Week One in Barcelona

Hello Everyone,

I have a lot to write about, especially because I am so busy. I don´t even know where to start. I guess that I can start talking about school.

Basically you already know that I am taking a TEFL course.( Teaching English as a Foreign Language). I am going to the Windsor Institute which has locations in Barcelona, Madrid, London and Prague. The school is run by British people so I am learning a lot of British English.

The school is also moderated, which means that there are people that will examine us at the end of the course. Their job is to make sure that the teachers are teaching us everything properly. They are the ones that decide if the students pass or fail.

The classes last for four weeks and are Mon-Thurs. from 9:30am until 10:00 pm. On Fridays classes end at 5pm. This course LITERALLY feels like a normal semester of four classes crammed into a litle less than a month. That´s how busy we are.

This week we went over a lot of material. To keep it short I´ll just tell you that we had to learn Indonesian for 1 hour a day this week: It was fun, and the purpose was to show us what it feels like for students to learn a new language. The other purpose of this was to show us that is IS in fact possible to teach students that can´t speak a word of English.

We also started teaching other students. I taught a group of upper-intermediate students for 30 minutes. I felt comfortable and did well over all. We were also each assigned individual students to meet with and assess their level of English. My student is woman from around here named Sara. We will have our first meeting at a bar after class on Monday.

Overall I like the classes, especially the teachers. It is very hot, but I have a nice view of the apartments across from our window. I don´t know how to explain it, but it looks very Spanish. However, sometimes when it gets really hot the cats outside moan/scream. It sounds so awful it´s funny.

I was told that the classes usually have a lot of students from England, but this time most of us are from the United States. There are also people from Australia, Scotland and Holland. There is no one from England.

The weather is very hot and humid here. When I come home, my face is always covered in oil. A lot of women carry fans around here, and I am going to buy one very soon. I am wearing lots of skirts. I bought one for very cheap.

I am very happy that I don´t have school today. I slept in late and met my new roommate who is Spanish. She seems very nice and we talked in English and Spanish. She helped me read an article in the Cosmopolitan magazine.

I have so much to write, and I wish I could write more, but I have to go. The man sitting next to me on the other computer just stinks. His cologne just doesn´t agree with me. But I will update this soon.