Questionable managerial tactics!

Oh, but a Spanish birthday is just the best for a teacher!

Another week completed. The Autumn term certainly is in full swing! I am looking forward to learning about some of the different festivals (or fiestas I should say) in this region throughout the year and celebrating them in school with various activities with the children. I’m also looking forward to celebrating them in the city in the coming weeks.

The changeover with my partner teacher still appears to be going well. I feel that I am getting to know the children more, and they appear to be warming to me and my ways and me to theirs! Some of them come to find me on the playground when I am on duty to chat, tell me one of their little jokes or insist I watch one of their dance or handstand shows.

I actually introduced them to the English term, or word handstand, which they found hilarious. It seemed quite bizarre to them somehow! But it’s nice to have these little chats and be entertained. Watching them grow and become more confident in their abilities and communication in English.

There is one aspect of teaching in Spain that I have discovered in the past couple of weeks that I could get used to, which is Spanish children’s birthdays! When it is a child’s birthday in England they will usually bring in a cake or sweets for their classmates. In Spain, they bring in a gift for their classmates, e,g, a notepad and pen, pencil sharpeners etc. And chocolates, or a small gift for their teacher of some description. It’s sweet and quite unexpected. But, I also think I am going to have to be careful, considering I am responsible for two classes! I might even have to share them with my colleagues. Otherwise, I will find that I won’t be fitting into certain outfits for certain events back home in the summer!!

Some of the teacher gifts I have received from children on their birthdays. How very wonderful to be an English teacher in Spain! Also great to share amongst with colleagues!

Aclimatising to the Spanish way of life…

However, I am making the most of my newly found work-life balance. The past couple of weeks it has felt like it is more about living life and less about trying to keep my head above water with ridiculous amounts of marking and paperwork. Of which, you could never let slip. Even for one night, otherwise you’d have double the workload the following day. It still feels really strange to finish the working day at school and that’s it until I go in the following morning. No marking to take home, or answering emails etc.  

The marking system was one of the main things I really couldn’t wait to escape from in the UK. It was just absurd! Recognising and acknowledging children’s achievements, yes. But being expected to write a course of next steps to improve upon per child, per subject. So, you can imagine the mountain of books at the end of the day and how most evenings and weekends were spent during term time, and holidays even at times! For me, it felt as though you were constantly belittling children with what felt like a good, but improve, improve, more, more type of culture! This aspect only enraged me further by a comment from a particular member of SLT. Who, during a meeting stated; ‘Ofsted like to see us doing it this way.’ Another fine example that it certainly wasn’t about the children and their needs, but instead a tick box exercise to help particular members of the management team ‘shine’ for Ofsted purposes!

So, when my little green trolley that I used to transport those mountains of books to and from home finally gave up the ghost and cracked and split, as you can imagine I was gutted that I couldn’t transport them any longer! But, by that point, I had already decided that enough was enough and that I  wasn’t going to work like that any longer. I refused to take another book home! Even if the trolley only broke a fortnight before the end of the Summer Term!

In Spain, the marking system is so different. The head is a tad 1990s and hasn’t taught in England since then. So expects us to mark and do corrections in red and no other colour etc. But we mark and make corrections. Using this exercise to adapt the next lesson accordingly to meet their needs. Then help the children with their corrections during the next lesson before moving them on. Now I find myself getting all my marking done within the extended (2 hour) lunchtime rather than hours after school and at home! And, more importantly, the children are making progress and are happy!

Some things are trickier to adapt to than others…

The strange thing, however, is not having a TA. It’s ok in a way as the class sizes are smaller and my Spanish partner is only next door if ever there was an emergency. But it did feel a little scary being the only adult in the room at first. In the UK, you are quite lucky if you get to have a TA for even part of the day sometimes. But the last class I had before leaving the UK I had a 1:1 TA, so I was rarely in the classroom on my own. So, suddenly being on my own with no one to call on, not even a passing TA in the corridor was a bit unnerving. Especially as there have been a few occasions where I have needed another adult in the room, e,g, a bleeding nose episode! And, although I try, displays really aren’t my forte, but I do consider them to be a ‘work in progress.’ I’m determined that I will produce something that looks like an adult has put time and thought into it by the summer, and not something that looks as though a group of children have been left to their own creative devices!

Management seems to be a different kettle of fish…

So, everything seems to be going ok in class and with my other colleagues. Management however, appears to be a different matter! Particularly this week! I’m not sure what their actual expectations are of me. But their professionalism and how something is dealt with is somewhat questionable in my opinion. Very different to that of the UK, but of course, I am in a different country and different culture. So, the way of doing things is going to be different!

Anyhow, every lunchtime I take my class down to the dinner hall and ensure they collect their lunch from the canteen and are seated where they need to be before leaving them to eat their lunch. Then I can go and have my lunch before going back to my classroom to do marking and set up for the afternoon. On this particular occasion, I was heading back to the classroom after having just finished my lunch. I suddenly hear a voice coming from behind me, ‘Can I have a minute?’ It’s the English head. She turns and starts walking back towards the other side of the hall for me to follow. I can already see one child who is from Primary 3. I think to myself that he has gotten himself into a spot of bother on the playground. Unfortunately, he is one to get himself into a few scrapes now and then! I get to the door of the hall and find that there are five of my boys from Primary 3 lined up against the wall at the entrance of the dinner hall. 

I approach the doorway thinking they are in a spot of bother for playground offences! The English head explains that the Spanish head has just gathered them into her office to talk with them. ‘It has come to her attention that they can’t speak any English, despite having been in the school for three years now!’ So, the Spanish head had taken the first five children off the playground from Primary 3 into her office. Lined them up in front of her desk and asked them how they were today in English. I’m told that one answered with his age, another answered the question, but in Spanish and the other three just stood in front of her desk not uttering a word! Oh, and the Spanish head doesn’t speak any English! I stand there listening to this explanation disappointed that I’d missed the Spanish head’s ‘all of a sudden’ great knowledge of the English language. Considering she has never spoken so much as two words to me in English! And, if children are randomly taken off the playground and ushered into the head’s office and told ‘You must speak English to me!’ by someone who can barely say hello in English themselves, then they’re going to wonder what the hell is going on! Is she really surprised they didn’t speak in English, or Spanish for that matter? That instead they just stood looking dazed and confused!

I start to feel my cheeks burn, I can’t really believe what I’m hearing. Plus, this conversation is taking place in the dinner hall in front of all other staff members and the rest of the school! I think to myself, three years! What do you want me to do about it? I’ve only been here three weeks!!’ She continues with…’and I’m not happy because I’ve been caught up in it all and managed to walk into the office at the wrong moment and expected to help because I speak English and she doesn’t!’ At this point I just shake my head and shrug my shoulders. As she continues to witter on and ask the boys further questions. I find that my eyes are firmly fixed on the floor for a few seconds before I dare look up! If I hadn’t looked at the floor I’m sure I would have burst out with laughter. I just wouldn’t have been able to help myself! I was also so cross at the same time. I’m certainly far from impressed with their tactics here, but also, they both look and sound so ridiculous, frankly, that I also just can’t help but find it amusing!

Plus the fact, I don’t speak Spanish! So, how exactly does she think I am communicating with these children? And, why is she questioning these children’s lack of English speaking after three years?! I was outraged by the whole gormless predicament!

Pardon!

In all this commotion I can hear a distant ‘pardon’ coming from behind me, but I don’t take any notice and ignore it. I just think it is the usual routine of the diner hall. Until that is I feel a hard, sharp tap on my left shoulder followed by a loud, blunt ‘PARDON!’ I swiftly turn round to find the head cook wanting to get by with her trolley back to the kitchen. ‘Oh sorry, I mean pardon.’ I manage to reply! She grunts as she walks past with her empty trolley rattling. I can’t help but find it amusing, even if she did appear quite cross and put out. I have to bite my bottom lip as the head is still wittering on too. Thankfully, head cook didn’t turn round to see that I’d found the little incident so amusing! I have been advised not to upset her, after all, she is the person who decides what is on the menu and cooks lunch! Me and food!!

Anyhow, I was later told by a colleague who had ‘overheard’ the conversation (in the dinner hall at lunchtime, who didn’t witness it?) that I will be having a hard time of it. In the past two years (this is through the grapevine of course!) the school had employed unqualified teachers and now they have employed me! An qualified English teacher with X number of years of experience! So, were they expecting to employ me on this basis and have each child speaking perfect English within the first three weeks of term?

After this conversation, I think to myself that this would seem to fit something that occurred in the first week when I was called into the office by the English head. I was presented with a stack of workbooks. Four books per child each consisting of twenty pages to be absolutely precise! ‘These are from the teacher last year. As you can see she didn’t complete the books that the parents have paid for. They always expect them to be fully completed.’ My first thought on this was, didn’t they question why their children didn’t take them home in the summer? ‘They must be completed before you can start this year’s work.’ She went on. What the hell? So the first part of term has been completing last year’s workbooks, and not just a book, a year’s worth of work! But taking these into the classroom and completing them with the children, it appeared to be things that they knew and were able to recognise and do. So they’d obviously been taught it by their previous teacher. Just not from the school’s textbook expectations! And, as they are familiar with most aspects of the different topics, thankfully it doesn’t take them too long to complete the booklets.

However, this is a new style of management to me. One that I am yet to be convinced by!

So nice to have the time to explore and experience my new surroundings…