School! Everything version! :-)

Well, enough time has gone by where I can ramble about ALL of the schools. :-)

Olga Round 1: Barberà and 3^rd/4^th graders in Solivella:

Olga and I were teaching together for the first time in January, and it also made it official that I had been in all four schools and had interacted with almost 200 students. It was fun to be “officially” with the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Solivella since they were the ONLY class I hadn’t had in Solivella yet. They were so excited! I still have a soft spot for Manel, the boy who hugs and enthusiastically greets me every time he sees me, but there are all sorts of fun characters in this class (including a student named Sara :-))! They’re a clever group, but definitely one of the harder-to-control groups. Now, by harder-to-control, it’s still nothing compared to what poor Katie has to deal with in Andalucía, but you know, kids are kids. Sometimes they just don’t listen, sometimes they argue, sometimes they daydream, and sometimes they lean back in their chairs and sprawl their legs all over. It just comes with the job. :-) Really, as a whole, all four schools are fantastic, but there are just certain ages and classes that have more “issues” than the others. This is just a class where it’s really nice to have TWO teachers around. :-) Olga would explain grammar concepts and I’d walk around and make sure everyone is behaving, and many times I’d take two students at a time and play vocab games with them. It just worked out really well. And when I told them that I would be teaching in the other schools and wouldn’t be with them again until April, I received a BIG group hug! :-)

Barberà is, by far, the most mature and peaceful school out of the four. Now, for most people, this would automatically make it the best school. But personally? I like enthusiasm, crazy questions, and just a touch of mischief. :-) I love the students here as well, but I was taken by surprise when I was with the two oldest groups.

The oldest group, the 5^th and 6^th graders, are the closest thing to highschoolers I’ve seen in the schools...especially the 6^th graders. Their English level is considerably higher than the rest of the ZER, and I realized that I could have a natural conversation in English with these kids. Whoa! The 5^th graders show a little more...I don’t know...kid-ness, and I just enjoy that innocence more than the pre-teen age.

I was a little nervous working with the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Barberà because Javi and Cati’s son, Sergio is there. Now, I have nothing against Sergio, but since I’ve spent so much time hanging out with the family, I wasn’t sure how Sergio would view me as a teacher. No problem there! This group is delightful. They’re extremely well-behaved AND fun. Seriously, they’re the best-behaved group in the entire ZER. There are around 7 boys and one girl, and they’re just so attentive and calm! We can do all sorts of different activities with them, and I especially love seeing quiet, barely-will-say-hola-to-me Sergio interact with his classmates and respond to me in English. The ironic thing is that Olga still tries to maintain the whole “Sarah ONLY speaks English” thing, and Sergio knows for a fact that I speak Spanish with his family and was learning Catalan. :-) Heh.

The younger kids, still in the same school but in a different building nearby, are a completely different story. :-) While the older ones are as a whole very calm and mature, these little guys...age 4 up to 2^nd grade, are crazies! :-) Pretty much every teacher in the ZER dreads the 1^st and 2^nd graders here, but for whatever reason, I like the challenge and LOVE the personalities and comments from that class. For example, Sebi, when I gave stickers to everyone, declared in a loud voice, “VERY VERY THANK YOU!” :-) Ellie, a sweet little girl whose mother is from England (and as a result knows more English and speaks with a darling little British accent. I’ve had my share of frustrations with British English, but a little girl speaking with that accent is cute!) asked me once, “Sarah, how is it that you’re never cross?” :-) And another girl, when I showed everyone a Powerpoint presentation of the US, thought that Obama was my dad. :-D How can you NOT have fun in a class like this? Plus, Olga said that they’ve gotten a lot better over the past semester.

But like the little ones in Solivella, I just feel exhausted after working with the 4 and 5 year olds in Barberà. Wow. When I first found out that I’d spend more time with the older kids, I was kind of disappointed. I loved working with the little ones in Pira so much! But that was before I realized that the other little guys are NOT like the sweeties in Pira. :-D I mean, they’re still a blast, but I definitely spend more time trying to convince them to do stuff than actually doing anything. Another hard thing with this class is that we have very limited space, so dancing, singing, and games are not as accessible. But Olga told me that after I left, everyone said that they missed me. :-)

And finally, I love the teachers in Barbera, which mostly include Cati, Carmen Vieba, and Cristina (she goes to the English course as well). Javi eats with us on Wednesdays sometimes as well, and seriously...it’s impossible to have a bad day with Javi around, and if you have Javi AND Cati together...it’s a guarantee for a great day! Olga eats with her family, so it’s the one time when I’m not constantly with an English teacher. I don’t really care either way, but I do get more Spanish practice in! :-)

Classes with Laura Round II: Pira and 3^rd-4^th grade in Rocafort

It was so fun to be back here! Everyone was sooo excited. :-) In Rocafort, there was an additional student: a quieter boy named Oliver. He and his family actually were in England for several months, decided they didn’t like it, and moved back. His mother speaks English very fluently, but it seems difficult for Oliver; but he improved a lot even in the four weeks I’ve had him with Laura. He seemed shy at first (especially since everyone else was jumping around, asking where I’ve been, if I went back to America (no, NO ONE really understands that I switch schools every four weeks. :-D), if my mom misses me, if I’m going to buy a house in Cataluña and stay here, if I’m going to go to the swimming pool in Rocafort in the summer, etc.), but once I gave Oliver a US flag sticker and explained who I was, his face lit up, and we’ve gotten along well ever since. I really do enjoy this class, and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time. Rafa, the other boy in the class, has improved a LOT, and the girls—Vero, Ikraim, Naima, and Anna—are just delightful. We went through various food names and food groups, which is always a fun topic to discuss, and after not being in Rocafort AT ALL since December (this was February), you can imagine how estastic everyone was! And of course, the younger ones (I have them with Andreu) peppered me with questions about when I’d be back with THEM. Sigh. :-)

And Pira! Pira is by far the nicest school in terms of location and the building, and it was fun to see the other teachers again (Anna Maria, Montse, Juanjo, etc.). Once again, the kids were REALLY excited to see me again (you can tell how boring and unrewarding this job is, right? Sigh...it’s such torture to walk in to work every day to hear little voices joyfully exclaiming, “Saaaarrraaah!”. If you only knew. :-P). With the oldest group, I had to do a project with Laura and turn it in to the Department of Education. Anyway, we decided to focus on the structures there is/there are...and describe your region/country and the main things you can do there. It started with their textbook, which talked about the UK, and then I made a looong and time-consuming (but fun!) Powerpoint presentation on places in the US (including Ohio and Cincinnati). I also made a quiz of the presentation, and the winning group got a special kind of candy from Laura (made in Valls) that’s only eaten on “Fat Thursday” (before Carnival). Anyway, there were four groups of students, and each group focused on a province in Cataluyna: Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Lleida. They made sentences, and then we recorded them on the computer, and then put everything together in a Powerpoint. It was fantastic, and I believe it’s on the school’s blog (seriously, I’d love to figure out how to add pictures and fun stuff on here, but since I barely have time to even WRITE on here, it probably won’t happen until this summer or something! Hee!). Anyway, one thing that came out of my presentation was typical foods in the US (“you mean Americans eat more than hamburgers??” Seriously, that’s a MAJOR stereotype here! Let’s try to change this, okay? Not cool. :-)). Ones that really stood out to everyone were chicken and dumplings (mostly because I said they were my favorite) and s’mores. They thought chicken and dumplings looked disgusting (really, they do, if you just see a picture!), but they still wanted to try them. Laura asked if I knew how to make them, and I was like...um...sort of...but it’s really, really complicated. :-D However, the s’mores thing fascinated everyone. NO ONE goes around roasting marshmallows over fires, and the marshmallows over here are these weird-looking pink tube-like things. Yuck. So after talking to Laura (and Olga) one day, I decided to ask Amanda to bring up some marshmallows and graham crackers (another thing that doesn’t exist here!) when she came up. She did! So towards the end of my time here, we’re going to have a party. :-)

I also was excited to see the quieter students warming up to be and really, really trying to use English. Seriously, one thing I’ve noticed since being here is that there are students who flourish in English IN the classroom, and there are others who flourish in the language when NOT in a structured class. Such is the case for Sindi and Ian. I was with Sindi’s group helping them record their sentences, and since Laura wasn’t with us and I have to maintain the corny “Sarah only speaks English” thing, they were forced to explain Catalan traditions to me, by themselves, in English. Ian drew pictures and frantically looked up words in the dictionary, Sindi motioned everything and used broken English, and Cristiana tried to use Google translator (baaad idea :-D). It was great! It was the most I’ve EVER seen Sindi talk, and little by little, we worked through what she wanted to say. I was so proud of her! But if she was with the whole class in the actual classroom (we were in the computer room), she wouldn’t have said anything. She would have just given up and let one of the talkative students explain it. So anyway, I loved that project just for the fact that it gave me time with individual students. And Ian! He made an amazing origami thing that folds into a star, cross, box, and all sorts of things, and he pulled me aside after class one day to show me how it worked, repeated ALL of the vocabulary in ENGLISH (which he hates doing in class), and had such a happy, needy look on his face when I oohed and ahhed over his creation (which he gave to me!). Sometimes my favorite moments teaching English are when I’m NOT teaching English, if that makes sense. Language is sooo much more than what you learn in a classroom setting (trust me, I know!), and that’s one of the reasons I’m here: to show these students that English is a real language that’s used in the “real” world.

The 3^rd and 4^th graders in Pira are the largest class, and I have to admit that I never really quite knew all of their names from my first round with them. :-) Knowing your students by name is a HUGE deal in ANY classroom (seriously, I kept track in college classes when a professor called me by name for the first time. It changes the dynamics of the class completely! And nothing’s worse than staring at a student and calling him or her by the wrong name. It’s like...well...I can tell you care, since you don’t even know my name! :-P). I was determined to learn their names this time, which I did! This class cracks me up. This is the one that wanted my autograph when I first came, and every single girl in that class constantly stares at me the way they’d stare at Hannah Montana: Ohh...I love you..I want to be you when I grow up...will you be my best friend? :-) It’s cute, awkward, and amusing. Paula is the one who does this the most. She gave me a picture pretty much every day I was in class, and she’d purposely wait until I walked down the hall so she could walk with me. Then, she’d point at random things and say their name in English...and just do whatever she could to impress me. :-) Just be yourself, Paula friend! That’s enough. :-) The boys are hilarious and very...well, boyish. The older ones are extremely clever and vocal, and they constantly overpower the girls and younger boys in the class. My favorite thing to do with this class is when we’re learning new vocabulary. I have the boys belt out the words in a deep, fake manly voice (they love it!), and the girls repeat the words in an exaggerated, high, and feminine voice. It makes it fun AND gives them a chance to either use up energy or else repeat a word without feeling stressed out. Laura’s great in this regard, because she gives me plenty of opportunities to work with them in “my” style. I feel the most creative when I’m with Laura. I don’t know why. :-) And finally, another thing that really impressed me about this class is that they remembered every single Halloween candy vocab that Laura and I taught them waaay back in October. We made food groups on the chalkboard, and I was asking for various names of food to put in the groups, and they started calling out “Candy corn! Caramel apples! Gummy bears! Cupcakes!” :-)

The 1^st and 2^nd graders are delightful. There are a few “characters” who cause problems, but I really love this class. We had a fun month going through farm animals, singing and dancing the Hokey Pokey (my idea for the song! :-D Olga found an AMAZING version for ESL, and I absolutely love it. It’s on Youtube, but I’m too lazy to find the link. Hee! Maybe, someday when I’m bored out of my skull and have good internet access, I’ll try to post in on here. It’s so cute!), and starting the session on the Three Little Pigs. I doubt many of you memorized every detail about the classes from previous posts, but this was the class that I taught the whole “fold your hands” thing. They still remembered, and it works every time! And another Sarah Fan Club member is definitely Vinyet. I’ve discovered that she’s the one who leads everyone in the whole “Saaaaaraaah” thing everyday. :-D Even the children who misbehave in this class secretly crack me up. Alex and Arnau are probably the two biggest trouble-makers in the class, but Alex has this hilarious way of randomly saying “Saturday” at the most inopportune moments. And he says it is such a serious, thoughtful way. Sah-tur-dai. Sometimes he’ll be quietly (quietly!) coloring and will mumble “Saturday” to himself. It’s so funny. I guess he just likes the sound of the word, but whatever his reason, I find myself doing it sometimes as well! Try it. Just go about your life and work and mumble “Saturday” to yourself. It really does make you feel happier inside. :-) Hee! I also have to hide my smile when he pronounces “sheep” as “cheep”. And he spells it like “Xip”. He’ll intently stare at his farm animal worksheet, carefully write down “xip”, and repeated it to himself until I come over and TRY to get him to say “sheep” instead. Tee hee.

And finally, the nicest 4-5 year olds are definitely in Pira! They’re so sweet (well, Sergi has his moments, but don’t we all?), and the classroom is so nice and open, and we can do so much together! Laura’s great with them. We did the Patch (a dog) workbook with the 5-year-olds and a Teddy Bear unit with the little ones. Fun times! But...I’ll tell you more about Teddy Bear later on. For now, however, it was cute and enjoyable.

Before moving on to Solivella and Barbera Round II, I need to talk about Carnival week in Pira! The whole week, students and teachers had to wear silly things. Monday was...hmm...ah, a wig and silly glasses, but I was off that day and didn’t have to do it. Tuesday, we wore silly hats. Laura actually called off sick that day, so I went with Olga to Barbera. I wore a Zorro hat. :-D Wednesday, we had to paint our nails—both guys and girls! I wanted to do red and blue to represent Barça’s soccer team, but it turned out to be more teal and bright pink. Laura was still not feeling well this day, so I was with Andreu in Solivella. The little ones still thought it was for Barça, so I was happy. :-) Anyway, Eva, one of the Solivella teachers, found out that Andreu didn’t paint his nails, so she fixed that. :-D Hee hee. I also wore my nails like that (sorry to any guys who are reading this! Just skip over this part if you’re bored :-D) all day, which included the English course (Ruth, the American teacher, saw them and declared, “I dig those nails, girl!” or something like that. Haha!) and tutoring with Paula and Josep Maria. It didn’t phase Paula and her family, since Javi, Cati, and Sergio all had to do it as well, but Carmen Torres and Josep M were like...um...why is everyone wearing strangely painted nails? :-D We eventually explained everything, and it led to Carmen and Cati getting into a long, detailed discussion about painting nails. I LOVED the expression on Javi and Josep M’s faces. Priceless. Josep finally gave a not-so-subtle tortured sigh, and Javi jokingly pushed us out of the apartment. They got the hint, I think. :-) Fun times!

Thursday (March 3^rd, a few days before Amanda would come and visit), Laura was finally feeling well enough to teach. She still was kind of congested and by Friday, she barely had a voice, but I was more or less glad to spend those two days with her because I’d be with Andreu the following week after the break. Anyway, do you ever have those moments when you just KNOW something will happen? As soon as I got in the car with Laura and she told me all about her sick family, I just KNEW I’d get sick. I’d be with Amanda in a few short days, and we had plans to see Tarragona, Paris, and a bit of Barcelona. Noooo...anyway, it was a fun Thursday, and that day, we all had to wear aprons. Laura brought one for me, and we wore matching aprons that they use when they sell fruit in Valls (Jordi’s job). :-) It was fun! And by that evening, I could tell that my “cough” was starting. The weather was changing as well, so I think that was part of it. But as Javi noted later on, I got a cold from Olga when I went to the freezing fair in L’Espluga...and a cold from Laura. :-D The only one left is Andreu!

Friday was the main Carnival day in the schools. Laura actually went to Rocafort, but I stayed in Pira. Okay, here’s where it gets a little complicated to explain. The theme is outer space, and all of the classes make various “costumes”—mostly out of paper, etc. The older kids were rocketships, the 3-4^th graders were...um...rocketeers? They wore white outfits and had a jet pack. Whatever that is. :-D The 1-2^nd graders were stars, the 4-5 year olds were suns, and the 3-year-olds were clouds. I was with Montse and the 1^st and 2^nd graders; I was a star! We wore goofy paper stars on our front and back, had our face painted blue with stars, and also wore a headband with paper stars attached to springs. And these costumes were probably the most normal. :-D Anna Maria described the event as “el día más cutre del año,” (the tackiest day of the year), but it was also a LOT of fun. We then paraded around the village until we got to a place where everyone stands around while parents take pictures. The daycare also was involved, so there were babies-2 year olds dressed as painters. Hee hee. I really did enjoy walking around, but I also ended up holding hands with little Sheila most of the time, who just happened to be dealing with a bad cough. Cold weather, being with Laura, and being with Sheila. My chances of being healthy when Amanda came were very slim! :-)

After walking around the village, we stayed outside of the school (in the playground area) and had cake, chocolate, juice, etc. They put music on, and that’s when the fun began! A lot of the students (and some of the teachers) started dancing around (especially when the ever-present Waka Waka/Shakira song came on). I can’t remember how it started, but I ended up dancing with a student (Elisabeth, another quieter girl who warms up outside of the classroom), and everyone was like, hey! La Sarah’s dancing! Me too me too me too! :-P So before I knew it, I was suddenly the only adult in a circle of about 6-8 students of various ages, quickly trying to think of dance moves. Haha! And of course, I stuck in English phrases wherever I could. :-D So we danced around, walking, running, tip-toeing, putting our hands together, waving them in the air, dragging them on the ground, hopping, skipping, anything that popped in my head. :-) It must’ve been a hit, because the kids kept begging for more, and a few more joined in. I was in complete have-silly-fun-with-kids mode, and I totally forgot that there were other adults, teachers, and parents watching us! I was exhausted at the end, but the teachers, especially Montse, commented that they could tell I LOVED it. And I did! It was a fantastic day and a great way to end another round in Pira!

Chronologically, the Semana Blanca comes next. This is a whole week we had off (the first and last of its kind. Ah, government. How logical you are. :-)), and it’s when Big Sis Amanda came up! It needs its own post!

So...next...

Classes with Andreu: Solivella and Rocafort Round II (last round with them!)

There was a part of me that was hoping Elisabeth, the woman who injured her finger/hand, would be able to teach for this round. I really like her, and I think we were both hoping to work together. However, she still has major issues with it, so Andreu’s finishing up the entire academic year. He went from thinking it was a two-week job...to an entire year! :-) So anyway, I was back with Andreu, which is both fun and...well, sometime frustrating. Nothing major, but...you know, he’s a guy. He’s 22. He hasn’t taught long. He just functions differently than Olga, Laura, and even I do. He’s improved a LOT and is really trying to work on his...organization skills, but I still prefer to be with Olga and Laura. And this round, he seemed even MORE like a brother. Like the traits your brothers have that annoy you. :-D There were just some moments when I wanted to do a double-take and make sure he wasn’t my brother Josh. Ha! I won’t go into details in Blogland, and really, we had some fantastic lessons together. I just found myself really relieved to be back with Olga by the time the 4 weeks were up. :-) But more importantly, let me talk about the students!

I LOVE the oldest group in Solivella, and we did a similar project to the one we did in Pira. I showed MOST of the US powerpoint presentation, but we were short on time, so I didn’t get to finish. I think Andreu forgot about finishing it later on (no big deal), but it added to the fact that doing s’mores with this class would be kind of like....what are these? Why do we care? I just spend a nice, long time explaining everything to the Pira students, and I just didn’t have time in Solivella. Plus, I knew doing “party things” would be better with Laura and Olga involved. So all of this to say that I’m saving the s’mores for just Barbera and Pira. Don’t tell the other students, okay? :-) Anyway, the Solivella students made posters of Girona, Lleida, Barcelona, and Tarragona, and then they presented them in class. The first presentations were...well, there were some issues, and we gave them all a change to repeat them for better grades. And wow, they improved so much! I recorded both times, and we watched them all as a class to compare the good and bad points. Everyone was shocked at the difference in the quality of the 2^nd presentations. It was a good group project, and we did several neat activities in that class.

The 1^st and 2^nd graders, like most, were sooo excited to see me again! Lizzy and Xon, especially, just are very affectionate and talkative. Talkative, that is, in Spanish or Catalan. :-) I don’t think Andreu or the other teachers in Solievella know that we’re supposed to pretend that I don’t speak Spanish or understand Catalan, so I hear a lot more of it over there. :-) Hee hee. We had some fun sessions with the Three Little Pigs, Jobs (your dad’s a fireman? Ooooo...:-D They think it’s so cool!), etc. They reenacted the Little Pigs story with masks, and we also played a lot of games to help them learn job names. It was great!

And the little ones...so fun, yet so exhausting. :-) I think they really were better this round, and there are always a few sweeties in a sea of crazies. It’s just one of those classes I can’t handle on my own. No matter what we’re “technically” supposed to do (as in not have me be alone with the kids), it still ends up with all three teachers that there are times when I’m alone and in charge of the class for a spell. For most, I have no problem and actually like it occasionally. But for this class? Hee. Honestly, I think they get firmly reprimanded (as in yelled at) enough from other teachers where that’s the only discipline they listen to. And it’s just not me. I can’t yell at them. I rarely yell at anyone, including my brothers (well, maybe they’ll tell you a different story! :-)). I just hate it. And it’s something I’ve observed from my time here, and something I’ve always felt strongly about: we, as a society, as people, and specifically, as believers in Christ, yell and raise our voices too much for stupid things. Sure, there are times you need to do it. Jesus did it! But I’m convinced that there are better ways to get children to behave than to scream and shout. So anyway, I’ve played around with a few Sarah methods that work IF I either have the 4-year-olds OR the 5-year-olds. If they’re separate, I really enjoy these kids. Together, however, there are just too many and they’re too out of control. That’s when I volunteer to make the copies or whatever and let Andreu deal with them. :-D But about Teddy Bear...:-)

Okay, I was involved with the Teddy Bear unit with Olga, Laura, AND Andreu. These English teachers only do it once, and I had it THREE times. Three. That’s three teddy bear coloring pages, three teddy bear ear headbands (that Andreu would have forgotten about were it not for me...:-P), three teddy bear mini-books, and the most annoying part: three times (as in 3 four-week sessions or so) of singing, “Where is teddy bear today? In the bedroom, in the bedroom. Where is teddy bear today? In the kitchen, in the kitchen”. Now, at first, it was cute. I loved it. It was catchy, and the children quickly learned the names of rooms. That was with Olga. With Laura, it was still cute, but getting a little old. With Andreu? First off, he didn’t even know the song and wouldn’t have done it were it not for me. :-P Now, I almost wish I didn’t teach it! Haha! He sang it with the kids excessively, even the 5-year-olds, and even in Rocafort, where we weren’t even doing the teddy bear unit. On the bright side, we made it more interesting by speeding it up, slowing it down, etc...but that dreadful song will forever remain in my head, maybe even in heaven, and now, if someone says the words “teddy bear” to me, I feel myself tense up. :-D I will say that I could easily teach that entire unit on my own though! Ha! So if you want to get a negative reaction from me, just ask me where teddy bear is today, mention anything about mice, or...on a totally random note, mention toucans. I had a dream years ago about a talking toucan who wanted to kill me and my family, and I’ve hated them every since. So yeah...not a big fan of teddy bears, mice, or toucans. :-D But I digress!

Being with the 1^st and 2^nd graders in Rocafort was a blast. The twins, Hossam and Houssane (I’m probably not spelling their names correctly, sorry!), just crack me up. I wish you could meet them. I can’t even really explain WHY they’re so funny, but it’s somehow a mixture between their enthusiasm, their broken English, their competitive yet caring attitudes, their love for adventure and dance moves, their love for English, their impulsive hugs and they way one says “baby sister” instead of “babysitter” and the other one corrects him with such passion, and...everything! They’re just a delight to have in class, and I have trouble picturing one without the other. And now that they’ve both lost teeth and are growing others in, I can never tell them apart. I just always hope they’re wearing their bata (like a smock or apron) that has their name on it. :-D And then there are the three girls, who are all great, and they all just have such a love for English. And sweet little Helena drew a picture of ME when they had to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up: she wanted to be a teacher, and she drew me. Wow. Special feeling!

And the small class of little ones in Rocafort is even smaller, because Sanae and her family went back to Morocco. This means we usually just have trying-but-clever Marc and perfectly-obedient Xènia...and sometimes 3-year-old Ali, who will do whatever you ask him to do, but he has NO clue what we’re doing. :-) He’s adorable. He just sits there staring at you as you say something in English, and he grins a little, “haha...this dude/dudette pair makes NO sense whatsoever. I’ll just nod and smile and hope they go away”. :-D Marc’s behavior has improved a LOT since Sanae isn’t there to egg him on, so overall, the class is nice. And the best part was when we went through Jungle Animals, because Marc LOVES animals! Yay!

My last days were bittersweet. It was the first time I actually had to say a true goodbye, because other times, I’d say that I’d be back in a few weeks. But this time? Last day with the classes! I still see some of the students around the school, but I’ll no longer be with them in class. However, another thing I asked about and Amanda brought up with her (yay!) were certificates with English phrases (great job, fantastic, etc.). I gave everyone a certficate and got pictures with most of them! It was a special time, and many students made drawings, gave hugs, shed little tears...and the older ones had parting words such as “We love you”, “We learned a lot”, “Thank you for teaching us”, “Do you have Facebook”, and “Thank you, everybody!”...which Ricard meant to say, “Thank you FROM everybody”. :-D Andreu also had the older ones say various words they learned from me, and I was once again astonished at how much they remember. There truly are very few things more rewarding than investing your time in children. Totally fantastic. And I think I’ll always remember little Lizzy’s last hug (1^st grade), when she just grabbed me by the waist and held on with her little eyes closed for an awkwardly long time. Everyone else had left, and she just stood there hugging me and cherishing the moment. She’s such a sweetie, and I always try to greet her when I’m in Solivella with Olga. That whole class of 1^st and 2^nd graders are great! Really, I think if I had to pick, my favorite age to work with might be 1^st and 2^nd grade. They’re old enough where I don’t have to wipe their nose and zip up their pants, but they’re young enough not to care about teenager-type things (except for when 7-year-old Xon told me once that she has 3 ex-boyfriends. Say whaaaat? Haha!).

Anyway, so final “official” farewells to some students in Solivella and Rocafort...and Andreu...were bittersweet, but at least I still see them. Just wait until I leave for REAL. Not cool!

And since I have Fridays off with Andreu and Mondays off with Olga, I had an epic 4-day weekend in early April. I took advantage of it and did my last major travel excursion in Spain: Andalucía, in the south. Specifically, I went to Sevilla for a day (and met up with Katie!) and Granada for two days. But that deserves another post as well!

Current round:  Classes with Olga:  Barberà and Solivella Round 2 (final round)

I’ve only been with them for a week now, but I have to say several things. One, being with Olga has been GREAT...even better than last time! And the students? WAY WAY better all around!

In Solivella, the 3^rd and 4^th graders were, as usual, REALLY excited to have me back. :-) They were counting down the days (especially Manel!), and when the big day came, I was welcomed with more adorable drawings. Also, the class as a whole has improved both in language and behavior. They’re a true joy to be with.

In Barbera, the oldest group has been a lot more responsive and enjoyable! Some of the girls ran up and hugged me (remember, these are the mature ones), and even the boys who seemed “too cool” to interact with me are...interacting with me! This week, I took a student out individually and work with him/her. It’s been great. We describe pictures, talk about interests and family, and even the “cool dudes” are asking Olga if we can do it again. Yesssss.

The 3^rd and 4^th graders have always been well-behaved (Sergio’s class), but you just have to be slow and gentle with them. :-) They’ve improved a lot in English as well though. And Sergio drew a picture for me as well!

And yes, the 1^st and 2^nd graders HAVE improved in behavior, but they still have...issues. :-D Sebi just likes to talk and wil interupt anyone (teacher, student, etc.), but overall, this class is just too cute. The girls are very huggy and a little TOO clingy, but I honestly think I enjoy the class more than Olga does. :-)

And the little ones...still not like the cuties in Pira, but again, improving. Two days with them a week is plenty though, bwahaha. :-) I’m not sure how Cati can spend the whole time with them! A preschool teacher I am not, I’ve decided. I love working with them for a spell, but I could NOT do it every day all day. I think elementary/primary is my forté.

Okay, last thing about school for this post! La Mona!

La Mona? Like the Mona Lisa? Nooo, that’s in the upcoming Paris post. Stop daydreaming. Okay, la mona is a typical cake in Cataluña. Once again, it’s a very Catalan tradition! On Easter Monday (you know, that day we call Easter Monday but never do anything? They actually do something on it over here!), families get together, usually in a rural area, and godparents give a special cake and chocolate figurine (could be like our typical eggs and bunnies, but there’s everything from the Simpsons to animals to cartoons to Barça) to the godchildren. Okay, that hasn’t happened yet, but the plan is for me to spend the day with Olga and her family. Annnyway, we celebrated La Mona in the schools the last day before Easter break (Semana Santa...Holy Week...yep, we get the whole week off!). I technically didn’t have classes, but I went with another teacher anyway. :-) Each age group helped decorated a cake (jam in the middle, Nutella on top, and nuts, Lacasitos/M&Ms, etc. on top). Ester, who is 1) Carmen Vielba’s sister or sister-in-law, 2) the normal teacher of Sergio’s class, 3) a former English teacher, 4) best friends with Olga, 5) attends the English course, 6) the woman who had a baby close to when I first arrived in Spain, and 7) the mother of that baby I held around Christmastime who actually slept on me and spit up on someone ELSE later on, came to visit with her baby son, and everyone was excited to see them! I ended up holding Roc (the baby) quite a bit that afternoon, but nothing disgusting happened. Whew. Anyway, we had pictures together and all went outside to eat and watch the students perform a dance they learned in music class. And it was here when mature Ona started talking to me in nearly perfect English. I just felt a better connection with her than I had before. Once again, I emphasize the glorious feeling of talking to students outside of the classroom!

Annnnd...that’s about it, for now! This is several months’ worth of school memories. :-) The whole experience has really made me seriously consider teaching as a career. I still don’t know for SURE, because obviously the experience is NOT going to be as amazing as this all of the time. But I feel in my element when I do it, and Laura, Olga, Andreu, and Javi are all encouraging me to pursue it. So we’ll see!

Three more weeks with Barberà/Olga, and two short weeks with Pira/Laura. Then I’m done in the ZER Conca. CRAZY. Time is flying by, and I think changing every four weeks makes it go faster. :-)

Ah, one last random comment: I know for a fact that there are several typos in my blogposts, and I apologize! It’s my intention to tweak them someday, but...yeah. Who knows when that someday is. :-D Just know that I know about them, okay? So it doesn’t count! HA HA HA!

Thanks for reading!