The Day Eduardo Threw the Pens

Spain is different than America. Quite an astute observation, I know. Anyone can tell you after a few days in Spain about their apparent love of ham, whereas Americans tend to value chicken. Or possibly about their notions of personal space (or lack thereof?) compared to our less touchy society. But one of the shocks I was not prepared for was the teaching style of elementary school teachers.

I told you before how we were encouraged to use physical means of praise in the classroom, that a pat on the back means more than just a simple "Good job!". What they did not prepare me for is the level of yelling in the classroom. I will do my best to explain what happened, but please remember that some of the importance of the story is lost without actually seeing it take place.

Today I spent my day in the 4th grade classroom with Eduardo, who is also the bilingual program coordinator. The first half of the day was spent with 4A. These kids were generally good. As expected there were a few chatter-boxes and some distracting behavior, but all in all not a bad morning. The first time I noticed a difference in teaching styles was the number of times Eduardo "called out" kids who either didn't have the homework, or were clearly not listening. This kind of public attention to their bad behavior is something that I hardly remember from elementary school. When I was younger, behavior and listening problems were dealt with one on one, not in front of the class. But this is Spain, and things are different here.

The afternoon though was when I got my first taste of Spanish classroom control. After lunch and recess the 4B's came into the classroom to get working. Eduardo did not walk them in, so as they came in on their own and took their seats they were chatting with one another. I've come to expect a certain level of noise from Spanish kids, and didn't think much of their chatting. Apparently I was wrong, because when Eduardo entered the room he did not waste time yelling about how they know how to enter a classroom and how that was not acceptable behavior. The yelling, though, wasn't enough to quiet them. While Eduardo was writing something on the board, his back half turned to them they insisted on continuing the chatter. Rather angry because they ignored his lecture he chucked the whiteboard markers to the ground and turned to face the class. This is when he began to yell in Spanish. Most of which I could follow, and it wasn't particularly pleasant.

I've learned very quickly that the upper level teachers do know how to discipline in English, so when they switch over to Spanish it is an indication of a serious level of anger. Kids whom were not listening to the Spanish lecture were instructed to put their names on the blackboard, step one in a three step process towards a note to the parents. Once the yelling was over, he asked them to get out the workbooks to correct the homework. About 5 of the kids did not have the homework, all of them put their names on the blackboard, and a second Spanish chastisement began.


After struggling through the homework check, it was time to read about Enrique Iglasias' family. For this part I read out loud while the kids followed along in their books. Eduardo had asked them to take out a pencil to follow along, but instead asked them to use a finger. Many of the kids began to fidget with the pencils. After a good number of dropped pencils and incidental noise he threatened to take their pencils, break them in half and throw them away. It was at this point I began to wonder just what I had gotten my self into.

As I continued to read the paragraphs about the Iglasias clan, I was forced to call Julio Jose Iglasias "good-looking" (believe me, Enrique, mole and all, is far more cute, but that is neither here nor there). In a class room of 8 year-olds, the discussion about what "good-looking" means comes with a few giggles, but one boy couldn't keep it under control. After a stern warning, he giggled again, which is when Eduardo flipped his shit and outright yelled at this kid in particular. I feel like we are going to be playing Good Cop, Bad Cop all year... Luckily I get to be the good one.

I should point out that the most frustrating part about this whole fiasco isn't exactly the yelling, but rather that I don't yet know what causes the yelling. I have no idea what Eduardo's breaking point is. Sometimes the same level of volume is ok, others it is way out of line. One second he is praising them for trying or for answering correctly, the next he is angry. I think I need to observe more in order to get a better feel for it, but it is still rather uncomfortable to watch kids get yelled at, to the point that would have made an 8 year old me cry.

In better news, I called about my residency card. This time the person could fully understand everything I was saying and it is all accurate. Now I just have to wait until January 27th to be an official resident!