HAPPY LEAP DAY!!!!! (Or would you say Happy Leap Year Day??)

With the school strike today, I’ve had the day to myself! I slept in a few extra hours, did a few exercises to work The Thunderettes (the name I’ve affectionately given to my massive thighs! {It dawned on me after I named them that the Pius X dance team shares this name, however, in no way is this term of endearment meant to reflect that!}) and had a leisurely morning. I went to Mercadona about one o’clock, came home, unpacked those groceries and then went Ahorra Más for a few other things I like to get there. I usually don’t go to both stores on the same day, but I figured since I have the whole day free, why not? And now my shopping is done for the week! SWEET!!

Now I’m going to watch The Biggest Loser! I read that this week’s episode is really emotional—we’ll see…

Xoxo,

Court

What a gorgeous day! If it really is only 61, it’s the nicest 61 I’ve ever felt!

I’ve now been here for five months according to the date! Only three months to go…I wonder if the time will fly by?

Two important notes today:

1.   Tomorrow there is a strike at school so I don’t have to go! Apparently, by law, the administration has to be there plus seven staff members, but all the English teachers minus Rocío and Marina aren’t coming. So basically I’d be coming for first hour with Marina and that’s all, but both Aurora and Alejandro ok’d my skipping, so day off for me! WOOT!!!!!

2.   Noelia is out. I happened to be in Marina’s class when Alejandro came and told her she was safe and that in the end it was between Ana and Noelia and well…Noelia got the boot. Today was her last day with the strike being tomorrow and the new teacher will report on Thursday, the 1^st. So I guess I won’t see her again…

With Rocío’s fifths we took a look a Presidents Day PowerPoint (I found several yesterday). By the time she had them repeat every single line of the PP after me and draw a picture of Lincoln and Washington, there was no time for anything else. Marina’s class had an exam so I talked with her the whole hour.

Second hour with 1B I asked them questions about their food unit to practice how to respond, i.e. “Do you like milk/fish/cake/apples?” “Yes, I do/No, I don’t”. They then did a worksheet where they had to match vocab words about “Rooms of the House” with the pictures (I think it must be they’re new unit) and color it. So I had a lot of time to talk with Marina today!

With Analen and 2B third hour we reviewed the “Jobs” vocab and later I story about a cat who gets stuck in a tree and firefighters have to come and rescue him. That was followed by the asking of comprehension questions and they ended the class with a worksheet, though I don’t know what it was about because I wasn’t paying attention when Analen explained it…yeah, I know, my bad!

Class at 4:30 and after that, relaxation! On the agenda for tomorrow: SLEEPING and more RELAXATION!!!!!

Xoxo,

Court

Today it’s another beautiful day…super sunny and 63! And the forecast shows nothing but 60s for the rest of the week!

I don’t know why, but today I felt like I hadn’t been at school for a long time; which, if anything, I should have had that feeling last week…oh well.

With the sixth levels Marilu and I explained regular and irregular verbs in the past and did some pronunciation practice (well, technically she did the former and I facilitated the latter). I guess I never really thought about pronunciation rules, but with some –ed regulars, the “ed” is pronounced as a “t” (like walked) and others are pronounced as “id” (like started). I tried to pronounce everything like the book explained, but it was hard! I’m not used to having to think before I speak…in English!

I didn’t do anything in 4A, but with all the drama right now, I didn’t mind. Analen’s all on edge because they still don’t know who’s leaving yet. I asked her how her weekend was and all she said was “terrible”, then I asked if at least she’d enjoyed the Carnaval events this weekend and she said “very little”. And that was all I said to her…just kinda felt like I should leave her alone and not engage her in conversation when I know she’s freaking out and doesn’t want to be.

Ana’s also on edge but she hides it better than Analen. It was a normal day with the three-year-olds. I retold them the story of Ellie’s ball and that was followed by a worksheet with them putting yellow, green and red circle stickers inside Ellie’s balls (that sounds funny but on the worksheet she was actually holding two balls…I guess you had to see it). Alberto came in at one point to talk with Lourdes, the regular teacher, and after he left Ana was like “that scared me when I saw him!”. Apparently they’re going to find out who gets kicked to the curb either today or tomorrow, not Thursday like I originally thought. I feel bad for the four of them (Ana, Analen, Noelia and Marina); I mean, at this point they’re just kind of in limbo.

I have class at 4:30 but I really want to take a nap now! It prolly doesn’t help that I have a headache, which is strange because I rarely get them.

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a beautiful day today…sunny, 63 and only slightly windy!

On Friday I ran some errands…basically did all the things I can’t do during the week, as some places are only open in the morning. I went to the post office to send some more money home and ran into Maribel, one of Carmen’s students I met that one time I went to help out with her class. She approached me while I was being helped and said “I have a question for you; I’ll wait for you at the back”. I was like “Ok” and frantically racked my brain to remember who she was! Finally I placed her, thank goodness! She wants to have a class I believe on Fridays. I’m not sure of the exact time because her schedule is a little complicated, but she’s gonna call this week to work out the details!

I also went to the perfumería and bought another bottle of Amor Amor. I specifically budgeted a little money every month for that purpose, though that’s the only bottle I’ve gotten and the only one I’m going to get here as I’m now sending a bit more money home (I’m preparing for the worst ticket price wise for my flight home).

Oh my goodness…mass last night? Holy crowded people of China! I got there at 6:23 and there was standing room only! I honestly didn’t think it’d be that busy because the last/biggest parade was simultaneously going on, but no! We were crammed like sardines in the back. I know it’s the first Sunday of Lent, but really? I’ve gotten there at 6:29 before and it’s been practically empty!

Today (and yesterday) I’ve been cleaning. Yesterday I swept, dusted and cleaned the bathroom and then today I mopped. It’s really nice out, so I was able to open up the windows and the floors dried amazingly fast!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a whopping 57 degrees today!! Has spring arrived early??? AND the forecast is reading 61 for the entire weekend! Oh, I got paid today too…Happy weekend to me!!!

I’m glad it’s the weekend again! Five days off, then two on, t hen three off again…I could get used to that! The day seemed to go by a little slow. Besides doing our usual start-of-the-day activities in five-years A, the only other thing we did was read the story about Ellie and the Windy Day. They were super talkative, so the lesson was slow going!

With four-years A and B I reread them the story of Ellie’s multicolored clown trousers and they then did a color-by-numbers worksheet of her trousers. It was really funny because I was explaining the worksheet in “A” and having them say all the numbers and colors, and I pointed to number 5 (which was yellow) and accidentally said “blue”. At that, super cute little Mayte (I know I’m the only one who knows who she is, so sorry if you’re reading this and you’re not me!) goes “You made a mistake because you need to study more!” Hahaha! YES. THIS. Ana and I both laughed!

I introduced some new job vocab in 2A. Jobs like bus driver, doctor, musician, footballer and chef are included in this unit. We practiced pronunciation, I then stuck the flashcard photos on the board and we played a memory game and then I had them put the word cards down below the pictures.

6B was playing a Who Wants to be a Millionaire type of game having to do with latitude and longitude (which they are studying in science) when I got there. So we continued playing and I read the questions for them. We stopped with about 15 minutes left for Marilu could give them some grammar notes.

I tried to go to mass last night and when I got there (prolly 10 minutes prior, because I thought it’d be busy) the doors were locked and no one was around! The only person I knew who would know the mass times was Carmen and she was in class, so I couldn’t call her. I had no idea when mass at the main church started (not to mention I have no idea where it is!) so I just came home. I feel bad about not going, but I did try at least…I think God will take that into account!

Xoxo,

Court

This afternoon it’s very clear and a slightly windy 50 degrees.

¡Feliz miércoles de Ceniza! I know we normally wouldn’t wish each other a ‘Happy Ash Wednesday!’, but I just wanted to acknowledge it (and yes, I am HUNGRY!). Here’s to another 40 days of Lent and having the willpower to keep up my sacrifices: to stay off the scale and not drink the yummy coffee at school!

With 1A, after our initial review, we started a new unit about animals and their habitats (different from third year). The first level unit focuses on the forest, whereas third does the jungle. For example, owls in trees and squirrels on the ground are a part of this unit. We didn’t have a whole lot of time after the vocab was all introduced, so they did one quick activity in which they had to write the name of the animal next to the picture.

I corrected several activities with the third levels and then we played this game again (that we played last week or the week before) in order to practice the words behind, under, in on, etc.

In five-years B I read them the story about Ellie and the Windy Day! Max and Poppy’s clothes flew off the clothes rack and their shirt, trousers and hat hit Monkey, Duck and Ellie right in the face! Afterwards they put clothing sticks on a scarecrow.

I still did nothing in 4B but I didn’t hate the class today…WIN! Analen told me that there’s a English teacher coming back who’s supposed to have a spot at school, so one of them is out as of March 1^st. It’s hard to explain because I don’t know all the details, but this teacher, Luis Miguel apparently is his name, is coming in March and it’s not known who he’ll be replacing. I know I have, like, zero knowledge of the Spanish education system, but I’m like “How can this be? How can they just toss someone to the curb in the middle of the year??” Supposedly the person who’s leaving won’t even know it until the day before the other guy comes, so February 28, I guess. SAY WHAT!?!?!?! Marilu just called, so I asked her and she confirmed it. I said my money was on Noelia or Analen; she said she was leaning towards Noelia.

I’ve got mass at 6:30 tonight and I can’t decide if I want to take a nap before then (after several days of sleeping in and then having to get up early I’m super tired!) or just have some coffee. Actually I’ll prolly have some coffee anyway (or tea…or both); I need something to fill me up!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a mild 52 degrees this afternoon! The forecast for the next few days looks to be about the same; I hope it only gets warmer from here on out!

As usual, it’s been a low key weekend; not up to a whole lot so far. I went to movie night on Friday and we watched Mary and Max. Never heard of it? I hadn’t either. It’s a 2009 animated drama (I guess you could call it) starting in 1976 about this little Australian girl and her 20ish year pen pal friendship with a forty-something American man. It says it’s based on a true story but the only part of it that’s true is that the director (an Australian male) had an American pen pal when he was younger. The plot and letters themselves were made up…that’s not exactly my idea of a true story…

There were a total of six of us at the movie and besides me, they were all kids. I don’t know if people were busy because Carnaval is starting, but there usually are several adults there as well. I don’t think Eloy was too psyched about the turnout, especially the younger audience; I know he likes to discuss afterwards and the kids just didn’t have the same English level…it was mostly me and the next oldest person (high school student) who did the talking.

No school tomorrow or Tuesday for Carnaval…oh what to do??

Xoxo,

Court

It’s 52 and mostly sunny today (even though my weather thing says it’s mostly cloudy). It’s a little chilly with the wind, but otherwise it’s a nice day!

We had our school Carnaval parade this morning. Last year it was rained out three weeks in a row, so this was my first one. It was supposed to start at 11:00, and we were all ready and standing around (so I don’t know what the holdup was) but we didn’t actually leave until after 11:30.

All the teachers dressed up with their classes; first level was Romans, the three-year-olds Indians (super cute!) and fourth level was Flintstones, just to name a few. Oh and sixth level dressed as chinos, (like Chinese people) which I thought was a bit racist, but apparently I was the only one who thought that. Why is that bothersome? Why is it that when I saw Indians, Romans and Egyptians I didn’t give it a second thought, but I did the Chinese? I haven’t figured that out yet…

The specialty teachers (English, PE, religion) and the administration went as Vikings! We even had hatchets and blonde pigtail braided (is there a name for that?) wigs, complete with a Viking helmet! I forgot my camera at home, I was bummed, but I was in some of other people’s photos so hopefully I can get a hold of those!

The actual parade itself was a bit boring, I thought. We had a band that played as we went, but everyone mostly walked. There was some dancing here and there, mostly by the teachers (I hung with Marilu and the other sixth level teachers) and I swung my hatchet around quite a bit, but I thought it’d be more fun. I also started to get really annoyed with some of the boys because they kept asking to see my hatchet and I just had visions of them beating each other with it, so I refused to let them have it. Jorge, Alberto’s son, was and is one of the most annoying ones. Mari and I have talked about it before and we think that he always gets his way at home.

We got back to school and stuck around for some pictures. I think I got out of there about 1:15ish. I got home and saw I had a notice for the batteries I ordered. It says you have to wait until the following day to pick up your package, but Gunita said sometimes if the carrier has already returned you can pick it up that same day. Luckily they were still open, so I went and checked and it was there! So I have a working food scale again…YES! I’ve really missed it this week; I never realized how my I depend on it. I also ordered an extra, just in case, so I shouldn’t be scaleless again for the remainder of my time in Spain!

Xoxo,

Court

Today it’s a very mild 46 degrees; the sun has been playing peek-a-boo with the clouds the entire day, but even when the sun’s hidden it’s not too cold. Perhaps the bitterly cold streak has ended? One can only hope!

Infantil Ana is in Albacete for an appointment today so I didn’t have class the first four hours, only last with Marilu. I actually asked Aurora if I could maybe not come (because to me it seemed pointless just to come for last hour) but she said no, that I should. OOOOK. 

I decided to get up at 7:30 and take advantage of my free morning. I did a little exercise, looked over the recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies (which I was going to make this weekend and wrote all the ingredients down that I needed to get at the store. But then I decided to wait a few more weeks, since I just brought the Christmas M&M cookies at the end of January, I thought I’d space it out a little more) and went to two stores to get all my grocery shopping done for the week!

I got to school a little before one (last hour starts at 1:10) and they were still in science. We started English maybe like 20 minutes later and finished talking about Valentine’s Day. We watched this short video clip about Saint Valentine and just kind of had a discussion about it.

I’m going to school tomorrow because it’s Carnaval (at school…Carnaval week doesn’t officially start in the town until Saturday) and we’re having a parade! It starts at eleven o’clock and we’ll take a short little walk around town, for the locals to see if they want. We’ll be back at school by 12:30, the kiddos are free to go and then we’re off until Wednesday! WOOT!!!

Xoxo,

Court

Today it’s clear and 43 and considering what the weather’s been like lately, I’d say it’s pretty nice!

First hour with 1A, after the start-of-the-day review, they did an animal word search. I thought it was kinda cute because they’re just starting to learn to do these and all the words were right in a row! It was so simple, but they have to get used to the idea, I guess. They then had to color each of the eight words a different color.

3A and B started a new unit about animals and they’re habitats. Included in this unit are words like zebra, elephant, monkey, crocodile, river, tree, plants, flowers and some others. I then read them a story about a brother/sister team, Esther and Duncan, who take a trip to the jungle! They also did a couple of workbook pages

Ana had five-years B finish a Valentine’s drawing from yesterday. Actually only a handful of kids had to finish and in the meantime, before “breakfast” she put on this Spanish cartoon on her computer.

I also read 4B a story, the one about Vamp the Vampire from the other day. Based on their answering of the comprehension questions afterwards, they don’t seem to be as smart or pay attention as well as the other class. Plus the talk a lot more too, which means Analen yells quite often, so that’s probably why they’re my least favorite class of the school…

Not sure why, but I had a hard time falling asleep last night and so now I’m super tired! I started feeling really sleepy last hour and still do. Definitely going to be napping here real soon.

Xoxo,

Court

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!!

The weather must not be in the mood for celebrating the day because it’s an overcast, blustery day…perhaps a Winnie-the-Pooh Valentine’s Day. The temperature itself isn’t half bad, considering what it’s been lately; it’s a scorcher at 45!

Today was easy and repetitive. With the three fifth levels I went over this really simple PowerPoint about the symbols and customs of V-Day, which would have been better for younger levels, but both Rocío and Marina said to do it anyway. In Rocío’s afterwards did this worksheet where parts of the words were placed into two columns and you had to match the correct suffix to the prefix. For example HE- was in one column and then –ART in the other. Marina’s class did a word search instead.

Marina was renewing her driver’s license (I think she said) in the morning so she wasn’t there for 1B and I had a free hour…nothing really to do, just kinda hung out.

Analen had 2B do this worksheet about animals. They were given a grid of sorts, with animals shown vertically and actions (like run, jump, fly) shown horizontally and had to either check or X each box. After that they had to color the animals on their vocab page.

Well, the battery in my food scale has died :(. I’m a little miffed because I’ve only been using it since the end of September and I thought they lasted a lot longer, otherwise I would have brought another. I started seeing the low battery light on Sunday, so right away I ordered another one…that scale is, like, MY LIFE! I got an email that it shipped yesterday (from somewhere in the UK) and I’m hoping it’ll arrive by the end of the week! I’ve become such a Nazi about my food portions; I don’t like not knowing an exact number…I’ll have to guestimate the best I can. :I

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a cloudless 39 degrees this afternoon. I’m glad it warms up throughout the day because generally it’s in the negative digits (Celsius) on the way to school…FREEEEZING!

I got a little annoyed with 6A this morning. Marilu had a ton of things to do/finish up, so she was kinda like “here, do this and that and this”, which was fine, but the class was all spaced out and not paying attention (Monday blues, I guess). I read them a section about Valentine’s Day from their books and then started asking questions—super easy questions—and almost no one raised their hands and when I called on people every time they were like “Can you repeat, please?” They were seriously wearing down my patience. Luckily 6C was better and more alert!

To 4A I read a story about Vamp the Vampire who didn’t have any teeth! It went through his daily routine and how he didn’t have any friends because he was toothless. But then he bought some at a party store and was all popular!

I gotta say, I think I misjudged that class, or maybe they’ve just gotten better, because they were able to answer almost every comprehension question I asked them afterwards (some of them, at least). I also don’t find them annoying or nearly as annoying as I once did…WIN!

The adorable little three-year-olds were a bit annoying today as well…cansinos, as they say here! Ana asked them if they knew what’s special about tomorrow and they were all like “CARNAVAL!” (Not quite…the parade’s Friday and we don’t have school next Monday or Tuesday) and then when Ana said no, one kid was like “CHRISTMAS!”, lol!  They colored in this big heart that said “Valentine’s Day” and then watched a short Sponge Bob Valentine clip. They all love SB so they wanted to get as close to the computer as possible. There was pushing and hitting and cries of “I can’t see!” could be heard everywhere.

Oh and one sort of weirdly funny thing when the first three-year-old class was coloring: at one point I looked over and this kid had pulled his pants down, was kneeling on his chair and just kinda swinging his little bum in the air! My first thought was he was gonna start peeing or worse right there (like, why would you pull down your pants?) but I didn’t see anything (PHEW!). I didn’t say anything to him at first because sometimes the kids don’t listen to me, but then his little tablemate goes “Corni!” and pointed to him. The Anas (the regular teacher of that class is Ana too!) were otherwise engaged so I went up to him and said “Pull up your pants”. I don’t think he knew I was behind him and could see everything because he looked embarrassed when I spoke! I think he thought no one could see him and he was just gonna have a little fun and shake his little booty!

Class at 4:30 and then some relaxation…oh and laundry too!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s clear and sunny this afternoon, though quite cold…27. It’s supposed to get up to 41 today—we’ll see of it does!

Radio wasn’t too bad. It was either a short movie or a short discussion (I’m guessing the latter) because I got home about 9:15 and usually it’s closer to ten. Before and after the movie Eloy explained a little bit about it and we discussed it (afterwards) and he used the word “retarded” to describe Radio. In my head I was like “NOOO! Don’t say that!” Then in the movie someone refers to him as retarded as well, so I figured that’s where he got the word from.

So I went up to him after everyone left and was just kinda like “Just so you know, it’s a little harsh/insulting/offensive to say that”. He said that he knew that calling some a “retard” was offensive, but didn’t know “retarded” was bad too. “Yeah, they’re both bad to say. It’s better to go with something like mentally challenged/handicapped”, said I. Not that anyone else knew the difference, but I thought he might want to know, in case the word ever came up again, especially if he’s talking to a native speaker.

I think I’m getting a cold :(. I noticed Friday afternoonish that my throat was getting scratchy. Now my nose is running and I’m a bit sneezy. My throat isn’t really at that scratchy/irritated anymore, though it does hurt when I sneeze. I’ve been pretty lucky this year, as far as sickness goes, so I can’t complain too much!

Nothing really noteworthy has occurred this weekend…mass last night and today I’m going to look for a Valentine’s songs/poems/PowerPoints because I forgot to look before and I know Rocío’ll ask!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a sunny 45 degree day…and if you’re in the sun the wind’s bearable!

This morning I went to the market and bought some more almonds…half a kilo for seven Euros. Is that good? I don’t know but at any rate it’s better than the store price. I also got some raisins, which I’ve never bought at the market before, but since everything is cheaper there, why not?

I then went to the store, Ahorra Más, for a few more things. Writing about AM made me think of the dates I bought at Mercadona the other day; dates are my new favorite things to eat—well, one of them. I don’t think I’d ever had them before, not that I can remember anyway, but I love them…they’re yummy!

Other than that I haven’t done a whole lot today. I noticed my floor was dusty so I decided to sweep earlier. I swept the other rooms as well, but since it’s not my week to clean that’s all I’m gonna do!

Tonight is English movie night. Eloy called me last night and told me what we’re watching: Radio with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris. He called me last week also to give me a heads up on the movie, which kind of surprised me because the first week he said it was a “surprise”. Maybe he thinks if he doesn’t tell me I won’t come. I’m glad he tells me though so I can decide if I find it interesting. Luckily this year his theme is uplifting/inspirational movies!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a bright and sunny day, though still quite chilly—about 38 degrees.

Starting off my almost full day with Ana was five-years A. Not a whole lot could be done today because they were SO talkative; Ana and I had to stop quite a bit and wait for quiet! We reviewed the carnaval vocab and played a couple rounds of memory game with the flashcards and that was basically it. And I don’t know why, but lately both five-year-old classes have been making fun of my pronunciation of their names; well, not making fun of me per sé, but certainly correcting me after I say it “wrong”. Hey, I do the best I can…of course my accent’s not the same. It’s kind of ironic because NO ONE pronounces my name correctly And I know it shouldn’t bother me, but every time I hear “Corni” it bugs me just the slightest bit, so I guess I know how they feel!

Four-years B was much more tranquil. I reread them the story of Ellie and her multicolored (clown) trousers. We followed that up with a worksheet in which they had to color three pairs of trousers pink and then put stickers of pink trousers in their proper places.

I read 2A the story of Lee and his mom, the vet, who go to the zoo. For some reason, I always mix up those classes and think we’ve done something in one class and it’s actually the other. I don’t have that problem with the other classes, just those ones…don’t know why. After that we played silent BINGO with animal vocab. Ana put the flashcard words on the board and they had to choose six of them. Then instead of calling out the words she stuck the corresponding pictures on the board too.

Not having that much time in four-years A, we played the memory game with carnaval vocab. It was kinda funny because I called on this one girl, Sandra, and she was like “I don’t want a turn!” and sort of frowned. Ana said “If you don’t take a turn, you won’t get a sticker” (she always ends classes by giving out either stickers or stamps) but Sandra didn’t seem to care. Oh and one little boy fell asleep too! For almost the entire class he slept leaning against the wall. Ana just let him sleep…he must have been a tired little guy!

6B had an exam last hour, so there was nothing for me to do.

So I tried the vanilla soy last night and it wasn’t bad! It was very sweet and few more calories than I’m used to for milk, but I’d buy it again! I still have my regular milk in the morning and I think I’m going to treat it as a desserty thing after dinner.

Xoxo,

Court

Well, we had a break for a couple of days, but it’s back to freezing again! It’s clear and 39, but the air is just so cold...and when the wind blows it’s just terrible! :I

First hour after much review with 1A, they did a worksheet in which they were given pictures of animals and food and they had to unite them, who ate what. They then had to trace the food words (grass, meat, fish, etc) and say whether each animal was viviparous or oviparous.

With 3A and B second and last hours we reviewed the alphabet and spelling names/objects. Noelia and I then put some school vocab flashcards on the board and we did a little practice with the prepositions on, in, under and behind. For example, we would call up a student and say “take the computer (flashcard) and put it under your chair.

Before “breakfast” in five-years B we played a memory game with carnaval vocab and that was followed by coloring a bed and a then drawing their favorite costume on the bed—which I thought was a bit of a strange idea, but whatever.

In 4B I introduced the new “typical day” vocab and afterwards they had to write it in their notebooks and translate it. And they must have had some activities from the last unit because they corrected a workbook page.

I went to Mercadona for a few things after school and decided to try some soy milk; well technically it’s vanilla, but still. I hear a lot of people talk about it on MFP and how much they like it, so I thought I’d give it a try. We’ll see…and if it’s horrible, that’s ok because it only cost 85 cents!

Xoxo,

Court

It is currently cloudy and 43 degrees. It’s been a poopy day; raining on and off. It was kinda spitting on my way home and unless my eyes were playing tricks on me I saw a few white flecks in the air!

We talked about Groundhog Day in the fifth levels today. I found one PowerPoint that explained the general idea of the day and then another that talked about ancient legends and superstitions. I also read a poem to them and then we took a look at two videos about Punxsutawney Phil and his predictions for 2011 and 2012.

I was a little bit late to Marina’s second hour because I was trying to download the YouTube videos first hour and the internet signal is horrible from that room! So I got there and she had already started them on their workbook page. I told her why I was late and she said I could continue looking if I wanted to. For some reason, though, I couldn’t download anything from her computer, so I moved on to Valentine activities.

So I asked Analen third hour if she was able to download videos and thankfully she was and had Real Player installed (because I didn’t know how to do it otherwise). The signal in her class is excellent—and most places it’s not—so I got another video downloaded during her class whilst the kids did some workbook activities.

I need to look for more Valentine’s day activities and be as prepared as possible, even though next Tuesday at the start of first hour Rocío’s gonna be like “Oh, how bout we find something like…”. Good thing she doesn’t get mad at me if I don’t have something she wants…she’s always like “Don’t worry, because we have to…”. And it prolly helps a bit too that she likes to yell at the kids and that usually wastes some time!

Xoxo,

Court

Today it’s SO much warmer than it has been lately! It’s 48, sunny and the wind isn’t too horrible! I hope the cold stays away…I think I missed my car more this weekend than any other time in the past two years—and that includes shopping!

I had an easy day! We skipped the London video with the sixth levels and started talking about Nebraska right away. We watched this video I’d found about Lincoln, made by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to promote the city. I really miss Lincoln after watching the video…can’t wait until June! I stopped the video in various places and we talked about outdoor vs. indoor malls (Gateway vs. SouthPointe), Haymarket Park, Memorial Stadium and American houses in general. We ended with a short video about the Huskers!

I introduced some new vocab to 4A; this unit is about a typical day (get up, eat breakfast, go to school, have lunch…). Analen said it as a cool unit, though she may have said that just because (now that I think about it, what’s she gonna say “This unit sucks!”? Yeah, prolly not…

With the three-year-olds we “played a game” to reinforce the colors red and yellow. Ana had bought plastic plates and they had to make a sequence of red, yellow, red, yellow and so on. We called up students and they made a line out of plates; if they weren’t called on they were upset! Oh and this one kid pooed his pants and apparently kept trying to touch it or something (this was last hour so I guess it didn’t make sense for his parents to come) so Ana had to be like “We don’t touch caca!” a million times! And every time she said this he would shout “¡¡¡CACA!!!” That, right there, is another reason why I would never teach preschool/young kids…EWWWW!!!!!!!

Xoxo,

Court

Well, according to my weather thing it’s 37 and currently snowing. FAIL! It is cloudy and cold (and most likely 37) but it is NOT snowing! Maybe it feels left out from all the snow Nebraska got yesterday???

This has been a super cold weekend though; it’s been in the 30s the past few days, perhaps the coldest it’s been since coming (including last year!) Combine that with a fierce wind and walking everywhere is miserable! :I

I went to Eloy’s movie club on Friday night (even though I really didn’t want to go out!) and we watched Freedom Writers. I had never seen it before and I thought it was pretty good. A couple of months ago, before the movies began, he asked me if I’d be interested (or rather willing) to go have a drink after the movies and continue English conversation. Even though I really didn’t want to, I felt bad about saying no, I agreed. Thankfully though no one really sticks around after it ends so I’ve been able to dodge the bullet thus far!

I went to mass last night and arrived a good ten minutes early because I really didn’t want a repeat from last week and have to have to sit in the front. No problems this week; I sat about halfway up.

I downloaded a few movies yesterday and watched Harry Potter 7 Part 1 last night and I think I’m going to watch Part 2 after a bit. I also downloaded Little Women, which is kind of old and random but I’ve never seen it and thought about it, so I figured I’d watch that too…sometime, not necessarily today.

Who’s going to win the Super Bowl??? Not that I follow Pro football (heck, I barely follow college), but it seems like the Patriots have done really well the last few years. OR I could just be making that up, I don’t really know…

Xoxo,

Court  

First, Happy Groundhog Day! Second, holy buckets, it’s FREEZING! It’s been mostly sunny the entire day, but the wind is bone-chilling COLD. My weather thing says it’s 37, but it’s gotta be colder than that with the wind chill!

First hour with five-years A I reread them the story of Poppy, Max, Ellie and carnaval. We then played the memory game with carnaval vocab that we played with B yesterday.

With four-years A and B I read them a new story about Ellie and her trousers. All of her clothes were white, which she didn’t like, so Max magicked up some colorful clothes, like a yellow shirt, orange shoes and multicolored clown-looking pants! After that we played around with a poster of a boy and a girl with which we could change out the articles of clothing.

2A started a new unit about animals—snake, crocodile, elephant, bird, tiger, lion and others. I read and repeated the vocab with the class and the stuck the flashcards on the board. I then called up students to turn over the flashcards and then had other students come and guess what was where. I made this one kid cry because he didn’t know where the card I’d asked about was; I felt bad! :(

In 6B we watched this short animated wordless video as part of Peace Day. This guy goes outside and the whole world is yelling at him, so he hugs them until they aren’t mad anymore and hug him back. We didn’t have too much time after that, but we started watching this video about London and all its attractions and famous places.

Class this afternoon and then it’s the weekend!!! Oh and did the groundhog see his shadow? I don’t know; though it’s still pretty early in the morning in the US so maybe he hasn’t awoken yet. It’s prolly gonna be six more weeks of winter—it usually is…BOO!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s sunny and 55 this afternoon; the wind isn’t too bad either!

Starting off this morning, in 1A we reviewed for a little over half the class: numbers 1-30, parts of the body, foods and occupations. With the last maybe like 20 minutes we did a worksheet about viviparous and oviparous animals (big terms for six-year-olds, I think!). There was a simple explanation in the book and then they had to put stickers of animals in each category. I think Marina was a little unsure about the pronunciation, because all the sentences with viviparous/oviparous in it she asked me to read.

Second and last hours with 3A and B we went to the video room to talk about Peace Day. I wasn’t expecting to with that class. When I got to the classroom Noelia asked me to go down and get everything set up and they would be down after a bit (which was like 15 minutes with A and half an hour with B!). So we really didn’t have that much time…we listened to MLK’s speech and then to the song I found for Rocío’s classes (because I hadn’t found anything specifically for Peace Day).

Five-years B was really loud and kind of annoying today. We didn’t have a whole lot of time, so we played a memory game with the vocab flashcards of carnival. Afterwards they quickly drew a picture of their favorite costume.

Right away when I got to 4B, Analen asked me to explain the worksheet I explained to A on Monday. That was the extent of my participation that hour. I sat there the rest of the hour and with like 15 minutes left in class I started to halfheartedly look for Valentine’s activities. I really didn’t find anything though, as I didn’t put a lot of effort into it.

I don’t have class this afternoon, so I’m seriously considering a nap…I don’t know why I’m so tired today!

Xoxo,

Court