Education in Spain

Here are just a few of the differences I've noted between Spanish and American high schools:

My school building was originally a 16^th century monastery.

It's served a variety of purposes since being built, including a hospital, before becoming a secondary school in the mid 1800s. That means it has no lockers, spotty wifi [it has trouble getting through the thick walls], a former chapel turned mini-museum full of old science equipment, etc. It also means that it's a tourist stop in the city, mostly because Spanish poet Antonio Machado was a teacher there. They even have a room on the ground floor that's done up to look like a classroom would have looked when he was teaching.

Antonio all decked out for his birthday.

Students refer to their teachers by first name.

And not out of rudeness or over-familiarity. There's just a different definition for respecting the teacher.

Behavior-wise, most of the kids are amazing. But they talk [with each other, at least] so much more than anyone would have dared in my high school classes. They generally keep it pretty quiet, but if a kid crosses the line, the teacher sends him or her [but usually him, let's be honest] into the hallway for the rest of the class. In a few of my classes, especially when I'm alone with one half, it is so hard to get the entire class to pay attention at the same time.

The education system is set up a little differently too.

There are four years of secondary school, the equivalent of 7th-10th grades. Attendance is compulsory until age 16, after which students can continue studying another 2 years in Bachillerato classes in preparation for university, or they do vocational training instead.

Primary school is a little different too. The kids have said that their language instruction begins at age 3, which from a developmental perspective is great. Of course, that also means that they basically have public preschools within their primary schools which are so hard to find at home.

Snow in the courtyard in February.

Teachers change classrooms (as do students, but to a lesser extent).

There aren't enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own, so they're moving around all day. Each department has its own “Sala de profesores” where the teachers leave their things and keep resources. But there's not really a specific area of the school for each subject, except for classes in the science laboratories.

Instead, the students are grouped into smaller groups inside their grade level and each group has their own classroom. So for example, the 3rd year students [9th graders] have four groups: 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D. But then there are some classes [like the bilingual ones] that have a few kids from each group, so they use whatever classrooms are free during that period.

Three flags over the entrance of the school.

Speaking of which, the daily schedule is worlds away from blocked scheduling.

Classes are 50 minutes long which is great for me because that means I don't have to hold the kids' attention quite as long. There are two short breaks during the day but no lunch period. So they have two classes, a 20 minute recess, two more classes, 25 minutes of recess, and then the last two classes. The younger students are supposed to stay inside during the breaks, but the older ones are allowed to leave.

The most interesting thing to me is that the schedule is the same week to week NOT day to day. So despite having a shorter school day - school goes from 8:15 to 2:15 - the kids are studying more subjects. For some electives, they might only have 1 hour a week, while they have 3 or 4 English class periods. The only problem is that classes which are scheduled for Mondays and Fridays have a lot more non-class days [usually due to holidays or class trips] than others and they get behind.

The Best Laid Plans

Ever since I first found out, late last August, that I was actually going to teach in Spain, I was thrilled. And not just about the living in Spain part. I was most excited because I [finally] had the next two years of my life planned out. That hasn't happened since I accepted my spot at Texas State.

Three weeks ago, I decided not to renew my position for another year, letting go of my dreams of living in Andalucia.

Which puts me back in my post-college what-am-I-doing-with-my-life mindset.

Which is quite the struggle for organized, planning me.

Somehow, this seems to keep happening to me. I grew up knowing that I was going to be a teacher. I have a very distinct memory of a guest speaker we had in a youth group meeting at the very beginning of my senior year of high school. She asked if any of us knew, 100% for sure, what we were going to do for a living. So I, supremely confident, raised my hand and said decisively, "I'm going to be a teacher."

Less than a month later, I had changed my mind.

So I started college getting my degree in Family and Child Development instead of Education. At the time, I was planning on being a Child Life Specialist [if I haven't already explained it to you, basically it's a job where you make kids in the hospital happier].

And then I changed my mind again. I did my internship at a Child Placing Agency and fully intended on working for CPS after I graduated.

Well, that plan clearly didn't work out for me. I spent the next few months getting over my I'm-terribly-burnt-out-from-school-and-job-hunting funk and then was offered a terrific part-time position at a preschool. I was reminded how much I lovelovelove toddlers. There are not many people who seem to like this stage best [hence the term terrible twos] but it is my absolute favorite.

Unfortunately, the Peace Corps doesn't need a lot of preschool teachers. So I applied for the Spain job and said I wouldn't be back in the fall because, as much as I love those babies, I also desperately needed to travel. Overseas.

And then I didn't hear from them, and didn't hear from them. So, change of plans again! I got a full-time nanny job for the sweetest baby boy, with a lovely family, that I was planning on staying at for a year, at which point I was going to try for Spain again.

Ha!

Here I am, teaching in Spain 5 years after I decided I could never be a teacher. [For some reason, teaching languages is a little better than teaching other subjects, although the variety in the education systems in Peru and Spain also makes a big difference.] And it's great, and I get to travel, and I'm earning money.

But.

But I'm sick of high schoolers.

Don't get me wrong, most of my classes are great. There are a lot of kids that are really invested in learning English, and their level is much higher than that of most American students. But the ones that aren't just...aren't. They talk over me, they don't pay attention, and they make me really, really miss my sweet toddlers.

These past 5 months have reinforced the knowledge that I am not cut out to be a grade school teacher. Preschool is my home. [It's also the most important age for attachment, and therefore foster/adopted kids, and therefore combines two of my loves.]

And as much as I enjoy living here, I realized, as I procrastinated on working on my reapplication, that there's not a lot left I want to do in Spain. I've done a ton of traveling, practiced some Spanish, and eaten a lot of delicious paella. When trying to picture next year, maybe in Granada, the only thing I was looking forward to was coming home during Christmas break and having a Presbyterian-ish church to go to.

Which are not good reasons to commit to living somewhere for nine months.

So now I'm working on a new plan. And I'm really excited about it and can't wait to share it with everyone. But this post is long and picture-less enough as it is, so that will have to wait for another day.

A Very Different Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has never seemed to be the quintessential American holiday more than right now. There are plenty of other celebrations that have made it to Spain in an Americanized form - last month, Halloween was a pretty big deal. But not Thanksgiving.

Even the concept of "being thankful" for things was difficult to explain, especially to the younger students in my private classes. With the 5 and 9 year old siblings I taught yesterday, I ended up asking them to write down things they liked. So the little boy said the only thing he's thankful for is football.

I actually ended up learning new things about the holiday in preparing a Thanksgiving-themed lesson. For example, some historians believe that the Native Americans showed up at the "First Thanksgiving" feast not because they were invited, but because they heard a ton of gunshots and thought the Pilgrims were being attacked.

And I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving about 10 times.

This may also have been the Thanksgiving that I ate the most food. The English teachers at my school organized a fantastic Thanksgiving Day lunch. Since I am ovenless, I set aside my dreams of chocolate pecan pie and made a Waldorf Salad - I figured that was something uniquely American and easy to make in a short time. However, it's a lot more difficult when you can't buy seedless grapes.

The Menu:

Appetizers

Shrimp
Ham
Toasted crackers
Salad (mine and a more typical salad, although it had apples and walnuts in it as well)
Bread

Soup

Some kind of soup with pan-fried bread and lemon. I can't remember what it was called, but it was good, and I am the most picky when it comes to soups.

Main course

Chicken
Baked mashed potatoes

Deserts

Coffee flavored flan

Lemon cheesecake (I definitely had two pieces of this and then was given another heaping serving to take home with me)

I raced home from our 4 hour lunch so I could go struggle to explain the holiday for my hour and a half long class, and then had a little time to sit in my apartment before Thanksgiving Round 2. [I also said a quick hello to my new roommate who moved in yesterday! Because there just wasn't enough going on this week already.]

The spread.

So I made up another batch of salad and joined some friends for a late dinner. We ended up eating around the same time as our families at home would have, which I thought was nice except for the waiting to eat part. There are quite a few American teaching assistants, so between us, we were able to put together a very American Thanksgiving feast, with some Spanish and French contributions as well.

The Menu:

Appetizers

Crackers
Dip (the one I tried was cheese and tuna, which was so delicious, I didn't even try the other)
Doritos TexMex
Cucumbers and carrots

Main course

Turkey (some of the best turkey I've ever eaten in my life)
Baked macaroni and cheese
Green bean casserole
Salad
Peas with ham
Cornbread and baguettes

Desert

Apple pie

Several of the teachers have asked me if this was my first Thanksgiving away from family. It was weird to realize that it was. There is no holiday that I associate more with family, so it's strange to think that it passed without me being able to see or talk with them. Nevertheless, I had a terrific day - although now I have a lot of sleep to catch up on.

(Spanish) Kids Say the Darndest Things

My first two weeks at the school, I introduced myself to all the English classes with the help of a PowerPoint. [Thanks to Google, I found a U.S. map with Texas highlighted, pictures of my high school and university, etc. I found it both reassuring and frustrating that I couldn't get a picture of my house online.] The kids had time to ask me any questions they could think of, some of which spoke to stereotypes of Texas, and some of which were too amusing not to share:

Q: Do you have a boyfriend?
A: No.
Q: Do you like Spanish mens?
A: I wasn't quite sure how I was supposed to answer that, especially with a roomful of 13 year olds. Luckily, the teacher picked up on the grammar mistake so we talked about singluar/plural of man instead.

Q: You live in Texas where a lot of people use guns. Do you have any guns at your house?
A: Um, no.

Q: How long does it take to drive from your city to Las Vegas?
A: Probably 3 days. [They were shocked.]

Q: Do you have a favorite singer? And then another student interjected - Do you like Justin Bieber?
A: This class, all boys, was very happy when I said no.

Q: What do you think about the economy?
A: I don't really remember what I said, but the gist was - I don't know much of anything the economic situation, in Spain or the U.S.

Q: What is the season for the NBA?
A: I told him November to March. And then later I realized that it's college basketball that does March Madness, so that was probably completely wrong, wasn't it? Oops.

Q: Do you agree with the death penalty?
A: No. The teacher seemed really flustered by this question and told me I didn't have to answer if I wasn't comfortable with it. I'm not exactly sure why.

Q: What is your favorite Spanish food?
A: Bread. They seemed disappointed with my answer, but that's really the only Spanish/not at all American thing I had eaten at that point.

Q: What is your favorite food in America?
A: Pasta. We had talked about BBQ being typical Texas food, so one girl called out, "Why pasta when you have all this meat?" Does this make me a bad Texan?

And finally, in the classes where they asked what my favorite movie was, they had never heard of any of the movies I thought of. Salt? No. [Angelina Jolie? No.] The Avengers? No. Phantom of the Opera? No. I was relieved some of the students knew what I was talking about when I said I liked reading The Lord of the Rings.