Tying Up All The Loose Ends...

I am now back home in Lethbridge after spending just over 9 months in Spain. I had thought that it would be a good idea to wait until I got home to reflect on my experience so that some of the negatives would be forgotten (I think some of them have been) and also so that I might be able to add in a little bit about how it feels to be home now. 

In my reflection of the experience I want to touch on a few different things:

1. What I expected to be doing vs. what I actually did
2. My opinion of the program from what I saw working at the different schools
3. Where my previous knowledge from U of L helped me to do a better job
4. How this experience can help me as I continue at the U of L
5. How I feel I've grown personally from the overall experience

1. So time-warping back to last year as I was applying for the program, this is the information that I read on the program's web page about my duties:

• Grantees will work as English/French language assistant teachers, under the supervision and guidance of a classroom teacher in K-12 schools and Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (state-run language schools) throughout Spain.
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  Grantees will teach 12-16 periods per week.
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  The assistant and the classroom teacher (or the school representatives) may agree upon other activities and responsibilities they should be involved in, such as conducting conversation lessons, attending faculty meetings, making class presentations and participating in extra-curricular activities such as workshops, field trips, student exchanges, music and theater performances, or sports events.

A couple things I found important were "under the supervision and guidance of a classroom teacher" and "the assistant and the classroom teacher may agree upon other activities and responsibilities they should be involved in.." From reading this, I was under the impression that the teachers I would be working with would guide me and help me to plan/prepare lessons, etc. I had expected a somewhat of a structured plan that I could look to to know what the classes would be learning (grammatical structure wise) and what the themes would be (country focuses, shopping, music, etc.). I have to say, I did get this with a couple teachers, where they would tell me in passing the class before, "Oh ya, on Wednesday we are talking about pets, you could prepare something about that." but it was never really planned out, or well communicated. This left me guessing and preparing lessons that I knew weren't my best. 

Another reason I felt I didn't prepare quality lessons (that I know I'm capable of preparing) was because I could never be really sure of what was going to happen in the class. On multiple occasions I would have something planned, get to the class, and the teacher would tell me that they had to do grammar that day, or the students would be so disrespectful that they would be punished by the teacher before I even started anything, leaving me to stand around for 1 hour (usually listening to some type of lecture). 

And yet another reason that the job was made difficult was because of the extreme lack of resources. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected to have all of the luxuries of a Canadian classroom ( a projector, a computer, materials, space, etc.) but it was sometimes inconvenient just to get photocopies (or I just felt bad making them because teachers never use them at all!!) 

Now, what I actually ended up doing. Since I worked with about 5 different teachers, my role was a little different with each of them. In one class, the teacher worked mostly with the book, so I would read out the questions, correct pronunciation, and read dictations. In others I would walk around and correct exercises as the students did them, or stand and listen to the teacher read off and correct exercises. With two teachers in specific, I pretty much had the one period a week to do whatever I wanted. In those classes I played games, or did presentations about Canada or prepared an activity that would get them to speak English. 

My ideal set up would have been to know what the theme/topic and the grammar focus for the unit/week and have the class free for me to do some sort of speaking activity. The problem for the teachers with that idea was that they felt that they had to cover so much grammar and do so many exercises in the book that they didn't have time to "waste" a class on speaking activities. My problem with that is that that is what the job is!! I couldn't understand why I was placed in classes where all I was doing was correcting exercises from the book when the students could be taking advantage of a native speaker. 

2. As for my general opinion about the program, it's hard to say. From my own personal experience I would say that it needs a lot of improvement and fine tuning. I would have liked to see the teachers at the schools have a better idea of what they wanted us to do and what our purpose and goals were going to be. I got the impression that the teachers did think we were important, but had a hard time showing us that. 


It's hard for me to say how effective or important my position was, since it's obvious that there are cultural differences between Spain and Canada. According to the students' response at the end of my stay, I made a good impression on them, and they were eager to say things in English. From the teachers reaction (at the high school) I got the impression that it didn't really matter to them if I was there or not. I would have liked to see some sort of thank-you either from the teachers, or from the principal, which I didn't really get at all. 

As I blogged about various times, during my stay in Miranda de Ebro I wasn't only working in one school. Between September-June I had the opportunity to see how 5 different schools were run, and what my job looked like at each one of them. The names of all 5 schools were: Montes Obarenes (high school), Cervantes, Los Angeles, Principe and Altamira (all primary schools). 


As much as I was annoyed with this set-up at the beginning, by the end I found going to the primary schools to be a reward/an escape from the high school. As I wrote about in my post: Home Sweet Home At Altamira Elementary I found this school to be a huge fit for me. It was there were I got to see a well-structured, well-led school, that was organized and prepared for my visits. Compared to Montes Obarenes, I saw my position as being very effective at Altamira (I'm going to use it as an example) and even asked Fernando (the principle) if they had considered requesting an Assistant for the school.


3.Although technically after I change my declared major I'll just be a B.A. student, I'm so glad that I had taken Ed 2500 before I went over to Spain. Even though it was just an intro to Education, I learned so much from the class. Having background knowledge on teaching styles, and realizing that teaching in Spain is still very conventional (teacher at the front of the class, desks in single rows facing the front) helped me to understand why the teachers didn't embrace my ideas for doing things like going outside to play a game or for rearranging the desks, because for them, that means that they lose the power in the class. This worked the same way for the students, who if told to turn and work with their partner couldn't stay focused since it wasn't the traditional set up. 

In addition to Education 2500, my Spanish classes obviously helped me out a lot! Luckily I had already lived in Spain before, so speaking the language wasn't too much of a problem. Unfortunately, since the job was teaching English, I don't feel I spoke as much Spanish as I would have liked to. I know that my fluidity improved and I gained a few words in my vocabulary, but I'll still be looking for more opportunities to improve. 


Luckily I even got to use a little of my French over there too! At the beginning of the year I did a small exchange with the French teacher for her to speak with me in French and me with her in English. It only lasted until Christmas, when we both started getting busier and couldn't coordinate a time to meet.



4.I think this experience is going to help me so much as I go back to the U of L in September. For starters, I feel even more comfortable with Spanish, and am also feeling a really big drive to work on my French. Secondly, now that I have some real teaching experience under my belt, I feel even more curious to learn more teaching methods and dive deeper into what the Alberta Education system is all about. I feel I have something to compare it to (for the goods and the bads) and can't wait to see how they differ from each other. 


Besides the direct impact on my classes, I also feel that just the simple time away from U of L and from Lethbridge have gotten me excited to go back. It's so easy to get stuck in the routine of day-to-day classes, studying, etc. It's refreshing to experience something different for a while.



5. This last point is definitely the one I've put the most thought into. Spending a year away from home in a different country was probably the most interesting, challenging thing I've done in my life so far. I managed to live on my own with a roommate, pay for everything myself, budget my time and money, and also decide for myself what my priorities were. 


Priority #1 from the very beginning was to be able to take advantage of living in Europe, and that is exactly what I did. I ended up visiting 7 new countries: Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, England, Morocco, Portugal and then of course getting to know Spain so much deeper as a unique culture. I feel that traveling is the best way to learn about your own country, which I learned a lot about! I am now a Canada expert. I feel like now I can appreciate what being Canadian means, and how we are different from other countries even though sometimes it seems we aren't. 


Besides traveling, I've realized that I also learned a lot by living with a roommate. I lived with a girl one year older than me, who was from Houston, Texas. Her personality was so different than mine, and she really helped me to see things from a different point of view. I think together we helped each other through the tough times, and made the great times even better. I'm lucky to have had someone who I got along with and who I will continue to be in touch with! 


I'm pretty sure that my age had a big impact on all of these outcomes too. Being 21, I feel I'm just now becoming an adult, seeing things from a "grown-up" perspective. I was able to appreciate the opportunity and take full advantage of it, to learn and grow from as an individual.  


Overall, I loved living in Spain and being able to get hands on experience in the classroom. It was like a sneak preview of what I can look forward to when I finish (someday!) at U of L, with a Bachelor of Education and become a teacher. I left with so many memories of the people I met (students, teachers, friends, etc) and the good times we had together. I know for sure that I will go back to Spain one day (probably soon) to see the rest of the country and practice my Spanish, but it's also very clear to me now that I will probably decide to live in Canada long term.