Mi Trabajo (my job)

(My school)

Well I started my job on Monday and although I know it will be a good experience, I have to admit I am pretty overwhelmed. I am teaching conversational English at a private institution called Mugakoa- a Basque term which means "in between." The town I work in is along the coast, about 25 minutes away from Bilbao and it's called Portugalete. The area is called Pinota. Actually the building itself is in between Pinota and Portugalete, hence "Mugakoa." The city is beautiful and very much a port town. If it would ever stop raining I would like to wander around and discover it more.


(Portugalete)

I basically have 5 classes (sometimes 6) every afternoon beginning at 4 pm and running until 9 or 10 pm at night. The students come twice a week, alternating with 5 or 6 other classes, so that's about 11 classes total! It's a very long day for me since I have classes all morning and early afternoon! The good news is I only have to work Monday through Thursday so I get Friday off. The classes are not based on age, they are based on understanding level so I have some classes with a decently large age range. But I have adults (up to 41 years old), teenagers, children...all ages. They all have Basque names, which are nothing like Spanish names. Most of them I can't even pronounce. The Basque language looks like Greek to me. So maybe by the end of 6 months I will know them all by their names...but I have a lot of students! Most of them are very nice but some of the younger kids like to make fun of the way I pronounce their names and they are so resistant to speak English. I'm not supposed to speak even one word of Spanish in the classrooms or they will take advantage of the fact that they know I know Spanish and never speak in English.

Some of the younger ones caught me off-guard yesterday so they are now always speaking to me in Spanish and I'm trying really hard not to respond in Spanish. It's hard when you've been speaking and hearing Spanish all morning!

Things are a little disorganized right now...I have like 10 books to use for different classes and it's hard remembering which book goes with what class. But I think in the end, it's more about talking and encouraging them to speak English. I'm pretty exhausted by the end of the day but I go home feeling rewarded. Even if I can help just a few students speak English a little easier I will be happy.