This week my CELTA course (teaching English as a foreign language) finally started and it was time to go back to school! As an aupair you are slightly in danger of feeling like an unfufilled housewife, without the benefit of them being your own children, running around after kids all day. So I was excited to feel more purposeful and productive. The host mum takes photos of Nana the dog in different costumes and assigns them mottos and sayings for her maths classes. I helped with a few new English ones and this one seemed appropriate for this week- time to take charge!
I was feeling less like the queen when my 6.30am alarm clock sounded and I made it to the station as the sun was rising. Taking the train at commuter o'clock was also a new experience but people seemed very prepared. The vast majority of those who had managed to get a seat were all kitted out with towels or cushions and making the most of an extra hour of sleep. I was unprepared and instead almost falling asleep standing up.
I arrived at the school in time to register and meet my classmates on the part-time course. It was interesting to see who had opted to take the part-time version which is two mornings a week for four months rather than every day for one month. Therefore everyone on my course is living in Barcelona for at least a few months and many have lived here for a while. This means there is a mix of nationalities with lots of Brits and Spanish, some Americans and other Europeans as well as a range of ages. I'm feeling at a slight disadvantage as most people seem to already have plenty of teaching experience and just looking to cement their work into a qualification.
We experienced the first day as if we were foreign language learners starting our course. This involved lots of introductory games and activities to learn everyone's names and some background information. With 18 people in the group, and an early start, this was a challenge! Next week we will have our first experience of teaching one game each to a new group of English students.
I think the most interesting lesson of the day involved a teacher conducting a whole lesson in Irish with no English spoken at all. It was impressive how the teacher managed to progress the general feeling of the class from completely bewildered to proudly asking each other whether we liked chocolate or whisky with just the help of a few pictures and writing on the board-still no English. I feel like our attempts to teach on Monday might not be quite as smooth!
I'm getting suspicious that we may have skipped Autumn here and gone straight into winter. All the fur coats that looked laughable in the October sun are now calling to me! A few stormy days signalled the end of summer and the leaves are finally starting to fall. I thought Nana would be highly unimpressed with the prospect of going for a run in the rain but she was surprisingly enthusiastic. I discovered slightly too late her obsession with jumping in every puddle going and we were not very popular with the other path users.
Our outdoor evening drinks are being threatened due to our acclimatisation to Spanish sun and generally being ill-equipped for the change of season. I need to investigate the local equivalent of the Daily Mail to see if this is a 'big freeze' worth panicking about or just a quick change in temperature that has caught us by surprise. It's largely sunny and warm during the day but I'm feeling slightly ridiculous wearing most of the clothes I have with me as soon as darkness falls. Possibly time to invest in a coat!
I'm also not convinced the general preocupation with the weather is a purely British phenomenom, ours might be more unpredictable but the Spanish seem to love to talk about it just as much. The Autumn sunshine, crisp mornings and beautiful sunsets are all worth commenting on as well as 'el frio' (usually accompanied by a dramatic shudder and grimace). The cat is driving the family mad with its constant change of mind as to whether it wants to be inside, outside, hiding in wardrobes or giving me a heart attack by blending in with my blanket and waiting until the last minute to move. It's definitely time of changes,
They say that time changes everything, don't wait for time.
