Rose during Co-Vid

    

 On 14th March 2020, the Spanish government declared a national lock-down. Physical buildings were closed and labour moved to the virtual world. My worst fear became my new normal. How did I cope? In this blog, I am going to share my experience as a language assistant and ESL teacher living in Spain during a global pandemic.

Facing My Fear

   

At the start of the lock-down, my assigned school commissioned its language assistants to create resources for the students. The working hours were 16, however, they could be completed at one's pace. That's a good thing. An advantage from this bad situation. However, it marked the manifestation of one of my worst fears. The first week of resource creation went well. Then the second, third , etc. weeks came and I felt my teaching soul being sucked from my body by this pandemic dementor. The routine wore me down and I felt as if I was chained to a desk and a slave to my laptop. 

The breaker of chains came when I decided to mention to my bilingual coordinator, the creation of a website where the assistants could include resources. This website would give students AND teachers unlimited access to its contents. The creation of a website (garcialorca.blogspot.com) helped to change the momentum as it involved creating videos and audios for the students. This added a little pep in my step. The best parts of virtual classes were the creation of videos and speaking to the students using Jitsi meet.

The Teaching World with Masks

The end of the state of emergency and the return to the physical buildings came with its challenges. Teachers and language assistants, armed with two face masks, disinfectant spray, paper towels and hand sanitising gels, had to go to the drawing boards to think about non-contact interactive activities. 

  

 At my assigned school, I collaborate with 6th grade and help with the preparation for the external exams, A2 KEY and B1 Preliminary for Schools. The current situation calls for the maintenance of  2 metres of distance and the prohibition of sharing. As a result, I use a tablet and a website where I put the lessons and its activities for the students. The students use tablets instead of books. Kahoot, islcollective video lessons and esl live worksheets have become my friends.These web-tools have been helping me to create interactive activities for the students. 

Also, my team and I decorated the doors of the school with winter themed decorations. Couple weeks later the community of  Madrid got one of its heaviest snowfall in history. I wonder if the decorations had anything to do with it!

 

Also, as a part time teacher of ESL, I have developed a website (rayofrose.blogspot.com) where I add resources and materials for the students. I try my best to include digital materials in my lessons. For the younger students, I laminate and sanitise the flashcards and materials so that they are able to touch and interact with them. 

  💛  The pandemic has not diminished interaction in the esl teaching and learning world, rather it has changed the manner in which we interact. Now, we interact in the virtual world and with precaution.💛

How has this pandemic affected your teaching and learning lives? Share your experience in the comments section below. 

Rose in the Classroom- Portfolio

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."– Benjamin Franklin

A rose in a classroom might be an absurd thing to see. However, in my class a Rose is always present...

Who Am I?

My name is Rachel Rose and I'm from the beautiful island of Jamaica . I am a teacher of Foreign languages. You might be wondering what other languages I am capable of teaching. Well, I can teach French, Spanish and English as foreign languages. I am currently doing a Masters in Bilingual and Multicultural Education at Universidad de Alcalá in Spain. My desire to teach has been present for as long as I can remember. I can recall when I was eight years old, I would set up my pretend classroom with my dolls where I was the teacher. I know I wanted to be a teacher but it was at Secondary school I decided to choose teaching the languages.

Teaching Background: Philosophy, goals, qualifications

In 2017, I finished my undergraduate degree in Secondary Education and from there I set out to be a certified teacher. I spent a year in France as a Language assistant and part-time ESL teacher. I used that experience to improve my French Language competences. Then in September 2018, I went to a small city called Ciudad Real where I was a Language Assistant in the Meddeas programme. I also did a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate at a university in Barcelona, thanks to the Meddeas programme. This is my first year being in the Spanish Ministry’s programme. I will share with you my experience thus far as a language assistant in the Spanish capital.

Before I get all excited telling you the story of “Rose in the classroom”. I want to share the main goals that I have for myself and my learners and my teaching philosophy.
The main goals that I have for my learners is that their confidence level increases as they are motivated to speak English with ease and fluency.  In relation to my self goal, I want to create a safe and authentic environment that promotes the usage of the target language and encourages effort even if it is littered with mistakes. In addition, I strive to make learning a language fun and exciting.

My teaching philosophy is Every child can learn and Every child must learn. I believe that students can demonstrate their learning in different ways and at different levels of achievement. As such I strive to not compare the levels of my students to each other but rather I view each child as an individual who has the capability to improve and grow in their way. My role is to assist each learner in developing their own potential while catering to their learning styles.

STORY TIME: (Highlight of my experience)

"Let’s listen to Hugo, ‘Yes, Hugo what do you have to say?’, I bellowed to my little clique of students... It seemed like just yesterday, when the sun was reaching up to give me a kiss and my little hands grasping my favourite spanish breakfast, porras, that I received an email from La Comunidad de Madrid. It was my assignment: CEIP García Lorca, Alcalá de Henares (Madrid)... Now look at me, laughing with my students and watching them explain the current tea of the day, in English, of course! Each student is serving tea and every now and again, he/she stops to ask with a strong Spanish accent, “Rachel, how do you say …. In English?” and continues his/her version of the story. I provided the missing word, interrupted to correct a prolonged error and gave a face of interest as I listen. Did you know that 5th graders tell the best stories! I got the tea and we started asking questions from the Cambridge pack. I gave them the option of asking me a few questions provided that they cannot repeat any of the already asked questions. With flushed cheeks and googled eyes, Ana asked “Rachel, what is your surname?”. I answered in a robotic way, “My surname is Rose. The group grasped as if they had a eureka moment and in unison said, “ah como un flor”. I pretended not to understand what they said, “could you repeat?” They said, “Rose like a flower”. I said, “Why yes, I am a Rose in the classroom” and I laughed. No one got my pun. My English pun (it wasn’t funny). 

A rose in the classroom is who I am. I consider myself a rose because of two reasons. The obvious one is my surname. The second reason is the significance of a rose. Roses have convey different meanings according to their colour. I strive to be a yellow rose. A yellow rose means joy, delight, friendship, welcome back and new beginnings. I am a teacher who helps her learners find joy and delight in learning. A teacher who helps her learners to forge everlasting and meaningful relationships both with their peers and with her. A teacher who creates a safe space where her students know that it is okay to make mistakes; to not be the smartest student in the class; to be him/herself; to feel free to express themselves; and to grow and learn.
As you can see from the story, I work with 5th grade and by extension all the grades as I see each class once per week. I am only in the English Language classes. There are five language assistants at my school and we collaborate with the Teachers of English in order to teach the students. In a class, each assistant is assigned a small group of five students. We engage the students in varied conversations in order to practise the learnt grammatical content and structures.
The school comprises of the infantil and primaria sections. There are three classes per grade and approximately 25 students in each class. The students are friendly and by the sixth grade, they have a good command (B1) of the English Language.

Expectations of LA Programme:

• An exposure to the Spanish culture and language.
• Share the Jamaican culture with the students at my assigned school.
• Learn new classroom management techniques.
• Becoming knowledgeable about current foreign language teaching methodologies.
• Becoming a source of motivation for students to learn a foreign language.
• Collaborating to create exciting and fun activities for learners.

Contributions to the LA programme:

The assistants work as a team and all our activities were collaboratively made. We help the students in their preparation for the speaking part of the KET and PET examinations such as describing pictures, and using pictures to tell a story.Also, we focus on popular celebrations in different Anglophone Countries.

For Example: Halloween, We created various outdoor activities for students of infantil and primaria. 

Two of such activities were One two three red-light and Pick up Monsters:

Instructions for 1 2 3 red-light: 

One player stands at the front while the others are about 15 feet away from him or her, on the line.

The singled out player turns away from the others and say an expression related to Halloween (walk like a mummy) then after shout "1 2 3 red light". The others try to reach him or her before he or she turns around. The aim is to not be seen while moving. Whoever is seen upon the target person turning around has to return to the starting point. This is continued until someone reaches that person. The winner takes over and the game starts again.

Pick up monster and put them in a can: (Designed for infantil)

Teacher puts students into three teams. Each team represents a monster. Teacher randomly places cards with the three items on the floor and put the three cans at least 10 feet away from the students. The teams make 3  lines representing each can. At the sound of the bell, students take turn running and picking up one of their items and put it in their respective can. Then stand behind the can. The other team member runs, picks up an item and drops it in the can. (A child can pick up one item at a time) The first team to have all its members behind the can is the winning team that shouts 'hooray'.

We helped the students of the first cycle (1st to 3rd grades) to colour and describe their monsters. Then the students got to paste their monsters on the classroom's door.

Finally,