for me thanks!

Here are some interesting realizations I have had or had pointed out to me recently:

• When someone says "hello" or "hi" in the halls at school, it is most certainly directed at me even if I have never seen the person before in my life.
• I have grown accustomed to not trying to do anything between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00 p.m or on Sundays under the assumption that "everything is closed, so why bother?"
• Shopping for the proper groceries for a given meal may very likely involve going to more than one mercado.
• Most of the music played in Spain is in English and most of the people listening to it have no idea what each song is about. Take Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl"...yeah, no idea what they're singing. 
• Picking your nose in public may actually be socially acceptable in Spain. I haven't quite figured out the rules on that yet.
• Public places seem to be doing very well with the no smoking laws that went into effect at the new year. It's very pleasant to be able to eat out for lunch and not develop lung cancer!
• Spanish people as a whole tend not to leave Spain. They love their country very much and most of their vacations take place within it. 
• The best tacos in Madrid are actually pretty darn good tacos. 
• I have no right to complain about my job because I am actually quite fortunate and lucky. This doesn't, however, mean that I am actually able to resist the temptation to complain every time it arises. I am getting paid a full salary to work 4 days per week as basically an assistant, I have easy access to the whole of Europe and Northern Africa, and I have enough time to do my job, a second Masters and still watch TV many hours per day, read all the books I want and have a very small social life.

Well, in other news, I have decided to stay in Madrid another year. I will be home for Spring break, which has been extended by a week because I was feeling very homesick around the time I was purchasing a ticket and the Director gave me permission. It looks like I might be home for most or all of the summer as well. My summer  class will be in Trinidad at the beginning of July and I may just stay around Seattle after that.

Right before coming home in April, I will be chaperoning a trip to England with about 35 students from my school. The trip is open to all grade levels so I only know a handful of the kids going. I have a feeling that the language barrier is going to be an issue with some of the kids, but I'll just leave those ones to the teachers who are native Spanish speakers.

As the final project for my degree at Miami University, OH, I am hoping to take some of my kids on an ecology and conservation based trip to the Peruvian Amazon next Spring or Summer. I have been in contact with a company about working with them and they are currently preparing a possible itinerary! I am going to try to do a large fundraiser in Seattle this summer to obtain scholarship money for kids who can't go simply based on money. It's pretty expensive and these kids are from a small town in a country with crazy high unemployment rates. The science teacher I work with is already thinking of funding possibilities around Madrid. I'm not very connected here so if fundraising in Madrid was left to me, the kids would be doomed! Now all I need is approval from the school and interest from the kids...perhaps I shouldn't get excited just yet?

2004, 2008 and Now

2011: Whenever I run across this letter that I wrote to myself at the age of 18, I always feel the need to add to it. Consider this my life amendment...

2008: For a trip to Guatemala with Global Visionaries (G.V.) we were required to write letters to ourselves. Boy was I surprised when it showed up a year later! I just found it and felt the need to share some of my brilliant advice in life!

2004: "My Dearest Rachel,
'Hey sexy!' says Sarah Rose Roope. Where does one begin when writing a letter to themself? We'll start with this...Next Sunday I move into my dorm at WWU. Excited or scared? Not sure.

I want to keep my traveling up. I hope to go to Belize, the Dominican Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, France, Italy and Spain. I've learned a lot about travel from G.V. even little things like exit tax and drinking lots of water. By the time I get this letter I hope I've been to one of the places i just listed and that Sarah and I have made it back to Antigua. I want to help the hospital so badly. I hope I can become somewhat fluent in Spanish through my first year of Spanish at Western. I also hope that I've learned some Italian by now. Have you been in contact with your Costa Rica and Guatemala pals? And how bout Megan Vogel? Oh, you have been good about that? Great! That's what I like to hear! Haha! Have you been going to C.C.F.? God loves you so you should. Keep your heart and morals Rachel. Don't let college interfere with who you are and what you want to be. Marco Antonio told you to share what you learned in the hospital with your family and friends. Go out there and live life to the fullest. Spread your love and your smile.

Today we did the activity about expendable income a.k.a. the money you spend on unnecessary things. It came out to be over $4000 per year for me. i don't earn that much in a year and that didn't include travel expenses so I must have seriously over estimated a lot of stuff! But, it's still disgusting. i'm going to try and cut back on entertainment costs, clothing (which shouldn't be too hard since I have no room for it) and eating out. When i think of the ecological footprints and the product trails involved with all of that I feel horrible. Please, tell me you've joined or started a club about culture, global and media awareness. You need it. Everyone needs it. We're kept in the dark. That's a huge part of the problem.

Good luck with life. you rock my socks off! Met any cute boys? Go get 'em Tiger! Better go! Love you lots!

Love,
Rachel

P.S. Start a company like G.V. and get a kitten...and be Ms. Vogel.
P.P.S. How's the coffee shop going? Tight?"



2008 update:

I leave in a couple weeks for my 5th trip to Guatemala. I took two Spanish classes, one Italian and a French class at Western. I have now been to Australia, New Zealand, France and Italy and will be going to Spain this summer. I am fluent enough in Spanish to get by in Spanish speaking countries. I still drink lots of water. I have donated clothing, money and time to the hospital in Antigua. I still see many of my Costa Rica and Guatemala buddies especially Megan Vogel. I just gave someone else a lecture about how they should not let anyone or anything "interfere with who you are and what you want to be" and still fully stand by that. I'm starting the initial planning for a business similar to G.V. which will be run with my parents. I have a kitty. The coffee shop that my dad started is, in fact, tight.

 

This is Rony. He lives in the children's ward at the hospital in Antigua. 

 

Plaza in Antigua.

 

View of the volcano from the street.

 

 El Arco!

2011: Megan Vogel continues to be one of the most strong-willed and inspiring people/educators I have ever met. Yes, it is still my goal in life to be even slightly like her when I "grow up" and I would like to think that I am well on my way. I went to Belize last summer for a class and it was better than I ever could have imagined. The Masters program that I and the Belize course are a part of, focuses on inquiry education, learning in the field, conservation, the importance of biodiversity, etc..., much like the ideas that G.V. introduced me to many years ago. I keep trying to reduce my carbon footprint where possible, but society is not set up for us to actually reduce levels of CO2. What to do!? Saving the world gets a bit overwhelming sometimes! As for the languages, I took a little more French, a year of American Sign Language and I am currently immersed in Spanish, seeing as I am living in Spain. As of today, it looks like I will be in Madrid for another school year as well. Assuming I get my butt in gear and actively seek out Spanish lessons, there is a good chance I will be "fluent" by the time I leave here. The aforementioned coffee shop burned to the ground about a year ago. Arson. It was sad, devastating really, at the time, but it is finally open in a new location (only around the corner) and business has quadrupled! That's right, it is still tight.

To stay or not to stay...

To stay or not to stay, that is the question! There has been a lot of buzz about when we will need to make a final decision on whether or not we'd like to stay on for another year in Madrid. That day may finally be reality.

We have now received an e-mail saying that we have until February 28th to decide, but that's for the folks that have the more basic version of my job and a completely different application process. Is that date really for us? Who knows!

Next we got an e-mail from the man who was our contact person in the U.S. (Señor Stupidhead, as I like to call him) and he casually dropped the fact that he's in Madrid and would like to meet at noon on Sunday with all 12 of us. Funny, two people are in France, one is in England, and a few others have things planned for Sunday. Really, he flew around the world and he could only give us 3 days notice on a meeting? I don't buy it. Based on his e-mail, I think he's panicked and wants to meet us in the only spare hour that he has while in Madrid so we can discuss everything about the program including whether or not we'd like to stay. Dude!? Sorry, but I'm fairly confident my mind won't be made up by Sunday. Plus, whatever small space of time he's set aside for us better not be full of more lies! Bert pointed out that he seems to give us answers that we want to hear instead of actually answering our questions. The more I think about that statement, the more true I realize it is. As teachers, we've been well trained not to answer questions when we don't actually know the correct response. Instead, you should say something like "I'm not sure and I don't want to confuse you so I will look up the answer tonight and tell you tomorrow." Bonus: You can make it extra credit for them to find the answer at home! Booya! Yeah...this guy doesn't do that. He just kind of makes up answers even though he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

Honestly, after winter break I was convinced that I had to go home. In fact, I even thought about quitting and going back home before June. After a few days of trying to convince myself this was not responsible, I finally settled on trying to go home for spring break in hopes that that will fulfill my Seattle needs. This week, however, has been a totally different story. Someone from the office of "The Man" came to our school for the first time all year (why yes, it is mid-January and yes, this a brand new program that began back in September, thanks for asking). Apparently the way that the students are divided between classrooms could have been done differently than the crappy way our school was told. It was very nice to see anger flash in the eyes of many of the teachers in our department at this fact. I suddenly realized that they are frustrated with many of the same things as me! And, after writing my 3-paged summary of how the program is going so far, the head of my department has been much more open and friendly with me. Plus, the science teacher I work with stopped and asked the woman from the education headquarters (in front of everyone in the department) what she would have to do to ensure that I stay at the same school for next year. I have never heard her so outspoken and with such passion in her voice when she's speaking in English. It felt really good to realize just how badly she wants to continue working with me.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens...

Navidad

Christmas is a time for religion, love, family, vacation and PRESENTS! My biggest and most important Christmas gift was being able to see my parents and my brother! They came to Spain for a week and half. I had to work for the first couple of days so I [somewhat forcefully] invited them to come to school with me for a day. I knew my kiddos would like to meet them and that the fam would like to see what exactly I do for a living here in Madrid.



Our first post-Madrid destination was Toledo. I would highly recommend not trying to drive a rented stick shift in an ancient walled city that sits atop a hill. It is very nearly impossible and you will become wedged between two building with no hope of escape. Seriously. And when the tension is heightened, family battles will ensue. Well, it was nice... We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant for Christmas because it was the only place open. On the menu were things like "shark fin soup", "frog hindquarters" and "real crab". I stuck with chicken.

Right, next we went to Sevilla, which is a beautiful city. Being as it was the holiday season, we treated ourselves to a horse drawn carriage ride through the main part of the city. The streets are lined with trees overflowing with oranges this time of year. That's not something I'm used to
seeing so I was constantly surprised again and again by the sharp contrast of the oranges against the deep green leaves. I was also able to meet up with a friend of mine who is from there. We met in London a few years back and have been able to see each other two more
times since. Man, hostels really give you the opportunity to meet some cool people! And no, I have never had anything stolen, been murdered in my sleep, etc...so don't be freaked out by them!

One of the days we drove down to Gibraltar and back. That is a crazy place. They are technically owned by Britain so the town celebrates different holidays than those down the street. The people speak British English, a funky Spanish dialect and I believe an African based language as well, although I'm not sure which. Coolest thing about it though was the monkeys! Yeah, tailless monkeys all over! I had a couple jump on me! Soooo cool! 

Lastly, we stopped in Cordoba for a night on the way home. Their most famous tourist destination is a Mosque turned Cathedral. It's was really interesting to see the huge contrasts in architecture and decoration. I really liked it, probably because it was so different than all of the other Cathedrals I've been touring lately.


The last night we all stayed in a hotel by the Madrid airport so we could get to our flights in the morning. My family to Seattle and me to Dresden, Germany. Saying goodbye was kind of hard for me. I'm really beginning to miss a lot of things about the U.S. and Seattle in particular. For example, I miss the following very much:

• Bagels
• Green trees
• Animals that do not fly (we only have mosquitos and birds)
• Foods containing peanut butter
• Listening to Megan Larson sing
• Carey French's creativity
• Visiting Megan Vogel's classroom
• Hugs
• Massages
• Food that does not contain any pork or pork flavoring
• Walking quickly
• Bodies of water
• My family
• Happy hour with my cohort
• Banks that are at least somewhat functional
• Understanding most of what people say to me
• Flavored coffee drinks
• Dishwashers and clothes dryers
• A DVD player for my TV
• etc...

 Alright, now that I've got that out of the way, on to Dresden! It was cold. Like, really, really cold. The city is really cool though. There's some really awesome graffiti and artsy looking buildings so just wandering the streets made for an interesting adventure.
The whole city was essentially flattened in WWII so the architecture is really varied. You can find very old buildings, buildings meant to look old, and very modern ones all in the same street. It's got a lot of character. One of the days I spent wandering with two Australian blokes, Adam and Ben. They were cool guys and I was glad for some company!

Next I went to Prague.

If I thought Dresden was cold, I had been mistaken. My first couple days in Prague seemed much colder! I figured I would treat myself to a single room for the end of my travels but, as it turns out, that wasn't the best idea I had ever had. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it's really great to have your own space but this was a bit too much space. The hostel was about a 20 min walk or 10 min metro ride from the center of town, breakfast was served in my room by someone who doesn't speak English, and there was no common area. In fact, there were only outdoor entrances so I never really saw anyone else that was staying there. These factors combined led to a rather lonely 5 night stay. Yeah, 5! What the heck was I thinking?! Lucky for me, Prague is a rather touristy city with plenty of things to do. Plus, I had lots of books that were just dying to be read. No seriously, about the 3rd day they started talking and told me so! Wilson much?

What did I do with 5 nights in Prague you ask? Well, I saw a black light show which was intriguing. It's advertised for the black light effects with the costumes, but it also includes a play and cool dancing by those wearing the cool costumes. I couldn't really decide which was most important, the dancing, the costumes or the acting. Weird! Mind blower, that one. I also went to a marionette opera performed in Italian (Mozart's Don Giovanni). No, I didn't really understand it and don't really even know what it was about, but watching puppets is fun?

Let's see, I went to the zoo which had a rad Giraffe enclosure...well, mostly because it was snowy and cold and they were in their winter enclosure (a.k.a. much closer than when they're playing in the savanna). You could look down through the roof of the building onto the tops of the giraffes and then go down to ground level and see them face-to-face. So close! So cool! And sooo making out with the glass right in front of me! Nice! Other than that, I did a lot of wandering the city, eating delicious food, stopping at a museum here and there. I also really like the cathedral inside of the Old Prague Castle so I was happy to have a looksy in there again. I think it's my fave cathedral, at least of the ones I've been to.
The stained glass is so vibrant, I just love it! Most importantly, I found a place that sells real bagels with legit cream cheese. Yeah, their cheesecake also tasted like real cheesecake! As an added bonus, they also had tea made from fresh sliced ginger or fresh mint leaves. Dang, wish I could find somewhere like that in Madrid!

OOOOOMMMMMGGGG!!! I just checked the google! There is a bagel place in Madrid! So, it's on the opposite side of the city (hence why I'd never heard of it) and probably takes a good half hour or so to get there on the metro, but no matter. Heck there's promise of bagels AND reese's peanut butter cups! This is serious...must go! "Oooh baby, do you know what that's worth? Oooh heaven is a place on Earth!"...and it's a bagel shop!

Anyway, moving on. I'm back in Madrid now. Work started again on Monday. Woo hoo? Blah. Blah. Blah. Well, that's what you've missing on the last episode of "Rachel's Life"!

Letter to the Bilingual Department Head

This is a summary/reflection/review/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of the first term (Sept-Dec). Each member of the bilingual department was asked to summarize their experience with the brand new program thus far. Mine turned out to be 3 pages (although I could have turned that into 10), with very little positive feedback. Oops? Well, they were things she needed to hear. It reads as follows:

Obviously I am very passionate about children and care for them a lot. I love working with kids and the students at our school have been wonderful! Sure, there are a few that are a little harder to work with, but they haven’t killed me yet!

Since science is what I am trained to teach, I really enjoy the three hours a week when I get to be in a science class and teach things I am passionate about. The science teacher has been really great about trying to split the teaching evenly between the two of us. She’s also been a great ally and good listener. I also love how excited she is to try new things and think outside of the textbook. Let’s be honest, teaching straight from the book can get pretty boring.

There are a few things related specifically to Monica’s and my job that are challenging. First, teachers often come to class unprepared, which can be very frustrating for us. Sometimes they haven’t picked up the photocopies that we need for the lesson, they still need to go get the CD player so we can do a listening activity, they’re not sure which page of the book they ended on during the previous day’s lesson, they come late to class late or don’t come at all, etc… Also, sometimes teachers will walk away in the middle of the lesson without explaining where they are going and when they’ll be back.

Second, many times Monica and I are not needed at all during certain lessons and some days we spend what seems as little as 30 minutes out of the entire day actually being useful. It can get VERY boring on days like this! However, on these days I sometimes get to spend extra time speaking with the kids, which is nice.

I am currently working with 7 different teachers, which makes it very hard to find time to plan ahead with each of them. Often I do not know what (or if) I am teaching until I arrive in class. If I have any questions about the material (which is pretty often since I’m not trained in most of the subjects I am teaching), there is no time to ask them except in front of the classes which is a waste of their class time and slightly embarrassing for me. I’ve become very honest with the students when I don’t understand what they are doing in class. I explain that I don’t know the answers to their questions because I don’t understand the material either.

Although it means more work for us, I would really appreciate having the chance to proofread all written materials being given to the students in English. If everyone could give us worksheets, readings, tests, etc… at least two days in advance that would be great. There are a lot of mistakes being made in translating from Spanish to English and I could easily fix them if given the opportunity. Some teachers do this and others do not.

As for things that will directly help the students, I have clumped my ideas into 4 categories: Expectations, Assessment, Respect and Skills. These are things that are lacking in many classes, not just at our school but at others around Madrid as well. They are things that I find very valuable and I would be more than happy to help teachers at our school include them in their classes.

Expectations

Clear – In general, teachers have a pretty good idea of what they want each assignment to look like in the end. Students should be given a very detailed description of these expectations for each assignment. If an essay needs to be typed on a computer in size 12 font and the title should be centered and underlined, the students need to be told this! Many times, I am seeing students given tasks by the teacher with no specific directions. Only when they turn the essay in handwritten does the teacher mention that it should have been typed. Or someone will write in pen when the teacher wanted them to write in pencil (but never actually told them to do so).  Because the teachers’ expectations are not being met, students are often getting yelled at for doing things “wrong” when they were never told what “right” looks like.

Realistic – Writing in pencil instead of pen is easily doable as long as the students are told to do so. Memorizing 30 vocabulary words per night with no context for how to use them in a sentence, however, is not so doable. Memorizing a 15 paged outline of information that is not included in the textbook and has not been taught in class before the next exam is surely impossible. And yet, these kinds of unrealistic expectations are occurring within the school often.

Equal – I am constantly hearing teachers talk about how the lower classes are composed of “bad kids” and there seems to be an attitude that they can’t do anything. I don’t think that is true. Because teachers start the school year assuming that these students are bad, they begin to treat them like they actually are bad (even if they are not). Yes, C, D, and E are far more challenging to work with than A or B, but they are not bad. They are only 12 years old, none of them are bad yet. However, they are sometimes treated more like animals than kids. They are told constantly that they are bad or stupid or failing their classes, which makes them start to believe these things are true. Giving them easier assignments than the other groups because they are “too stupid” to do the regular work is just insulting. Granted, their English levels are very different so classes taught in English should have simpler vocabulary but the concepts do not need to be any easier. By treating them differently than the A and B groups, teachers are actually making the students behave bad and stupid! If they are not given encouragement and treated with respect now, they will only get worse as they get older.

Assessment

Feedback – Students need to receive feedback throughout each unit. If they do not know whether or not they actually understand the material, mistakes go unfixed and because of this many of them fail the exams. For example, worksheets should not only be assigned a mark, they also need to be given back to the students (before the test) with comments and corrections. It is vitally important to comment on the things they have done well but also correct what they have done wrong. This way, students can use their worksheets as study tools for exams. Exams should also be returned with reasons why points were taken off, not just a bunch of red marks and their final score. This helps them prepare for future exams by understanding how to improve.

Grades – Students’ grades should never be shared aloud in front of the entire class. It is humiliating! Some students are ashamed when they get low marks and very likely want to keep that information private.

Respect

Although the students are only 12 and 13 years old, they are humans and deserve to be treated with respect. They will not respect a teacher who does not respect them in return. Not only should teachers respect their students, they should also be kind to them. Often teachers scream at them for no (or very little) reason and the students hate it. I see them rolling their eyes behind teachers’ backs and giving each other funny looks. The students are given very few opportunities to act like children. It breaks my heart. You cannot turn 12 year olds into adults overnight.

Skills

Students need to be taught skills, not just facts. Right now, in many of the subjects the students are simply memorizing facts, they are not really learning. When asked “Why?” they think what they do, the answer is almost always “because the book says so” or “because you told us”. They need to be taught how to actually think, how to study, how to take notes, how to communicate, how to raise their hands when they want to speak, how to abbreviate words when they are taking notes in class, how to search for information on Google, etc… If you take one class day to teach them how to highlight the textbook, it will drastically improve their study habits and therefore their test grades for the rest of their lives. I think that that is worth losing one day of class. Similarly, using one day to show them how to make an outline, not copy it off the board but actually make it themselves, would make a world of difference to some of them.