First and foremost, I'd like to thank/apologize to everyone who's commented on the blog recently. I didn't realize that I needed to go through the comments and accept/reject each one, so I had no idea that people were commenting!
I also now realize that while the blog details my trips and vacations, I haven't really detailed what it is I do here on a daily basis. Allow me to shed some light...
Tuesday's are my busiest day, so we'll use that as an example (with some other days mixed in, for narrative purposes.) I wake up at 9 or so and brush my teeth, have my breakfast (3 yogurts w/ cornflakes mixed in, for added crunchiness and satisfaction), and check my email, watch soccer highlights, find out what I missed as I was sleeping and the US was hitting prime time. At 10 past 10 I have my first class, so I walk down four flights of stairs, down the block, and across the street to school, a 4 minute journey. Coincidentally, 4 minutes is about how long it takes students to go from classroom to classroom and get settled, so I can leave my apartment when the bell rings for classes to change. Sometimes I leave a bit earlier, so I can stop by the teacher's lounge, check my mailbox, talk to a teacher, lo que sea.
The first class of the day on Tuesday are 15 year olds, in a small class that I believe is mandatory, judging by the enthusiasm that most of them show. The teacher of that class is not very good -- she doesn't really prepare much (a common occurrence in Spanish schools) and has me just read from their book, and then make up questions on the fly. This week, I read a chapter of "Mrs. Doubtfire," which I didn't know existed in book form. After reading a random chapter in the middle of the book, I didn't really know the story at all, so asking questions was difficult. The students are also trying to get away with using as little English as possible, so they often give curt, garbled answers after I've labored to come up with a question.
But luckily, the class eventually ends. From 11-11.30 the whole school has a break (not lunch, which everyone eats after school ends at 2, but a mid-morning snack) so I run back home and do some laundry, eat a ham sammich, whatever.
At 11.30 I'm back at school, but to tutor two teachers. One's a French teacher and the other's a science teacher. They are in an English class and use me to stay sharp and get some extra practice. Many teachers are scared that their jobs will disappear based on the financial crisis, so they are doing what they can to make themselves more attractive employees, including learning English. With these two, we usually just try to talk about our lives and converse. They are still beginners, and I need to keep reminding myself to speak very slowly, clearly, and using simple vocabulary. They also have a book they work out of, so that often gives us something to do -- I can create examples or questions based on what they're learning, they can get some practice using the phrases or techniques they're learning, etc. (For instance, one teacher once asked me to ask her questions that would require to use "used to" in the answers. Okay...do dinosaurs live here in Castellon? Are you a university student? Etc)
The bell rings at 12.20, and its off to one of my favorite classes, the business marketing class. They are all at least 20 I think, as its more of an adult-ed class, and although they aren't the best at English, I can at least relate to them on a social level, joke around, etc. The class' English teacher is really good to work with, because she always has something prepared, has things for me to do that don't require me to invent entire dialogues on the spot, etc. For instance, last week we worked on different ways to greet someone, depending on the situation -- a business acquaintance you're seeing in person for the first time, an email to your best friend, a love letter, etc. It makes me think of all of our little idiomatic expressions, and usually brings a smile to my face as I recall a little turn of the tongue I know that nobody will pick up on. (i.e. "Howdy, pardner!" or "What's crackilackin, joe?" in the case of the greetings) Since these students are generally my age, I've also met up with some of them outside of class, to have a beer or play soccer. At times we can get distracted and lose focus, but that doesn't happen too often.
The last class of the day is another one of my favorites: 16 year olds who chose "Angles Practic" (Practical English, for those who don't speak Valencian) I spend two hours a week with them (twice as much as any other class) and the class' teacher, a gentleman named Guillem, has been very warm and generous towards me. As part of their studies, students have the opportunity to choose a song in English that the whole class works to translate and then sing, accompanied by the class' other assistant, Mr. YouTube. I've had some fun translating and explaining the lyrics to the R&B, Pop, and Rap songs that they choose -- a lot of slang, and a lot of subject matter that makes me glad they don't understand the lyrics. This class also surprised me on my birthday with a cake and an extraordinary rendition (i.e. wouldn't be welcome in the United States) of Happy Birthday.
In the afternoon's, I help Guillem with the Informatica classes. These are adult ed, and basically are classes for students who want to work in IT. Therefore, its pretty technical, boring stuff -- the students label the parts of the computer, determine what is a peripheral and what is an input device, and pronounce gigabytes "jiggabeaties." The students don't seem to find it very entertaining either -- as I'm going into the building, I usually see a couple students fleeing.
Then it's time for more tutoring. I tutor Guillem's twins, who are two lovely 15 year olds who have no problems chatting for an hour -- movies, parties, my relationship with Billie, fashion, etc. They usually have no problems understanding me if I talk at about 90% full speed, and don't seem to get stressed out when they can't come up with a word. I don't really have to prepare anything in advance of working with them, since they are expert talkers, and if we run out of things to talk about we play hangman or practice the boring staples of English -- days of the week, the vowels, etc. After I finish with the twins (making sure to compliment their mom on the smells emanating from the kitchen) I head over to Victor's, about 10 minutes walk away. He's the same age (15) but goes to a different school. He's also really good at English, and he loves Real Madrid too, so we basically spend 2 hours a week talking about Real Madrid. Its a bit more difficult to converse with him only because there's one less of him than there are of the twins, and also he's a naturally quieter person. He's currently reading a book in English about the Holocaust for school, so he reads me a chapter and I listen without looking at the words, so I can be sure he's understandable. He'll ask me about a word once a page or so, and they're pretty obscure words -- grimace, tickling, knock, etc. He's really good at using context to figure out what stuff means, and if he doesn't know something, I generally don't know it in Spanish, so I need to resort to acting or gesturing. Which is not bad for a word like "frown," but a bit more involved for "acting" or "punch." After our hour is up his father always says hello and asks how I'm doing. For the holidays he gave me two bottles of red wine, which were delicious.
My work day over, I walk from Victor's apartment and through downtown. I have an hour to kill before I meet my Brazilian friend Bruno at the train station, so I stop in some stores, check what's on sale, etc. Bruno and I meet at the train station because its a central location and sometimes we wait for a Scottish guy to join us. Bruno has been working with me on my Spanish, and in return I help him with his English. He's helped me a lot (and vice-versa) and its been nice to have someone to hang out with and work with on a regular basis. After working for an hour or so we head off to a soccer field, where he has a weekly game with his Brazilian friends. Then its shower time (at the field's locker room, to save that water bill money) and off to bed.
Y ya esta.
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