Teaching worlds apart

I've been working for my school in Spain now for about the amount of time that I worked at my school in the United States and I've come up with a few observations.

First off, I'm not sure if either system is perfect. One moves at a snails pace and the other is going a million miles an hour. One builds community among students, while the other allows it to develop at its own rate. One builds community among teachers, but cripples their ability to create a learning environment. The other encourages the creation of a proper learning environment, while not necessarily hindering teachers relationship-building among each other, but doesn't encourage.

I had been doing some actual teacher work for the first time since leaving the United States and realized that I take one-third of my teacher's class. Allow me to elaborate a little more on the background. In the United States our students' daily and weekly schedule give permits about 7 subjects for the semester per day, per week. In Spain, they have most classes only 3, math is 4 days a week, but you have more than 7 subjects. However, Spain does not have as many electives as we do. Anyhow, I teach each English class once a week, leaving the real teachers only 2 hours of English class a week! I couldn't help but wonder how they get done what they're supposed to in any given year. Then I realized, they do this by teaching classes of only grammar and nothing else. Talk about boring.

Community is another thing all in its own. In the United States we put the students' lockers in the hallway and mix the composition of every class in both their age and ages around them. In Spain, their lockers are in their rooms and almost all of your classes are taken with the same people with the exception of English. Going yet further, in the U.S. we provide our students with numerous opportunities to express themselves through extracurricular opportunities that the school provides for the students. In Spain, the students are pretty much on their own and have little to no time to their fellow classmates outside of the school day. However, Spanish schools provide ample downtime to allow students to identify others with similar interests. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday they receive two 25-minute breaks, as well as a lunch period. On Wednesday and Friday they have shorter break periods due to a shortened schedule. As I recall, we aren't normally rewarded with such time in the United States.

Last, but certainly not least, what is the most important when it comes to teachers? Should we give them a classroom, allowing them to avoid crucial idea swapping and venting sessions with their fellow colleagues? Or should we provide them with ample colleague time, hence stripping them of their a vital advantage over their students? Who knows? One thing is for sure, I am becoming a much better teacher thanks to my daily chats with my fellow colleagues, however, I walk into an uncontrollable environment 70% of the time.

Now I understand that I'm a very new and still untested teacher, but I'm hoping that this will help my training immensely. When all parts are considered, I believe that we should just follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest teachers, Aristotle, and teach outside to whomever wants to listen, and our subject should be thinking.

Basic Spanish:
Esto va a (location): Asking a bus/train/tram driver if the bus "Does this go to (location)?"

Advanced Spanish:
un fulano: an unknown person
una fulana: an unknown woman or a prostitute

Basque:
Es dakit euskaraz (ace-ta-kiit auus-kar-aas): I don't speak Basque

British English:
What are you on about? : What are you talking about?



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