First Day of School

Today I began the Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course. Let me first begin by saying it was fantastic (which is good because that's the whole reason I came here).

Side note:

TEFL International is actually a very large organization that trains and certifies teachers in the hopes of sending them to all parts of the world. So theoretically, once I complete the course, I could teach pretty much wherever I want. (But we all know I love Spain far too much to go anywhere else...) If you're curious, here is the Barcelona branch's website: http://teflinbcn.com/

At 8:45 am, my roommate Laura and I took the metro to the building in which the Barcelona branch of TEFL International is located. We found the place with little trouble and time to spare. We clocked our travel time at 25 minutes (not bad!).

As more people arrived, the introductions and anxious small talk began. I sat by Erik from Oregon (who happens to be fluent in Estonian) and Lauren from L.A. (who has a rather serious obsession with Alfred Hitchcock). Altogether, we are a class of 14. Most of us are from the United States (except Marc who is from England) and all of us signed up for the class with similar motivations (Just graduated/ no plans/ not ready for real life/ job post-graduation sucked/ Barcelona rules). Everyone was nice, slightly awkward, excited for the course and even more excited for our new lives in this magnificent city.

The course is run by the main director, Lisa, with help from other trainers. They were friendly, supportive and enthusiastic about the course. On a side note, most of them (including Lisa) are British. So if I begin talking with a British accent (and believe me I will), blame them.  

Like all first days of school, we began class with an icebreaker. We had to write 5 clues that described important things about ourselves. I wrote: Sevilla, Amalia en España, Just Dance, Tapas and Badgers. Can you guess my important things? =)

Then we had our first tries at teaching a lesson. Our objective was to teach the class something, anything we wanted. I decided to teach the class how to make a (imaginary) Spanish Tortilla, which I learned from Gloria, of course. She would have been proud! Other lessons included how to do the moonwalk (which I obviously dominated), how to swing a golf club, how to line dance, how to play soccer, and how to speak Thai, Russian and Estonian. The lessons were all pretty fun and a good way to measure our beginner skill levels. I found the language lessons to be particularly satisfying, and realized once again how much I love to learn foreign languages. Who knows, maybe when I get back I will have learned 3 more! 

Then we went through the standard logistics and schedule of the 4 week course and talked about general teaching methodology and things. At the end of the day we observed two classes taught by experienced teachers. This exercise was informative and fun. The students in the classes were mostly adults and all were friendly, curious and beyond cute. It is actually quite strange (in the coolest of ways) to watch adults, especially old men, learn something new for the first time. I really learned a lot even from just observing two 45 minute classes, and it made me excited for the future.

All of that made for a 10 hour day. 9:30 am-7:30 pm. (Sheesh!) It was a long day, but they gave us plenty of breaks (and a typical Spanish 2 hour lunch break- gosh I missed that!), but it felt really rewarding. Before arriving in Barcelona, I anticipated the long days in class to be the hardest adjustment for me. Not speaking Spanish, not meeting new people, not being away from home, but doing actual work. After a frankly easy spring semester at school, a fabulous summer at VIP and two months of unemployment, I was worried that my brain could not handle that much activity anymore. But, fortunately, I was wrong. I did not lose focus and I actively participated all day. I daresay I enjoyed it.

After class, Lisa took us all out for welcome tapas at a restaurant near our school. Oh, how I've missed eating tapas!

My first made-with-real-sugar Spanish Coca-Cola in a lonnnng time
Let the addiction re-begin

We ate, we talked, and I freaked people out by taking pictures of my food and talking about how delicious it tasted. All in all, it turned out to be a great first day and a fine evening indeed. Hopefully a sign of things to come!