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!

Why PR Is Not The Job For Me

I have come to a conclusion: after a 6 month internship in a French PR firm that specialises in fine foods and magazines, 2 weeks in a chic London firm that represents top-end hotels and some post-GCSE work experience with my cousin in beauty PR- I have finally decided that Public Relations is not quite right for me.

The world of PR is heavily stereotyped; lots of champagne, a variety of freebies, plenty of glamourous events in high heels and constantly having the opportunity to showcase your creativity. Although some of this may be glitzy, and PRs certainly all have a story to tell of that time they organised an event with a zed-list celebrity in a swanky venue in Paris, the other 99% of their time is spent being frustrated at ignored emails, annoyed at incorrect journalism and having to be overly friendly to an unresponsive client.

The working world demands routine, repetition and admin, but I can’t help thinking that sending hundreds of blankets emails with text book press releases to interns at crumbling magazines is a little demoralising, especially when the majority of those emails end up unread. The rise of influential bloggers has certainly changed this dynamic, there are now a lot more junk mail folders to send your press releases to, but unless your incessant emailing is paired with a creative marketing scheme or an original, and always expensive, advertising campaign, I found it difficult to feel like any impact had been made.

The feeling of seeing one of your clients featured in the press is certainly a thrill. However, even when you are successful in your promotion pursuit, the problem with PR is that it is virtually impossible to measure. The experts suggest that PR value is 3 times the value of advertising (if a half page advert in the magazine costs £1000, a half page editorial piece would therefore be ‘worth’ £3000). Yet, what I find frustrating is that to know if the writing on those pages transfers into the all-important words on the lips of consumers, well that is almost impossible. 

The intangibility of PR certainly contributes in a large way to my decision, but the fundamental turning point is that PR has deteriorated my appreciation of magazines and made me rather cynical about journalism. Journalists can copy and paste a press release straight into their article within minutes without even a full comprehension of the product. This leads to the products represented by the pushiest PRs who happen to be that old-friend-from-school or the most generous PRs (who can offer free trips to the Bahamas) having the largest word count in the press. Even the most inconsistent cynic would point out that this means that there is very little substance behind the statements. 

Even though I am highly dubious about the Public Relations-Journalist partnership, I can admit that PR has taught me a lot about business, networking and events. Although I have decided that it's not the career path for me, certainly at this stage, I won't deny that my experiences have been more than worthwhile.  

Pay For Your Time, Not Your Coffee

Take your pick!

A recent contribution I made to my company's blog about a concept café that has just opened in London... 

In London’s alternative centre, Shoreditch, a new café has just arrived with a new concept in tow. Your coffee and cakes are free, but you must pay 3p for every 60 seconds you spend there.

Ziferblat is a new café to hit the streets of London and has already been praised by Time Out as one of the best cafes to open in 2014. The popular chain hails from Russia where they have opened more than 10 branches in the last 2 years to an incredibly positive response. The café’s name, ‘Zierblat’ means ‘clock face’ in Russian (Zifferblatt in German) and the idea is simple; pick up an alarm clock on your way in and clock out as you leave.

The owner, Ivan Mitin hopes to make a community from the café, with customers having access to the kitchen to prepare their own food and helping themselves to the professional coffee machine as well as a plethora of snacks. The café even provides its coffee-drinkers with a piano, where visitors are encouraged to show off their musical skills. The communal feeling seems to be a success too, with customers lining up to do their washing up and even that of others despite no obligation to do so.

Ziferblat has sparked criticism from some consumers who don’t favour the idea of being guarded by a watchful timer sat on the table in front of them. Although perhaps making your own coffee is a slight disadvantage of the coffee shop, for £1.80 an hour it is arguably fantastic value.

For those who feel guilty about buying just one coffee and nursing it for two hours while they get on with their work, Ziferblat might be the perfect café to be your new local.

☞Ziferblat Facebook

☞Ziferblat Twitter

☞Ziferblat Website

Find the original article on Com by AVM's website here.