My first day of teaching!

Well today was my first day of teaching! I didn't actually do any teaching today, I just went to the school to set up my schedule, talk about what my main duties were, and meet with the faculty. The person I work most closely with is the bilingual coordinator of the school and his name is Angel de Felipe and he is extremely nice and helpful. He actually picked me up from the hostel, loaded the rest of my luggage in his car, took me to the school, and then when the day was done he dropped me off at my apartment! It was really helpful because otherwise I would have had to lug that enormous bag on the bus with me and all through the tiny street of Cadiz which would have been a disaster! He even offered to drive me to school in the mornings since it is a bit of a pain by bus from where I live. That is how all the people here in Cádiz are... so patient and helpful and nice! As a matter of fact the people of Cádiz are known to be some of the most welcoming in all of europe! And Angel is no exception.

Here is what I understand of my duties so far. I will spend 12 hours in the classroom and 8 of those hours are just going to be 1-on-1's with various teachers. I will be working with 4 different teachers to help them plan lessons in English, and help them with their English in general. The other 4 hours I will be working with kids (about 14 years old) and making my own lesson plans! I will be working in PE class (you can help me with that Josh) as well as Technology class. The teachers I will be helping are going to be the PE teacher, the technology teacher, the art teacher, and the geography teacher. The school I am working in (as with all the schools in the program) is a "bilingual school" which means a certain amount of hours for some classes (not all) must be taught in a second language (in this case English). This is only the 2nd year for my school being bilingual so my main job is to help the staff get the program off and running.

As you all know, I will not be earning much money at all so I am also trying to be and English tutor as well to earn some extra cash. Angel put me in touch with some people who need a tutor so that is off and running as well! Also, tomorrow I have an interview at noon with an English academy that is looking for another teacher so hopefully that will work out as well and I can be earning even more money from that! Wish me luck!

Overall it has been a very eventful day and I am thankful to finally be home in my apartment relaxing. The next big thing I have to do is set up a Spanish bank account so I am sure that will be an adventure in its own right as well!

Even though I miss everyone so much and wish you could all be here with me, I am extremely happy here. I honestly can't believe how lucky and thankful I am to have the life I do!!

Abrazos,

Jade