Ok, so even though it is relatively new in Spain, kids LOVE Halloween. I have spent the better part of this week having students color a Halloween page and also teaching them the things related to Halloween and then doing a word search. They know mostly all of the typical Halloween things – pumpkins, witches, bats, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc… To them, the concept of putting candy into a pillowcase is quite unheard of and that word was a tough one to explain. However, you must keep in mind that the Spanish pillowcases are very long (think body pillow size) and have openings at both ends. I can imagine the confusion for a Spanish child as they are imagining all of their candy going into their pillowcase only to go right out the other end! Ha Trick-or-Treating is not common practice here but I have been told that there are some apartment buildings where they organize it and it does happen. Trick-or-treating here is called truc-o-trato.
I showed this video to my 4th grade class today while they were working on their haunted house project and the laughter was non-stop. I didn’t even plan to show it but my teacher asked me if there were any songs for Halloween?!?! I could only think of one and that was the monster mash. The kids had no idea what it was saying but it was funny to them all the same. I laughed just seeing all of them look so happy.
I also had to do my typical “dress for the holiday” like I always did in HS and even in college. I seem to have a pair of socks for every holiday (though they did not make the cut of things that I brought with me to Spain). I was asked by a lot of 4th graders why I was dressed like a witch. I guess they just can’t appreciate my effort I put forth to be festive!
Can you see why I was voted “most likely to be a soccer mom” in high school?! Thanks, mom, for teaching me everything I know!
Also, like I mentioned earlier, I had my 5th graders color a “Happy Halloween” page and made it a contest. Today, on the way to school I stopped by a candy store and bought candy for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone but a small amount of candy may have snuck into the bag for me :-) I didn’t have this particular class today and so I just visited them to announce the winners. However, I was very relieved to not be staying in that class because I think I caused a bit of a disturbance by giving only three children candy. Most of the others started rambling in Spanish about how their drawing was good and they should have won, blah, blah, blah….I quickly snuck out. Getting to the point, Michael Lynn and I also colored one at home the other day and Tad hung them on the fridge!
PS - I have to mention that Tad drew his own picture. Michael Lynn did not know this and asked me if one of my students had given it to me! haha Don't worry, Tad. I give it an "excellent!"
One other point that I’d like to make about Spanish children is about their complete and utter lack of self confidence. I have to say that this is probably a mix of things they get from parents, teachers, friends, and themselves. I have another 5th grade class (different from the one mentioned above) and I had them in class yesterday. They were making drawings of an invertebrate and a vertebrate. The teacher had this cool website that showed them how to draw the butterfly and shark step-by-step. Well, this seems like a cool thing until each child either gets up out of their seat to come see EVERY step and give them reassurance that they are doing it correctly or they raise their hands and shout “teacher” or “Emily” for me to walk to their seat and see what they’ve done. Imagine this for 9 steps X 25 students (all of which end up speaking to me in Spanish and stare blankly at me when I answer them in English) and it gets a little tiring. I think my teacher and I both were ready to just run out of the classroom yesterday once the day was over. But in all reality, teachers act in either one of two ways with their children. I have observed many of my teachers putting other students down and to their faces. They will tell them that their drawing is really not that good, or will call them out in front of everyone for not having their materials for the day. In this regard, I think there is a lot of tough love. On the other hand, I have seen some of the teachers giving the students hugs, or touching their backs reassuringly. These children receive such mixed signals all of the time. I have yet to form an ultimate opinion about that, so I will have to get back to you.
On a completely different note, the internet guy came!!!!! Ok, that certainly didn’t warrant 5 exclamation points and this is why: we still don’t have INTERNET! I was the lucky gal that got to be here when the technician came and did the work. I won’t bore you with the details of the story but after coming and going 3 times in a matter of an hour, we think that we have a successful internet line installed. What the company failed to tell us and what the guy told me the other day is that now we have to wait for our router package to arrive and we get to set the rest of it up ourselves. The bad part is, we were planning to go away tomorrow and now we have to be here in case the router is delivered because it is coming through a private company and we have to sign for it. Do any of you have a headache reading this because I certainly am getting one writing it! Who knew that such a simple task could turn into something so difficult? I will reserve further judgment, however, because I have had my fair share of difficulties with Comcast in my college days (wow, I sound old when I say “in my college days!”)
I am wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!!
Love to all from Motril!
2 comments:
Loving your careful narration of your days at school. I find it interesting about the self confidence of the students. Wondering if that is what soured our older nephew about academics; the seeming inconsistency and mixed messages from the teachers.
The fridge looks lovely!!
Very interesting! And you look ADORABLE!
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