February 14

Now, I'm not really big on Valentine's Day, whether I'm in the States or abroad (I believe you should never need a holiday to remind people in your life that you love them), so this is one holiday that I'm really not bummed about missing. And although it isn't nearly the craze it is in the States, Spaniards do celebrate it a little here. Therefore, as a favor to my 11-year-olds, I decided to cave and plan a Valentine's Day lesson for this week's class.

It was just your standard holiday lesson. A few informational tidbits about how it is celebrated, some useful phrases ('I love you,' 'Be mine,' and of course 'Happy Valentine's Day'), and of course, making our own Valentine's Day cards.

And this particular class took an extra special turn when my boss called me at lunch time to inform me that another after school teacher was sick, and she couldn't find a substitute. And so I offered (which is to say, my boss pointed out that she was out of options and leaned on me until I offered) to combine the other class of 9-year-olds with mine of 11-year-olds. And so, I had the fortune to temporarily add 6 more kids to my class, making 12 total (the more the merrier, right?). On the bright side, my already planned Valentine's Day lesson was pretty easy to adapt for a younger age group and lower language level as it was based mainly on arts and crafts.

Well, the class wasn't awful, but could have gone better. My transplanted 9-year-olds turned out to be incredibly well-behaved. They were sweet, excited, a little confused, and couldn't understand a word I was saying. But they really did enjoy making their Valentine's Day cards for their parents. (I made the mistake of suggesting that normally we give Valentine's Day cards to people we love in our life, like a boyfriend or girlfriend. Well, I almost got booed out of the room until I corrected myself to say PARENTS. Of course, these cards are for our PARENTS, I meant to say...) And of course, my regular 11-year-olds were angry that the younger kids were taking over their class, starving for attention as usual, and showed their angst by acting out. So that was a special Valentine's Day treat for me.

But at least I got a cute picture of them.
And so, all the way from my classroom in Spain, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!