Mi trabajo en las escuelas (My work in the schools)

I realized that I hadn't written anything yet in regards to my work in the classrooms here! My classes are going well, I work in two schools… but I'm not a professor by any means, although that's what the students call me, I'm more of an assistant. I, obviously, help out with English comprehension, pronunciation, and, the weakest link, conversation!  One of the schools is an old elementary school from the late 1800s called Eusebio da Guarda (a very prestigious public school) which is located right in the middle of the city….about ten minutes walking-distance from my apartment. 

Eusebio da Guarda (the Elementary School)

There I work with 1st graders in a Music class which is taught mostly in English (although there is still a lot of Spanish because they're so young and wouldn't understand what was going on if we didn't talk in Spanish too). The music teacher's awesome, she's a young Spanish lady named Ester with awesome style. She's fun to work with and has great activities that we do in class with the children (although they're very basic…. obviously, because they're so young!). Sometimes the children behave and other times they're quite wily…. so we always laugh and shrug, because sometimes ain't nothin you can do about it, except to try and calm them down. For next week, I'm going to try and figure out a simple and fun song and/or activity for Halloween to bring to the class for the children…. any ideas? 

A spot along the way to the Highschool

The other class I'm in, I work with another teacher named Marina whose been teaching for 49 years! Damn has she seen some huge changes… everything from clothing and styles, how the students behave, technology, and the dictatorship. Holy moly! She says she used to be able to speak French and English well, but not anymore since she's "so old" and only does what she pleases (she says it's her right of passage with her age…haha). Marina's awesome though…. and she teaches 5th graders English. It's a good time had by all…. but I like the older classes, because I can actually talk to them and a lot of them understand the majority of what I say. But it's even better in the highschool (although not MUCH better in some of the classes).  But yeah, the other school is a highschool which is about 20 minutes walking-distance from my apartment. Not too shabby, and I can walk along the paseo (path/sidewalk) that goes along the beach almost the entire way there. Very lovely and relaxing. 

In the highschool I work with kids that are about 12 or 13, and I work with three teachers, one in a math class taught half in Spanish, half in English, and I also get an hour of "conversation" with that teacher once a week to help her improve her English. The second class I work in is called "Ciudadanía" which means citizenship…so we talk about a variety of things… so far we've covered families and how they've changed throughout the years… which quite a bit if you think about it! And last, I work in a conversation class, where the students come in the afternoon because they want to improve their English. This week I'm to prepare something that we're going to talk about… last class we talked about the different rooms in classes and listened to an audio recording of a State Agent in London showing a flat to a couple and the students had to listen and talk about various things they heard. So this week we're splitting the group in two smaller groups of 7, and I'll talk one half this week and have the other half next week (the teacher I work with will take the other halves). I thought it would be fun to talk about how different meals are and the different types of food that we usually eat and when (like yogurt, eggs and potatoes aren't normal breakfast food here… which I find very interesting… because I love them!!) 

American breakfast... it varies a lot, in size too!

And in Spain it's just a tad different... I don't know how people make it till 2 o'clock for their giant lunch with a baby breakfast like this... most of the time people will bring a little snack with them to school or work... fruit or a bocadillo (bread with meat and/or cheese...and das it! It's actually quite delicious in its' simplicity)

Spanish breakfast, which usually consists of Café con leche (strong coffee with milk in a small glass) and toast, small cookies, or croissants

But yeah, everyone likes food, so it should be a great topic. I printed off the menus from Streamliner Diner (where I worked on Bainbridge) to show the kind of things we munch on for lunch and breakfy…

Check it out at Streamlinerdiner.com! It's SCRUMTRULESCENT!  (AKA super delish!)

Morning Menu

 ....and also to show my Italian friends the kind of "Italian food" we offer when the diner changes into an Italian restaurant by night… it should be fun(ny) to see they're reactions. 

Part of the Dinner Menu from the summer

Streamliner's definitely the place I take all of my friends or family that comes to visit... it's awesome by day and by night. It's actually the oldest restaurant on Bainbridge, it started in 1980 (the diner part) and it's DELICIOUS! And the Italian restaurant part of the diner is new... we've been doing it for about 2 years I believe. I'm proud o' the diner! Yay! My Mama Bear works there too (at night). It's the place I always work when I come home for the summer to live on Bainbridge, it's been 4 years now!

Well, that's it for now friends! More to come later... 

....Lots of love!