Erasmus+ Leaders in Language February 2022

Wow ⭐️ what a weekend! The fallas started in Valencia this weekend so a few of us braved the crowds and went to the city centre for the Mascletá.  It's basically the loudest thing I've ever heard💥🧨!! Firecrackers are let off in the main square and you can feel the explosions going straight through you 😲! Everyone was singing and dancing along to brass bands - and generally having a great time.  Today I started bright and early at 8am with a film vocab lesson which included an activity using suffixes. I designed a 'Find Your Match' activity, where the 1 BATX students each had a card with either the root word, a suffix or the meaning. They all then had to mingle and find their matching parts! We also played a Guess The Film game using the target vocab, and a matching question and answers activity. They all seemed to like having some interactive elements to the class, and responded well. Having teams and giving points definitely helped keep up the momentum! ...

  Monday 21st February 12:39pm Exposició, Valencia  I’m sat on a bench on Passeig de L’Albereda, it’s about twenty-one degrees and I don’t want to move in case I lose sight of the street that I have to head down to make it to Colegio de San Jose de Calasanz in time for my 1pm start.                                     *** After arriving in Valencia less than twenty-four hours ago, I was drained and exhausted - overwhelmed would be a good work to add to that too; the complete lack of any English signs and knowing looks from Spaniards at my painfully broken Spanish adding to the feeling.  Two days ago were were sat in the freezing Kentish countryside; anxious and excited about the next four weeks. It’s felt like forever to get here, and finally I’m left to manage in a new city of which I have no knowledge.                     ...

  My first week is complete and it has been a whirlwind! I have completely fallen in love with Leon, the school I’m teaching at is amazing , everyone is so friendly (students and teachers) and they all seem very excited that I am here which is lovely. The city itself is stunning - can’t complain about my walk to school which is past the incredible Cathedral de Leon!   And of course, the tapas and wine in the evenings is great too!  As the week has gone on I’ve become more and more involved with the lessons and I am genuinely loving every minute, it’s quite daunting standing in front of a full class of children relying on me for instructions (especially as they all have masks on so I can’t see what their expressions are!) but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I have classes of students from 6/7 years old up to 11/12 years old and I adore them all. I have been given lots of drawings and ‘presents’ from the students which actually have made me quite emotional- thinking I n...

 I'd meant to write one of these during the week but it's been so busy I didn't find the time!  I felt a bit shell-shocked at first. After being chucked off the bus and told to fend for ourselves for the next 4 weeks it all became a bit real. The streets were practically empty with it being Sunday but we managed to explore some of the local area before Mr. Breeze whipped up some nice veg to go with our ready-made Spanish omelette for our first meal in Valencia. It was great to get to know the flatmates on a more personal level after a cerveza or two. The teaching has had its ups and downs. I have four tutors at two different schools. One of the tutors I am yet to meet, and don't even know where she is. I'm a little bit annoyed I don't get the chance to build as good of a relationship with there being such limited time with each one.  Every day I do 12:15-15:00 at San Jose de Calasanz then travel up to Schola in Moncada for the evening shift. The kids at San Jose...

 So, I arrived in Spain a week ago today. It has gone so fast, which I expected. I have tried to make the most of each day I have been here. For the majority of the week, I have achieved this. I have visited restaurants, tourist destinations and signed up for social events. Then there is today. I could tell last night that today would be a "tricky day". My Erasmus group were going into Valencia to witness the opening of the festival.  In many ways, I wanted to go to. I wanted to see the costumes. I wanted to hear the music. I wanted to smell the fireworks. I wanted to taste local food. I wanted to go but my brain said no. It would be too loud, too busy and too many things happening at once. Sometimes I can handle events like this, then other days I can't. Today, I knew it would be too much for me. I would experience sensory overload. I would be oversocialised. Spending the day alone has helped me stay calm ahead of a busy week. I still feel guilty for not being able to jo...

 Like all new things adjustment isn't easy. The first week of living accommodation wasn't great. But the problem was resolved quickly. My new room is much more liveable. Internet has also finally been resolved! The weather is shockingly cold too. The school on the other had is great! I'm really enjoying it and all the students and teachers are very nice! It's a very relaxed and chill atmosphere. The first week has just been introducing myself. Since I teach a different class every hour, every day. The school just want me to practice speaking with the students. They haven't lent me any of their books or anything. This makes it easier for me but I'm now stuck with only being able to find conversational practice lesson plans.            

It’s been a week since we arrived and I think it’s safe to say it’s been an eventful week.     I feel like my feet have barely touched the ground; ironic when they actually hurt from being on them most of the week and I crawled to the weekend pretty exhausted.     First and foremost I love my school.    It’s small and has a lovely feel about it.  I’m teaching almost every age group as there’s generally only one class per year, so I’ve probably met over 100 new faces!    Trying to remember 100+ Spanish names of masked people is proving something of a challenge!    Everyone at the school has been extremely welcoming though and they seem really excited to have me there, especially the children.    I felt pretty good (and then also pretty embarrassed) when I went into the playground on one of my first days and dozens of children started screaming my name.    Luckily my mask covered my blushed face  🙈 !! My invo...

Le ón is lovely. So far, my experience has been largely positive. The staff at my school have been extremely kind and friendly. They've even taken me out for coffee! This week I've been in the primary school and the students have been brilliant. Today, I had a line of the youngest students waiting to hug me! One of them told me she loved me several times. It's only been 5 days but I love them too. I've received nothing but warm welcomes from everyone at my school and even a few gifts from the students. Next week I will be in the secondary school, I'm looking forward to it but a bit nervous too!

  What's up fellow teachers? I've just finished my first week in Leon! It's been quite knackering but I've really enjoyed myself too. I'm really happy with my placement school; the teachers have all been very helpful and accommodating which has made my entry into Spanish school life feel relatively painless! I'm particularly grateful for the freedom that the teachers have given me this week. They have more or less given me free reign over their classes which, while a little daunting, has allowed me to experiment and try things out even in this early stage of the experience. I'm honored that they are putting so much faith in me and my nascent teaching abilities - muchas gracias for that! Before arriving in Leon, I did some reading about teaching English to young learners, and I was quite excited this week to see a real-life example of something that had come up in my reading. Occasionally, before entering a particular class, their normal teacher would pull me...

I can't believe a week has passed since we set off on our journey - starting in Kent. A pleasant 3 hour journey on a train turned into an epic mission by train, taxi and car, to finally reach the venue 13 hours later! It was lovely to finally see our group in person and get to know each other a bit before setting off. We then had a long but fun day training on Saturday, followed by a very short sleep in order to catch the bus to the airport at 4am! Thankfully the journey from that point ran a bit more smoothly, and 12 hours later we were dropped at our flat - excited to see where we'd be living for the next month. Luckily 2 gallant gentleman in our group offered to help carry our bags up the stairs, as our apartment was on the 6th floor. The last flight were a rickety set of wooden steps which were tricky to manoeuvre even without a massive suitcase. However on exploring the flat it didn't take the three of us long to discover we were missing a bedroom! Anyway to cut a long...

  If I have to sum up the first few days in Valencia, it would be with these three words.   Overwhelmed by the absolute volume of information to take in....planning and giving lessons, being thrown in the really deep end, brushing up my rusty Spanish and learning Valenciano, taking wrong turns and right turns in the hire car, travel in the metro and just so much to think about.   Overjoyed at the amazing CSB school, the very friendly school staff who describe themselves as our family, great students and sheer joy of being there every day.  I am overjoyed at the sunshine, the blue skies, the beach and a decent strong cup of cafe con leche. Overtired as I slept in the kitchen for the first few nights due to an accommodation mixup, never in my whole life have I wanted a bedroom door so much.  (It's now sorted, thank you!). Overtired because of a long commute of more than an hour, getting lost and really early mornings....I am talking London commute early which c...

 Here I am, in Spain.  It was touch and go if I would even make it to the training, thanks to bad weather. However, I made it after a long and stressful journey. And I was the only one who liked the food served in the canteen! The flat is nice, with everything I may need. Even better, it is two doors down from my school. No commuting for me. I taught a full lesson yesterday. Today, I am taking two lessons. The first is the little ones, who are hyperactive and impatient. Although, very funny. The second lesson is for two teenagers, which will be my official observation. I decided it is best to get it out of the way. It is very hard teaching with a face mask on, especially when drilling new words. I need to wear a mask for four hours straight, it is torture.  I also need my "fitting in" mask. That is firmly on when I leave my flat every day. Although, bits of the real me are leaking out. When excited, I flap my arms. I don't do this in public normally, but I have started do...

Af ter what seemed liked a few minutes sleep, Tracy and I were collected on Monday morning from our little flat, just off the Avenido del Doctor Fleming and driven to the Colegio Divina Pastora. It’s a pink building, the colour of Germolene in the shape of a capital F. If I have understood the Spanish correctly, it seems to be a former Franciscan convent, transformed in 1949 into a school for children aged 3 to 18, from Kindergarten to Baccalaureate, comprising 800 pupils. The Principal, Ana and academic mentors took us into a side room to give us an overview of the school and assign our mission ( which of course we chose to accept!). A tour of the school followed, which was a bit like wandering through Hogwarts, a labyrinth of marbled corridors and wrought-iron stairways, rooms large and small, underground canteens and upper chapels. It soon became obvious that the school operates like one big noisy, tactile family with everyone on first name terms. After the social distancing exce...

 After a 12 hour journey we finally arrived in Leon very late on Sunday night. The take off was a bit hairy in places but once we got above the clouds we had a fabulous sunset and an easy flight down to Santander. After dropping off most of the contingent at the university residences, Iain and I got to the apartment about half 1in the morning. We’re staying in a three bed place ‘the other side of the tracks’! It’s the opposite way to the rest of the gang but it’s very quiet and just a 25 minute walk to the school. We feel very lucky with a nice sitting room and kitchen and plenty of space to spread out. We were picked up Monday late morning and taken to our school, Colegio Divina Pastora, to meet the head, Ana, as well as the English teachers who would be our mentors, Patricia and Marga. Everyone was so friendly and so pleased to have us there. We talked through our timetable and had a chance to ask any questions we wanted before Ana took us around the school and we were introduced...

I wanted to write this last night but, after fish bowl-sized glasses of rhubarb gin and tonics, I’m glad I refrained  🤪 !  It took well over an hour to get to sleep last night as I was buzzing from meeting everyone.  What a fantastic group of different individuals I couldn’t have possibly have met any other way.  Feels like a blessing to be part of this experience.   Storm Eunice really tested us yesterday but we finally all got together.     Last but not least we got Hannah from the station this morning, bless her.    I’ve really enjoyed today and hanging out with the León Lovelies some more.    Something that I’m slightly struggling with this evening is knowing I have to say goodbye to the Valencia group later.    I love my León group and am so excited to get going with them tomorrow, but right now it’s slightly bitter sweet as I hate goodbyes and they are also a fab bunch of people.    Best of...

 Due to the lovely Eunice it was physically impossible for me to get to Ashford yesterday, I almost drove myself insane by looking at train updates every 5 minutes. So I woke up at 3:30am this morning to catch the first train to London - lo and behold that was cancelled too. Spent an hour with my parents exhausting every option- even looked into paying a taxi £200 to get me there but this wasn’t possible either. After pretty much losing all hope there was a stroke of luck and we found a single coach going from Northampton to Golders Green and I booked it instantly. Currently sat on that coach feeling rather drained and anxious- just really hoping that there’s no more trouble or stress after this rocky start! I just want to meet everyone and get this adventure started!

Given that Storm Eunice is due to hit South Wales in the morning and all trains would be cancelled, we’re on our way a day early but luckily the training venue can put us up. It was a bit of a squeeze getting everything in the case but Zak (a previous participant who gave us a talk on Monday) said to just think of it as a long holiday and pack extra pants! Spain does have washing machines and plenty of shops if we’ve forgotten anything. After our final training session with Fran and Emile last night, and today’s session with the ever patient Carolyn, I feel much more confident for the journey and experience, and am looking forward to the adventure! And especially looking forward to meeting everyone else, I just hope everyone’s travels go well and they arrive safely. Hasta luego, Tracy

  It's been a good week so far. I managed to trick my boyfriend into watching Disney's Moana with me and my friend on Tuesday so that was a great evening. (Previous films I have managed to trick him into seeing include Frozen 2 in cinema, which he still hasn't forgiven me for). I've been cuddling my dogs more every day as I shall not see them for a whole month. I don't think they'll even notice I'm gone though!  I fear i shall have to run over my suitcase with my car just to flatten everything down enough to fit. I know heeled boots are not necessary but sometimes i like to be a reasonable height, so in they have gone.  I am excited to see everybody in person tomorrow, and hopefully i won't fall off the climbing wall and make a fool of myself! À bientôt

 My name is Laura the Explorer and I am an overthinker. If Overthinkers Anonymous existed, I would be signing up in no time! My autism means I think about things... A lot. This can sometimes be beneficial, if channeled correctly. I can write lists and daily plans meaning I don't forget the small stuff. However, it can also overwhelm me. That has happened today. I have written my daily lists and my packing lists. However, I have become stuck as there is too much to do. Too much to organise, too much to pack and too much to think about. My brain has shut down and my body feels numb. In my first blog, I said I would share my experience as an autistic person. Today, I feel awful. This is the reality of being autistic and dealing with a lot of changes in a short period. I will rest, I will regulate and I will recover. 

  It’s all about the packing this week… what’s the golden number for shirts (ironed or au naturel), pants, jumpers and the rest? What’s essential, what’s optional, what’s a frivolous luxury? I think, for me, a kettle would fall into that last category, along with baked beans and Cheddar cheese, even though I am a fan. I’ll make do with boiling water in a saucepan and enjoying the local fabada and Manchego cheese. When in Leon… I wonder too, whether to take any books, reading material for the kids, trusty Scrivener and/or Swan for the theory and/or English grammar, meditation or Yoga recovery workouts for post-classroom management “calamities”. It will depend, I suppose, on how close the dial gets to the magic 20kg on the scales and it is already perilously close! Trying to balance a large case on a decrepit pair of bathroom scales is a precarious operation and not an entirely accurate one. I’m sure Ryanair scales will weigh differently in any (and for all) cases. I’ll aim to be...

 Things are starting to get real now. Feel like I've done quite well at getting things sorted (although I haven't actually started packing yet) and most things I had on my to-do list have been ticked off at this point. At this point I'm just trying not to overthink things and worry too much, getting things ready has definitely helped with this. I also feel like the zoom sessions have been getting better as time has passed. Not sure if this is due to me finding them a bit less awkward now or because of the actual content but I've enjoyed the last few. I was hoping to make huge progress with my Spanish by practising Duolingo every day but this turned out to be a bit of a pipe dream. At this point it feels a bit like the morning/night before an exam where you just give up on revising even if you're not too confident and accept your fate. I definitely know some basics and enough to get by, especially now I downloaded Google translate on my phone, but at this point the ...

All of a sudden, with less than a week to go, I have realised that this is really happening.   The training has been great, although I am honestly nowhere near my best at 9pm on Sunday!  I'm really looking forwards to meeting everyone in person and getting to know people in real life.  That's probably been the hardest part of the training is not knowing people in person. Like everyone else, I do have fears.  What if I am no good at teaching?  What if teaching is just not for me (see Paul, we all think the same!)?  What if I get sick?  What if I get homesick?  What if I get Covid?  What if, what if, what if.  These are just fears and I can rationalise them, but it doesn't stop them!  As soon as we get together, I am sure they will go. It's also really comforting to know that everyone feels the same and a problem shared is a problem halved.   On a brighter note, I spent the weekend with my niece and nephew, aged 10 and 12 who gav...

I haven’t taught children or teens before, and I was extremely apprehensive about moving to Spain and jumping headfirst into a real-life living and breathing secondary school. My head was full of fear, nerves and hesitancy, the only thing I was sure of was that a few zoom calls would not prepare me for the adventure ahead. But how wrong was I. The zoom calls, lead by Fran and Emile, have totally eradicated my fear and apprehension, replacing them with eagerness and excitement. I now feel that I will be heading to Spain equipped with an arsenal of techniques and ideas.

 As the time is getting closer to our departure, I'm feeling less nervous and more excited to go. Per advice, I have been told to be more flexible than prepared. This has resulted in me feeling far more relaxed and calm about this trip. I am still prepared but not to the point where I feel I can control every moment. Can't wait! - Christopher Bennett

  Hola This is my first time writing a blog, so I am just as nervous to start this as everything else! However, I am sure this won’t be the only new thing I will be doing during this course, and as with anything new I’m willing to give it a try, so here goes! This week I had my last shift in retail! With a week left to spend some time with family, the realness of it all is kicking in and the nerves and excitement seem to intensify each day. The past 2+ weeks we have started our teacher training sessions with Fran and Emile! The sessions are great, packed full of information and shared ideas. It’s amazing to get this guidance and begin creating a bank of activities, websites, and other resources that we can use when we arrive in Spain. The lovely Carolyn was able to set up meetings with former Erasmus participants who were happy to share their experiences and answer any questions we had. These sessions are invaluable and each of their experiences were different and unique to...

We are still in pre-Spain mode.  I can’t believe this time next week I’ll be hanging out with the other teachers in Ashford… It’s come around quickly all of a sudden!  I can’t wait to actually meet all the group who have just been 20+ little faces on my laptop screen for the past couple of weeks  😅   My dear friend will be taking me to the train station on Friday morning and she said she hopes she won’t cry  🤣  God love her.    I hope she doesn’t cry either as I can’t be arriving to the training session with dodgy mascara!    I will miss her and her two little people I must say.   I cannot wait to begin this new adventure though… Zoom is a good resource, but not the same as in person… feeling the energy and getting to know who those little faces really are.     I keep wondering where this Erasmus+ experience could take me… it feels exciting… Where will I end up eventually?    Who will I meet?...

  We've received what feels like a huge amount of information in regards to our trip. It feels a bit overwhelming but exciting regardless. I haven't taught children and teens English before so this will be a new experience for me. The Zoom training we've received have been very useful, even if we weren't going to Spain! -Christopher Bennett

Hello! In 10 days I will be flying to Santander with my fellow teachers. From Santander we will travel to Leon, where we will live and work for a month. I'd never heard of Leon until a couple of weeks ago, when I received the email saying I would be spending my Erasmus+ placement there. It's in the north of Spain and from what I've seen and read online, it looks beautiful.  For the last couple of weeks, myself and the other teachers have been preparing for our placement via Zoom sessions with Emile, Fran and Caro. The training has been extremely helpful and I leave every session feeling positive. Hearing from former Erasmusers has been really interesting and they have helped to settle my nerves and ease my worries. I'm looking forward to meeting the other teachers next week in Kent. Here, we will do our First Aid and Sports Leader training, plus learn some Spanish!

Ok, so after reading through other people's blogs and some of the chats we've been having on zoom there's been a lot of talk about emotions and revealing whats really going on "behind the mask". I particularly liked Carolyn's (Caro? Carol?) speech about this yesterday and found it inspiring as it's so true. I hate the fact we all put on a persona and wish we could all be 100% genuine at all times. However I'm as guilty of this as anyone and it just seems to be the way we are as humans. But I'm going to give it a go.  My last post was severely lacking in substance and, to be honest, I just rushed one out in a couple of minutes like a piece of last-minute homework. I'm shy by nature and tend to close my feelings off. Not just to others but to myself. I guess it's a way of trying to escape feelings we don't like, by burying our heads in the sand and pretending there's nothing to worry about. But oh boy is there... So here goes. I'm...

 What is my greatest fear about going to Spain? Not the language barrier, not the teaching, not my dietary requirements, not my sensory issues, not my social skills and not living abroad. These are all fears, but not my greatest fear. My greatest fear is needing to wear a face mask. I have experienced a traumatic event, where I was strangled and by a near stranger. It was not a sexual attack, to clarify. However, it has caused me to panic when wearing a face mask. It is odd, in my previous post I talk about wearing a "fitting in" mask. Yet I struggle to wear a face mask. In the UK, I am face mask except under "severe emotional distress" grounds. However, Spain does not allow exception for emotional distress. So I am stuck. I am trying to find a workable solution. A few days ago, I ordered a face mask with adjustable toggles around the mouth. This will give me more control. At £25 for one mask, it better be good! I am looking forward to Spain but the face mask requir...

  Finally I am at the start of this journey, a physical journey to a different country, language and culture and a metaphorical one to a potentially new mid-life career; I have been waiting for this journey for the best (and worst) part of two years. They say that good things come to those who wait… well, I have been über-patient! At this point, close now to the departure date, I admit to a bundle of conflicting emotions, excitement, eagerness, trepidation, anxiety. Lots of (concept-checking) questions and thoughts swirl around in my overactive mind.  They will retreat, once I set off. The first leg, later this week wrenches me from the family farm in Northern Ireland “back home” to Cardiff, then onwards to Kent, (almost the full complement of home nations within a week). I am looking forward to seeing my fellow teacher tutees and UKLC tutors face to face. It is a funny, surreal thing meeting people for the first time through a laptop screen, thumbnail portraits in 2D, but w...

I used to write a blog for my family whilst I was travelling, so the concept is not new to me. The process for me is simple too. Just write what you are thinking. So I hope rambles of my tangled thoughts are taken in a positive manner and maybe they can be useful to someone somewhere. If they are boring, then sorry for wasting your time :) As with most people (I would imagine) coming into a situation where you are meeting 25 other people for the first time can be quite daunting. Now if you take the nervous energy of all the people and put them all together in one (Zoom) room, that feeling will be exaggerated massively. That is how it felt at first for me. I can’t commend the UKLC team enough for breaking down that barrier and making myself (and I presume others) feel way more comfortable and able to get involved. I do think that every session we have is breaking down those nervous barriers more and more, and my confidence is slowly growing about the task ahead. The team appear to be...

 Hello! This is the first of many blog posts I'll be making over the course of my Erasmus + experience! I don't have a great deal to say this time (because I'm still stuck in boring old England!) but I thought I would just talk a little bit about how I'm feeling in the run up to our trip to Spain.  I am definitely feeling quite nervous about it all! I haven't taught kids or teenagers before so that's an unknown quantity at the moment. I worry that I am the least strict teacher to have ever lived, so I think I might find situations which call for some discipline to be pretty challenging. Hopefully this is something I'll be able to work on when I get started! The prospect of working in a professional school environment is also a little daunting. Up until now, I've either been conducting one-on-one classes or doing ESOL with small groups of local refugees. Both of these have felt rather casual and relaxed. Also, I have had a great deal of freedom to design ...

If someone had told me this time last year that I’d now be preparing to move to Spain for a month to teach I’d be incredibly confused! A year ago I was in a panic about what my next step should be, all my friends were applying to university and they all seemed so sure on what they wanted to do but I had no idea. I knew university wasn’t the route I wanted to go down but what were the alternatives?!   Lots of my family, including my Dad, Auntie and Grandpa, are ESL teachers so I started talking to them and decided to do a CertTESOL course in September 2021 at the Lewis School in Southampton. I started this course excited but also not knowing what to expect and not knowing if I’d even enjoy it. Well 3 months went by and I can honestly say hand on heart that they were 3 of the best months ever. I found a passion for teaching and met incredible people. I was so eager to start teaching in the ‘real world’ , so when my tutor forwarded me the email about the UKLC Erasmus programme it...