El colegio, Halloween and private English lessons

Many of you have asked to see and hear more about my daily life teaching in a bilingual primary school in Madrid. I have included a few photos and descriptions here.

My sixth-graders hard at work

The sixth-grade English/Art/Science teacher

This is the fiifth-grade science book. I'm amazed at the in-depth information they are learning in science. In English, no less! I don't remember learning this much until high school.

All the teachers in Spain went on strike one day a few weeks ago, protesting budget cuts to public education 

The language/culture assistants were required to attend school during the strike. We helped wrangle the small children and run the classes.

Not sure about the juxtaposition of these two signs??

For Halloweeen, each class in the school designed their own jack-o-lantern to display. I had the privilege of carving the representative pumpkins for the two sixth-grade classes. Each student had designed a jack-o-lantern on paper, and then they voted on which design was the best. Next the winning student drew the design on the pumpkin, and I got to carve the jack-o-lantern! I feel so special here, like an authentic example of American culture. :) The kids love it.

For the last period of the day, I ran the fifth grade class while that teacher carved her pumpkin in the back. I went over the homework and supervised the kids doing a skit about Halloween. So much fun! I am thinking seriously that I belong in upper-elementary school.I thought I would miss Halloween in the States, because it is my favorite holiday, but it is so special being able to share my traditions with the people here. My roommate's good friend Alicia specifically requested celebrating Halloween with me and my friends because she wanted to attend an "american Halloween." :)

A student drew her original design on the pumpkin (Malfoy disguised as Harry Potter). Then it was my job to carve it.

I feel so special - a living, breathing authentic specimen  of U.S. culture! The teacher wanted me to carve the pumpkin because she knew that I had much more experience than she did.

The kids pose proudly with their class Jack-O-Lantern

I fulfilled a life-long dream and dressed as Frida Kahlo for Halloween. The students had a race on the actual day of Halloween (that's why they're wearing t-shirts and numbers). 

The kids at school weren't impressed with my "non-scary" Frida Kahlo costume, so I bought some facepaint and tried to make it a bit scarier by adding a "Dia de los muertos" twist. Here in Spain, Halloween means strictly ghosts, zombies, vampires, witches, and skeletons. They are confused by the concept of dressing up as anything else.

Even skeletons get hungry for pizza sometimes.

Candy corn is impossible to find in Spain. The day after our halloween festivities, I went to a Tex-Mex burrito place with my friends. The American who owns the place had decorated the tables with candles and jars filled with candy corn. Guess who swiped some to eat?

After school, I give private English lessons in people's homes. I currently give 9 lessons a week, all within walking distance of my apartment. I am tutoring a young woman who just graduated with her nursing degree because she plans to get a job as a nurse in Ireland. I tutor a 9 year-old girl who forgot all of her English grammar/vocab over the summer and needs some review. She is my youngest student, and my oldes student is a middle-aged air traffic controller  who has a very high level of English, but needs to practice his listening comprehension in order to pass the exam his work requires every five years. So he basically wants to have conversation and listen to me blab. My favorite lesson is with a young couple (23 and 25) who recently graduated from university with degrees in economics/marketing/business. All of the job interviews in this industry are conducted in English, so they need to improve their fluency in order to land their first jobs. I meet with them every day of the week during my 2-hour lunch break.

I charge 20 euros/hour, not bad for chatting, meeting interesting people, getting advice on local events/restaurants/travel plans, drinking tea, discussing news and politics, playing games, and singing songs.

In other financial news, the school I'm working for has indeed turned out to be super-competent. They paid me on time the very first month, which I hear is quite unusual in this program. The money successfully transferred to my Spanish bank account, so I was able to pay my rent. Phew!

Sunset in my neighborhood park