16 Weeks Down, 26 to Go!

Yesterday was the first day back at school after our long vacation. I have to say it was difficult to get out of bed, but once I was up and going the day passed quickly. The metro and bus ride to school was oddly familiar, the same way that coming back from Berlin felt like coming home.

My Thursday schedule puts me with Elena for planning first thing. I knew this time was going to be important because before break she told me that she was going to be gone for most of January. Today she had surgery and will be out recovering for the rest of the month. Her absence is complicated by the fact that most of the substitute teachers are in the sub-pool because they didn't pass the exams and there is no way of knowing what level of English this person is going to have. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they person they bring in will be decent at English, as I'm only there two days a week and the rest of the time there will only be the teacher.

For the afternoon Eduardo had to cover Elena's class (she left at recess to get ready for her surgery) and I had to go with him. While in there he had the kids do the same project that the 4th graders had done earlier in the day, which was simply to write a few sentences about four of the days from break and draw a picture. Victor, the kid who doesn't understand a single word of English was clearly lost. I went over and tried to explain it using as many cognates as possible, still nothing. Sensing the problem Eduardo called Victor up to him at the teacher's desk and tried again, this time slipping in a little Spanish. When I passed his desk again, Victor had one sentence written and looked lost again. This time I broke character, so to speak, and explained it in Spanish to him. I also gave him the Spanish-English dictionary to look up basically every word. I really do try with him, but I'm starting to believe that some kids just don't belong in a bilingual program like this one.

What I noticed about Victor was that he basically could figure out what we were talking about, vacation and the special days, but when it came to the details of the instructions he was lost beyond belief. He figured out how to prepare the paper the way Eduardo showed them, not by listening but watching. When it came to what to do with the paper, nothing. It doesn't help him that his table mates hardly pay attention, so when he asks for help in Spanish they can't explain it. When I finally explained it in Spanish he got the biggest smile on his face. I'm pretty sure up to this point he hated me for not being talking to him in a language he understands. Every other day he would basically glare me down and tell me to go away (the one English phrase he has mastered), hopefully next week he will be less hostile toward me!

Wednesday was the beginning of the big sale season in Spain. Practically everything is marked down. I held my December pay check (because it is the January money) in reserve until yesterday. I decided that today I would go out and shop. Unfortunately, there was a huge snow storm today, so the streets were slushy. I hoped that this would keep shoppers at home, but clearly I misjudged Spaniards' love of mark-downs. With their umbrellas in tow the shoppers crowded as usual. I would like to report that I found tons of things, but apparently in two days the stuff was picked-over. I might try the other shops in our area tomorrow, but today was a bit of a bust. Boo!