We’re coming up on the last week of July already. Still can’t believe how fast summer is going.
This month started my first actual work schedule with a regular class and steady private clients. So this meant that I had to travel to Madrid 5 days a week. I have to say that I couldn’t have asked for better students. My private clients were all decent. I had a few throughout the month that I saw for an hour or so 3 days a week. Then I had some that just came in for a particular purpose like a work-interview or traveling to the U.S. I picked up a few subbing classes and last minute clients for extra money. So all in all, it was a busy month of teaching.
For my first group class ever, I was given a Monday thru Friday, 5-7pm Elementary-level class. When I first saw my schedule, I have to admit I was terrified. Being a new teacher, I was comfortable teaching adults with a higher understanding of English. But now I would be in charge of 5 adults that knew little to nothing about the English language. So the weekend before hand, I grabbed all my grammar books and course materials and came up with lesson plans for my first week. I have to say that my first day was rough but after the first few days, I settled in nicely to the routine. I have probably the best class in the whole academy… no joke! I teach them what I need to but at the same time we laugh and joke around about everything. Each one has such a different personality. They range in ages from 20-45. Two work retail (Rosa #1 and Rosa #2), one is studying to be some sort of doctor (Elu), one is a university student visiting from Ecuador (Mery) and another is getting his doctorate in political science (Juan Carlos). Yet we sit there and talk about the difference between the words “slut” and “skank” and gossip about certain celebrities. They love to ask questions about my life in America and how I’m adjusting to Spain. Two even invited me to stay with them for a weekend to show me around their villages sometime later in the summer. I can’t express how lucky I was to get this class in the end. It made me realize how much I love teaching. I have only 2 classes left and I know I’m going to be so depressed to say goodbye to them. 3 of them are returning for August classes and they all requested that I be their teacher again. However, August is a relatively slow month at the academy, so I’m not sure what classes I’m going to get.
my Elementary classroom
I also finally received some responses to my carteles that I put up around Toledo for private English lessons. I had about 10 calls asking for my terms and rates over the month of July. A few weren’t willing to pay as much as I was charging (although according to other teachers I talk to, my rates are on the lower side of private lessons) But with the world economy right now, I understand how 15 euro/hour can be a bit high for some people. I had 2 men say that they wanted to receive lessons; however they never followed through. I did give private lessons to a very nice woman, Inma. She had a relatively high level of English but she had more of a confidence issue when using it. I worked with her out of my apartment for 2 hours on Saturdays. She also helped me through the most traumatic experience of my time here in Spain, which will be in another blog. Currently, she’s on vacation with her family, so hopefully in August, I will continue working with her.
The best job I took was these 2 siblings: Laura (14) and Manu (13). They are both high school students whose parents are extremely well off. Their parents are both lawyers and live a few miles out of Toledo in a very upscale ‘urbanizacion’. I traveled to their home 6 days a week for an average of 90 minutes a day for about 2 weeks. In that time, I made over 200 extra Euros. The main reason for a private tutor was that Laura is spending all of August living in London. So her mother wanted to make sure her English was up to par. Currently, the family is in Austurias on vacation. Come August, I will continue giving Manu private lessons a few days a week. Some days were better than others but towards the end, we became very close. We watched Adam Sandler movies like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore and another day we laid in their pool playing ‘Marco Polo’ for our entire session. They were really a fun pair to teach.
Between teaching Laura and Manu then traveling to Madrid to give my other classes, my only available time to private tutor was on weekends. So in the end, I had to turn down a few private lessons from people who wanted classes during the week. In August, like I said before, work at the academy will be slower, so I’ll probably be able to pick up a few more private clients here in Toledo. I’ll keep you posted in next month’s ‘Working Girl’ blog
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