Not a goodbye, but a see you soon!

I can hardly believe nine months have gone by this fast! This last week at CEIP Salvador Allende has been a whirlwind of emotions. In my last blog post, I want to share with you my last week’s activities, what I learned at Colegio Salvador Allende and what I will miss dearly.

Activities:

As it was my last week, I thought it would be interesting to engage the students by playing the English Olympics. What´s that you might ask? My own creation!  Students were divided into teams and each team competed against each other in a series of English challenges.  From a mixture of online games from Cambridge that put their listening and spelling to the test, to the always delightful musical chairs, the famous Simon Says, charades, guess that flag and many more, it was a very active and engaging final activity.

 My favorite, however, was the dance challenge featuring the well known Baby Shark or the YMCA for the older students.  It was great fun to get the students out of their shells, singing, dancing, and being silly. Of course the winners of the English Olympics were the official gold medalist, but all my students are winners and they mean so much to me. I´m glad I had one more opportunity to inspire them and let them know that English learning can be fun, meaningful and memorable.

What I learned:

            It would be too long of a post if I shared all that I have learned this year at CEIP Salvador Allende, but I will share the highlights. First, I learned how a motivated, driven and excellent Bilingual team can work together to create more content and improve English learning within the classroom. Every Monday I gathered with my team to talk about our aims, organize classes and materials with teachers. I really felt like I was a valued member and we all contributed to improving not only the lessons, but as educators. We worked together on the lesson studies, got creative and listened to each others input and developed that within the lesson.

Second,  I discovered  that I really love working with primary aged students. Note this was my second year in primary, but I felt so encouraged and confident with my students, improving my methods, and activities and remembered to always incorporate Total Physical Response (TPR). Learning from the teachers, the students and methodology helped me grow as a teaching professional and will serve as a resource next year as a Kindergarten teacher in China.

Lastly, I learned how important it is to work in a positive and encouraging environment within a school. Teachers, especially the bilingual staff have gone out of their way to make me feel needed, an equal staff member and my work has been appreciated. I felt like my role as an assistant was very much respected and understood, but they also gave me the freedom and creativity to develop my own material, projects and ideas within the classroom. I will be eternally grateful because I am leaving CEIP Salvador Allende with a great motivation to continue within education.

What I will miss:

To be frank, everything! Spain has been my home for three years and it's hard to say goodbye, especially to a school and staff at  CEIP Salvador Allende who have been so warm and kind to me. I will miss my students, who motivated me and pushed me to be a better teacher. I will miss my bilingual staff who always supported me in every venture. I will miss the Costa del Sol, Malaga´s charm and beauty ánd pescaito frito. Thank you so much to the staff and students of CEIP Salvador Allenede! Remember this is not a goodbye but see you soon!

Jeydeleyn Martinez