A day in the Life of a Language and Culture Assistant

My alarm sounds at 9am. I yawn and fumble to silence the overly-energetic jingle. It슬롯사이트�s Tuesday, the beginning of my 슬롯사이트�work-week슬롯사이트�. My host family is already at school and work. I go about my morning and eat breakfast in silence. I am ready a few minutes before 10am, which is when I have to be at my placement. Luckily, it슬롯사이트�s only a 3 minute to walk to my school. I lock the door behind me and I슬롯사이트�m off!

Grades 1, 2, and 3

My first class of the day is English with grades 1, 2, and 3. Yes, my school is small enough to have combined classes. Consequently, I am the only culture and language assistant at the school and work with each grade level. Tuesdays are my biggest work days because I often teach all of the English classes. Some days I do cultural presentations; other days I prepare vocabulary games.

Today I do a presentation on Thanksgiving. I click through a heavily visual PowerPoint for a wide-eyed audience. I show them typical Thanksgiving foods and explain briefly (with the aid of symbols, pictures, and gestures) why it is a special day. I ask them about their favorite desserts and what they are thankful for. 슬롯사이트�Mi postre favorita es슬롯사이트�슬롯사이트� to which I respond: 슬롯사이트�In English!슬롯사이트� and repeat the phrase 슬롯사이트�My favorite dessert is슬롯사이트�슬롯사이트� for them to say out loud. Hands go up constantly to ask questions and share tid-bits about their life. They are so eager to understand and to share! At the end of my presentation, I divide them into competitive teams to see which group remembers the most Thanksgiving vocabulary. Class ends smoothly.

Pre-슬롯 게임

Technically, I have break for the next hour and a half, but I prefer to accompany my host teacher to preschool. Originally, I used these breaks to plan for my English workshops, but soon accumulated enough ideas to spend the time otherwise.

In pre-k (infantile in Spanish), I do a full daily routine with the students. We sing a 슬롯사이트�Good Morning슬롯사이트� song and then I ask: 슬롯사이트�What슬롯사이트�s the weather like today, Alba?슬롯사이트� She stands up and looks out the window. 슬롯사이트�Sunny!슬롯사이트� She totters and smiles. We go through weather flashcards and sing a counting song. Big, baby eyes watch me as we count our fingers and wave our hands in the air.  We play a game with number flashcards. Then I pull my face into a frown. 슬롯사이트�Sad슬롯사이트� I say. Sad faces peer back at me. 슬롯사이트�Sad슬롯사이트� they repeat. We do this for several emotions, and then they stand up, sit down, run, jump, and walk on command. Later we might work with the English text슬롯사이트�book, play games in the gym, or have snack and play time.

Grades 4, 5, and 6

Next is recreo, in which the teachers take a break while the students play outside. During this time, I have a snack, chat with other teachers, play with the kids, and prepare classroom activities.

After recreo, I have English with grades 4, 5, and 6. I click through Thanksgiving again, but with more detail and probing this time. They are incredulous. 슬롯사이트�You really eat that much food?슬롯사이트� 슬롯사이트�Do you cook it all?슬롯사이트� 슬롯사이트�What is your favorite pie?슬롯사이트� The questions are never-ending. 슬롯사이트�What do you think settlement means?슬롯사이트� I ask on one slide. 슬롯사이트�The pilgrims wanted religious what?슬롯사이트� I ask them to recall a previous slide. 슬롯사이트�Freedom!슬롯사이트� they shout.  There is so much discussion that we don슬롯사이트�t have time for the review game that I had planned. Nonetheless, I feel that class was a success. My last class is Social Science with the same age group. In this class, I take on a more supportive role. I bounce between groups and help them understand class material in English and put together their projects.

After 슬롯 게임

After school, I have Spanish class from 2-3pm and then eat in the school슬롯사이트�s cafeteria before heading to an English workshop. The workshop is optional for me, but I like spending time at the school. Children from Pre-k up to 6th grade attend, but I cater to the older kids. We study English pop songs and play games like Hang-Man and Scattegories. In this way, the older kids stay engaged and help the younger kids learn faster.

The workshop complete, I head home to relax. I nap, have a snack, prepare classroom activities, catch up with people in the US, or spend time with my hosts슬롯사이트� daughters. Wednesday evenings, I teach a private conversation class (for which I get paid) from 5-6:30pm. On Thursday nights, I go to Zumba with the oldest daughter and her cousins. Whatever the evening holds, there will always be dinner with the family at 10pm followed by a sobremesa, in which we sit and chat before bed.

My Varied Days

In all, my schedule is pretty relaxed, but keeps me contentedly busy. Wednesdays and Fridays are earlier days because I have Spanish class at 9am on Wednesdays and travel to two other schools at 8:30am on Fridays. On Fridays, I run half of each English class in two other towns슬롯사이트�Abejar and Cabrejas. I also run the warm-ups in gym class and teach part of the pre-school lessons in Cabrejas. Thursdays are lighter because my 슬롯사이트�work-day슬롯사이트� starts at 12:20pm, unless there is a field-trip or special event that begins earlier.

Weekends

Besides volunteering at the school, I spend my weekends traveling, relaxing, and having lunch at my hosts슬롯사이트� grandparents슬롯사이트� homes. I spend Mondays prepping for classes and going to the city of Soria with my head-teacher to go sight-seeing, swimming, running errands, or visiting her family.

In All슬롯사이트�

It슬롯사이트�s hard to be bored on this program. There are always lessons to plan, trips to prepare, friends to make, and sights to see. At the end of the day, I go to bed satisfactorily exhausted and know that it will begin all over again in the morning.