Week 1/4

It has been a week since we arrived in Valencia, and I feel at home in our apartment in Masies. We arrived on Sunday morning and we spent the day unpacking and looking round Moncada, our nearby town. Due to a Valencian 'bank holiday' we had Monday off, which was nice to have a day to settle in before going to our schools. We practised the route to our school on the Metro. We managed to complete the journey without getting lost! 

On the same day we visited the beach, and explored Valencia a little more. It is such a beautiful city. 


On Tuesday, it was time to go into school for the first day. I was nervous but I was expecting to just be observing so I wasn't overly worried about what the day would bring. That being said the first day was so overwhelming with the teachers asking me to teach activities and when I came home I was feeling slightly deflated. I felt I hadn't been prepared to teach and hadn't taught as well as I could have.

 However, as the week has gone on I have settled in to the school, getting to know the students who for the most part are lovely (although they are SO loud!). I am teaching mainly 14-17 year olds, and one class of 13-14 year olds. Originally, I was really apprehensive about teaching teenagers. I thought they wouldn't respect me as a teacher because I'm not that much older than them but I also thought they may be unmotivated and not interested in my lessons. However, I have found that although there are some students that are not interested in learning, the teenagers have a very good level of English meaning that I've had some really interesting conversations with them. 

I am teaching my first lesson tomorrow, based on a Mamma Mia theme as requested by one of my 4ESO classes. This is a small class of 15. I am nervous and excited to teach this lesson, I am still not sure exactly what their English level is like so I'm hoping its not too hard/ easy for them. I am more scared to teach the big classes of 30-35 students. 
 
Throughout the week we have eaten out several times in some great restaurants, however we had a less pleasant experience in this one, I would not recommend!!

However, we did go to this rooftop bar (credit to Leo for finding it, even when the rest of us weren't keen on going in from the look of the outside he convinced us). This was the view from the top.....

We had a brief look round the city of arts and sciences, which is full of amazing architecture. I will definitely be going back to have a proper look round in the next few weeks.

As much as I am loving our experience in Valencia, and all it has to offer, I wish the lizards would stay outside. I think I almost gave Craig and Hannah a heart attack when I screamed from finding one in my wardrobe. 
*Craig and Hannah did eventually manage to catch him and put him outside.
No lizards were harmed in the process!!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1b - I cannot dance

Today was the first day of school. It all feels so non-stop. I am exhausted already and there is a whole week ahead. I still cannot quite process what is going on. UKLC have flown me out, given me five-star training in Kent, provided great and uncomplicated accommodation, fed me and have basicaly done everything from putting me on the plane in London through to just short of tucking me into bed in Spain. It's like magic. I realised today that being here for such a short time makes my place at Pastorina (my school) all the more important. ‘There’s nothing worse than a handshake agreement reinforced with legal paperwork, humbling generosity and notable kindness’, I thought. ‘I’m in big trouble here…’ We were driven to the school by Sophia from Language Kingdom who was lovely and spoke with perfect English. Stepping from the car, I was greeted by the sound of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley in the air. As we were led to the school, the sound seemed to grow louder until we reached a ...
Read more

Haiku 5: Food

 --- In a wash of heat a Colombian woman proudly lays out food --- This weekend has been wonderful. Yesterday, me, Lieve and Bob went to Leon’s contemporary art museum in the morning. We took a slightly longer route to get there (which, hem, had nothing to do with my map reading skills..) which took us down smaller streets with beautiful views of Leon’s old and new buildings crammed together – it still hasn’t stopped surprising me how evidence of different eras exist so easily together here. People will zoom past medieval walls on their electric scooters and a block of 1920s flats squeezes up beside a supermarket. I didn’t like everything in the art museum, but some things I loved, including an installation of a city street reflected in puddles, changing from day to night. The visit made me feel grounded again. Me and Lieve went on to find a café that turned out to be more like a restaurant – a very proud Colombian woman seemed to be running the place and put a tablecloth and...
Read more

Patrick's Packing list

I looked through all the blog posts from previous years and could not find anyone who has posted a complete list of items they packed. I thought I would do the honours instead. This might be the last year of the Erasmus+ because of Brexit, so I'm not sure if this will be so useful for future applicants, but in case the government changes its mind and restarts the programme (perhaps not named after a dutchman but someone more relevant to the 21st century like Bernard Matthews or Ainsley Harriet) refer to calm your minds, people from the future! - Passport  - CELTA Certificate ( Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, not the  Certification in Elephant and Lion Taming--easy mistake to make!)  - GHIC Card - Proofs of Address used for DBS Certificate - Jeans - Shorts (jorts?) - Medication (meditation?) - Coat + hoodie ('expect an arctic tundra' is what I heard in conversation with permanent staff) - GoPro (odd name for a camera used exclusively by amateurs) - Sock...
Read more