January started a new year and a new semester for all teachers. Having stayed in Madrid doing pretty much nothing for 2 weeks, I was actually excited to get back to work. January would be a rather short month as we didn’t start until the 7th. Picking up my schedule, I realized that this semester would actually be probably one of the best schedules I’ve had since I started at ALA in June. Luckily, over the next 12 weeks of the trimester, my schedule changed very little.
I start the majority of my days with my regular 10 am intensive. In January, 2 of my 6 students were returning from the previous semester but I was also excited to get to know some new faces. It was a pre-intermediate level class but after the first week I knew that I had my work cut out for me. Within this class I had students that had varying strengths and weaknesses. Where one student lacked in grammar, the others excelled and where another had excellent listening comprehension, the others needed things repeated 3 or 4 times. This caused for a lot of wasted time that unfortunately, couldn’t be avoided.
My most memorable student was Conchi. A cute little girl in her early 20s that when she first entered my class was so incredibly nervous, she wasn’t capable of putting 2 English words together without blushing and stuttering to a stop. It became my personal mission to break her out of her shell by the end of the month. She came to me after class by the second week and asked if she could have extra review homework to help her build confidence while speaking. Every other day, I slipped her modal and adverb worksheets and websites for her to build listening comprehension. By the end of the month Conchi was speaking full sentences (not always grammatically correct but with definite improvement in her confidence).
Another one of my favorites is Santiago. Being from Extremadura, I quickly took a liking to him for his accent being that’s where my favorite Spaniard, Dani hails. He had been with the academy several months with other teachers but I frequently saw him walking the halls. I was excited on the first day to discover he would now be one of my students. However, he was with me for only a month as he was bumped to a higher level in after. But I see him often and he always comes up and says how much he misses my classes. Although unprofessional, you can’t help but develop the occasional innocent crush!
I also started 2 new back-to-back trimester classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights. This was a schedule change that at first I loathed to no end. With these new classes, I would be working from 8:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night with a ridiculous 4 hour break in the afternoon. But after the first week, I knew that I would grow to love these classes and this schedule. My first trimester class is a pre-intermediate group of 6 women that have been together for the past year with several different teachers. They are all a bit older ranging from 30 to probably about 45 years old. At first I wasn’t so keen about having 6 lower level, very opinionated-- women. However, over the weeks we have grown to appreciate and respect one another. Each one brings a dynamic aspect to the class. Ana Maria is the smarty-pants and over-talker. Estefania is the slightly quiet, slower fashionista. Elena is the very successful business woman who constantly gets interrupted by important phone calls. Ana Isabel is the timid one until she can talk about her belly dancing classes. Finally, there is Concepcion who is the motherly, sarcastic type which keeps the others in check. We can talk about some slightly inappropriate themes in class without making anyone feel uncomfortable. Plus, they eagerly complete any task I set in front of them. They are probably my favorite class this trimester thus far.
My other trimester class begins right after the other. This one is an intermediate group of hodgepodge students that change every few weeks. I’ve had 2 steady students: Mer and Cristina that are very serious and hard-working. Lorena started a few weeks later but I must admit that she quickly became someone I admired. She is probably the hardest-working student I’ve had to date. After every class, she walks upstairs with me, asking me a few extra grammar doubts then takes an array of books and DVDs in English to study before our next class. She really is a rarity in this country. Throughout the other weeks, students have been added or sat in for a recuperation which really upsets the rhythm at times. Plus, being so late, most of my energy has diminished by the end of the class. So this is unfortunately the class where I walk in solely to teach what I have to and leave. I have built a bond with the continuing students that I’ve had since the beginning of the trimester but still not as much as previous classes in other trimesters.
The rest of my classes include my one-on-one TR executives and 1-hour TR group classes in the afternoons. Both of which are easy money with very little preparation needed. My TR group classes start at 1:30 and last till 2:30. Because it’s the key lunch time for my students, I have irregular attendance which can make it difficult to mark their progress. But there is a great mix of ages and personalities to make every class interesting and dynamic.
My new trimester classes start in about another week. I’m hoping for little change as I have become to adore my schedule. But after 3 months, I doubt I could get as lucky this time around. Fingers Crossed!
