On teaching and trips

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach. ~Peter Drucker


Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task. ~Haim G. Ginott


The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. ~Mark Van Doren

I went to Gibraltar last Thursday with the kids and it was my favorite trip so far, monkeys were going crazy, people were speaking in Spanglish, and the kids were having a ton of fun exploring the caves. Needless to say, 6 hours on a bus didn't bother me at all. Pilar and Juan Manuel are great teachers and the kids really respect them, it was night and day to my last field trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada with 40 kids alone with me on my bus..they showed me their monstrous side.

Last weekend I went to Islantilla, Huelva with Maria Bravo and her boyfriend Alfredo (I still think of the cream sauce). It was really relaxing, something about falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves. The weather was perfect, in the mid 70s with clear skies. Per usual, I ate a lot of strange food that wasn't especially appetizing, but I did discover that I love, love, love calamares del campo (because it's just onion and green pepper surprisingly) and croquetas de gambas (normally it's ham, cheese and potato, but it was prawn, potato, and a little bit of cheese..you can't really go wrong with that).

We got back from Huelva late Monday night, the next morning Maria Bravo wasn't in school because she was really sick. I taught 3B how to write a letter to an english speaker talking about Posadas, Aljanadic *The school* and how they spend their free time. You wouldn't BELIEVE how difficult it was to teach them. Even though I had written a faux letter with the format on the board..they still couldn't keep the order right. I received several letters with two sentences about "free time." You have to laugh sometimes.

Today, Maria was absent again and I contemplated skipping out on the class to catch up on my e-mails and facebooking..but instead I bit the bullet and went to the loudest class I have, 3A -alone. I was a little more prepared for the problems they would encounter today and we had a really fun class. They tried really hard, which was a pleasant change, and actually wrote really great letters. I'm really proud of my students today and am really, really happy with their progress.

Tonight I have 2 tutoring lessons, one with Laura the 12 year old girl who is really sweet and another one with David, the student from Ecuador who I started playing tennis with. He is failing most of his classes because his schooling wasn't up to the same level it is here. So he's basically in fourth level english when he should be in the beginners english. I'm hoping we can make some progress so he isn't so isolated in english class. Afterwards, we are going to play tennis again..I forgot how tiring an hour of tennis can be. I might go running before, okay, I'll go running before even though it's hot--it makes me feel normal. Juan Manuel claims i'm addicted to endorphins and that's why I run so much. Maybe he's right.

Everytime I'm running here, I think to myself--running is a continual challenge. Every day, your run is going to be different. Sometimes, you could run forever, other days you feel like your legs are cumbersome weights. That's the frustrating part, when they say running is mental--they're right. I've also decided a breeze is a runner's bestfriend.

On my run, I pass sheep..horses..a donkey..a goat..3 peacocks..and several dogs. I also pass construction workers..I'm pretty sure they think i'm crazy to run up a steep hill in the heat..Arizona prepared me well though. Plus, I'm having gym withdrawals..

In other news..that white patch on my face is really annoying. The teachers are in a flurry trying to get me into a doctor/dermatologist..but I'm an American and I went to online to diagnose myself lol. Now i'm just more paranoid then I was before I bothered to look. Whatever, such is life. Anyways, there is a really long wait to see a doctor so i'm going to the pharmacy to talk to someone to see if they can prescribe something to treat it. Hmph.