First, there are lots of new teachers. In ESO (7th and 8th grade), the French teacher, Ana, is new as well as the English teacher, África. The religion teacher whose name I can't currently remember is new as well. And in PRIMARIA (elementary school), Jose Luis is the new teacher for the first graders (the kindergarteners from last year). Also, Yolanda is no longer just the English teacher and bilingual coordinator, she is also the homeroom teacher for the 6th graders.
As a fairly new bilingual school, last year we had only one officially "bilingual" class, the first grade. From what I understand of how the system works, each year we add one more bilingual teacher until eventually, all grades are receiving not only English classes but also science, art, and other lessons in English as well as Spanish.
This year, the new bilingual class is the new first grade (the old first graders are still bilingual with their same teacher but now as second graders) and their teacher, Jose Luis, speaks English really well! He's been in a bilingual school for like the last 6 years, so I'm really excited to work with him. In only the first week, I've already seen that he's full of great ideas and has built up a store of great resources! Additionally, he's really funny and good with the kids. The difference in their understanding of and ability to pronounce English from last year to this year is already very noticeable. They're going to learn a TON.
While I always talk about how the level of English is really low in Rioja and Almería in general, watching this program evolve gives me lots of hope for the future of these kids and for the spread of the English language throughout Spain. Provided that the LA CRISIS, or economic crisis, does not interfere with the funding of this project (it seems that this is increasingly becoming the excuse for everything, from rationalizing cuts in spending and decreased wages throughout the country to satisfying customer complaints..."I'm sorry that you've had to wait in line so long sir, but because of the crisis, we just can't afford another worker"), I see these kids becoming not only wildly successful in understanding and speaking English, but also motivated to continue studying the language as it will almost definitely come easily to them after so much time in a bilingual classroom.
Now, the unfortunate part of this post. Since the two bilingual classes cover a lot of the same material, Valeria and Jose Luis are joining forces and combining their classes twice a week for both art and science. As the bilingual classes are my primary responsibility I've got to be there for those lessons, and it just so happens that they fall on Wednesdays and Fridays. Sooo, that means that this year I'll be working Tuesday-Friday instead of Monday-Thursday like last year. It's a bummer, but I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly. Right now I'm actually not hating it that much because Friday's I have really good classes ANDDD just by coincidence, my first weekend will be a 5-day-weekend. I don't work Monday, then Tuesday I have to go to the Oficina de extranjería to get my fingerprints done for my new residence card, and then Wednesday is a national holiday. Sooo, no work til next Thursday...I'll take it! Overall, I actually really enjoyed my first week back at work! I'm really excited for this year as I'm getting to spend a ton of time with the two bilingual classes. Also, having an hour a week to coordinate with Valeria and Jose Luis is going to make our lessons even more productive and I can already tell that we're going to come up with some really fun activities and projects for the kids. Next week, I'll post pictures of the first project we've been working on this week because it's looking like it's gonna turn out really well!
"In Andalucía, educational centers open their doors"
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