Lazy Saturday

24 March 2012

Today ended up being a pretty lazy day. I went with some friends to a movie in the afternoon. We saw Blancanieves (Mirror, Mirror) with Julia Roberts and Lilly Collins--mostly because I was in the mood for something lighthearted. It was probably one of the worst movies that I've ever seen. I'm not sure how much it has to do with the fact that it was dubbed in Spanish or if it's that bad in English too.

In Spain, most TV shows and movies are dubbed in Spanish. In Alicante, I haven't been able to find any theaters that offer movies in their original version. However, when I lived in Madrid, I could find showings of movies in their original version. Some Spaniards I've talked to think that the fact that most movies/TV shows are dubbed contributes to the lower level of English that Spaniards have in comparison with the rest of Europe. If all American TV shows were just in English, people would have greater exposure to the language and more of an incentive to be able to understand. This is what happens in countries like Sweden and Germany--where the level of English is much higher.

According to a recent study, Spaniards have the third worst level of English in Europe--only coming in ahead of Turkey and Russia. The study contributed a number of factors to this low rank--such as beginning age of the students, the quality of the teachers, the amount of daily English exposure (in newspaper, TV, movies), and the method used to teach (often rote memorization). While the study has some bias as it wasn't completely randomized and it was sort of a self-selecting group, it does lead to some interesting questions about the role of English education in Spain. You can read the article here.

In order to save this blog post from being depressing, I'm going to post a picture to lighten the mood. Check out the parrots I saw one day on my way to the TRAM stop!

The Spanish art of flirting...

23 March 2012

During today's intercambio, I learned a number of phrases related to flirting... Apparently, in Spanish, there are distinctions made based on the type of flirting and who is doing it.

ligar--used when the person is the recipient of the flirting. Ex. Hemos ligado. People flirted with us.

coquetear--used when the subject is the person flirting. Ex. He coqueteado con él. I flirted with him.

liarse--implies something more than just flirting.

I also learned an adorable phrase for when someone pats himself/herself on the back for a job well done.

No tiene abuela--literally, he/she doesn't have a grandma.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail... Easter's on it's way.

22 March 2012

Given that Easter is still a couple weeks away, I wasn't thinking about preparing Easter activities for the kids until over the weekend. However, in calculating the days that I have with each class before spring break, we realized that I only had today to work with 4th grade on an Easter activity.

This meant that I frantically managed to put together a powerpoint about Easter in the United States in about 30 minutes.

After talking about my family's traditions in the United States, we did a comparison of Easter in Spain and Easter in the United States--highlighting the differences and the similarities. Even though Easter is celebrated by Christians in both Spain and the United States, I was surprised to find out that they are fairly different.

I won't elaborate on all of the differences--since some of them I'll write about during Semana Santa (Holy Week). However, I'd like to write about some of the things we discovered. 

Similarities:


Special food--At least with my family in the United States, there is a special meal that we eat--including ham, baked beans, and mashed potatoes. While in Spain there isn't one particular food that is eaten at the Easter meal, there are a number of special foods that are only eaten at Easter--such as la mona and torrijas.


La mona is similar to a kings' cake, but they put an egg (sometimes decorated) in the middle. This is a tradition specific to the eastern side of the coast of Spain--specifically Catalunya. Torrijas are my personal favorite. They are sort of like pieces of French toast but covered in more cinnamon and honey.

Time spent with family--In both countries, Easter is a time to visit your family.

Differences:

Religiousness--On the whole, I think that Easter in Spain at least comes off as being more religious. In the United States, Easter has turned into a very commercialized holiday with the Easter Bunny and all the chocolates/sweets that companies try to sell.

In Spain, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is important--even for the people who aren't practicing Christians. There are religious processions in which people walk all through the city. In Alicante, on the Wednesday before Easter, there will be a religious procession that will last from 5 hours!

Activities--While decorating eggs and having Easter Egg Hunts is becoming more popular in Spain (due to globalization), I discovered that most families take a trip of some sort--to the beach, to the castle, to the countryside, etc--in order to celebrate Easter. There, their families might have a picnic or eat a paella.

Old McDonald Had a Farm...

21 March 2012

I could write a whole series of blog posts devoted to a review/criticism of the English books that our school uses. All in all, it's not a bad book. There are parts of the book where I can see that they are attempting to incorporate "best practices" for language instruction. However, I have some issues with the book--starting with its songs.

Each chapter in our English book has a song for the children to learn--which is great in theory. Children learn A LOT from songs. There is a reason why so many of the things that we learn when we are young are put to song--like the ABCs, the Clean-up Song, the 50 States, etc.

However, the songs in our books are some of the weirdest songs I think I've ever heard. The writers try to find a way to put every single vocabulary word and grammatical point into a short song. Consequently, we get songs about pulling off granddad's shoe and what school supplies you have on your desk.

Don't get me wrong. There are a couple songs that are kind of cute--like the following song we sang with 2nd grade.


"I like you.
Hello. Hi.
I've got black hair and brown eyes.


I like you.
Hello. Hi.
I've got blond hair and blue eyes.


I like you.
You like me.
With my friends,
I'm happy." 

Once you've sang this song about 20 times, you start to think it's okay. Clearly, it's supposed to be teaching acceptance of difference--which is great for elementary school children. However, it also seems a little random--in the sense that the chapter is about the parts of the face so the writers had to figure out some way to write about hair/eye color.

The older the kids get the weirder the songs are. I'll have to find a copy of a 6th grade song to share one day.

I've been trying to teach the kids some of the songs that I sang as a kid. This week, with 1st grade, we've been learning about pets--so I thought we could learn "Old McDonald Had a Farm."

We started by practicing our best pet noises--which they were surprisingly reluctant to do. Since we've been practicing gestures with each word, the kids have become more accustomed to making a gesture for whiskers than meow-ing like a cat.

Next, we cut out and colored a picture of Old McDonald and a farm to use in singing the song.

Like any song, at first, they started mumbling along--only clearly getting out "EE II EE II OOOO." Pretty soon, they picked up pretty well and the kids took turns choosing the pet to sing about.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

20 March 2012

Unfortunately, rather than writing about culture, language, or teaching, this post is going to turn into a bit of a rant. Somehow, days off from school inevitably lead to "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days..."

The day got off to a bad start even before it really began. I woke up to find that it was raining. This was surprising because Alicante only gets an average of 20 days of rain all year. However, it wasn't a light drizzle, a nice spring shower. Nope. It pretty much poured all day.

Now, this would normally be nice--since Alicante really needs the rain. However, it's not so great when you have a broken umbrella.

I have bought two different umbrellas since coming to Spain--both of which broke during my trip to San Sebastian and Bilbao. I haven't gotten around to replacing them because it just doesn't rain that often in Alicante. Once again, this wouldn't be a problem on a normal day, but I also lent my jacket to a friend over the weekend.

So I had to walk around in the rain with a sub par umbrella and a sweatshirt.

 At lunch, I decided to go to one of my favorite cafeterías and got a sandwich and a pastry for dessert. Unfortunately, when I went to pay, I realized that I didn't have my wallet and that I had left it in my other purse--which I used over the weekend. I was mortified! I couldn't believe that I had forgotten my wallet!

Fortunately, this is a cafetería that I go to frequently so I was able to talk to the owner and she is letting me come by tomorrow to pay off my debt. It didn't stop me from feeling extremely embarrassed.

The only bright part of the day was that I managed to send the last of the pen pal letters to the United States. Now we just have to wait for responses--which can't come soon enough! Every class has about 3 or 4 students who ask me EVERYDAY about the letters.

El día del padre/Día de la Pepa

19 March 2012

No school today! We had the day off for two reasons--though due to the commercialized world we live in today I mostly heard about only one of the reasons for today's holiday.

Today is el día del padre--Father's Day--specifically it's Saint Joseph's feast day. Everywhere you go, there are advertisements for offers for Father's Day. Ah, globalization...

It's also el día de la Pepa--Day of "la Pepa." Apparently "Pepa" is a nickname for Josefa--which is the feminine form of José (Joseph) whose feast day it is today. "La Pepa" is the affectionate name for the Constitution passed in 1812 in Cadiz--which was Spain's first move toward democracy--guaranteeing rights such as male suffrage and free press.

More importantly, today marks the 200th anniversary since "la Pepa" was passed--even though the constitution only really lasted 2 years. However, "la Pepa" laid the groundwork for future constitutions (of which there are seven).





In honor of this holiday, I went to one of my favorite cafés for dessert!


And no, I did NOT eat both of these desserts!

Las Fallas in Valencia

18 March 2012

This weekend marks the end of one of the most anticipated holidays in Valencia! Even though I didn't have the chance to make my way to Valencia for Las fallas, I wanted to be sure to write a little about this neat fiesta.

Las fallas (possibly coming from the Latin for "torch") is a five day long festival in honor of Saint Joseph--which culminates in the burning of the fallas. Historically, it was a festival to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Nowadays, I'm not sure if it's so much a holiday to honor St. Joseph as an excuse to burn things. It's a pyromaniac's dream holiday!

People spend all year preparing for this special celebration! Different neighborhoods in the city of Valencia form groups--called Casal Faller--that get together to create a ninot--which are made of materials like paper-mache, plaster, wood, and cardboard. These ninots are by no means small--or cheap to make for that matter. Some ninots are around 20 feet tall! The ninots typically are satirical in nature--making fun of political figures, celebrities, and events of the previous year.

In the week leading up to Fallas, each neighborhood takes their falla around the city to show off their work.

The festival itself actually only lasts for 5 days--in which there is basically non-stop firecrackers, partying, and fire.

For people, like me, who are easily startled by unexpected firecrackers in the streets, the five day celebration is enough to give you an anxiety attack. Each day at 2:00 PM, the Mascletà occurs in each neighborhood. These are firework/firecracker displays that are made to gain the honor of supplying the display for the final mascletà. 


Throughout the week, there are fireworks displays at night--ending with the Nit del Foc--the Night of Fire. This is the night with the biggest, most impressive fireworks. 



However, the most important event is the cremà on the last night of Fallas. On this night, the fallas are burned--all except one! People vote on one falla each year to save--which ends up in the Fallas museum. 


Even though I didn't get the chance to go to Valencia for this holiday, I'll get to have a similar experience in June when Alicante has its own version of Fallas. Hogueras! 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Attack of the Guerrilla Knitters...

17 March 2012






In the last couple of weeks, the plaza around the corner from my apartment has been given a bit of a face lift. It's been made over by a group of Guerrilla Knitters!

Since I arrived in Alicante, I haven't seen that much evidence of Guerrilla Knitters--at least not on a large scale. There are a couple trees along the Explanada that have tree cozies to keep them warm during the "winter" in Alicante.

The makeover in the plaza has included everything from the fountain to the benches.

Of course, even Gabriel Miró was not left untouched. He received an elegant bow tie.

Intercambio

16 March 2012

During today's intercambio, we talked a little bit about my blog post from last week about cultural differences. From that conversation, I learned some helpful words for talking about differences between Spain and the United States in Spanish.

in order to talk about Spanish yayos (grandparents)...


marujear/cotillear--these both mean to gossip, but also eavesdrop.

there is a dicho (saying) to talk about food differences...

desayunar como un rey, comer como un príncipe y cenar como un pobre... Breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, and eat dinner like a regular person.

This dicho is meant to express that in Spain breakfast should be the largest meal of the day, followed by lunch, and a light dinner.

Spanish Student Teaching

15 March 2012

For the last couple months, our school has had a few additions in the teachers' lounge--new teachers doing prácticas or student teaching. In talking to them about práticas, I've learned that the Spanish teaching system is actually fairly different from our American system.

Like in the United States, new teachers must complete student teaching in order to become licensed to teach. However, at the end of their student teaching, teachers must present themselves for a big exam/interview called an oposición. It seems that this exam can make or break a teacher's career.

When the teachers present themselves for the oposición, they demonstrate their knowledge in front of a panel of 5 or so people who then give them a grade for their performance. I imagine it's pretty nerve-wracking! If, for some reason, I didn't pass the Praxis test in the US, I could at least take it again.

If you pass, you are officially a funcionario or government employee, and you are supposed to have more job security. However, it gets more complicated from there. Apparently, once you pass, you are given a number on a list. From what I understand, the number is basically randomly assigned. At the very least, the number has nothing to do with your scores or grades--so I'm not entirely sure where it comes from.

Your order on this list is incredibly important--since the administration goes in order on the list in offering teachers "plazas" and substitute teaching positions.

"La plaza" is a permanent position that is yours for as long as you want it. You basically can't get fired from that position. Ever. It's like teacher tenure in the United States, but even more secure.

Until you get a "plaza" you have to move around from school to school. However, you don't really get a lot of choice in the matter. If they call you to offer you a substitute position, you basically have to go, or they might not ever call you again because you'll move down on the list. Unfortunately, they can ask you to go just about anywhere in the Autonomous Community--so it can be pretty inconvenient.

These substitute positions help teachers gain experience points--which help them move up the list so you can eventually gain a plaza.

Unfortunately, someone who has more experience substituting has the potential to get a plaza over another teacher who has better grades and is more qualified. So some people argue that the system needs to be changed in order to choose the best teachers to educate the children of Spain.

Archaeological Finds on the Rambla...

14 March 2012

In this blog, I've made no secret of my passion for archaeology. So you'll have to forgive me for the following post. I've been meaning to write about this topic for about a week.... because some interesting local archaeological news has popped up in the papers... though I'm sure that the water company for Alicante wishes that it hadn't.

The water company in Alicante is currently working on updating some of the water lines in Alicante. One area of construction is right on the Rambla--one of the main streets in Alicante. Needless to say, the company--as well as the general public--had hoped that the updates wouldn't take long to complete. However, in the process of digging, workers came across archaeological remains.

Of course, the company notified the MARQ (the archaeological museum in Alicante). Construction has resumed, but under the watchful eye of an archaeologist. Since work has began again, the construction crew has had to stop using machines in order to dig and instead they are now digging by hand.

This situation provides an interesting contrast to the United States. While there are occasions in the US when construction work has been stopped because of the discovery of archaeological remains, I don't think it's nearly as common as it is here in Europe. In comparison, the present day United States is much bigger and hasn't had settlements as dense as in Europe. Historically-speaking, the Native American people who did live in the present day US were typically nomadic and so there isn't as much archaeological evidence that survives.

I'll be curious to discover more about what the archaeologists have found and what they end up finding!

Language Progress

13 March 2012

As I've been watching my students grow as English speakers, I have also been reflecting on my own progress in speaking Spanish.

Since starting my intercambio (language exchange), I feel that I'm getting more and more comfortable with speaking Spanish. I've been improving my vocabulary--especially in the way of synonyms. The teachers that I meet with each week often share with me different ways to say the same thing--usually because the phrase I'm using is more common in another Spanish-speaking country, it sounds overly formal, or it isn't quite right given the context.

I've been having more conversations in Spanish in which I've felt like I've expressed myself exactly as I wanted without making too many errors. And it's becoming easier to switch between English and Spanish without one or the other suffering overmuch.

That's not to say that it's been all sunshine and daisies.

I'd like to share a song/video that a friend of mine shared with me about the difficulties of speaking Spanish. If you speak Spanish, you'll get a kick out of it. I shared it with the English teacher at school, and I'm pretty sure she liked it even more than I did--probably because she understood more of the jokes without having to look them up.

Furthermore, a friend of mine has written a blog post about linguistic difficulties that she has encountered. She has articulated very well the same sorts of issues that I would have brought up in this post. Check it out! 

It's about that time of year again... evaluations

12 March 2012

Though this week won't be too bad for me, my students have it tougher. It's almost time for the second evaluation--sort of like getting your report card. Consequently, all of the teachers--including the English teachers--are trying to fit in another exam before assigning grades in order to get more information on how the kids are doing in order to give them a fair grade.

This week, my 6th graders, 3rd graders, and 4th graders will be taking exams in English.

Since the Spanish grading system is different from our American grading system, I thought I would explain how it works--as I understand it.

Grades are assigned from one to ten.

9 or 10 is a sobresaliente (outstanding/excellent)

8 or 7 is a notable (notable)


6 is a bien (good)


5 is suficiente  (sufficient)


less than 5 is an insuficiente  (insufficient)

You can more or less compare Spanish grades to American grades. If you were to do so, a 9/10 would be an A, 8/7 is a B, 6 is a C, 5 would be a D, and less than 5 is an F.

However, the Spanish grading system is much more difficult than the American grading system. From what I've observed, there isn't as much grade inflation as in the United States. In a class of 25, there may be only 5 kids who receive a sobresaliente and only if they've really earned it.

Unsupervised Fun

11 March 2012


The Magdalena continued today with the Romería de las cañas. This is a pilgrimage that is made from the center of the current city to the old site of the city at the shrine/chapel of the Magdalena. Once there, people pray and a monumental paella is served for all.


We elected not to join the pilgrimage--since it started so early. However, I'm sad we missed out on an epic paella that might have been well worth it! 


Instead, we went to the beach for lunch. It's been interesting for me to see how the colors of the sea change depending on where along the coast you are. The water in Castellón is much greener than the sea water in Alicante. Having grown up in the Midwest on the prairie, the subtleties of the changing colors of the sea is something I've had little experience with. However, I'm glad to have the opportunity to appreciate this every day during my commute to work!

Castellón

10 March 2012

This morning, I caught the train heading to Castellón to meet up with a fellow Fulbrighter and check out the celebration that will start there today--called the Magdalena.

Castellón is another province--in addition to Valencia and Alicante--that makes up the Autonomous Community of Valencia. The capital of the province is the city of Castellón--a city with approximately 180,000 people--making it smaller than the city of Alicante.

La Magdalena is a 9 day festival celebrated each year in Castellón which marks the historical movement of the city from the mountain to Castellón's current location on the plain in the 13th century.





The festival began today with the inauguration of the queen of the Magdalena and was immediately followed by the cabalgata del pregón (parade).







The cabalgata included different groups/floats representing Castellón's history, traditions, and folklore, I'm not entirely sure how each part was related to Castellón's history, but I didn't really get the opportunity to ask an expert.










The following pictures (I think) are from the historical part--including the Arabic, Christian, Jewish, and Pirate influences.

 I don't have pictures of this, but there were also groups of people representing the historical relationship between Aragón and Castellón. There were different dancers doing a traditional dance from Aragón.

There were also a group of men who did a dance with swords and an object similar to a cymbal. They danced in circles--crossing their swords and hitting each others cymbals. They must have a lot of practice--because it looked like if you made a mistake you could hurt someone!

The cabalgata is supposed to last around 4 hours! We didn't end up staying for the whole parade, but we did see most of the parade.

Throughout the day, we saw a TON of (unsupervised) kids with firecrackers and other fireworks. It nearly gave me an anxiety attack to hear all of the firecrackers at such close range. I was sure that some firecracker might end up near my feet and take out a couple of toes!

That night, we had a perfect view of the fireworks display from my friend's apartment. We joked that the fireworks made us feel oddly patriotic even though we're in Spain. I guess we're just conditioned to feel that way because of Independence Day!

Then, we walked around town to check out the live concerts happening in various plazas around the city!

Día de la Mujer Trabajadora

9 March 2012

Today, at school, we had a special celebration for Día de la mujer trabajadora--Day of the Working Woman.

I asked one of the teachers about this holiday--since we don't really celebrate it in the US. Apparently, it's a international holiday that celebrates equality for women--in the workplace and gaining suffrage.

I was curious to hear how long its been celebrated here in Spain because women were greatly repressed during the dictatorship of Franco. Women were given the right to vote under the Second Republic in 1931. However, following the Spanish Civil War, they were expected to fulfill the stereotypical 1950s American housewife role of taking care of the kids and the home.

The teacher misunderstood what I was asking, and I never got a clear answer.

As a joke, one of the male teachers brought a pamphlet with tips on how to be a better wife--all inspired by 50s in America. So I have to blame my own country for this one. It had infuriating suggestions--like being sure that you make yourself pretty 5 minutes before your husband gets home, not bothering your husband with your complaints because they are insignificant in comparison to his, etc.

I know that the teacher brought it as a joke, and he doesn't believe any of it. However, at the same time, I don't know what place a pamphlet like that has on a day when we are supposed to celebrating women's equality--especially when there is so much left to be done.

In reading the paper today, there were people protesting celebrating such a day--not because they don't believe in women's equality, but because there is so much inequality. Women are still paid less than men. Women are currently more likely to be unemployed here in Spain. The government hasn't done enough to combat domestic violence against women.

At midday, many of the teachers gathered in the Teachers' Lounge for a special meal--which started with various tapas--including hams, tortillas, and bread. Then, we had paella from the school cafetería. Unlike schools in the US, our cafeteria makes really delicious food with fresh ingredients. For dessert, there was a sort of coffee flan bar.

After lunch, I was tired and ready for a siesta. Unfortunately, we still had classes to give in the afternoon!

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Exhaustion...

8 March 2012

Today turned out to be a bit of a struggle with 2nd grade.

First, I think that the 2nd graders are suffering from spring fever. They are restless, and they are having difficulty  staying on task during our more active activities.

Furthermore, it turns out that 2nd graders are more sensitive than I could possibly have imagined. I've seen evidence of this before, but I thought it was a fluke. In fact, I think that 2nd graders may be more sensitive than 1st graders. I'm not sure if it's because we think that they are older and can handle more, but they can't. Or, if it's that 2nd grade is just a more demanding year for them than 1st grade.

Either way, by the end of the day, I had three 2nd graders crying all due to a game.

Since my 2nd graders are studying "face" vocabulary, I thought it would be fun to play Simon Says with them as a review and then teach them "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."

By the end of the game Simon Says, there were three kids crying... One, because everyone was accusing her of cheating and copying someone else's gestures. Another, because he made a mistake--though he claimed it was because he couldn't hear over everyone else. Lastly, I saw a girl do the wrong gesture and told her to sit down like everyone else.

Needless to say, I tried to reassure them that it's just a game. We're all there to learn and have fun.

I'm not sure what happens between 1st and 2nd grade, but everything becomes a huge deal and is much more dramatic than it needs to be. Of all my classes, the kids in 2nd grade tend to have the most attitude, they tend to be the pettiest, and the most prone to fights/arguments.

Next, I taught them the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Most of them knew the song already--or at least the tune. So that lightened up the mood a little bit after all the crying.

Two Truths and a Lie: Past Tense Edition

7 March 2012

My 6th graders have been working on the past tense in their current unit "Greek Myths"--which is exciting because there are so many interesting activities that I can do with them using the past tense.

Unfortunately, they are all still pretty new to the past tense so it seemed better to start with something more straightforward.

So we played Two Truths and a Lie--which I actually did with them at the beginning of the year using the verb "have got." However, this time, each student had to write three sentences about their childhood (the not too distant past even though they would like to think otherwise)--two of which were true and one of which was false.

I wrote:

• When I was little, I played football (of the soccer variety). 
• When I was little, my favorite color was green.
• When I was little, I liked spinach. 

Everyone immediately guessed that I was lying about playing soccer as a kid, but I told them that I did indeed play soccer when I was little. In fact, my mom was our coach and we were the Bumblebees.

The next obvious answer was that I liked spinach as a kid. This was the lie.  

I heard the usual sorts of sentences as well as a few weird ones.

• When I was little, I played with barbies.
• When I was little, I was an Olympic champion.
• When I was little, I rode a horse.
• When I was little, I spoke English very well.
• When I was little, I liked bananas. 

In order to make things more exciting, we turned it into a competition--dividing the class into two teams. Each team sent a representative to the front of the room to read his or her sentences. Then, the representative from the other team had to guess which one was the lie. If he or she chose correctly, the team received a point--which they loved. 

Sweetland: Whining

6 March 2012

Taking inspiration from another English TA in Alicante, I decided to teach my kids how to whine in English. Of course, tone was crucial in this exercise, and I made sure that everyone practiced until they achieved a proper amount of whine.

This involved a lot of: "I can't write because my hand hurts." or "I don't want to do my homework because my head hurts."

In the end, they had to write a complaint as their character in Sweetland. Then, everyone gave the student advice of what to do.

This was my favorite complaint.

Clown: My nose and my feet hurt.
Child: You should find ice and put your nose in the ice. You should put on the small shoes not the big shoes.

It was decided that the Clown could put his feet in ice, but that it didn't really solve the problem.

Later...

Child: You should cut your nose.
Clown: I can't because I'm a clown!
Child: Go to Healthy House.
Clown: Why?
Child: Eat sweets. It's got proteins.
Witch: Put liquid in your nose.
Child: He hasn't got any money.
Clown: The witch can make me a potion.
Witch: But the potions they smell bad.
Clown: NBD
Superhero/Teacher: Qué es eso?
Child: No big deal!

A month or so ago, I got tired of hearing the kids say "Me da igual. It doesn't matter." So I decided to teach them the American phrase "NBD. No big deal." I certainly never expected them to use it! But it does make me glad to know that they are using English!

Reflections about Spain

5 March 2012

For a while now, I've been thinking about making a list to summarize what I know and have learned about Spain and Spanish culture. Here is the unranked list!

1. Spanish yayos (older people) LOVE giving unsolicited advice. If you aren't doing something "right," they will definitely tell you to... lay off the sugar or inform you that you should study proper Spanish at the Cervantes Institute. 
2. Anything containing the word gallego (as in from Galicia) is automatically good. Some of the best Spanish food I've had has been from Galicia in the north.
3. Though some Spaniards will contest this, Spanish food isn't spicy at all--just sayin'. 
4. Spaniards seem to have a love/hate relationship with Madrid. To them, Madrid is a cool city with a lot of culture, but "Madrid no tiene playa. Madrid doesn't have a beach." 
5. Spaniards are more direct than Americans. In the US, you might say, "Could you maybe possibly bring me a coke when you get the chance? Please." Here, you are more likely to hear, "Ponme un café. Por favor. Bring me a coffee. Please." This doesn't mean that Spaniards aren't polite. It just means that they are more likely to be blunt. 
6. Personal space doesn't really exist as much here. When you are conversing with someone, they will stand right in front of you--10 inches from your face. They might put a hand on your shoulder. My kids at school hug and kiss me all the time. 
7. Spaniards are obsessed with scarves--as well as their use in the prevention of colds. 
8. In relation to #6, I think there must be a specific day of the year when you can start wearing short sleeves--like May 1st. Even though it is 70 degrees, I'm still getting strange looks every time I wear short sleeves. 
9. For as much as Spaniards talk about how much Americans eat, Spaniards easily eat as much as Americans. A typical day includes 5 different meals--breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. 
10. Spanish bureaucracy is a nightmare. Enough said. 
11. The Spanish language has some awesome, very specific verbs like tapear: "to go eat tapas" 
12. Spanish offices and shops are open at some rather odd hours. Government offices and banks close around 2 PM. Everything else closes from 2 PM to 5 PM but is open until 9 PM. 

I'll continue to add to this list as I think of things. 

Indian Restaurant

4 March 2012

When I came home from Valladolid, I noticed that around the corner from my apartment there was a new Indian restaurant. I was really excited to try it out, but I was a little skeptical about the quality of the food--since it's on the Explanada. The Explanada--like any boardwalk--isn't exactly known for great food. It's just where all the tourists go.

In spite of all this, a friend and I decided to go today, and the food was AMAZING!

As a starter, we ordered tandoori chicken and we were given four different sauces to put on it. The sauces--mint, mango, spicy, and yogurt--were delicious.

Next, we ordered chicken tikka masala and vegetable biryani.Throughout dinner, we couldn't stop saying how good the food was! All we could get out between bites of food were sighs of appreciation. In the end, we had WAY too much food. We couldn't finish it all--even though we desperately wanted to!

We loved everything we tried because it was all so flavorful. Each bite was just as good as the bite before. Typical Spanish food is actually rather bland and there isn't really anything spicy even if you try to count patatas bravas. At this restaurant, we were able to pick the level of spiciness of all of the food, and we were thrilled to have legitimately spicy food.

Needless to say, this is a place we'll be visiting again!

Hello, Spring! Hello, beach!

3 March 2012

Today marks the first beach day of the year!

I should clarify that I have been to the beach a lot already this year. I typically hang out at the beach during our three hour lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, on such days, I sit on a bench near the beach. I don't actually get into the sand.

I also should add that I didn't wear my bikini to the beach either. It was nice enough to sit in the sand on my beach mat, but it wasn't really nice enough to sunbathe or swim... though I saw people doing both.

It's a nice feeling to know that winter is done and that the "worst" part of it was still always above zero.

Intercambio--planning a trip

2 March 2012

My spring break trip has gone from being a trip for two to a trip for four! The two teachers I have my intercambio with have decided to come along for the trip--which will go through 4 countries in 10 days.

Two Americans and two Spaniards trekking across Europe... This has the makings of an interesting vacation. I'll be sure to write about it!

In discussing our trip, I talked to them about the passport stamps collecting for Americans. I explained that I was really excited to go to Poland so that the stamp that I received in September "counts." So far, I have stamps for Spain, France, England, Ireland, and Poland. However, since I passed through the airport in Poland, my passport stamp doesn't technically count because I haven't been on Polish soil.

However, within the European Union, EU citizens don't actually need a passport (lucky)--which is the way that it used to be between the United States and Canada and Mexico. Furthermore, EU citizens won't get stamped even if they have their passport because no one receives stamps within the continental EU. So as an EU citizen, you could have visited a ton of countries in the EU but not have a single passport stamp to show for it.

Here's a little of what I learned today:

mensaje--instead of saying texto (text), here it's better to say "mensaje."

puede ser/a lo mejor--options for saying "maybe" instead of quizás.

cateto--hick/redneck

chantaje--bribe

dar la cara--to put yourself on the line. If you recommend someone for a position at your workplace, you put yourself out there for a friend.

mimado--babied. 

Pen Pals: Finishing up!

1 March 2012

One by one, each of my classes is finishing up their pen pal letters... FINALLY! This project has taken a lot longer than I had anticipated, but I think that the stress will be worth it in the end for a couple reasons.

One: kids have a greater understanding of the difference between the US and England. 

For the kids, English is England. I think some of them think that means that the US is England.

However, today, I taught a couple classes about the American flag. I told them that there are 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies, and 50 stars for each of the states in the US. The kids couldn't believe that there are really 50 states and some tried to count them.

Needless to say, there has been an increase in the number of American flags drawn, and they now outnumber the number of English flags.


Two: the kids are more excited and motivated to learn English. Kids who I have never seen participate in class are writing incredibly long letters. 


My students have been digging deep to write to their American friends. One student who never works on the activities in his book wrote a two-page letter.

Three: I'm getting the chance to see Alicante through their eyes and share that with American kids.



I saw a TON of beaches, a couple castles, and of course, the Explanada.

Four: I'm getting to know the students better. 

Since this is Spain, this means FOOTBALL... the soccer variety that is. I'm finding out who's a fan of Barca and who's for Madrid.

Drawings of football fields were common in a couple classes. Here is a Madrid fan.












Here Barca has an ungodly number of points.


I'm just impressed they know all the names of each player for both teams.

Whole Brain Teaching

29 February 2012

One of the best parts about Midyear Meeting was having the opportunity to hear about what other people have been doing in the classroom. Another Valencian TA talking about a method of classroom management called ¨Whole Brain Teaching.¨ When I got back to Alicante, I decided to do a little bit of research on the method in order to see if it might work with some of my classes.

Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) seeks to combine words, with gestures, with thought. In theory, creating more connections between a word and its meaning and thereby facilitating memory.

It seems to be like Total Physical Response (TPR)--which also connects words with movement--but applied to classroom management.

Looking at the website, I found a couple ideas that I thought could help me in the classroom. The first of which is Class/Yes.

The idea is pretty self-explanatory. When the teacher says, ¨Class,¨ the students have to respond with ¨Yes.¨ The catch is that the students have to say ¨Yes¨ the same way that the teacher says ¨Class.¨ So if I say, ¨Class. Class. Class,¨ they have to reply with ¨Yes. Yes. Yes.¨ If I say it in a high-pitched, they have to say it in a high-pitched voice. If I do a gesture, they have to do a gesture, etc...

The kids absolutely love it! I heard them all whispering to one another, ¨¡Qué divertido! How fun!¨

I like it because I get their attention without have to yell.

The second idea that I´ve used today is The Scoreboard.

On the board, I put a happy face and a sad face. I tell the students that if they do something good, that means I´m happy and I´ll put a happy face. They all get to say, ¨Oh yeah!¨ which, of course, they all want to do! If they are talking or aren´t paying attention, I put a sad face. Then, they all have to say ¨awwww.¨

I think that this offers an interesting opportunity to visually show the kids the type of behavior that I´m looking for. I get to reward positive behaviors and everyone gets to celebrate that! I can also show them the types of behavoirs that aren´t okay and that I´d like to see changed--without lecturing them.

I´m going to continue to explore this method, and I´ll write about other ideas that I use.

If you are interested in learning more, check out the website here.

Maps, maps, and more maps...

28 February 2012

My 5th graders are working on finishing up a unit on ¨A Town in Peru.¨ Sounds pretty exotic, right?

However, it basically means that they are learning city vocabulary, prepositions, and there is/there are.

In order to practice this in a fun and engaging way, I told the kids that we were going to invent our own city and that we could put whatever we want in it!

First, we started by making a list of what the city contains using there is/there are. I told them that we could put whatever we want in the city. It didn´t have to just be vocabulary from the chapter. Some of my favorite answers were:

• There are no people in the city.
• There is a discotech. 
• There isn´t a school. 
• There are five libraries. 

Then, we had to draw a map of our city. 

There were a couple ways that I thought about doing this part of the activity. At first, I thought it would be interesting to have each individual write a few sentences about their individual city--such as: There is a park next to the school. The school is opposite the supermarket. The supermarket is behind the police station. They would then have to read their sentences to a partner and tell their partner where to put each item. 

However, in my experience so far, the kids aren´t as accustomed to group work as kids in the US. So I thought it would be better to do the activity as a group--which turned out to be the best choice possible.

First, I asked students about the shape of the city, and whether they wanted a round city or a rectangular city. Two of the classes had rectangular cities, and one class had a round city. My host teacher made an interesting observation about their choices. Choosing a round form suggests that the group is perhaps more open-minded. They were certainly more creative than any of the other groups--using both affirmative and negative; plural and singular.  

Students had to tell me where to put each item on the board. Just to mix things up a little, I´d also ask them about the size of each building. 

Here are the three maps that we constructed with 5th grade!

Sweetland: Lost in the Desert of Desserts

27 February 2012

In today's edition of the Sweetland English role playing activity, the kids are lost in the Desert of Desserts and have to figure out how to get back to Sweetland.

Each student had to share a suggestion for how they could all get out.

Here are some of their suggestions:

• Eat each other.
• Make jokes.
• Make a tomb. (Spanish kids can be kind of morbid)
• Call the Pilot.
• Go with the Superhero. 

The kids ended up trying to convince the Superhero/Teacher to fly them to Sweetland. Each one had to hacer la pelota (plea) and convince her to take them.

Here is how THAT turned out. 

Policewoman: "I'm a policewoman and I'm in charge."

Clown: "Why? You are like the police in Valencia." (Recently, police in Valencia used unnecessary force against students who were protesting)

Child: "The king is in charge." 

Child: "I want to live in the desert."

Policewoman: "Your family will miss you." 

Teacher/Superhero: "You will go to school in the desert." 

Ultimately, the Superhero/Teacher took the Policewoman with her to Sweetland. The clown had to call the Pilot (who is his other character) to take him and the Child back to Sweetland. 

Home Sweet Home

26 February 2012

Late last night, I took the train from Madrid to Alicante. I was unbelievely excited to get back to Alicante! It was fantastic to see all my Fulbright friends again and share our experiences. Leaving the meeting, I felt a new sense of resolve and energy. I was excited to put into practice what I had learned from other people and see what I can make of the last four months that I am in Spain!

Four months. March. April. May. June. Four months feels like hardly any time at all. There is so much that I´d like to do with my students before I leave. There is so much I still want to teach them.

But I know that those four months are going to pass incredibly fast.

When I arrived in the train station in Alicante, all I could think of was a rhyme that my step-mom used to say when we got back to the house after a trip.

Home again. Home again. Jiggity Jig.

In the last few months, Alicante has really started to feel like home. Every time I go away on a trip for a few days, I always feel a sense a relief and familiarity as I trek back to my house from the bus station, train station, or airport bus stop.

As a recent college graduate, "home" has been an ever changing thing.

I've spent four years living in dorms with other people. Dorm life in to way/shape/form feels like home. While I added personal touches to my dorm rooms, they never really felt like home--mostly because you have to share all of your living space. You share your room with a roommate (or two). You share the bathrooms with twenty or thirty people. You're on a meal plan so you don't even cook in the kitchen that you share with the rest of floor. Finally, you know that it's going to be the same thing the following year but with different people. It's hard--at least for me--to find "home" in that.

However, during college, my "home" with my parents started to feel less and less like home because I wasn't really spending much time there. I only stayed at home during breaks from college. While it's familiar and comfortable, you realize that life moves on when you are away and it's not the same that it was when you were young.

In Alicante, I feel like I've been able to make this a home--even if only for this year. As I mentioned before, there's a feeling of familiarity and comfort when I return from a trip. But there's also a certain sense of belonging and living daily life.

I live a very normal life here. I have my friends who I see often. I have restaurants and cafés that I go to frequently where the waiting staff know me. We chat and tease one another.

I do mundane things like go to the supermarket to buy food--like fresh fruit! I take the TRAM home from work. I see no less than 5 of my students while wandering around the neighborhood and they all greet me with cries of ¨Hello! Hello, Bobbi!¨

I can´t complain too much! Having a ¨home¨ in a city next to the beach isn´t a really tough life!

Madrid

25 February 2012

All good things eventually come to an end. After an inspiring Midyear Meeting in Valladolid, it was time to go back to Alicante and use my new found energy.

But first, a stop in Madrid.

I've probably mentioned before that I lived in Madrid for a couple months two years ago. Even though the city continues to change, there's always a sense of familiarity when I wander around.

For lunch, a friend and I actually went to a restaurant I used to go to when we had a break between classes. More than anything, I was impressed that I was able to find it. The restaurant is located on a side street--and even though I wasn't completely sure where it was, my feet carried me right to where I wanted to go.

Later, we visited the Prado--without a doubt my favorite art museum in the world. This was probably my 7th or 8th visit to the Prado because I took an art history course two years ago that met in the Prado. However, I still find each visit worthwhile, and it was fun to go with someone who had never been.

I'm a huge fan of Spanish art. I LOVE the colors of El Greco, the realist approach of Velázquez, and the light and the dark of Goya. So, of course, I had to stop to visit a few of my favorite paintings--Las meninas and Vulcan by Velázquez.

This time, I was struck by the historical collection of paintings in the Prado. In particular, I was interested in a painting depicting the lovers of Teruel. As you can imagine, the story is quite similar to Romeo and Juliet.

The story begins in Teruel--located in Aragón, Spain.

There are two rich families--the Marcillas and the Seguras. Their children--Diego and Isabel--play together as children and eventually fall in love. Unfortunately, Diego's family loses a lot of their money and so Isabel's father won't allow her to marry him. Diego speaks to her father, and eventually they agree that if Diego can reclaim his family's wealth within 5 years he can marry Isabel.

Diego leaves Teruel to make his fortune, and Isabel doesn't hear anything from him for 5 years. Of course, her dad keeps bothering her about getting married, but Isabel refuses to marry anyone but Diego.

However, five years passes, and Isabel's dad decides to marry her to another man. After the wedding ceremony, Diego arrives bearing the wealth that he had accumulated and finds out that Isabel is married. Apparently, Diego hadn't counted the day that he made the agreement with Isabel's dad so he came too late.

Like all great love stories, timing proved to be the crux of the issue.

That night, Diego visits Isabel and tries to convince her to kiss him and run away with him. She protests that for as much as she loves Diego she can't deceive her new husband.

Diego tells her that he'll die without her kiss. Isabel continues to tell him that she can't cheat on her husband. Diego can't bear to live without her and dies right next to her bed.

When Isabel realizes Diego is dead, she wakes her husband and tells him the story of the two lovers. They decide to bury Diego in secret. At the funeral, Isabel wears her wedding dress and kisses Diego goodbye. She falls dead next to her love. Though they weren't together in life, they are together in death.

Midyear Madness Part III

24 February 2012

This morning started with individual presentations made by both graduate researchers and teaching assistants. There were nearly 20 presentations so I can't write about all of them--though they were all extremely interesting! Instead, I'll write about a few that caught my attention.

The first of which was a presentation from a fellow TA in the region of Valencia. Since he is in a Valencian dominant school, he has tried to use the Valencian language as a tool in teaching English pronunciation. Spanish has a one-to-one correspondence between vowels and their sounds--meaning that each vowel only has one pronunciation. However, in Valencian, there are a few more vowel sounds. Using this as a tool, he´s been able to make comparisons that have helped facilitate the kids´ understanding of English pronunciation.

Another friend of mine talked about her international pen pal project. She began by talking about Krashen´s theory for language acquisition and the affective filter. Krashen´s theory about the affective filter argues that your emotional state has a lot to do with you ability to speak and understand a language. For example, when I´m at school and I´m nervous about speaking Spanish in front of native speakers and not wanting to make an error, my emotional state inhibits my ability to speak to Spanish. However, with the pen pal letters, students are highly motivated and excited to read them so their affective filter is lowered and they can actually understand more.

She also shared that there has been a dramatic increase in geographical knowledge since the first letters. Like my class, she had her fair share of kids that thought that the United States and England are the same place. However, in the second set of letters, their drawings became more accurate.

I only hope this happens with the pen pal letters for my class! I've gotten plenty of letters that have the British flag on them.

There were many other incredible presentations, and I wish that I could share them all here. Unfortunately, I don´t have the time to devote to writing about all of them.

In addition to Valladolid being the cradle of el castellano, it's also well know for its wines. So after lunch, we had the opportunity to go to a wine tasting! We visited the Protos (which means "first" in Greek) Winery. There we had a tour of the facilities and then sampled the products.

In this room, there is a bottle of each type of wine produced each year. It's mostly of sentimental value--since most of the wines are likely bad by now. 

Front of the winery

 Look at that castle! Just hanging out next to the winery!

Amazing view!

Midyear Meeting

23 February 2012

The Fulbright Midyear Meeting began this morning with breakout sessions based on grant type and region. I got together with the 9 other teaching assistants placed in the region of Valencia--all of whom are working with primary school.

We had a really fruitful conversation about our individual experiences.

Working with primary school has presented it's own set of challenges for each person. Personally, it's taken me a while to figure out how best to work with each grade level--6th being the easiest and 1st being the most perplexing. I've had to use a variety of methods to work on classroom management--all focusing on reinforcing positive behavior.

Some people have been placed in schools where the Valencian language (a cross between Spanish and French) has a real presence. They've had to pick up some Valencian on the fly--since their kids sometimes speak to them in Valencian! But they've been able to figure out ways in which to use Valencian in order to teach English.

Mostly, people have been trying to figure out their own role within the classroom. As teaching assistants, we aren't the teacher, but we do have a certain expertise that we bring to the classroom. Each Fulbrighter has worked with their teachers to determine how this expertise is shared.

I've been fortunate that my teachers give me a lot of freedom in planning communicative activities for the kids to do. My activities involve a little more "controlled chaos" than the kids are accustomed to, but the activities give them an opportunity to communicate in English in a meaningful way. 

Later, we had free time to enjoy lunch in the city and a chance to walk around the city. We wondered around the Campo grande for a while. It was beautiful--even though it's technically the middle of winter and nothing is growing. There were peacocks (!) roaming the park as well as various gardens.

I wish that I had more time to explore the park. I think it would have been relaxing to wonder around the park con calma (without rushing).

A couple of peacocks decided to hang out on top of a fountain. I'm, shamefully, going to admit that I thought that peacocks couldn't fly--like penguins and ostriches. Apparently, I was wrong.


Check out this artsy photo!

Later, I met up with a group of Fulbrighters for a private tour of the University's library. It contains all of the University's oldest documents and books. 

It was founded by Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza and was intended to be a school for students from economically-disadvantaged families. Unfortunately, that mission didn't last long and soon boys from the aristocracy and rich families attended the school. 

 The library's collection includes some really interesting books. The page in the book below shows a map of the world from the period.

 Here are good old Ferdinand and Isabel--los Reyes Católicos.

 This was an anatomy textbook. Seems pretty meta to me--the skeleton contemplating the skull.

 This is a censored book. Apparently, during the period, there were various tribunals that censored books before they were available to the public. However, I guess different tribunals had different criteria. There are multiple copies of the same book in the library that are censored in different ways.