Harry from England. My experience in the school has been amazing. When I first arrived, they let me settle into the environment and welcomed me as part of the teaching family. It’s been a joyful experience.

Harry 

British

Santa Coloma de Queralt

My experience in the school has been amazing. When I first arrived, they let me settle into the environment and welcomed me as part of the teaching family. It’s been a joyful experience. I get along with everybody that I am involved with in the school. We went to summer camp and all of the teachers were there and it was a great time and I spoke more with the ones I don’t see as much in the school. All of the students are very excited when they see me and always say hello and want high fives and secret handshakes and that sort of thing, at break time I sometimes play football or basketball with them or just other things in general. I try to go round to each of them individually when they are doing the worksheet and give them an opportunity at some extra help they might not always have the opportunity to receive, as it is easier now with an extra person in the class, not just the teacher. All the class groups are positive and I’m very glad that I got to teach in a primary school with all ages because it is an incredible variety of lessons as its very different levels from Primary 6^th grade to Infants i3. In terms of tasks that I have completed:

·          I have helped teaching vocabulary on flash cards

·          Teaching grammar and trying to help with tricks when I have them to share

·          Supporting the kids that maybe need that extra bit of attention as they find English difficult

·          I have even led an exam style lesson where the students have to be silent and I introduce the test, and I explain what they have to do.

·          I’m sure there is much more that I’m not quite remembering at this moment too as it has been a very amazing experience with lots of variety, but it has all happened very quick and it’s hard for me to recall everything.

·          I’m also sure that in this final week I will have the opportunity to lead more game-based lessons and fun learning activities now that all of the tests are completed and out of the way.

My host family have made me feel incredibly welcomed and as part of the family. We have had many family gatherings for birthdays or every free Sunday we go to the grandmother’s house for dinner with many family members. They also include me in the pictures for the birthdays which I find very special that they wanted to include me. We have a very busy schedule and I am included in absolutely everything. There is so much to see in Catalonia and we have made a great effort to see a lot of it (for example: Delta beach, Climbing San Miquel which is a tradition they have, visiting Montblanc for St. Jordi, and visiting Montserrat. I am positive that if we had longer together then we would have visited many more places too, such as: Andorra and Girona & Costa Brava for example). I think our relationship is fantastic and I have a second family in Catalonia forever. They have definitely made me feel like a part of the family. They have supported me when I have needed, especially in terms of transport. They have drove me to Barcelona when I have needed to visit for the program and also when I had a flight to London for the weekend and made sure they were free to pick me up when I returned. Always there for me.

My experience on this program has been amazing. I have loved every day of it and it’s a shame that this term has been shorter as it has flown by very fast. It has been fun learning a new culture and spending time with a new family and meeting lots of new people in the towns or in the schools or at party events. It has been a pleasure to be in the school. I didn’t expect to settle so well but they welcomed me and supported me greatly. I also didn’t expect to be so busy but that has been a fun challenge for me to embrace such a different lifestyle.

In terms of my personal life:

·          I have had to get out of my comfort zone by coming on this program, staying with a random family was daunting for me at first. A whole new lifestyle and a whole new workplace to adapt to. I think I have got better at settling into places and I have definitely been eating healthy whilst I have been here with lots of salads hahaa. Although, I have been more tired whilst I have been here because it is a very busy lifestyle and very hot weather. I know I prefer to be on my own but I think I have given it a good go at embracing the challenge of living the different lifestyle of having so many events and activities with lots of people involved always.

In terms of my professional development:

·          First going to the school, I was nervous about meeting a lot of new people and standing in front of the class and talking about myself. I hated it when I was giving my presentation but I know that’s just because I am shy but that helped me overcome my shyness as I was thrown straight into the deep end. It was 100% positive and the right thing to do. I think my confidence in myself has improved and also my doubt on if I would be good enough to teach.

·          I like that this experience gives you the opportunity to see if teaching is first of all something you would actually like to do and pursue in the future. I can definitely see myself as a teacher in the future but I still have some things to improve on and build my confidence in, although I know that comes with time and more experience.

This question is very difficult to be honest. If they are placed with the same family then they will have lots of activities planned for sure. I would recommend visiting: Delta beach, Montblanc, Montserrat, and if there is time, I’m sure they would like to take you to Girona, Andorra, and maybe Tarragona and visit the theme park / water park (I’m not sure which it is).

If they are with the same family then they won’t have to worry about having things to do or having places to visit.

If they are with a different family in Santa Coloma then I would still recommend the places to visit but in terms of that town I would say: the castle, the church, the famous water fountain and visiting the plaza for some food or coffee, there is also a nice bar which is pretty much the main one in the town called bar L’Estrella (I think).

Honestly, I think I have been very lucky with the school that I have been placed in and I am very grateful that this is the location I ended up being a part of. The school is a good size with good small size classes in all the years, I think this is very beneficial for someone on this program as it gives them a better chance at learning all the names, it’s less daunting with less people, plus also it feels easier to teach when there are less bad kids or less kids that don’t understand anything. However, maybe that is a bad thing as it maybe won’t be the same experience if they go and to have a career in teaching English as a foreign language, maybe classes are usually bigger.

All of the teachers and staff are very welcoming and I can have a joke with all of them with the little Spanish I know, only a couple of them speak English so it is a struggle to speak with most of them. The environment is very light and like a family and it’s really nice to see and be a part of.

Also, to mention the kids themselves, all of the kids are extremely excited to see me and they all say hello and give high fives or handshakes and in general they all make it a fun experience, there isn’t really any bad kids in the school so that also makes everything easier, the only problem you might face it needing to tell them to focus and stop talking but that is obvious for young kids and should be expected as part of the experience in my opinion.

The food is also great and it’s been an amazing little extra to the experience to try new foods throughout the weeks.

My main advice would maybe be mindful that the kids will be very excited to see you and shout your name a lot, that’s something I did not expect at all. However, I don’t think that is exclusive to my school, I think that might be the case for every speaker on the program. Embrace the experience and have fun with it and you will love it I guarantee.

They eat really late so be aware of that. Otherwise, from my experience, I can say that I have been very well looked after and treated like their own son. Always making sure I am ok and well fed and have everything and just general fussing hahaa. But it’s an amazing experience to come to Catalonia as everybody is very friendly and welcoming and they have great culture and food. Fuet is a new personal favourite. Just ask them about any house rules and be respectful and all will be good.

I think the best moment in the school was definitely the day we celebrated San Jaoquima. All the kids loved it and were very excited leading up to that day. Another brilliant time was at the summer camp. I’m very grateful they brought me along but it got very hot towards the end.

With the host family a personal favourite for me was when we hiked up a local mountain called San Miquel which is a family tradition so it was lovely to be a part of that, plus, I wanted to do some hiking whilst here so it was a perfect day.

In general, I think it’s obvious that the opportunity to live in Spain for a short time in the sun is a massive bonus. (Even if it is far too hot now). But not even just for the sun, the chance to live a new experience in a whole new culture and broaden your mind a bit is a fantastic reason to go on this program.

I have no regrets about joining this program, except maybe joining at a different time as my term was shorter and I would have loved another month here. The time has flown by extremely quick. I can’t believe it’s already coming to an end. I would 100% recommend this program for others. And if there are people that are nervous or unsure about doing this program then my advice would be to just do it and embrace it. Embrace everything and you will be absolutely fine and love every second of it.