We Stayed in Madrid and Learning a Language

We stayed in Madrid and learning a language

We stayed in Madrid on our last weekend there and I’m so glad we did. There was a big match on and we had left booking the hostels until last minute so our choices were limited as nearly everywhere was booked out. This is something I’ll know not to do next time I stay in a hostel. It was like a sauna in the 6 bed dorm and the air conditioning was broken. What were the chances? I was six floors up and in a tiny little room but despite that, it really was just a place to sleep and for the time I was there I was delighted to be! Getting the opportunity to chat to more people. Everyone in the dorm was there on their own so most people were open to chatting and being friendly. It left me eager to want to stay in hostels again and not be afraid to share a dorm with people I didn’t know. Bring a lock though, just in case, as the lockers didn’t have them and we had to buy our own. I now know that if I want to travel solo for a while, I can and it’s exciting!

 


Staying in Madrid allowed us to immerse ourselves in the culture and explore the city even more. We got a better taste of the Spanish lifestyle and it is well worth doing. It has left me wanting to learn the language more than ever. That was one thing that held us back throughout our stay – the language barrier. It meant we couldn’t really communicate with others and I felt bad for not having any Spanish. It’s much lonelier when you can’t speak with others and it’s harder to make friends with anyone from the area. As soon as I’m back and settled I will be starting Spanish on Duolingo!

Last Day of Classes

Last day of classes

Everything was worth it! Any struggles that we had stopped mattering. The anxieties or tensions dissipated when we saw the work tied together, and really got to see what we had created with the students. They were sad it was our last class with them but they were excited to see the finished story with all of their ideas put together!

 We did murder mystery stories with the year eight’s and they were divided into three groups, so each group got to present their story to the others. With the year sevens we combined everyone’s ideas into one complete story and they all stood up and took turns reading it out. Everyone was happy and smiling and we got to see that no matter what the outcome was, there would still be an outcome and it would be a positive one! When I first went over I didn’t know what to expect but I soon realised that neither did the students. There was no expectation except to do our best. Mistakes happened and sometimes we had to improvise in the classes, but overall it went well!

In retrospect I know what I would like to have done differently and I know there is so much more I would like to have done if I could have. And hopefully I will get the chance to do so somewhere in the future.

Visiting Madrid & Malasana

Visiting Madrid and Malasaῆa

Madrid is big! There is something for everyone, and it seems there a mini city centres in loads of different places. My initial reaction was that I wasn’t very keen. We got the 681 bus from Alpedrete to Moncloa station in Madrid and there are great arches outside which leads along the main road Princessa. This road is hectic! With traffic and people I was bombarded with constant stimulus and wanted to escape it after a short while. Don’t be put off though if it’s not your sort of thing. It gets so much better!

                             

I find the best way to explore a city is to do it by foot. We avoided the metro and the buses and wanted to really take the city on which meant we did a lot of walking! Admittedly, I later realised we could have packed in a lot more had we mastered the metro sooner, so don’t shy away from it like we did.

      

We spent our first few times just walking upon new places without even knowing where we were or what we were looking at, and there was something lovely about doing that – just absorbing the city for what it was! At a later stage we got on a hop on - hop off tour bus without realising we had been to a lot of the places already. I would recommend going on this at the beginning as it’s a great way to gauge the city, even if you only get off at a couple of stops because will see where you might like to go. There is often this expectation of wanting to see everything and visiting everything, but realistically it’s very difficult to do so. A lot of the time, just seeing the city and its attractions from the outside is enough!                    

 

           

Here are a few of the areas we went to:

-          Plaza de Espaῆa, which is mid-point along the Princessa, and a nice stop sun trap with fountains.

-          Templo de Debod, an ancient Egyptian Temple surrounded by water and a park to relax in. There are also some amazing views over the city.

-          Parque del Retiro, one of the main parks - with a lake. Yes a lake!!

-       Sol, which is quite a touristy area with lots of shops and restaurants which leads to Plaza Mayor, a huge open space that held a concert on our last night in Madrid.

-          La Latina, a lovely area with a huge market on Sunday’s that runs along many streets.

-          Malasaῆa, was one of my favourite areas! Plaza del 2 de Mayo has a market on Saturday every three weeks and there a great places to eat around this area. It is also near Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo. If you like eating healthy out and want a break from tapas or Spanish foods there is a lovely place called Federal that has a huge selection of foods. It is very popular and probably best to avoid on Saturdays as there were queues out the door! I went again during the week and it was much nicer. Malasaῆa has great shops, bars and restaurants and a good vibe over all. It is incredible at night and so worth experiencing the way the Spanish do. Go out at about 10pm and get tapas and drinks and continue on to different places and watch the night come to life until at least 4am!

 

Thank You

Now that it has all come to an end, we would like to thank everyone involved in this project.

Thank you, Aideen Lester, for being there at the start, which was arguably the rockiest period. Without you we probably would have lost our minds.

Thank you, Colin Carters, for making this whole thing a reality and for the constant support from home and for the excellent weekend in Madrid. (The course wasn’t too bad either)

Thank you, Miriam Dunne, for your support from home, and for ensuring this whole operation ran smoothly, and for all the advice you gave us.

And finally, thanks to anyone else who was involved behind the scenes, whom we did not directly deal with.

Last Day

For the last day of classes, Colin came to see what we had produced with the Years 7 and 8. We presented the Year 7s with their individual versions of the Couscous The Banana story, which we did at the start of the three weeks using the Fighting Words style workshops. We then gave them their Class Story, which was an amalgamation of all their worksheets and group ideas into one narrative. They stood up the front of the class and took turns to read it, and were delighted to see all their ideas in one story.

We had worked with the year 8’s in groups, which we actually found more challenging to navigate. Using the characters created by each student in each group, we created three murder mystery stories. Each group took turns in reading their story out.

Fleaing the Scene at the Rastro Flea Market

Title could use some work, but anyway.

Every Sunday there’s a massive flea market in Madrid’s centre. From nick-knacks and tat, to antiques to clothing to food. This one may be worth splitting up for, the crowds are plenty and it’s frustrating to follow each-other. Here’s me being handsomely caught off-guard:

Making the Most of It

I was inexplicably mortified by not being able to speak Spanish. English is scarce in Alpedrete, and I soon discovered that shrugging apologetically and speaking in English anyway is not enough to get you by. You have to make an effort. And with that comes the struggles with pronunciation. As time went on, I discovered that the sheepish, uncertain way I was delivering my (absolutely minimal) Spanish was the cause to much of the confusion. Do not pose your statements as questions, as is so often the case when you’re feeling awkward or uncertain. The raise in pitch will hinder your annunciation and you will likely not be understood. Deliver your crappy, broken lines with confidence, and even if you make an absolutely hames of it, they’ll likely know what you’re getting at.

Master the Metro

The obvious mistake was our dismissal of public transport. I think, with Dublin being such a walkable city, we may have over-estimated our own stamina. The first few times we went to Madrid we walked everywhere, and while walking is a nice way to see the city in action, it’s a sure-fire way to get absolutely knackered while you’re at it. The Metro is straight forward and easy to figure out, we were just a little bit intimidated by it. It wasn’t until our last weekend with Colin that we actually made full use of it. If you want to fully utilise your precious time in Madrid, don’t rely on your legs. 

Classes

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Over the course of our time in Alpedrete, we worked with three year groups. Years 7, 8 and 9. Each group came with their own set of challenges but all were very rewarding to work with. The Year 7s being the youngest, and subsequently the most the enthusiastic, were an absolute pleasure to work with, and because of that the work practically did itself. The same can be said for the Year 8s, although a little bit more patience was needed. The Year 9s were the biggest challenge, a small group that had been thrown together based on their collective. They were often boisterous and struggled with some of the concepts, and that threw us off and forced us to rethink our approach with them. While frustrating, in retrospect I believe that this challenge was the true experience. We were forced to adapt our methods to accommodate this group, and it took a lot of patience with them and each-other to figure out what to do with them each day.

We started each of these groups out by performing some Workshops that were unrelated to the material we later presented them, as a way to get them familiar with us and the concept of storytelling. We adapted the workshops format used by Fighting Words, an organisation I volunteer with back in Dublin. These went down a treat, we did an additional workshop with a class of Year 5s and they had an absolute ball.

For next years students, be as creative as you can with your lessons. We had some classes in the middle where we had the students just work on the worksheets we were handing out, and it drained their attention and it drained our enthusiasm. Follow all of Colin’s advice when it comes to using props and music and the likes, if classes get cut for school trips and sports day, actively seek out extra classes to fill lost time. Ask the teachers for advice if you feel that you are losing the students attention, due to the nature of the work placement, they tend to take a step back and let you do the work…but you’ll find they are often itching to help.