Toledo

Today Sara's old host parents took the three of us to Toledo!

Sara and Robbie come to visit!

Sara and Robbie got in this morning and we went to all the major turist attractions in Madrid today...we started at the Rastro, then went to Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Plaza de España, Templo de Debod, Teleférico, Parque de Retiro, caught a little concert for Oxfam International outside The Reina Sofia, went for tapas, and a Flamenco show at El Juglar.

Amsterdam

This weekend I went to Amsterdam with my friend Riccardo. We flew in Thursday night, him from Rome and me from Madrid and met at the airport. It worked out great. We took a bus to our hotel, Hotel Wilhelmina, dropped our things off, and then headed to Leidsplein Square to grab some dinner (even if it was almost midnight!). The only place that was still open was an Indonesian place, which worked out great because my friend, Steff, who lived in Amsterdam, said Dutch cuisine isn't known for being anything incredible, but she did recommend Indonesian! So we checked that off our list!

Friday morning, we began our day at the Anne Frank Huis. We saw the Secret Annex, above her father's office, where she and seven other people lived in hiding for 25 months during World War II. The Frank Family (Otto and Edith Frank and their daughters Margot and Anne), Harmann and Auguste van Pels, their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer took up residence in the Secret Annex on July 6, 1942. When they were arrested, the Nazis ordered the emptying of the annex and all the furniture was hauled away. For this reason, it was Otto Frank's wish after the war that the Secret Annex remain unfurnished. However, despite the fact that it's unfurnished, the annex is still incredibly moving. You enter through the same movable bookcase and descending stairase that Anne and the others, as well as the helpers used to climb to reach the annex. I had goosebumps the entire time I was in the Secret Annex. The windows remain painted over and the only light is from small light bulbs. We walked on the same wood floors that Anne tip-toed on during the day for fear of discovery: "We have to whisper and tread lightly during the day, otherwise the people in the warehouse might hear us." -Anne Frank, July 11, 1942. We saw Anne and Fritz Pfeffer's room, the walls decorated with Anne's film-star collection and picture postcards. It was just surreal to be in the same small space where eight Jews hid from persecution almost 7o years earlier.

After the Anne Frank House, we went to the Flower Market, where they sell thousands of types of tulip bulps, fresh flowers, and even "Cannabis Starter Kits." After strolling through the Flower Market, we hopped on a Canal Cruise. We got off outside the Rijksmuseum and took photos with the symbolic " I amsterdam" letters; walked through Leidseplein Square, enjoying some street performances; and then ended the day walking through the Jordaan neighborhood, which is full of beautiful canal views! We also meandered through the famous Red Light District. It was such a strange sensation because the district was very lively--full of all kinds of people--but then you glance at the buildings and there are ladies standing in the windows. The windows were street-level and large enough for the women to stand in them, illuminated by long, red flourescent lights. It was sad seeing the prostitutes standing there in their swimsuits in the windows. You walk by at eye-level and see young girls, in their twenties--my age--apparently normal, Dutch girls, not immigrants or anything; it was just incredible. You have to wonder what led these girls to think that this was their only option.

Saturday we began the morning at the Van Gogh museum. His most famous works on display were: The Potato Eaters (1885), Self-portrait (1887), Sunflowers (1889), Wheatfield with a Reaper (1889), Wheatfield and Crows (1890). Unfortunately, The Bedroom (1888) was on tour in Tokyo, but we did see some works of Claude Monet and Picasso too! From the Van Gogh Museum, we headed to the Albert Cuyp Market, where they sell everything from fruits and vegetables, cheeses, flowers, Converses, to the biggest sweatshirts I have ever seen--we're talking XXXXXXXXL! After the market, we found a little sidewalk restaurant, enjoyed a pancake with ham and cheese, and then headed to the Heineken Experience! I have a new appreciation for Heineken now : ) We ended the day with a short 20-minute trainride outside Amsterdam to Koog-Zaandijk to see some windmills. It was a quaint little town with picturesque windmills along the river. The perfect ending to a trip to Holland. : )

I absolutely loved Amsterdam. I feel like it's just the perfect little society--everyone rides their bikes (like crazy!) and gets along. I wish more cities were like that. I saw couples going out on dates and the guy would pedal and the girl would sit on the back of his bike. Adorable. : )

Las Fallas in Valencia

This weekend I went to Valencia with two of the girls I work with and another auxiliar friend of mine. Las Fallas is a celebration of St. Joseph, the patron saint of the carpenters that is coincidentally celebrated during the spring equinox. Each neighborhood or group throughout Valencia spends all year fundraising and making their "Falla"--an elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and papier-mâché monument that is several stories high. Each Falla has a theme, and they are often satryical. This year, we saw one making fun of Spain's political leaders, playing a game of "ping-pong" passing the blame and the responsibility between another; another making fun of preppy people with a traffic sign showing the Lacoste alligator and a tagline "Preps on the loose"; and another falla made fun of the relationship and the famous kiss after the World Cup Championship between Spain's (Real Madrid) goalkeeper Iker Casillas and reporter Sara Carbonero. My favorite falla was the "Made in Spain" one, which celebrated all things Spain--with lots of humor, too! It made fun of a daytime TV star who, at 35, appears to be 60, has tons of wrinkles and wears pounds of make-up; it featured a scene from Catalunya (where bullfighting is now illegal) of a bullfighter waving a white flag at the bull instead of the traditional red flag...very funny.

We got in Thursday night in time to check out the fireworks show that happens every night at 1 a.m., then checked out some of the fallas all lit up at night. Friday we saw the La Mascletà en la Plaza del Ayuntamiento, a fireworks show (mostly for the noise) at 2 p.m.; walked around, looking at more fallas; had a wonderful paella lunch; saw the offering of the flowers in the Plaza de la Virgen, the end-point of the processions, where they fill a giant statue of the Virgen with carnations carried by each group of falleros. Saturday morning, we went to the beach, which was right across the street from our hotel for a while, then we headed into the city to see more of the fallas (there are over 100 throughout the city!). We had to try the traditional fried food of the festival: buñuelos and chocolate! It was good, but basically just deep-fried balls of dough, which we then proceeded to dip in the thickest hot chocolate you've ever seen. Yum. After the buñuelos, we caught a little bit of the "Cabalgata de fuego", a parade with lots of sparklers and characters with various fireworks. The night finished up with La Cremà--the burning. They first set off a series of fireworks, then the entire falla goes up in flames! It's kind of sad, and extremely destructive!!!

Overall, Las Fallas was an interesting experience. It was definitely good to see it once, but I don't know that it's something I could get excited about seeing every year. It's very destructive with all the burning and fireworks, kind of dangerous--the children are encouraged to throw "petardos", and there are TONS of people. The fallas themselves are really neat to see, but all seem to have the same artistic style. It was something to experience, but I don't necessarily feel the need to see it again next year...

El Día de la Mujer // International Women's Day

To all the independent, confident, intelligent, hard-working, beautiful women around the world, today is your day! Happy International Women's Day! I love this holiday and I wish it was more well-known in the U.S. because there's still a long road ahead...women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. I am proud to say, though, that The United States does designate the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'! So, ladies, let's celebrate our fabulousness!! : ) Make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

This is a letter to the editor I found in ADN, a Spanish newspaper, today:

Esta carta va dirigida a cada lectora. A la que te cura las heridas, a la que te consuela del mal de amores; a la que prepara el mejor cocido del mundo y a la que compra precocinados. A ti, a ellas. A la mujer que aprende a escribir y a las que ya se han leído mil novelas; a la que acompaña y a la que espera visita; a la que vino de lejos y a la que nació en el barrio; a la mujer que asiste a sus hijos y a la que espera a la salida del colegio a sus nietos; a la que fue a la Universidad, y a la que aprendió en la escuela de la vida. A las de tez morena, la las rubias. A María, a Amanda, a Yanira, a Yang. A la que encuentra empleo y sonríe, y a la que lo ha perdido pero también sonríe. A la que ama, y a la que se deja amar; a las más familiares, y a las independientes; a la que hicieron sufrir, y a la que ha dicho basta. A las que quedaron atrás en el camino, y a las que siempre están a nuestro lado. A todas, sin excepción, felicidades hoy, y todos los días en los que emprenden el reto de vivir la vida. Porque ayer, hoy, y mañana también, es tu día.

--María Ángeles Altozano, Madrid

Carnevale en Venezia!

I just got home from an amazing weekend in Venice with my South African friend, Chenoa. She has been living in Italy for the past three months working as an au pair and she goes home on Thursday, so I had to see her before she goes back. She had the amazing idea to attend Carnival in Venice, so we spent three days in a dream city of filled with masks, music, and a special magic in the air. Venice is a beautiful city everyday of the year, but during Carnevale, the city transforms to be even more vibrant--it's incredible and completely unique to Venice.

We got in to our hotel in Mestre (about 15 minutes outside Venice) on Thursday night, so we stayed up late just chatting and catching up. Friday morning we enjoyed a breakfast at the hotel before catching the tram and then a bus into Venice. This was my second time to Venice, but it was just as breathtaking this time as the first time seven months ago. Chenoa and I actually went to Venice in July together with my host family while we were working as English tutors with ACLE for the summer, so this was our second time there together!

The first thing we did Friday morning when we got to Venice was get our faces painted! Once we were in the Carnevale spirit, we started walking around the city, but we didn't make it too far before we found a lovely little bridge off of the main streets. We stopped to take a few (hundred) photos before continuing on in search of the open-air Rialto market. However, our photo shoot lasted a little too long and we missed the market, so we just went to a little restaurant and had pizza for lunch and then went to meet my friend from Rome, Riccardo, and his friend, Enrico. Riccardo was visiting Enrico in Brecia, a few hours from Venice in train, so they came over to spend the afternoon with us in Venice! The boys got their faces painted too (like the rock band KISS!) and then we started making our way toward Piazza de San Marco, Venice's main plaza. We spent the rest of the night in a little bar near Piazza de San Marco, drinking and socializing! After that, we caught a bus back to Mestre and the boys caught a different bus to their hotel.

Saturday morning, we rushed to the train station in Mestre to see the boys off before their train left and then we headed into Venice again. We were determined to see the Rialto, so that was our first stop! We weaved through the narrow streets and over the peaceful canals, stopping periodically to take photos, and finally reached the market. There was a concert going on and the market was just finishing. The sellers were beginning to pack up their fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat, but we were still able to see quite a bit. After the market, we searched for a menu touristico and enjoyed a nice lunch at a not-so-authentic Italian restaurant. We were kind of disappointed, but we made up for it with the purchase of some authentic Venetian masks and some very authentic Italian capuccinos after lunch! Then we headed back toward Piazza de San Marco, on the way meeting an American boy, who was in Venice alone, on a spur-of-the-moment decision, so we invited him to hang out with us and we ended up spending the rest of the day with him. He was really nice and he also was willing to play photographer too : ) We spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening walking around the Piazza, marveling at the stunning and creative costumes. It's probably good we were with that boy because there were tons of people in the Piazza and it was good to have another set of eyes to make sure we all stayed together. There were a couple of times, after trying to snap a photo, that I thought I had lost Chenoa, but thankfully we always found eachother! We had dinner together at a little Pizzeria and then met up with a Venetian boy Chenoa had contacted through CouchSurfing. He took us to a concert in a different Plaza packed with students. The atmosphere was so energizing, but there were so many people in such a small space that a fight broke out near us! It was extremely scary being that close to something so violent, so after that we kind of went to a corner of the plaza behind the stage to relax and enjoy the music comfortably. We stayed a little while longer before making our way back to Piazza de Roma to catch our bus back to Mestre.

Sunday morning we set our alarm just in time to make it downstairs for breakfast and then showered, packed up, and checked out of the hotel at noon. We headed into town with our suitcases, in search of a gelateria because no trip to Italy is complete without a gelato! So we found one, enjoyed a delicious cone, and then walked to the tram stop where I could catch a bus to the airport and where Chenoa could catch the tram to the train station.

This weekend was hands down my best weekend since I've been in Europe. I adore Chenoa, she is one of my best friends and will definitely be in my wedding someday! It was so good to see her and I couldn't have picked a better place for our reunion than Venice. Venice (and Italy) is so enchanting to me. I know if I spoke Italian, I would live here in a heartbeat...

I was so sad to say goodbye to Chenoa, but I know that true friendship cannot be weakened by miles, and I am confident that we will see eachother again soon. Until then, never say never.

mai dire mai.

Say CHEESE!

...or, if you're in Spain, PATATAS! : )

I got a new DSLR camera today! I've been wanting to upgrade to nicer digital camera for awhile now. After I took a black and white photography class three years ago, I've been really interested in photography. I've been looking for a couple weeks now, with the help of a few Spanish and American friends who are really into photography, I've found one that seemed to be a good deal. It's a second-hand Canon 400D (10.1 megapixels) for 300€...not to bad I thought. My friend was so great, he found the camera and actually met with the seller and then I met up with him after! I am so grateful! Sometimes I am just blown away by the kindness of some people. I don't know this friend very well, but the fact that he would help me search for a camera and then arrange to meet with the seller, look over the camera, and pay for it until I paid him back is incredible. I am so lucky. And so happy. I can't wait to take my new camera to the canals of Venice and capture the most beautiful city in the world.

Current Mission

So I've been attending yoga classes at my gym the past month and I absolutely love it! It's so relaxing and I love the way I feel walking out of the gym! Today, at the end of the session, as we were relaxing, the instructor said, "Disfruta de este momento. Vívelo intensamente." I absolutely LOVE that. It's so simple, but it makes so much sense: "Enjoy this moment. Live it intensely." That is my goal for the rest of my time abroad; enjoy each moment and make the most of every opportunity I am given.

A Wonderful Day for the Rastro!

Today I went to the Rastro with my friend Samantha in search of yoga pants! I found two pairs and also some cheap nail polish! Gotta love the Rastro! : )

Zapatillas!

Tonight I went out for tapas with a few friends around Lavapiés. We started out the night at Café Bar Melos, where we had the house specialty, Zapatillas, bocadillos of lacón (cured shoulder of pork) and cheese--greasy, huge, and damn good! We got two for 10€ each and split them among 6 of us! It was delicious! I also had to try a croqueta because they were huge! And, as I imagined, delicious!!! I can see why this bar is always full! We were lucky and managed to get a table, but you definitely have to come early to beat the crowd! The owners are an older couple and I don't know how they keep track of all the orders, but they do an incredible job! I was very impressed!

After Cafe Bar Melo's, we went to Bodegas Lo Maximo and another Cuban-type Bar, but Melo's and their Zapatillas was definitely the highlight of the night!

Made my day!

Sometimes my students say the sweetest things! Today, Andrea, one of my thrid graders, told me, "Teacher, estás muy guapa hoy. ¡Así te echas un novio!"

Translation: "Teacher, you're very beautiful today! Like that you'll get a boyfriend!" : )

renewel application? check.

Today I handed in my materials to renew for another year--in Madrid! This was a really hard decision and I have thought a lot a lot about it, but I think that if I passed up the opportunity to stay in Spain another year, I would regret it down the road.

While sometimes it's lonely and I get homesick, there are also tons of positives: I know Madrid (and it's the CAPITAL!), I'm well communicated for traveling, I have a great flat/flatmate, I am improving my Spanish, I work with three other Auxiliares at my school, I make 1000€ a month, I know my school works and get along well with the teachers and students, and I also have my host family and my study abroad director here.

I'm looking forward to another year here in Madrid. I feel like it will bring a lot of good things. I'm not sure what my plan will be after that, but I'm content to take things one day at a time. When I'm home this summer, I plan on visiting a few grad schools in Minnesota, Michigan, and North Carolina, and then moving forward with my applications throughout the year so I can start working toward my teaching license when I return in 2012.

Los monólogos de la vagina

Tonight I went to see the Vagina Monologues--in Spanish--in a little cafe in Lavapiés called El Fin del Mundo, C/ Doctor Fourquet, 28 Madrid, 28012. I had watched the Vagina Monologues in my Sexualities class in college, so it was cool to see it performed live--and in Spanish! The bar was pretty cute, I'll definitely have to go back! And they gave us a little bowl of nuts with our drink orders, always a plus : )

Cuentacuentos en Café Libertad

Tonight I went to a Storytelling at Café Libertad with my study abroad director, the current study abroad students, and some of the host families. It was a cute little cafe and everyone was packed in like sardines to hear three storytellers tell stories about Desire. It was really interesting and really funny, but kind of racy too! Patricia, my study abroad director, brought her Spanish husband and their 15 year-old son, and she explained that Spanish kids are pretty far ahead of American kids when it comes to their exposure to sex/prostitution/negative influences, so material that may seem inappropriate for most American children is pretty acceptable here in Spain.

I definitely want to return for another cuentacuentos! But you need to get there at least a half hour early in order to get a table!

A Day of English in Aranjuez

Today I went with my friend Jackie (another Auxiliar) and a teacher from her school and her family for a daytrip to Aranjuez, a city an hour south of Madrid. Aranjuez is famous for the Palace, which was the spring residence of the Spanish monarchs from the reign of Philip II (1551) onward. It was really neat, one of the kings ( I don't remember which one...) had a wife who was Portuguese, and she missed the sea, so he built a fountain outside the palace, which sounds exactly like waves crashing on the beach! How romantic! That's the kind of guy I want to find! : ) We took a tour of the Palace and the gardens and enjoyed a lovely late lunch at an Irish cafe before heading back to Madrid. It was wonderful and the family was great! The mother and father both spoke English pretty well because they had lived in San Francisco for a few years before they had children. They have a 16 year-old girl and a 14 year-old boy, and the girl also brought along a friend of hers, who she will be going with to London this summer to participate in a month-long study abroad program in. We talked about school, music, and everything in between--conversation just flowed and I felt like I had known them forever! I think they would be a great host family for a study abroad student! They are so warm and welcoming! It was a pleasure for us to spend the day with them and they wouldn't even let us pay for a thing! They said they want to do these kind of day-trips once a month, on Sundays, to places around Madrid so we can see the touristic sites and they can practice their English--sounds good to me! : )

Aranjuez is also famous for its strawberries. There is a special Tren de la Fresa that takes passengers from Madrid's Atocha Train Station to Aranjuez in wooden wagons of a Steam Engine Train with hostesses dressed as in the 19th century, who provide guests with the succulent strawberries typical of the gardens of Aranjuez. It only runs from May-October, but it's definitely something I'll have to look into!

what to do, what to do...

Wow, it's February. I feel like the time has just flown. It's hard to believe I was at home only a month ago. It seems like it's been so much longer.

Now that I'm back in the swing of things at school, it's time to start thinking about what I want to do next year. I hate that I have to start figuring things out so soon! It's funny, though, because as I started to look into Master's in Teaching/Instruction programs in Minnesota, I'm finding I've already missed the deadline! The deadline for the U of M's Master of Education/Initial Licensure Program was December 15th. Plus, if I want to get into that Master's program, I would have to take about a year (at least) of pre-requisites like mathematics for the elementary teacher, teaching physical education, teaching music, history, etc. etc. So even if I do apply for the program next December, what am I going to do until then? And when am I going to take those classes?

I'm finding that as much as I hate planning that far in advance, it's something I'm going to have to start doing or I'm going to waste time.

Since I missed the deadline for the U, I started looking into other Master of Education/Initial Licensure programs around the state. I found one that seems really promising--Hamline University, which is, interesting enough, where I wanted to go for my undergraduate degree before I visited Ripon! I requested information from the College of Education and I have been in contact a lady from the Office of Graduate Admissions. She said, "On average, it takes students around 2 years to complete the license. The length of time and cost of for the program varies from student to student and will depend on the particular license that you are seeking, how your academic background lines up with the content area requirements (or how many content area courses would be waived based on past coursework and how many would be remaining to complete during the program) and your preferred pace." The best part about the program is that they accept applications on a rolling basis, so she said as long as I apply by June, I should be fine to begin in the fall! I mentioned the idea of getting a Master’s in Instruction to my dad, and he told me about another program that only takes a year, at St. Mary’s University in Winona. I’m not sure if I like the campus or exactly how everything works with that program either. Applying for grad school (and choosing one!) from Spain is a pain…

But I think I'm also going to apply for another year in Spain, just to keep all my options open. I'm not sure, though, where I want to apply. I've been thinking long and hard about this decision and I've listed the pros and cons to each decision and I still don't know. The hardest part is that everything is a gamble. If I stay here in Madrid, I will be in the same school, with the same students and the same teachers, and same terrible administration. But I will also have my host family from when I studied abroad, and my wonderful flatmate and flat in the center of the city. I like my teachers I work with and I love my third-graders, who I would have next year again as fourth-graders. But I don’t like the extra classes we are giving now during our preparation hour and the fourth-grade classes are very badly behaved…the administration is, well, Spanish…and the Spanish way of doing things is pretty inefficient sometimes…but I don’t know. I know that I could have it a lot worse…

What to do???

Popque Sí

Today I went to a Pop Music Festival at La Tabacalera, an old-tobacco-factory-turned-social-and-cultural-center. I absolutely LOVE the Tabacalera--it's underground/urban/hipster atmosphere amazes and inspires me. It's a self-managed social center, full of space for whatever you can imagine--there are dance classes, Yoga, an Underground Herb Garden, Soundpainting, History, Spanish/English/French/you-name-it classes; basically, if you provide the skill and the know-how, you can find space at La Tabacalera.

So the Pop Music festival was pretty neat, but their "pop" music was definitely rock...and rock that I didn't really care for. Coupled with clouds of smoke (Yes, Spain is smoke-free as of January 2nd...but apparently urban, free-thinking hipsters don't need abide by these silly laws), I was satisfied to just check it out for an hour or two and then be on my merry way. It was a cool experience and the stage was really neat!

La Tabacalera also has some of (in my opinion) Madrid's best graffiti. Check it out.

Messages of Peace

On Friday, my school is celebrating El Día de la Paz (Day of Peace) and each class needs to come up with a message of peace. In one of my third grade classes, we were taking suggestions. One kid said, "La paz sólo es amor." [Translation: "Peace is only love"]Another student, Abraham, said, "Qué quemen vivos los ladrones!" [Translation: "Burn the thieves alive!"]. I DIED LAUGHING. This kid is so funny!!!

The other third grade class' message was: "Sin guerra y con amor, las mariposas hacen un arco iris y pajaros felices de oir su camta: la paz empieza." [Translation: "Without war and with love, butterflues make a rainbow and happy birds sing their song; peace begins."]

Flamenco With AYA

Last night Patricia invited me to go to a Flamenco Show with the new group of AYA Study Abroad Students. They were going to Casa Patas, literally blocks from my house, so it was really convenient for me! I got to meet all 5 of the students (Well, I already knew Sonia); the group is really small this semester! I'm thankful that when I studied abroad there were thirteen of us--and six of us from Ripon! I think the group of students definitely impacts your semester, and I know that my experience would have been dramatically different had the group of students been so much smaller.

I had been to Casa Patas once before, when my mom and my sister came to visit me when I was studying here in 2009. It is a nice place and they put on a good show. We had stage-side tables and I knew right when we sat down that we would be sprayed with sweat...I warned the girls next to me to enjoy their drinks before the dancing got really heated up! And sure enough, they got to twirling and stomping and the sweat came a' flyin' (mostly from the guy)!

Flamenco is one of the Spanish traditions I really enjoy. It is just an incredible amount of passion--you can see it in both the singer's and the dancers' faces and it just draws you in. It's so beautiful. I really need to see live Flamenco more often. After the show was over, a group of Spaniards invited us to go to another bar with live music off of Huertas, but I can't remember the name of the place. We didn't go with them, instead, I showed the Riponites around my barrio (Lavapiés) and we ended up getting dinner at a little place on Calle Argumosa called La Pimienta. We were kind of disappointed with their selection (granted, it was almost midnight), but the only things they had available were tostadas. So we ordered Berenjena a la Miel, a Cheese Tostada Platter, and some lovely red wine. The food was great, but I wish they had more choices available!

Segunda Jornada de Formación

Today we had our second orientation at teh Centro Regional de Invocación y Formación 'Las Acacias.' It started at 3:30 p.m., so we got to get out of school an hour early in order to have enough time to get lunch and make it there on time! We ended up having lunch at a little cafeteria across the street from the Centro. The director of the Auxiliares de Conversación Program and the assistant director were having lunch at the same place, so we knew we made a good choice!!! : )

The orientation was really informative. We had two sessions; the first was about online resources and the second was about oral presentations. During the first presentation, a teacher passed along a list of great websites for teaching English as a second language:

- SMART exchange
- www.topmarks.co.uk
- www.eslpartyland.com
- One Stop English

He also suggested "The Annoying Orange" YouTube videos as a reward for good behavior. The internet is great and there are a lot of wonderful resources out there, but there are so many that it takes a lot of time to sift through the garbage websites to find the gems. So it was really helpful that they gave us a list of sites they have already found to be useful.

The second presentation was about oral presentations, an idea that is still very new in Spain. The presentation was wonderful and incredibly inspiring! I walked out of class thinking, Oral presentations are exactly what my kids need to do! It makes complete sense. Oral presentations involve all four of the destrezas comunitivas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. She showed us an example of an oral presentation that she did with third graders about "My Favorite Book" and it was great. First, the students begin by answering some simple questions such as, Title, Author, Has it got pictures or photos? Is it a short or long story? working up to more difficult things such as a description of the characters and plot. She showed us the outline for the project and the various steps and stressed the importance of providing the students with a framework for on-going work. She also revealed a little secret to insure that the audience is paying attention--have the listeners complete a table with information about the presentations, such as the presenter's name, characters in the book, the type of book (fiction/non-fiction), and then grade the performance. It makes complete sense and hopefully would help the students be good audience members, something that is hard for young Spaniards to do.

When Rosa finished the presentation about oral presentations, she shared some of the material that she had prepared for the first orientation sessions in September, but had run out of time to share! She gave us ideas about routines (taking attendance, the weather, and the calendar), ways to get their attention, and also lots of ways to use flashcards to learn vocabulary. You could tell just by sitting in on her presentation that she is an amazing teacher. I was so intrigued and inspired by all of her ideas! When she was finished, I stuck around and asked her if she had any recommendations to get students to do their homework. I explained that in our third grade class of 25 students, at times 12 weren't doing their homework. She suggested merits for good behavior. She said one day, bring in candy for the students who have done their homework. If students haven't done their homework, they don't get candy. The next day, if they ask for candy, you say sorry, not today; life is a surprise and you always have to be ready. She also suggested perhaps the class can work toward some reward when everyone does their homework--such as a sincere round of applause or maybe an Annoying Orange YouTube video. She also said she has a Merit Board in her classroom where children earn stickers for doing their homework and for good behavior.

After tonight, I am excited to return to school with lots of new ideas and activities! And I hope that someday I can be as good of a teacher as Rosa.