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.