Off to more adventures!

As we finish our first week teaching at Sotogrande International School and living in Estepona, we feel we have been here for much longer than one week. Not in a way that we feel is dragging on but rather a feeling of familiarity. Yet we also feel as though we have so much explore and learn! It is a great feeling of balance between the two.

Today at the school, the students were allowed to wear "home clothes" rather than their uniform if they payed 1 euro, and they were given the choice to wear their Halloween clothes! The school has reached its half term, and the school will be out for the next week! Therefore, the students celebrated Halloween today since school will be out of session when it is the actual holiday. We were surprised that so many children celebrated Halloween with costumes and sweets, but Ms Clare explained that things from the US are spreading and being more commercialized. The picture below is a picture of the P2 (first grade) students in their Halloween clothes and with Ms Emilie and Ms McKenna! (We were able to wear jeans but did not have access to a costume with 24 hours notice)

As the students have a week off, so do we! McKenna and Jessica are heading off to Greece and Italy while Lars is going to Barcelona, Florence, and Rome; and Emilie is going to Berlin, Hanover, and Granada to visit friends! Wish us luck on our adventures to other places around Europe! We won't be blogging until we return from our travels. Happy Halloween to all & have a wonderful week!

Porque no?

Porque no? Why not?

Here we are, living in a new city and culture, teaching new students in a new education system. What better place to take some chances?

Having travelled a little bit in the past, my personal mantra for any time abroad is always the same, "Never say no." Whether it is an invitation for a challenging hike, a late-night adventure or a trivial trip down to the supermarket, I try to accept each and every opportunity for a new experience. You simply never know what you will remember, see, experience or learn. A new place can make the most routine activities captivating.

One merit of the IB school system is increased student autonomy and inquiry. Students are given more freedom to explore their own interests, learning things they are intrigued by in a style that suits them. Yesterday in my M3 (8th grade equivalent) English course, a few students asked my cooperating teacher, "Mr. Tong, may we go study outside for the remainder of the period?" (read this question in an incredible British accent to do it full justice). Mr. Tong, responding to these 14 year olds, said without hesitation, "Why of course, enjoy the sunshine and work hard." I was shocked. As a middle schooler (high schooler or college student) I would have ran wild with this freedom. Finding the students outside, I was shocked to approach them under a distant tree in an intense academic debate. In this case, the student's operated autonomously and with full academic freedom, yet still remained totally focused and engaged in their own learning. By Mr. Tong responding to a student's request to control their own learning by saying, "Porque no?", he encouraged a stimulating and comfortable learning environment unique to the students in his room.

While in Spain, I think it is of paramount importance to take chances and risks, both as a fascinated traveller and a developing teacher. This new place, people and culture all have a lot to teach us during our brief 8 weeks here.


--Lars

Round Two!

Today was our second day of school. We had the opportunity to see more of the projects that students are doing as well as more classroom management.

I enjoyed helping students finish projects about inventions created in the 19th century. The students have put a lot of time and effort into these projects and they are excited to finally present them on Thursday. The energy in the class was tangible! I look forward to starting to help out in Math towards the end of the week starting with measurement.

Emilie and McKenna enjoyed seeing the final projects that the p2s worked so hard on. The projects looked at communication and how they would explain the world to aliens. The students were very inquisitive and used higher order thinking skills to develop their projects.

These unit projects are a form of assessment that is commonly used in IB programs. The students choose which method they want to share information using multiple sources of media. The p2 students could make videos, drawings, books, etc. The p6 students created models of their inventions using recycled materials from home. The presentations are open to parents; many p2 parents came and supported their students while also encouraging others to share what they found.

Lars had a good day observing his classes. He was able to enjoy playing games with some of the primary students after school who eagerly included him in their competitive game of four square.

Overall, we are still adjusting to this new way of teaching and living, but we are ready to start participating in class with the students.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

If you didn't gather from the title, today was day one in the Sotogrande International School. Overall we felt extremely welcomed and really enjoyed getting to know all of the new people! The school is split up into 2 main parts, elementary and secondary and so McKenna, Emilie and Jess didn't see much of Lars but when we did he had the largest grin on his face, as did we all!

(Classic First Day of School Picture)

At the end of the day we all shared a high and a low of the day, and believe me it was hard to pick just one high! A few things we noticed that is different is the use of phonetic spelling. Each time they ask us how to spell a word we need to sound out each letter and many kids don't recognize the letter name. For example if they asked how to spell cat we would say ka-ah-ta, rather than C-A-T. Another thing we noticed is the amount of free time the students get. They get many breaks throughout the day and it's amazing the amount of focus they come back with after their time outside. Finally when they go to their Spanish classes, the teachers speak only Spanish to them rather than in America often they get taught in Engish and then Spanish. These are all very interesting things to continue observing throughout our time here.

Tonight we get to go to our first dinner out and explore a little bit. We are all extremely excited to get to know this city we are about to call home for the next 8 weeks! To end today's post and begin our exploring, "A donde fueres, haz lo que vieres"- To where you go, do the things you see.

(The view from our balcony)

On our way!

Hello to all our fellow readers! We have officially landed in Amsterdam and are waiting for our flight to Malaga, which will then be only a short bus ride to Estepona! We are all so excited to begin our journey of student teaching in Spain for the remainder of our fall semester. Lars will be in a middle school English class, Jessica will be in a 5th grade, and Emilie & McKenna are both in 1st grade classrooms. The school is a boarding school, which is taught in English but the students take Spanish classes. The students are mostly from Spain and Britain but also come from a wide range of other countries including Russia, Ireland, and France. Our first day of school is tomorrow (Monday)!!! We know we will be tired, however the excitement and novelty of the school should be enough to put our 7 hour jet lag aside! 

One common quote in Spain (something found from Notes in Spanish website) is:

"'Vísteme despacio que tengo prisa' - Dress me slowly, I'm in a hurry!

 

This apparent contradiction actually makes perfect sense - if you are in a hurry,

it's best to start the day (in this case by getting dressed) very slowly! Then you will be

in the right frame of mind to tackle the busy day and rush that lies ahead!"

We can take on this mentality during our new experiences in Spain!!!