Auxiliar duties in school
My classes so far in school have been so-so. I've had a few pretty great classes, and a few not so great ones. As I mentioned in this post, as an auxiliar we technically are not supposed to teach a class, just assist.
In the Philosophy, Science, Geography, and P.E. classes I assist in, the class mainly consists a worksheet with texts and activities and/or questions to answer at the end. We usually read the text as a class - one volunteer per paragraph, and I correct the students' pronunciation - and then we go over the vocabulary they don't understand. Sometimes the teachers ask the students to translate the text to Spanish, to see if they understand. After, they usually answer the questions individually, calling on me if they need any help with vocabulary.
For History and English Project, the students are tasked with doing a report/presentation on a selected topic. They work in pairs or in a group. In these classes I just go around the classroom and help those who call for my help. Most of the time they need help with vocabulary. I try my best to explain the word's meaning in English, and 85% of the time, I'm able to get my message across, and they respond back with the Spanish equivalent.
I haven't actually been to any English classes yet because one of the English teachers is out for a month (recovering from an operation), and in the other English class I had, we just did introductions since it was the first day.
Math is by far my favorite class (even when I was studying, Math was my favorite subject). In the class, the students work with English word problems. Even though the actual Math is easy for them (eg. just adding fractions or converting units), the wording of the problems can be a bit tricky, so that's what we work on.
I love helping out in the lower level classes (1º-3º of ESO), mainly because I feel useful in those classes. The students can be pretty rowdy, chaotic and a bit hard to discipline, but for the most part they're participative. They're also not shy to ask for help, and they are always asking me questions.
Speaking of discipline, the younger students are really unruly. After the end of some classes, the teachers apologize to me for the bad behavior of the students. Classes back in the Philippines (at least in private schools) are much more disciplined, and I think we have much more respect for authority back home. Nevertheless, I'm kind of used to dealing with makulit kids, so it's not that big of an issue for me. I personally prefer working with the younger kids, because even though they may be makulit, they're participative. One random story - the other week, one of my classes (1ºA) was especially behaved and participative. We started a bit late but were able to finish the whole lesson planned, and we even finished 15 minutes before the hour was up. Even the teacher was so surprised that we finished early, he was at a loss for what to do with the remaining time. He ended up just giving them free time, and the kids were so happy. Haha.
The older kids (4ºA de ESO and 1º-2º de Bachillerato) on the other hand are either a.) scared of me or b.) insecure of their English skills because they rarely (almost never) ask for my help. In some of these classes I feel a tad bit useless because I just walk around the classroom while they're doing work. When I approach them they stop writing and pretend they're reading, and with some students, as soon as I walk away they call the teacher for help. It's also slightly impossible to hear them when they talk because they mumble all the time. One of my classes yesterday though with the 1º de Bachillerato group wasn't so bad, so hopefully things improve over time.
I only have work in the mornings; my schedule varies, from 2-4 hours each day, but I'm never out later than 1:45, and since Spain eats lunch at 2pm, I consider time before that morning. Haha. To earn a little extra money, I'm starting to give private English classes/tutorials in the afternoon. On Thursdays I teach two brothers: Noel who's 10 and Ernesto who's 4. Noel and Ernesto went trick-or-treating a day early (on the 30th; the 31st is a holiday), so they were getting ready after my classes with them. They both went as Dracula. I asked Ernesto (on the right) to give me his scariest face, but he just looks like a cutie to me!
In the Philosophy, Science, Geography, and P.E. classes I assist in, the class mainly consists a worksheet with texts and activities and/or questions to answer at the end. We usually read the text as a class - one volunteer per paragraph, and I correct the students' pronunciation - and then we go over the vocabulary they don't understand. Sometimes the teachers ask the students to translate the text to Spanish, to see if they understand. After, they usually answer the questions individually, calling on me if they need any help with vocabulary.
For History and English Project, the students are tasked with doing a report/presentation on a selected topic. They work in pairs or in a group. In these classes I just go around the classroom and help those who call for my help. Most of the time they need help with vocabulary. I try my best to explain the word's meaning in English, and 85% of the time, I'm able to get my message across, and they respond back with the Spanish equivalent.
I haven't actually been to any English classes yet because one of the English teachers is out for a month (recovering from an operation), and in the other English class I had, we just did introductions since it was the first day.
Math is by far my favorite class (even when I was studying, Math was my favorite subject). In the class, the students work with English word problems. Even though the actual Math is easy for them (eg. just adding fractions or converting units), the wording of the problems can be a bit tricky, so that's what we work on.
I love helping out in the lower level classes (1º-3º of ESO), mainly because I feel useful in those classes. The students can be pretty rowdy, chaotic and a bit hard to discipline, but for the most part they're participative. They're also not shy to ask for help, and they are always asking me questions.
Speaking of discipline, the younger students are really unruly. After the end of some classes, the teachers apologize to me for the bad behavior of the students. Classes back in the Philippines (at least in private schools) are much more disciplined, and I think we have much more respect for authority back home. Nevertheless, I'm kind of used to dealing with makulit kids, so it's not that big of an issue for me. I personally prefer working with the younger kids, because even though they may be makulit, they're participative. One random story - the other week, one of my classes (1ºA) was especially behaved and participative. We started a bit late but were able to finish the whole lesson planned, and we even finished 15 minutes before the hour was up. Even the teacher was so surprised that we finished early, he was at a loss for what to do with the remaining time. He ended up just giving them free time, and the kids were so happy. Haha.
The older kids (4ºA de ESO and 1º-2º de Bachillerato) on the other hand are either a.) scared of me or b.) insecure of their English skills because they rarely (almost never) ask for my help. In some of these classes I feel a tad bit useless because I just walk around the classroom while they're doing work. When I approach them they stop writing and pretend they're reading, and with some students, as soon as I walk away they call the teacher for help. It's also slightly impossible to hear them when they talk because they mumble all the time. One of my classes yesterday though with the 1º de Bachillerato group wasn't so bad, so hopefully things improve over time.
I only have work in the mornings; my schedule varies, from 2-4 hours each day, but I'm never out later than 1:45, and since Spain eats lunch at 2pm, I consider time before that morning. Haha. To earn a little extra money, I'm starting to give private English classes/tutorials in the afternoon. On Thursdays I teach two brothers: Noel who's 10 and Ernesto who's 4. Noel and Ernesto went trick-or-treating a day early (on the 30th; the 31st is a holiday), so they were getting ready after my classes with them. They both went as Dracula. I asked Ernesto (on the right) to give me his scariest face, but he just looks like a cutie to me!
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