It is Christmas!

Man. Crazy how fast time goes by over here. It seems like just yesterday i was starting this blog and getting settled in. Now it's Christmas time. Thankfully (from what I remember) I've taken advantage of my time here. To start this one off I just want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and say that I miss you all.

So. This past Friday was the Christmas Festival at my school in Madrid. What this means is that the already adorable children dress up in even more adorable outfits and do adorable things in front of their parents all day. Then the teachers go out and have some drinks, eat lunch, and have some more drinks. Great time.

5 year olds (Natalia, Paula (so cute), and Irene)

I started the morning off bright and early with the Infantiles (age 3-5 years old) at 9 am, helping the teachers get the kids in costume and ready to go on stage at 9:15. It was the first time I had been with the 4 year olds which was a lot of fun. I instantly fell in love with a little girl named Denisa who wanted to hold my hand constantly and initiated the following conversation with me about 5 minutes after meeting me(in spanish though):
"How come you dont teach me?"
"Because I'm not allowed to!"
"Why arent you allowed to?"
"Because I have to teach the 5 year olds"
"Well I dont like the 5 year olds. You need to teach me!"
Denisa is the one on the right in this picture:


So the little kids did their thing and then it was time for the older kids and my third graders were getting ready to do this play about Rudolph. Its all in English and we had worked really hard to get everything right and they did REALLY well. A video excerpt from it is below:

(The video wouldn't upload. Its a damn shame. I'll try to upload it when we get back from our trip)

After that, all the stress was gone so we got to relax and hang out with the kids. It was and amazing day and a great way to end the semester because it reminds you of how rewarding it is to work with kids and how much fun they really are.
My 3rd Graders:

Alba and Georgina (adorable 3rd Graders):


In about an hour we are leaving for our week long trip to Turkey. So Happy Holidays everyone and hopefully talk to some of you over the vacation when I get back.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Life is finally slowing down in the big Spanish city. A few weeks ago we had a frisbee tournament in Girona (close to Barcelona on the east coast of Spain). The tournament was the Spanish Coed National Championship. A good time but definitely wore us out due to our absurd selection of travel times - a return flight at 6:30 am followed by working 9 am - 6 pm. Anyways, Los Quijotes (our team from Madrid) took third place which was ok but we were hoping for a little better. Third place sufficed because they gave us a trophy and free sweatshirts which was fun. Its really not a surprise that third place gets a trophy because in Spanish ultimate it is litterally like everybody is a winner. No player left behind. And all that jazz.

But, the main point of this post is to say that Christmas is coming and we are getting in the spirit. We have a Christmas tree and stockings and hearts full of joy, love, and Christmas spirit. In reality, we will be traveling throughout Turkey during the real Christmas holiday so we are getting ready early. This coming friday my school has its Christmas Festival and all of the classes are going to do plays, songs, or dances. The third grade class I teach is doing a play that I wrote about Rudolph and the 5 year olds are doing a dance in which I will hopefully participate.






My school is also having a Christmas Dinner tonight where a bunch of us are all meeting up at some restaurant. It's apparently a really popular thing to do in Spain. Everyone goes out to a dinner with their coworkers for Christmas celebrations before the holidays begin. Should cook up some good stories about inebriated primary school teachers. Stay tuned.

Little Kids and Littler Kids

A post solely dedicated to work...

For those of you that don't exactly know what I'm doing, (which is probably none of you because I think beyond my close circle of friends and my mom and dad, nobody reads this) I am working as an assistant to teachers in bilingual public primary schools in Madrid. I work in a school in the northeast of Madrid called Dionisio Ridruejo which is about a 35 minute commute from our apartment. The school has been bilingual for 2 years meaning that the 3rd graders are the oldest students in the bilingual program and that the 4th graders don't have bilingual classes. I work Monday-Thursday approximately 10 am to 4 pm (not bad eh?). The big role-players in my work-life are Carlos, the Bilingual Coordinator and 3rd grade teacher, Manuel, the physical education teacher, Laura, the infant education teacher, Mercedes and Inma, the 1st and 2nd grade teachers, and Susie and Andrew, the other two assistants in the school. I teach primarily with Carlos in 3rd grade and then 3 hours a week with Laura with the 5 year olds. I have the good fortune of having PE with the 3rd and 2nd graders as well.

In the Bilingual schools in Madrid, the kids have Science, English Language, Arts and Crafts, and Physical Education all taught in English. The rest of the subjects are taught in Spanish by different teachers.

So. My job is basically to support the teacher and help in whatever way I can. With Carlos, I do a lot because I know the kids and I know the topics that we are covering and I am in the class every day of the week. With Laura, I typically get to play with adorable little kids and tell them to keep coloring. Another big part of my job is giving oral exams to the kids because the vast majority of their education is oral up until grade 3 and 4 and the teachers cant just step outside and give a 1 on 1 oral exam to each child.

Anyways. My 3rd graders are absolutely brilliant and awesome. They are (typically) very well behaved and very motivated. They also only speak in English when in an English class which is extremely impressive. The big excitement of the month is the Winter Festival that we are having on December 19th. Each grade does a dance, song, or play related to Christmas and, for all of the bilingual kids (Ages 3 - 8), it has to be in English. The 3rd graders are doing a play about Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer that I made up. Its pretty adorable.

The 5 year olds are also really smart. Some of them know all of the colors, all of the parts of the face and the body (arms, hands, fingers, legs, knees, feet, tummy, etc.), all of the school objects (scissors, book, school bag), family members, and rooms of a house. Phenomenal. Plus they are adorable and precious. See exhibit A (I'm in the middle of all of them)


I also give private English lessons to a very intelligent 13 year old girl named Andrea. She's super smart and speaks very well. We basically just read books and talk about them and about life since the class is supposed to be strictly conversation.

We get a few weeks off work starting December 20th and we are going on a week long trip to Turkey during the Christmas holiday and then returning to Madrid to spend Kings day with my Spanish family and my Mom and Dad who are coming over.

P.S. I think I'm going to be in the school newspaper pretty soon. I'll obviously keep you posted.