What Teaching Has Taught Me

I have now been an English assistant in a primary school for 6 weeks in Malaga on the south coast of Spain. With a fairly heavy schedule that involves teaching a total of about 450 children in a working week, it’s safe to say that I have dived head first into the enigmatic world of Spanish education. 

As can be expected, Spanish schools reflect relaxed Spanish culture. There is a large list of differences between their education and the memories I have from childhood in the UK. This includes the fact that it doesn’t seem to matter if the teacher is 10 minutes late, that lunchtime doesn’t come around until 2pm and there doesn’t seem to be any strict system for homework (or any punishments if half the class decide not to do it). However, the lenient schooling works to my advantage; a laid-back syllabus in the English lessons means that I can teach what I want in the way that I want to teach it.

No time for nervousness or lack of confidence, on my first day I was handed a piece of chalk and told to take a class of 10 year olds for 45 minutes. With 20 seconds to rack my brain for any piece of knowledge that might be interesting to them, I decided to talk about London. Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge (which fascinates 10 year olds because it opens and closes for boats) were all on the menu, and the kids loved it. I even suggested they do some written work on the subject, and 2 days later I was handed 30 projects to mark and a red pen.

Some of the many projects!

Since my first week, my patriotism has only grown stronger. We have now covered English food (“it’s very unhealthy”, commented one 8 year old), English schools, English uniforms and the Royal Family (which amusingly gets translated into Spanish; our Queen is now called Isabel, and her son is Carlos). The kids think I’m incredibly exotic, and I have even persuaded the younger ones that Harry Styles is my best friend.    

In terms of teaching as a career enhancer, I would argue that standing up in front of 30 children is a fantastic experience for creativity, quick thinking, managing relationships and public speaking. The phrase, ‘transferable skills’ is thrown around university campuses regularly, but teaching foreign children for 6 weeks, having to constantly adapt to their level of enthusiasm and ability has taught me a huge amount.

Hand me that piece of chalk and put me in front of 30 men in suits any day- at least they won’t ask why the cars don’t fall off the bridge when it opens for the boats!

Teaching the Royal Family in Spanish!

The Things the Spanish Got Right

Image: Spain-Holiday

I have recently made the big leap across the border from Bordeaux in France to the sunny south coast of Spain. My new home is Malaga, the touristy city that allows for beach days in February and continuous eating all day long. As a primary school teacher by day and an Erasmus partier by night, here are a few of my favourite things…

The Social Life. My experience after 3 weeks in the Spanish sun is that the most important thing to a Spaniard is to sit outside cafes drinking beer with friends all day long. “Una caña” is a small beer which, in Malaga, usually costs around 1 euro. In my short time, I have learned that at least one “caña” must be consumed every day. It’s time to wave goodbye to the vineyards of Bordeaux!

The Siesta. It seems to me that everything in Spain happens a few hours later than in the UK. Lunch is at 3pm, supper is at 10pm and night clubs shut at 7am. This has led to the ingenious invention by the Spanish of two shorter sleeps every day, rather than our preferred 8-hour nights. In Malaga, you would be hard pushed to find a shop or restaurant that is open between the hours of 3pm and 5pm. Take note, the siesta is taken seriously in Spain.

The Spanish Language. This is a comparison to France, in which I spent a lot of time being angered by incorrect English on billboards and the language battle with waiters when they replied to me in English (despite being in bourgeois Bordeaux). Even in the tourist town of Malaga, music is in Spanish, shops have Spanish names and the people always reply to me in their mother tongue. Perhaps the same wouldn’t be said for a small town 50 km away called Marbella…

The Spaniards. They may not see any need to apologise if they barge into you in the street, but I have never felt more welcome than I have this past month by the Malagueños. If you ask for directions, they’re happy to walk you to your destination and if you don’t know a word in Spanish, they wait patiently while you try to explain what you mean.

Malaga's Beach!

Stereotypical Stereotypes

There has been a rather interesting change in my life of recent, I am not quite hanging up my beret yet, nor throwing away the garlic, but I will have to make room in my cupboard for a matadors’ costume and some maracas. Yes, it is time the Champagne budge up to allow the Sangría some room. Enough of the corny, stereotypical metaphors, what I am trying to say is that I am soon to be studying my beloved French alongside its trendy counterpart, Spanish. 

Zut Alors!

Although I may have taken my stereotypes one step too far, I believe there is something interesting about them. When we think of the word personification, we think of that vocab list our English GCSE teacher made us learn for our poetry exam, but who do these languages become?  

I have an image of French as a mature, older character sprouting love poems, standing up straight with a moustache standing next to his cool aunt, eating some ham, shrugging her shoulders and saying, ‘que?’. Now I may be taking this too far, but it is funny that there is some truth in them. The stereotypes are there for a reason, because when the sunburnt Brit comes back from their carb-free holiday to Marbs, the relaxed,  pig-eating and tanned description of a Spaniard corresponds with their personal experience (at least, with the brief encounters of Spanish people that they actually had). 

Dos cervezas por favor!

Understandably a whole population will not completely match their stereotype, there will always be Brits who haven’t heard of Arsenal and hate tea. But if these stereotypes give us a recognisable identity within which we can be individual? Well I rather like the sound of that.

Are these stereotypes true?

My Month in Salamanca

 In July 2012 I spent a month in Spain learning Spanish and exploring the beautiful city of Salamanca. I was very generously offered a travel grant from Wills Hall (My Hall of Residence) at Bristol to attend the University of Salamanca during my time there. Here is a brief account of my wonderful experience to say thank you to the Wills Hall Association for their generosity and to keep a record of what I got up to earlier this summer. 

Spanish Celebrations upon Winning the Euro Cup 2012

 On June 30^th 2012 I arrived in Salamanca, a student town 2 hours from Madrid, for a month of studying Spanish language and culture. I arrived in the beautiful city at 1am and was a little worried as to where I was going to sleep that evening. Fortunately for me, 1am in Spain is barely past children’s bedtime and my designated rep was still awake and happy to let me into my shared student apartment.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of other students arriving and we all went together to the University of Salamanca, where I was to spend the next month studying. After a quick test, I was enrolled in an advanced level class which didn’t start until the next day. It was our first day in Spain, so what should we do? The unanimous response: Paella. After a huge meal of rice and seafood, we decided to explore the city. Salamanca is a small city that is centred around the university, much like Cambridge. It has an incredibly rich history, having been the study place of many important figures such as the Spanish writer, Cervantes and even Christopher Columbus was known to have lectured there.   

The Pontifical University of Salamanca

During my month’s stay in the heart of Spanish academia, I attended 5 hours of lessons a day (with no break!) and took up flamenco lessons. Needless to say, my Spanish is a lot better than my dancing, but it was a good way to keep off the added calories of the Spanish diet! What’s more, there were plenty of friendly Spaniards to talk to, especially in the evening over a glass of wine or tinto verano and I learnt that buying a lottery ticket was practically mandatory. 

A Flamenco show starring my Flamenco teacher

During one of my weekends, some friends and I decided to take a trip south to visit the cities of Seville and Cordova. The stunning architecture and plethora of things to see meant we were kept very busy during our 3 day visit. Despite the 45 degree heat, it was a fantastic few days and we hugely enjoyed the backpacker lifestyle, even though we ended up spending one afternoon being stared at on a much-needed visit to a public Cordovan swimming pool!

My month in Spain was entirely unforgettable. I made some incredible friends, the improvement to my Spanish was immeasurable and I have definitely caught the Spanish bug. I cannot wait until my next trip to visit our Spanish-speaking neighbours or at least until my next glass of perfectly cool San Gría.