Nuestra Senora del Sagrario

I started this past week at one of the schools I am teaching at. The school is called Nuestra Senora del Sagrario and is in a pueblo about 15 minutes away from Logrono called Navarette. The school is the equivalent of an elementary school with two buildings, one for the 3-5 year olds and another for the 5-12 year olds. I am only teaching in the building for the older kids. So far I absolutely love it! The teachers are all amazing and super friendly are so interested that I’m from the United States. They’ve already joked with me that part of my contract is that I invite them all to visit me in Chicago. And clearly the best part of the school is the kids! The kids are all super eager to learn English, although sometimes they are quite rowdy and don’t pay attention. The 5 year olds are my favorite, as they will answer any question you ask them and don’t care if they’re wrong. I am teaching 12 hours a week at this school so only go to the school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday which means that I have a four day weekend every week! The school is your basic elementary school where the kids learn everything and have English as their foreign language. Most of the classes are 1 hour long, although the 5 year olds have a 30 minute class. I am in the classroom to help with pronunciation, so will read things out loud, will play games with them and help out if the teacher asks. Wednesday is my longest day as I am at the school for 5 hours, but I am done every day by 2 pm so am home in time for siesta! All of the kids are very curious about me and about where I come from, so I have been asked all kinds of questions. Where are you from? How old are you? Are you married? Why not? Do you have a boyfriend? When are you going to get married? What is your favorite color? What is your favorite movie? Who is your favorite singer? Do you have any kids? It is a great feeling to be so welcome in the school and by the end of the first day all the kids, even ones I hadn’t had in class yet, knew who I was and were anxiously awaiting when I would come to their class. It’s so great to walk through the halls during the break and have all the little kids say “hola profe, hola teacher”. The level of English that these kids possess astounds me, as I think of how long I have taken Spanish and when I was their age I didn’t know that much. I can’t wait to do lessons on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Ribfest, Naperville, etc to show them how the States really are. I’ve also had questions such as: “Does everyone have a garden in the United States? Are all the houses big? Is high school like the movie Mean Girls?” I have not felt discriminated against (except for the stares with my blonde hair) and have felt totally welcomed here, which is a great feeling. I am very excited for the year to come and think it’ll be a great experience!