Back to High School

It's been a while since I've gone to a high school class. It's been almost two years believe it or not, that's pretty crazy! Looking back, I have no idea how I woke up at 6:35 every morning and functioned in most of my classes. But anyway, today I went to the Francisco Ayala school in Granada, a public middle/high school that teaches classes in both English and Spanish (it's a bilingually taught school). I got to be an assistant teacher in three classes this morning, all of which were very interesting. 

My first class was with kids ages 13 and 14. They were veryyy very noisy and the teacher had very little control over the class because the kids just talked back at him. Apparently this is very normal in public schools here. Teachers get things done, but the kids don't have as much respect for their teachers, especially those in younger grades. So needless to say, my first class was kinda chaotic, especially considering it was at 8 in the morning. 

I absolutely loved the second class I went to. It was with the same teacher, but the students were much older (in their final year before college) and are eager to learn English. It's a smaller class, and many of them want to go to college to study transcription and languages which is really cool. I spent the whole class answering questions, from personal questions to questions about the US versus Spain. It was really fun! When the girls found out I liked One Direction, they immediately loved me. I'm very partial to this class, I wish I could just stay and talk with them forever. What's even better, is everyone in the class has to take the college placement exam (the equivalent of our SATs and Common App, kind of) where they are tested on a bunch of subjects. It's apparently very difficult and all the students are really nervous. So, they are very excited to have me around the next few months so I can help them! 

The third class was much like the first class, only a little better behaved. It's bad, but I'm already starting to pick favorites. I don't mean to, I just can associate with some better than others. It's very easy to pick out the stereotypes of middle school. Today was an irregular verb quiz. To keep time, the teacher plays a 5 minute song and when it finishes, everyone knows to put down their pens. Today's song was Adele. After the quiz, a group gave a presentation on a Greek Island. The presentation was given in English, but the students' accents were so thick that I had to listen hard to figure out what they were saying. It still sounded like Spanish to me. I can only imagine what I sound like to Spaniards now...

I must say, the school is fun and all the teachers are very friendly. Everyone is so thankful to have me volunteer, and I think the students are excited about it too. Obviously some more than others, but I know a few that already want to spend time and talk with me to help practice their English.