Crap. That’s what went through my mind when I woke up this morning, half hour before my class was supposed to start.
I realized last night that I didn’t have the books I needed to plan the 4th grade science class. Antonio asked to use them and I was planning on going early this morning to figure something out but I didn’t wake up on time. There are workbooks we can use and make worksheets from, but I typically try to do something more original. Antonio wants to focus less on the actually material in the book and more on the kids learning to understand me and adapt to my questions in English. He wants to do something fun and interactive. I completely understand the thought process, but at the same time I’m having a really hard time with this particular group of kids. They frequently don’t listen, participate or cooperate, so it’s really hard to plan something fun and have any sort of success. Today they were awful. I almost burst into tears because I was just so frustrated. I tried to have a heart-to-heart with the 4th graders about games and activities that they like doing so that they feel like they have a say in what we are doing and hopefully, maybe, participate and behave better. I have a list of ideas but we’ll see how it goes next week. Last week I prepared a game of memory with their new vocabulary words and it seemed like the majority of the kids would look at the cards when it wasn’t their turn, change the places of the cards so the other team couldn’t find them, turn over more than two cards, etc, etc.
Diego is leaving because he can’t handle his kids anymore. His replacement is coming tomorrow. There was a rather awkward moment in the teacher’s lounge during recess when another teacher chewed Diego out about leaving again, others were more sympathetic. I can see both sides. Diego was here at the beginning of the year, then left, then came back at Christmas and a week later is leaving again. It’s not fair to the kids to be changing teachers so frequently, but especially today, I understand the frustration with the kids lately.
At the end of the day I tried to go to the 2nd grade class like normal. All year I’ve gone to the 2nd grade class on Wednesdays at 1:15. I showed up and Eugenia said it wasn’t time for English. Whaaaaaat? I went and talked to Javi about my schedule, still desperately trying to keep myself together because of the general frustration of the day. We decided that the 2nd grade class is no longer going to be Wednesdays at the end of the day. Instead I’m going to come in earlier on Thursdays (at 9am) and do the 2nd grade class first thing in the morning. The schedule had indeed changed and they had just forgotten that it affected my schedule. I’m not thrilled about the getting up earlier or having my short day be longer but at least I can get done earlier on Wednesdays (typically my long day) and I’m still done by 11:45 on Thursdays. It seems like my schedule has changed so many times lately. Hopefully this schedule stays the same for awhile. I don’t know if Diego leaving will affect my schedule. I don’t think so, because I don’t have any classes with him, but who knows. I know that there will probably be at least two more teacher changes before the year is over. 2 people on leave are supposed to be coming back. My schedule may change when that happens.
The good part of today was that Amy Smith confirmed she will be coming in April to visit me during Semana Santa (Holy Week)! She will be here for about a week and a half. I’m so excited! I got even more excited when I remembered that I don’t work that week, so we can visit other cities (hopefully Cádiz and Málaga) and I won’t have to worry about getting back in time for work. It’s also only 2 more months until Laura and Chelsea get here! I’m so excited to have visitors!
Today for the adult class in the afternoon I chose a few more challenging, abstract conversation questions in order to force them to think a little more and use different vocabulary. Even my lower level class did pretty well. I was proud.
After class I went out to pick up some chicken. I went to the actual butcher instead of the grocery store and watched them take a whole chicken (not alive or with feathers, but still in its chicken-like shape) and cut the chicken breasts out. I hadn’t seen that before, even here.
I then headed over to another little store to pick up a snack and Almudena was there in her work out clothes getting ready to go to the gym. She took me up to my apartment, I quickly changed clothes and then we headed off to the gym together. I added weight to a bunch of my exercises, added an extra machine, ran and biked for a bit. Almudena graciously waited for me even though had been finished for awhile and then she drove me home.
I came home, did the dishes and tried to clean my apartment. Lately I can’t seem to get my apartment to feel clean. It’s picked up, it just doesn’t feel *clean.* It’s a good thing I have a small apartment or it would never be clean.
I made chicken soup/pasta for dinner. It’s so easy to make and I absolutely love it. You can buy ‘bricks’ (cartons) of chicken broth at the grocery store and you can buy short angel hair pasta noodles (really fine). You just drop the pasta in the chicken broth for 3-4 minutes and Voila! Instant warm and comfort food after walking home from the gym.
I’m tired. It’s already 12:30am. I don’t know where the days go. My intercambio with Paco is cancelled tomorrow because he’s going out of town. Hopefully I can get caught up with cleaning and lesson planning and not feel like I’m running through my day for once.
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