Day Seven - Tuesday

WAIT, HE DIES IN THE END?!

My second day in class with Eva went a little something like this:

Eva: Okay, let's discuss the story so far! Who dies in the end?

Class: ...uh... the son?

Eva: Good! Wow, you read ahead, well done! Now, let's talk about how the father is a lunatic...

Class: ...wait, weren't we supposed to read the whole story a few times?...

Hoo boy, this is gonna be a long six weeks...

FAILURE TO EDUCATE

I rushed home after my class and wolfed down lunch, and then immediately left for my conversation session with the colegio students. When I got there, I met with Daniel and was given the run-down of how everything would go, was shown my classroom (my very own classroom!), and then introduced to the students I would be meeting with that day. There are four of them, and I will briefly describe them to you here:

Ana Carmen : (13) Intermediate-advanced level, spent three weeks in England with a host family, timid unless she knows a lot about the subject matter in the conversation, wants to improve her pronunciation and grammar

Alejandro : (14) Intermediate level, loves music, enjoys teachnology-based classes, wants to improve his listening comprehension and grammar

Ana : (14) Beginner level, dyslexic (tested in Spanish), very shy in English but friendly in Spanish, wants to improve her listening comprehension and grammar

Eduardo : (13) Intermediate level, in that “too cool for school” phase, enjoys jokes and reggaeton, wants to improve his pronunciation and grammar

Since I had no idea what to expect from the students, I hadn't prepared much past some ice-breakers and wanting to learn more about them as people. I quickly figured out that Ana Carmen was the most experienced English speaker, but had a very shy personality which made it hard for her to get in to a conversation. Lucky for me, she was eager to please and wanted to practice, which made the boys work just as hard. Unfortunately, Ana more or less stayed silent unless I asked her a direct question that she was forced to answer, such as did she have any siblings or pets, how long had she been studying English, et cetera. I'm at a loss as to how to make her want to practice... she's clearly scared of messing up or doesn't want to admit that I've said something that she doesn't fully understand. Any ideas, blog readers?

Unfortunately, the ice breakers and personal questions didn't last the whole time, so there were a lot of long awkward pauses. I thought that I wouldn't have any trouble getting teenagers to talk, but it turned out to be a complete wash-out. Man, I needed more ideas for “lesson plans” for the future sessions...

YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN, YOU

Let's skip ahead a bit: after the colegio, I went to the JMU Office to print off some possible lesson plan ideas, and then headed to Art History with Jesus, and then I had my first Special Studies meeting with Caitrin and Camila.

With Professor Javier Zapatero. Who could pass for Tom Welling's Spanish doppelganger with glasses. (Google Tom Welling Smallville or Cheaper By The Dozen and envy me so incredibly hard, ladies)

We discussed the book that we would be reading, our exposure to Spanish literature, et cetera... I mean really, it was hard not to just stare at him. I'm pretty sure that I heard Camila actually panting behind me. He was very friendly, and said that we would only meet five times as a group, and after that we would be meeting individually with him in his office to discuss our term papers. Eeep.

Needless to say, when we left class, we were not discussing the literature.

MY FOOD IS PROBLEMATIC

If you got that reference, bravo! If not, don't worry, it means that you have a non-scifi-oriented life.

After discussing how Camila was planning to jump our professor's bones during his office hours, I headed home to have dinner... which turned out to be incredibly problematic.

I preface this part of the story by saying that I am not a picky eater. I am just used to certain foods all of the time due to having those foods most often when I am with my family. I'm a very routine-based eater, so trying new things has always been a bit of a challenge for me. That said, I will usually try something once, and if I like it then I continue to eat it, and if not then that's the end of that.

We had this big salad dish with a bunch of stuff mixed in (because lunch is apparently a Spaniard's big meal, and dinner is a little bit smaller). Here's what caused the issue:

• Crab meat
• Tomatoes
• Very odd-tasting cheese
• Green peppers
• A LOT of olive oil as a dressing

Those of you that know my eating habits know that this was not okay. So dinner was incredibly interesting...