First day of school! First day of school!

15 Sept 2011

            I’ve just finished my first day of working at the primary school. It was quite an overwhelming day. Class sizes here in Alicante (and much of Spain from what I understand) are just bigger than what we are accustomed to in the United States. Each of the classes I was helping with had about 27 students—which makes for a lot of names to remember! We also did a lot of switching classes! Here English class is considered a specials class (just like you would consider Art, Music, Library, etc). This, combined with the fact that the September schedule is different, meant that I worked with four different classes during a half day!
During the months of September and June, the schools in Alicante have a shorter schedule. Students are in school from 9 AM to 1 PM--meaning that classes are approximately 45 minutes with a 30 minute recess in the middle. In October through May, students will go to school from 9 AM to 12:30 PM. Then, they will have the option to eat at school or go home for lunch. Classes resume at 3:30 PM and last until 5:00 PM. While it would seem that they are in school less time than American children, you have to remember that they don't have as many holidays off as we do, and students have to go to school until the end of June. In the end, they spend just as much time in the classroom.

I actually managed to arrive at my school without getting too lost! I was immediately recognized as being the Fulbright Teaching Assistant and was directed to the director. I've been talking to her throughout the month of August about my questions about the school, and she has been incredibly kind and helpful! This morning , she gave me my schedule for the rest of the year. With the Fulbright, I only work four days a week--16 hours each week. With my extra time, I'm supposed to pursue a side project or volunteering. I plan to do some volunteering, but I also plan to study valenciano (Valencian) as my side project while I'm here in Spain.

Since it was my first day, I spent most of the day observing the two teachers that I'm working with and getting accustomed to their teaching styles. As I was warned, the teachers I'm working with are complete opposites—which will give me different opportunities when working with the students. One of them seems to be a little more traditional. According to what I’ve heard about the Spanish education system, there seems to be a lot more lecturing and they go page by page in the books. In contrast, the other teacher seems to be more open to doing things a little differently.