I came to Spain to learn Spanish, to travel, and to try out
this teaching thing to see if it is something that I might want to do as a
career. I have had no prior experience with kids, nor with teaching, and only a
little with the Spanish language. This program as a language assistant seemed
the perfect way to ease myself into the teaching environment, and also to have
enough time for all the other things I came to do. The few meetings we had in
Melbourne about the program sufficiently prepared me for the trip, and gave
reasonably accurate expectations. Basically, I work 12 hours a week, assisting
the classroom teacher and helping to plan activities for learning. I hope to
become a valuable member of the teaching staff, to become a positive presence
in the school, and to make friends here with whom I can practise my Spanish.
I was lucky to have met Gracia, the bilingual co-ordinator
of C.P Salvador Allende, before my first day of teaching as a language
assistant, so I knew a little about what to expect of the school. Gracia
explained all that is expected of me during my time here, and helped me with
any administration issues. I feel supported the whole way through my experience
so far, and that has been a huge part of my happiness levels! Nevertheless, my
lack of Spanish meant that as I was introduced to the staff I realised I would
need to get my skills up to scratch as soon as possible if I truly wanted to
feel like part of the teaching team. But despite that, all the teachers were
friendly, and I could see myself becoming comfortable and at home here very
soon. Gracia showed me around the school, which rooms I would be teaching in,
and where the kids play. Immediately I noticed that this was an environment I have
not experienced since I was a primary school student myself, and that it would
take a little getting used to!
My first week consisted of sitting passively in the
classrooms, watching and learning about my new students and my fellow teachers.
Occasionally, I would walk around the class to help students with their work,
or get up to read something out loud in English. My first week, said Gracia,
was to introduce me slowly to my new life, to make sure I felt comfortable in
everything that I needed to do here. During this first week, I also had a
meeting with the 167 other language assistants in the Malaga provence. This was
basically a few speeches from a few important people in the Department of
Education, and some additional and very helpful information about the
administration side of things, like how to open a bank account, how to get your
NIE, when we get paid etc. The down side was that the whole thing was in
Spanish, with no translation, so I had to constantly ask my neighbour to
translate for me. The other assistants also had helpful information for me, as
I found out the different types of schools some of them were at (many seeming
to be a lot less organised), and also could ask them about their experiences
settling in to Malaga, and about their experiences the previous year if they
were a second time language assistant.
My second week began with the weekly Monday morning
bilingual teachers meeting. There are 5 teachers that I work with, each in
their science class, from grade 1 to grade 5. In this meeting we spoke about
how are going to work together in the classes and what activities we could do
in the upcoming weeks. It is really nice to start the week with a rundown of
the activities covered in each class for the week, so that I can organise myself
and know what each teacher expects of me. For this week, I made a power point presentation about myself; where I am from, what I like, why I am at the
school, and a bit about Melbourne and Australia. I also made some worksheets
which asked the kids questions about the information they saw in the
presentation. They loved my pictures of Australian animals, the beach at the
Gold Coast, and of my cat, Molly. So overall, a success, and now the kids know
a little about me! And now, its off to plan my next weeks activities...
