Am I making the most of my time? It’s so easy during these winter months to stay shut up in the house during the afternoons, listening to music, reading, and drinking tea. So I ask myself, how am I using my time?
At the beginning of the program, the CIEE orientation director Helena asked us to make goals in four categories: Academic, linguistic, personal, and cultural/social.
My academic goals were to get a recommendation for a Spanish novel and read it. Half accomplished. I came to find out that reading for fun in Spanish takes a lot longer than leisure reading in English. On the upshot, reading has certainly helped my listening comprehension and has augmented my vocabulary. If I ever decide to finish the book (El maestro de esgrima by Arturo Perez-Reverte) I'm sure I'll find it even more so.
My linguistic aim was to socialize with Spanish speakers every day for at least one hour. Definitely accomplished and more. I thankfully have many native friends who are more than willing to help me with my Spanish as we’re hanging out and spending time together. Children are good for this. For example, I tutor Mercedes, the economics professor from I.E.S. Cura Valera, every Monday from 4pm to 5pm. Her 7 year old son and I have started a game of vocabulary quiz. Should the phone happen to ring during our lesson, we begin our game while Mercedes takes the call. He rattles off as many English words as he knows and it is my job to translate them correctly into Spanish – minding the pronunciation! Next, he names off all of the objects in sight in Spanish and then my job is to translate them into English. Sometimes he makes me repeat the Spanish after him so that he can correct my silly American accent. Sometimes he lets me quiz him as well. He is such a good little Spanish professor :)
Two of my personal aspirations included training for and doing a race and making at least one good friend here. Training for the race was going well until around the end of October when I began to suffer some pain in my hips during my runs. I decided to take a break from running and find something new to do. Fortunately I live next to an indoor swimming pool and so have been swimming regularly since November. As I was part of a swim team from the age of seven until my first year of college, it feels natural and right to be in the water again. Moreover, being part of the local gym has lead me to some new and wonderful acquaintances which have turned into new and wonderful friends, one being Nina. She is athletic, fun, and full of good energy, and so she is inspiring. She and I roller-bladed and played padel (paddle ball) with her husband and a friend last Saturday and I have eaten at her house twice now. I have made a good friend in her.
My cultural/social goals for my time here were to become involved in a church, learn some Spanish guitar, and see a different city each month. Done, working on it, and have done so far. These have been fun goals to meet. I’ve been involved with the same Evangelical church here since September called Primicias. They are a small group of people old and young and meet in my apartment building at 11am on Sundays! Emilio, the music professor from school, is generously teaching me classical guitar in exchange for English conversation. As for traveling, I have been fortunate enough to visit many Andalucian cities. Most recently I ventured outside of Spain to Brussels, Belgium! My stay was five days long which was just enough time to brush up on my French, try a plethora of Belgian chocolates, get a taste of Belgian art and architecture, and educate myself on the art of beer-making by visiting a brewery. We recommend it!
Another question I've begun to ask myself concerns my job. Am I teaching my students valuable and useful information? Sometimes I feel like all I do is bring games and try to entertain them. Being a teacher has to be one of the neatest jobs in the world, but one that requires great care. The teacher has a position of influence. She has to make a conscious effort to be an encouragement to students, spurring them on in their blossoming abilities and talents, communicating the value of their education, while letting them know they are valuable as people. The teacher is important. All this is not to say "hey, I'm important!" only to say that I realize the weight of my own conduct toward my students and my fellow teachers as I'm helping many of them with the English language as well. In fact I think I mess up a lot in doing this job right even though I enjoy it so much. So I've been praying a lot lately for wisdom in what to teach them, in how to encourage them, in how to be creative with my lesson planning. I'm learning how to teach! I only hope that they're learning some good things from me.
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