Prom preparation at San Juan Bautista is in full swing. Next Thursday we will be holding prom. Out of a possible 300 students, 212 have bought tickets! I am really happy with the turn out considering about a month ago my students had never heard about prom. In order to get the school excited for prom, Jim and I gave “All About Prom” presentations to all the English classes. Some of the serious questions the students asked were whether beer would be served at the prom (the drinking age is 18 and the students are 15, 16, and 17 years old), how short could the dresses be, do I have to have a date, and why is the prom on a Thursday. I responded to the students no alcohol would be served at the dance, your dress does not need to be ankle length but must adequately cover your body while you are dancing, you do not need a date, and Rosa, principal of the school, chose the date because she didn’t think teachers would come if it were on a weekend.
This past week we have voted on the prom court and king and queen. When asked what the criteria was, the first thing that came to mind was popularity. Clearly, this is not the message we wanted to send, so Jim and I decided to tell the students it was based on leadership, dedication to the school, and someone who you would want to represent the school. After the prom king and queen are announced, the king and queen will share one dance. We asked the court to select a slow song, and get this they picked the Titanic song (My Heart will go on by Celine Dion). I truly feel like I am back in middle school reliving the awkward school dances. I am expecting a lot of cologne from the boys, girls going to the bathroom every five minutes to fix their makeup, awkward slow dances, and tons of laughs.
The prom will be held this Thursday, from 7 – 10 pm in the outside patio of the school. One thing we did not take into account is that it is going to be light out the entire dance. I guess that means the dancing will be a little tamer. Another only in Spain thing is that the students are going to go home and eat dinner after the dance. We are serving snacks but only in Spain can you get away without serving dinner for an event scheduled from 7-10 pm. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays nice and we do not have any rain otherwise the dance will be moved inside.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Leaving Spain in Less than 1 Month
It seems like yesterday that I arrived in Madrid daunted by the fact that I would be living here for the next nine months. The time has truly flown by which I guess is a sign that I have had a good time.
Since my computer died, I have not been blogging and I thought about recapping the past two months but that just seems to daunting, so I decided to just start up with I feel right now. One of my roommates is leaving in about 1 week and I am leaving in four weeks, so lately I have been thinking a lot about going home and what lays ahead. Here is a running list I have compiled of things that I will miss and things that I am looking forward to at home. I am sure the list will grow as I spend more time thinking about it, but these are the obvious things that came to mind.
Things I Will Miss About Spain
Since my computer died, I have not been blogging and I thought about recapping the past two months but that just seems to daunting, so I decided to just start up with I feel right now. One of my roommates is leaving in about 1 week and I am leaving in four weeks, so lately I have been thinking a lot about going home and what lays ahead. Here is a running list I have compiled of things that I will miss and things that I am looking forward to at home. I am sure the list will grow as I spend more time thinking about it, but these are the obvious things that came to mind.
Things I Will Miss About Spain
• All the plazas and cafeterias where one can order a coffee or cheap glass of beer or wine
• All the fountains, arches, roundabouts
• Being able to walk or take the metro everywhere I need to go
• Having a grocery store less than a minute away
• Three day weekends
• Having sunlight until close to 10 pm
• Cheap produce, 1 kilo of strawberries only costs 2 euros (ie 2.2 lbs of strawberries for about $2.50)
• Being able to travel on the weekends and find really cheap flights. So far the best deal I have received was 30 euros with all the fees included on a roundtrip flight from Madrid to Porto, Portugal
• All the amazing fulbrighters. Everyone has such an interesting story and background. It truly is an amazing group of people
• Going to retiro park on Sunday and having no homework to complete over the weekend
• Not watching tv, This year we barely have a functioning tv, and it has been nice to take a break from tv. However, my guess is that once I am home I will get back into my old habits
• My roommates and my apartment. For my first apartment out of college, I feel totally blessed. I have a great place with lots of light, plenty of space to entertain, and quirky oven that keeps things interesting.
• The fresh squeezed orange juice that my school serves. It is delicious.
Things that I am looking forward to
• Having a dryer so that my jeans are no longer stretched out
• Eating dinner around 7pm instead of 9 or 10 pm
• Being able to go non-smoking restaurants, sporting events, concerts
• Eating bagels, and good Mexican and Japanese food
• Seeing my cat
• Having a bank that is open past 2 pm and that has hours on Saturday
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
new post coming
About a month ago my computer died but I have a new (well new to me, actually very old) computer and will start posting shortly.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Global Classrooms Follow Up
After the global classrooms conference, Jim and I gave our students questionnaires regarding their preparation, the conference, and their thoughts on global classrooms. I have copied some of the quotes the students wrote because they really moved me and illustrated the importance and effectiveness of the program.
One girl wrote, “I think it was a good opportunity to learn new things and to learn how to listen to different points of view.” Another student said that “we learned how to speak and reach agreements with other delegates.”
One of the most poignant comments came from a girl who participated in the conference for her second time. She wrote “what I had learnt this year is the huge problem of disease in all societies and the main that I’d learnt is that what seems to affect only specific people at the end you realize that the problem is also affecting you some way.”
If only we could all realize how interconnected we are and that we have a responsibility to help all people around the world. I am now a firm believer in Model UN and global classrooms because it makes the students think critically, learn to respect others’ ideas, use English in a useful manner, and teaches them public speaking.
Based on the success of global classrooms, the secondary Fulbrights in
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Model United Nations
On Wednesday, we had our global classrooms model United Nations conference. Global Classrooms is a relatively new program sponsored by the United Nations to bring the Model United Nations experience to disadvantaged public schools and spread the program throughout the world. Therefore, Global Classrooms allows students who would not normally participate in Model United Nations get exposure to international relations and diplomacy. Currently, Global Classrooms operates in 24 cities around the world.
The main idea behind the project is that students are grouped in pairs and are forced to represent a country. The topic of this year’s debate was malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. The students must research their country’s stance on the topic, the current measures that are being taken to combat these diseases, and solutions to these problems. Furthermore, the students must write a position paper articulating these ideas and defend their ideas in a debate format. Needless to say this is a difficult job for any student, let alone a student who has to do it in their second language, English.
In preparation for the conference, Jim and I first started teaching parliamentary procedure which basically means the rules of debate. At the conference, the language is very formal and there are specific rules that must be followed. For example, the way in which a question is asked depends on the type of question. If a student cannot hear a speaker, then they need to say “point of personal privilege” can the speaker please talk louder but if a student has a question regarding something another delegate stated they need to say “point of inquiry” can you please clarify what is meant by educational programs.
After teaching the rules of debate, Jim and I had to split the students into countries. Each school was allowed to bring 22 students representing 11 countries to the conference. However, Jim and I were working with two third year classes. In total we had close 50 students from which we had to select 22, so initially we assigned four to six students per country. In January, after reading sample position papers and hearing the students present opening speeches we had to cut almost half of the students. This ended up being a very difficult task because for a couple of countries we had three really motivated students who were doing solid work and could have really benefited from the conference. However, I kept reminding myself that it was a good thing that so many of my students were well qualified and excited about the program.
With the cuts made, we continued teaching about debate, revising position papers, and working on opening speeches. This took a lot of time and effort. Students in the Spanish school system students are not required to write papers and do a lot of critical thinking. For most of my students, this was their first research paper (it only had to be one page single spaced) and they are equivalent to sophomores in high school. While some had trouble finding reliable sources, most of our time was spent teaching basics related to writing mechanics such as having an introduction, transitions between paragraphs, and citing sources appropriately. I spent multiple nights grading papers, and while doing so I gained a greater appreciation of why grading strong papers is easier than weak papers. Some of the drafts that were turned into me were so incomprehensible I wouldn’t know where to begin with revisions and suggestions. Plus, the definition of plagiarism seems to be a lot looser so I found myself writing is this your own words on almost every paper that was turned into me. In the end, the papers improved a ton. In fact, we had four very strong papers and had to select one to turn in as our best paper from our school. The paper we selected ended up winning the Best Position Paper award in comparison to the 9 other bilingual schools who participated in the conference.
The conference was split into two days. On Tuesday, we had the opening ceremony in the Asssemblea de Madrid which is the Communidad de Madrid’s government building. This would be comparable to holding a conference in the state legislature chambers.
Assemblea de Madrid
All of my students went home after school, ate lunch, and changed. I was completely surprised by how well they dressed after seeing them in their normal everyday clothes. Almost all the boys wore ties and sport coats and the girls had on skirts and dresses with heels.
My students all dressed up
At the opening ceremony, all of the sponsors spoke and a student from my school who participated in the conference last year spoke as well. Afterwards, our director (equivalent to a principal in the US) took all the kids out for soda. I thought this was such a nice act that the kids will remember for a long time. Instead of calling for the bus to pick us up right away, she marched the kids into cafeteria restaurant and ordered 22 cokes for the kids. This reinforced the idea that doing something small can really make someone’s day.
On Wednesday, the conference began early in the morning. The students were split into five committees depending on region. I was the secretary for the Eastern European committee and I got to see two delegations from my school debate. One of the delegations completely surprised me and actively participated which I was not expecting. Overall, my students felt pretty comfortable and enjoyed the debate. They told me that they were glad they participated in the conference and felt proud that they could debate in English.
After five hours of debating, there was an awards ceremony. There were 30 awards that were given for the ten schools. My school won 8 awards!!! I felt so proud of my students. While it is not fair to compare the number the awards each school won because the students come in with different levels of English, this is still a huge accomplishment. It reinforced to my students that hard work does pay off and that English is a useful skill.
at the awards ceremony
Overall, I am really glad I got to participate in the global classrooms program. It provided me the opportunity to lead my own classes and design the lesson plans and handouts. Furthermore, it teaches the students critically thinking, research, and paper writing skills that are often lacking in the Spanish school system. In addition, it makes the students more aware of global issues and it lets them use English in practical situation instead of focusing on verb conjugations.
The main idea behind the project is that students are grouped in pairs and are forced to represent a country. The topic of this year’s debate was malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. The students must research their country’s stance on the topic, the current measures that are being taken to combat these diseases, and solutions to these problems. Furthermore, the students must write a position paper articulating these ideas and defend their ideas in a debate format. Needless to say this is a difficult job for any student, let alone a student who has to do it in their second language, English.
In preparation for the conference, Jim and I first started teaching parliamentary procedure which basically means the rules of debate. At the conference, the language is very formal and there are specific rules that must be followed. For example, the way in which a question is asked depends on the type of question. If a student cannot hear a speaker, then they need to say “point of personal privilege” can the speaker please talk louder but if a student has a question regarding something another delegate stated they need to say “point of inquiry” can you please clarify what is meant by educational programs.
After teaching the rules of debate, Jim and I had to split the students into countries. Each school was allowed to bring 22 students representing 11 countries to the conference. However, Jim and I were working with two third year classes. In total we had close 50 students from which we had to select 22, so initially we assigned four to six students per country. In January, after reading sample position papers and hearing the students present opening speeches we had to cut almost half of the students. This ended up being a very difficult task because for a couple of countries we had three really motivated students who were doing solid work and could have really benefited from the conference. However, I kept reminding myself that it was a good thing that so many of my students were well qualified and excited about the program.
With the cuts made, we continued teaching about debate, revising position papers, and working on opening speeches. This took a lot of time and effort. Students in the Spanish school system students are not required to write papers and do a lot of critical thinking. For most of my students, this was their first research paper (it only had to be one page single spaced) and they are equivalent to sophomores in high school. While some had trouble finding reliable sources, most of our time was spent teaching basics related to writing mechanics such as having an introduction, transitions between paragraphs, and citing sources appropriately. I spent multiple nights grading papers, and while doing so I gained a greater appreciation of why grading strong papers is easier than weak papers. Some of the drafts that were turned into me were so incomprehensible I wouldn’t know where to begin with revisions and suggestions. Plus, the definition of plagiarism seems to be a lot looser so I found myself writing is this your own words on almost every paper that was turned into me. In the end, the papers improved a ton. In fact, we had four very strong papers and had to select one to turn in as our best paper from our school. The paper we selected ended up winning the Best Position Paper award in comparison to the 9 other bilingual schools who participated in the conference.
The conference was split into two days. On Tuesday, we had the opening ceremony in the Asssemblea de Madrid which is the Communidad de Madrid’s government building. This would be comparable to holding a conference in the state legislature chambers.
Assemblea de Madrid
My students all dressed up
On Wednesday, the conference began early in the morning. The students were split into five committees depending on region. I was the secretary for the Eastern European committee and I got to see two delegations from my school debate. One of the delegations completely surprised me and actively participated which I was not expecting. Overall, my students felt pretty comfortable and enjoyed the debate. They told me that they were glad they participated in the conference and felt proud that they could debate in English.
After five hours of debating, there was an awards ceremony. There were 30 awards that were given for the ten schools. My school won 8 awards!!! I felt so proud of my students. While it is not fair to compare the number the awards each school won because the students come in with different levels of English, this is still a huge accomplishment. It reinforced to my students that hard work does pay off and that English is a useful skill.
at the awards ceremony
Overall, I am really glad I got to participate in the global classrooms program. It provided me the opportunity to lead my own classes and design the lesson plans and handouts. Furthermore, it teaches the students critically thinking, research, and paper writing skills that are often lacking in the Spanish school system. In addition, it makes the students more aware of global issues and it lets them use English in practical situation instead of focusing on verb conjugations.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Andorra
Holy crap, I can’t believe I am writing this blog post on March 1st. I officially have three months and 1 week left in Spain
This past week has been a whirl wind. I spent Friday through Monday in
The conference and the location were amazing.
Andorran Landscape, set in the Pyrenees Mountains
As for the conference, it was a great opportunity to reconnect with other Fulbrighters who are living throughout
Turn Left for France, Turn Right for Spain
Enjoying the Mountains
Next week is the model UN conference. I am really excited for it because my students have been working really hard and I think they are going to do a great job. The model UN project is great because it forces my students to use English in a real and practical setting, teaches them how to do research, and it makes the think critically. After the conference I will be sure to write up an article explaining how everything works in more detail.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Becky and Qtym come - Granada and Seville
This past weekend, I spent I spent in Granada and Seville with two friends from university. We took the bus from Madrid to Granada on Friday night. Granada, like Porto and Lisbon, is a very hilly city. The Alhambra is built on the top of one hill and the old Moorish neighborhood is on another hill with the main plaza in the valley in between. Despite my pension for planning ahead, I did not read the section about Granada in my guide book until we arrived. Well, that was a mistake. It is highly recommended to buy Alhambra tickets ahead of time. They only allow a certain amount of people in every half hour and in total they pre-sell 6,000 tickets and sell 1,800 day of with the box office opening at 8 am. Considering the main reason we went to Granada was to see the Alhambra, my friends and I decided to get up early on Saturday to be there when the box office opened.
The Alhambra is a complex of gardens, two palaces, and a fortress. We spent about 6 hours touring the entire site. The main palace is gorgeous with tons of Moorish architecture. Unfortunately, I am in Arabic architecture overload and while I really enjoyed the Alhambra I was not in complete awe. The carvings are beautiful and I love the way arches frame everything. One of my favorite parts about the Alhambra was a hot air balloon that we watched in the country side. At one point, it was really well framed by one of the arches. In the Alhambra, there were a lot of stray cats which were pretty friendly and fun to watch. In addition, I really enjoyed the gardens.
The Moors (muslims from north Africa) really value water because in northern Africa and Spain water is a scarce resource. As a result, they have tons of fountains and gardens with flowing water which is really relaxing. In one of the patios, the moors built a fountain with twelve lion heads. The fountain also functioned as a clock with one fountain head going off each hour. The funny part is that the Christians disassembled the fountain when they reconquerred Granada in 1492 and tried to figure out how it works. However, they were unable to put it back together properly so it has worked since then.
On Sunday morning, we did a really cool walking tour through the Moorish neighborhood. Our tour guide was a twenty four year old from Oregon who had moved to Spain and started his own walking tour company. He lived off of the tips he made and ended up working about two hours a day. Granada is also known for amazing tapas. With a beer or glass of wine you get a pretty generous tapa for free. Two to three tapas can definitely fill you up and only cost 6 or 7 euros and include two to three drinks.
On Sunday afternoon, we took the bus to Seville. I think Seville is my favorite towns. The weather is warmer, people seem friendlier and more laid back, and there are orange trees everywhere. We didn’t do much in Seville because I only had half a day on Monday to explore (but I had already been there so it was okay). We spent the morning in Plaza Espana and walking around by the river. It was just so relaxing I had no urge to return back to Madrid. However, I guess I can’t complain, I only worked one day this week and I currently in Andorra Wednesday – Saturday for Fulbright conference that is paid for.
As I was sitting on the bus back to Madrid, I came to the startling conclusion that I basically have three months left in Madrid. I leave June 7th and February is practically all gone. In the next couple of months, I have trips planned to the north of Spain, Munich, Barcelona, and Italy. Plus there is still a lot I want to see in Madrid. I am definitely going to be pretty busy these next couple of months.
The Alhambra is a complex of gardens, two palaces, and a fortress. We spent about 6 hours touring the entire site. The main palace is gorgeous with tons of Moorish architecture. Unfortunately, I am in Arabic architecture overload and while I really enjoyed the Alhambra I was not in complete awe. The carvings are beautiful and I love the way arches frame everything. One of my favorite parts about the Alhambra was a hot air balloon that we watched in the country side. At one point, it was really well framed by one of the arches. In the Alhambra, there were a lot of stray cats which were pretty friendly and fun to watch. In addition, I really enjoyed the gardens.
The Moors (muslims from north Africa) really value water because in northern Africa and Spain water is a scarce resource. As a result, they have tons of fountains and gardens with flowing water which is really relaxing. In one of the patios, the moors built a fountain with twelve lion heads. The fountain also functioned as a clock with one fountain head going off each hour. The funny part is that the Christians disassembled the fountain when they reconquerred Granada in 1492 and tried to figure out how it works. However, they were unable to put it back together properly so it has worked since then.
On Sunday morning, we did a really cool walking tour through the Moorish neighborhood. Our tour guide was a twenty four year old from Oregon who had moved to Spain and started his own walking tour company. He lived off of the tips he made and ended up working about two hours a day. Granada is also known for amazing tapas. With a beer or glass of wine you get a pretty generous tapa for free. Two to three tapas can definitely fill you up and only cost 6 or 7 euros and include two to three drinks.
On Sunday afternoon, we took the bus to Seville. I think Seville is my favorite towns. The weather is warmer, people seem friendlier and more laid back, and there are orange trees everywhere. We didn’t do much in Seville because I only had half a day on Monday to explore (but I had already been there so it was okay). We spent the morning in Plaza Espana and walking around by the river. It was just so relaxing I had no urge to return back to Madrid. However, I guess I can’t complain, I only worked one day this week and I currently in Andorra Wednesday – Saturday for Fulbright conference that is paid for.
As I was sitting on the bus back to Madrid, I came to the startling conclusion that I basically have three months left in Madrid. I leave June 7th and February is practically all gone. In the next couple of months, I have trips planned to the north of Spain, Munich, Barcelona, and Italy. Plus there is still a lot I want to see in Madrid. I am definitely going to be pretty busy these next couple of months.
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