New day at Lauro

Today was just another school day, so we got up at 6:45 again, went downstairs for breakfast, got ourselves ready for school and left. When we arrived at Lauro Ikastola I had to run to the school building because it was raining incredibly hard. When I got inside I was not sure whether I was going to be fine or not, since I convinced Maitane that I really knew the way to Scott"s classroom but when I was there I actually started to doubt it. Luckily I got there just on time so everything was fine.

When I came inside the students did not arrive yet so Scott and I just started talking until we realised that it it was already 8:15 and that the student still werent there. That was quite strange, so Scott went upstairs to check if the students were with their other teacher and it turned out that they were. Something surprised me as soon as I came here is that a class never had lessons with all of them together. They always get split up in two halves and then they will have classes from different teachers. So, they only see the same teacher approximately twice a month which can be quite frustrating if you cannot finish everything you want to do in class on time, because you know that the next time you will see them, two weeks have passed already and the students have probably forgotten about it. Something that was the case right now is that the other teacher decided to give the class one more test before they would get their grade lists, but she forgot to tell Scott. So we just sat there, waiting all the time even though they were not going to come haha. Luckily we still had half an hour left which was quite handy since Scott still had to put some grades of the students online so I just had some time for myself so I read a book.

After that we had a class in which we did the same thing as we did yesterday; I tell something about a Dutch holiday, Scott tells something about an American holiday and then the students will teach us something about the Basque culture. Since the room with the computers was closed and the students did not have any mobile phones with them, they had to make the presentation with their general knowledge which was not that much of a problem.

After that class we had a short break in which Scott and I decided that it might be a good idea to do something more special as a "closure project" for my international internship instead of just a report. Scott had the idea that it might be cool to make a small video, in which the students tell their experience on English classes, but also on their culture (what is it like to be Basque, aren"t you just Spanish?, basque traditions, etc.) Which made me quite excited, so I decided to e-mail my teachers immediately and since they approved we are probably going to star tomorrow.

After break we had another class in which we did the holiday thing again, but luckily enough the room with the computers was open this time so the students got to go on the computer and look up more information, make a small powerpoint and search for images and videos. You could see that the students get more excited as soon as it is not only about the text, but they can really do something more with it, thanks to the photos or videos. Something that I have already mentioned earlier is that the Basque people are really proud to be Basque, so as soon as you say something like; aren"t you just Spanish? You will hear some students shouting NO NO NO IM BASQUE!!! So while they were searching for videos and photos some students poked me to show me what they are most proud of; athletic bilbao. Something that is quite remarkable is that their football team only has players which are Basque but does actually play in the first division. Due to the videos and small powerpoint that the students made you could see that they were really excited to present. Something that was also quite funny about this class was that one of the students had a Dutch mother who used to live in Venlo! So he already knew something about Sinterklaas.

After that class, we had another class but before they were all there I already had to go to have lunch with Maitane and her friends. Today"s lunch was pretty good; meatballs and bean soup together with the usual yoghurt, bread and water.

After lunch we had a class in the same building as Maitane and in that class were some of her classmates so I knew them already. Once again, we did the same thing with the holidays but even though it is the same thing over and over again, I do feel like I learn something new every time some of the students present.

After that class it was time for Scott to have lunch, which was quite late (1.30 untill 2.30, but it is the normal lunch time for the Basque people). I decided to go with him so we went to the teacher"s lunchroom. Something that really really really shocked me was that teachers here are allowed to drink wine during their break???? I probably sounded pretty amazed when I said... wait..... is this WINE???!!! Scott told me that he thought it was strange at the beginning too, but now he got kind of used to it and always drinks a small glass during lunch. We had lunch together with another English teacher, her name was so difficult that she just pretended that she was Judith haha. She was from the Basque country but was a substitute for one of the regular teachers at Lauro, but she has already been at Lauro for 5 months now so she got pretty used to it. We also had lunch with Andrew, who is an English teacher who is originally from Nothern Ireland. And also with another teacher, John. He was a teacher for physical education but the taught the students in English as well. I think it is quite wonderful to see that there are teachers from so many different nationalities, because only in the English department there are already teachers from all over the world. I talked with Andrew and together we decided that I would come to one of his classes tomorrow, since I never get to see a class in Lauro"s primary school since Scott does not have any classes there.

After lunch it was time to go kindergarten again, where we repeated yesterday"s ritual, since this time we had to teach two different classes. Even though you have to do the same pattern over and over again it does not get boring since all the small students are so excited about it and all react in a different way.

After that it was time to go to again and since Maitane went to her extra English classes me and her mother decided to go to the library to work there. I think tonight will be pretty relaxed for me, since I do not have any extra work to do, but sadly enough Maitane does have quite some homework so we have to see.

Agur!!!