Preparing For Tomorrow's Class

After an amazing first day with our year 7 and 9's, we spent the afternoon preparing for tomorrow's class on virtual reality which we'll have with our year 9's. For the class we bought masks and spray-painted them in a Gothic style to match the theme of their project. The result of our efforts are a pair of virtual reality goggles for each student that they'll be using in our next class as part of an exercise.

First Day Of Teaching

Today was our first day of teaching, and we had years 7 and 9. Both were brilliant to work with and very optimistic and enthusiastic about our ideas and what not. Looking forward to the rest of the 3 weeks getting to know them better and progressing with our projects! #AlpedreteWeatherUpdate : Raining. Hopefully sun to come soon...

Almost Time

We left sunny Dublin and arrived in rainy Alpedrete last night! We toured the school and met some of the teachers....familiarized ourselves with Alpedrete (with help from  kind police man) and are preparing for our first day of teaching tomorrow morning with year 7. Good way to spend the day before by exploring beautiful Madrid, just an hour away from Alpedrete thanks to the 681 bus and Metro. It begins tomorrow!

The Night Before

All packed and ready to go in the morning. One more sleep before Alpedrete for 3 weeks. Exciting and prosperous times ahead.

Students selected to go to Alpedrete in May 2016

I'm Scott.  I'm an 18 year old student from Perrystown, a small area in Dublin. I am currently studying Creative Writing and Cultural Studies at Inchicore College of Further Education. I love writing, particularly short stories and anything about film. My passion is film, everything and anything about it. I want to be a film maker. I also really like rugby, I support Leinster Rugby and of course, Ireland. My hobbies include; mountain running, watching rugby, writing and watching movies. 

I'm Nicole.  I am nineteen years old and I am from Bluebell, a suburb of Dublin City. I'm currently studying Creative Writing and Cultural Studies at Inchicore College of Further Education and I am very passionate about reading and writing fiction. Some of my favourite books are Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, The 100 by Kass Morgan and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I am also a big fan of television and script writing.

Es Hora de Decir Adiós

Our time in Alpedrete has come to a end and although we are both itching to get home to see our loved ones after a long three weeks apart it is with great sadness we have to write our last post. These three weeks have been some of the best of our lives. We have had an experience that money can’t buy and will have memories that will last us a lifetime.

Not only have we gained some invaluable teaching experience we have improved our comprehension of another language, embraced another culture and had the opportunity to share some of our own. We have done all of this in a short space of time and are so thankful to have done so in the beautiful town of Alpedrete. 

Our Highs and Lows

Jamie

I am looking forward to going home to sleep in a proper bed and seeing my loved ones. If that is all I have to complain about then I have definitely had a good time.  I have adored my time here in Alpedrete.  I love the vibe of the place, so relaxed and easygoing. I loved that nobody spoke English here, it has forced us to use our Spanish and it has been significantly improved as a result.  I have a taste for Jamon Iberico and Manchego now so I will be hunting them down when I go home, the long and lazy meals spent chatting with good company are a huge contrast to meals out at home. The food is better, the service is better and you can take as long as you like. Everything is so cheap here, you get a lot more for your money in terms of both quality and quantity.

I will miss working at the schools most of all, there have been a few rocky moments with some students who at first seemed resistant to our teaching methods but soon warmed to us. There are a few students who we will never forget be that for their work ethic or for their cheekiness. Every day they made us laugh and made us proud of them for everything they have achieved. The three classes we were assigned were amazing to work with, and our co-teachers were beyond helpful, especially Beverly whose enthusiasm and passion for her work is infectious. I’ll even miss being called Hamie!

Wendy

To echo Jamie’s sentiments I am really looking forward to seeing my loved ones, particularly my partner. We have been afforded with a fantastic backdrop to our time here in Alpedrete. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking at times. It was a blessing that so few of the locals spoke English because it forced us to take a step out of our comfort zone and attempt to speak Spanish. The locals were extremely friendly and seemed to appreciate our attempts at speaking Spanish.  I loved the laid back and easy going attitudes of the town, something that appeals to my nature. We bought into the siesta culture and even had a few daytime naps of our own.  The only improvement I would suggest in terms of food is that it would be nice to have the option of ordering vegetables. They seemed to be a rare commodity. My most memorable meal has to be pig’s ear. It was extremely tasty but it was hard to ignore the hairs still on the meat.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students.  Each group that we worked with brought something different to the experience. Year 8 were fun and overflowing with enthusiasm. Year 9 were unpredictable, boisterous and surprised us with the work they produced. Year 10 were hardworking and possibly the most academic out of all our groups. I will certainly return to Madrid in the near future.

 

Several people have made this experience possible. We would like to thank Adrian, Clive, Beverly, Jan and Eva from Montessori. They have helped us immensely during our time. To Colin,  Amanda, Miriam and Sean. Thank you for your assistance, guidance and ultimately your faith in us.

 

 

 

Our Last Day of Classes

Leti and David from Year 9 posing while we write on the board.

So the day finally arrived. Sean flew over on Thursday evening to meet us in Alpedrete. We met him at the train station. We had four classes on Friday, double with Year 9, class with Year 10 and a class with Year 8. Sean walked into the classroom with us and immediately they were full of questions for him. During our time with Year 9 we found them to be boisterous at times but with Sean there they were on their best behaviour. We started off by giving them details of figures from Irish mythology like leprechauns, the banshee and pucas. We watched a clip on Youtube to show just how scary the banshee can be. We spent the next class with them writing their own stories. We asked them to write about a Spanish character in Ireland or an Irish Character in Spain. And they didn't fail to deliver. We reviewed each story and passed on their work over the last 3 weeks to their teacher Jan for assessment. We rewarded the group with some sweets at the end of the class to say thank you for all their hard work.



Year 9



Receiving our cards from Year 10

Year 10 are our oldest group. Sean was introduced to the class. To our surprise the students made hand-made cards for Jamie and I to say thank you which was fantastic. As you can see from their artwork they are a creative bunch. Each student produced a wonderful story.



Just some of the fantastic cards we received.





 

Javi, Caleb, Sean, Juan, Marcos and Julen Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 8 were our most enthusiastic group. When we arrived to class they were in groups rehearsing ascene from a play called Free. Each group then performed the scene for us. We got a group photo with the class. We thanked them for all their hard work and had a little party for the remainder of the lesson.

Year 8
 

Isolda from Year 8 made a booklet from our hand out about St. Patrick.

Beverly one of our supervising teachers invited us out after school. We went to one of our favourite places to eat in Alpedrete, La Casona. We talked over tapas and cold drinks and it was brilliant to end our work experience in fantastic company.




Wendy, Beverly and Jamie