Our first six weeks with Teacher Melanie!
Now that I’m adjusted to my new life here in Spain, let me
tell you about these amazing first six weeks…
I am the Auxiliar or Culture and Language Assistant here at
CEIP Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar and my role is to encourage conversation and
introduce relevant American culture into the classroom. Let me say…this is THE
BEST job I’ve ever had! I am showered with love and appreciation and I get to
use fun activities to get students involved in their curriculum. I think the
one thing that I have been shocked by is how much I am truly able to teach the
students. When I have their full attention I am able to introduce new subject
matter and they walk away with knowledge and new confidence in their English.
There is no better feeling!
Let’s talk about fifth grade. My mini adults! They have so
much individuality and have their minds made up about so much. Quite naturally
their English is the strongest and I enjoy our classes together as I’m able to
have conversations with them about many things. They are so entertaining and
teach me a lot about what it’s like to be a Spanish kid. Here’s what we’ve
covered so far…
SCIENCE
We began with the Spanish constitution and I learned so much
about the country. We played a lot of Pasapalabra in class, which was great for
listening and answering.
We moved onto demographics and I created an activity called
“Find my Family” for this unit. Each student was given a flashcard of a family
member that they had to portray and their goal was to find the other members of
their family by asking questions about where they live, where they’re from and
where they’d like to move if so. Once they found their family they were
required to tell the class who they were and facts about themselves. We then
created graphs to describe our demographics from the game and it reinforced the
trends they were learning about. This activity was so much fun and brought out
the students’ acting skills!
After demographics they started to work on projects about
different provinces of Spain and I enjoyed helping them describe the facts of
their province. We are moving into ecosystems and food chains so last week I
taught on the types of ecosystems in Texas. It’s very similar to Spain in that
we have so many types but the one big difference was the wetlands we have in
Texas! Describing the alligator at the top of the food chain seemed to be
exciting for them.
I hope to introduce a form of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader before the school year is over!
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
I was most excited about this part of my job because I love
sports, and it has not disappointed! Each week we play 3-4 games in class and
they build their skills to master a type of sport such as handball or soccer.
The students take the opportunity to explain each game and how it’s played in
English. I participate in the games every chance I get and the students love
this. Last week we played human foosball. I introduced the idea of requiring
the students to hold hands as they played and it really elevated the game. They
were forced to use strategy and team work. It was my favorite game to date and
I can’t wait for the next chance to play along with them!
