1st Day at Aculco

Monday was my first day at Aculco, the non-profit organization I will be working at for the next six weeks (Trisha began hers on Tuesday). The first day brought a mixture of enthusiasm and frustration to me. The enthusiasm stemmed from working in a new setting and experiencing work outside of my classroom. The frustration of course was the language.

Let me begin by saying that all the people working at Aculco were very nice and welcoming the first day, despite my lack of Spanish. My main supervisor is Maria, who is originally from Chile and doesn’t speak any English. We have been able to communicate fairly well together so far, although most of my projects have come from Pablo. Pablo, who is originally from Equator, speaks more English than Maria and has been very helpful. I attempt to always speak in Spanish with him, though often I need him to use a little English to help me out.

The frustration of not being able to communicate was much more pronounced for me on the first day. I was so hindered, and felt unable to perform at my best level. As with most of the language frustrations that have arisen since we have been here, it gives us much more empathy to English learners at home. I am having a small taste of what many of my students probably felt coming my school for the first time.

Once I got over the frustration, I was able to focus on the work at hand. I have been working on two projects so far. The first was to research and develop new diversity lessons that the Aculco staff can use in the schools in Madrid. A big focus of Aculco is working on promoting positive integration of immigrant children and Spanish natives in the schools. My strategy for this project was to research all the teaching sites I have used in the past, write up my findings in English, and then translate them online with sites like Babel Fish. That project took up most of my Monday and part of Tuesday.

The second project, which I’m still working on, is writing a report for Aculco on problems and possible solutions to the integration of immigrants into schools. It’s a broad topic I know, and I’m not sure how they are going to use it, but I am using my previous experiences in education to write it.

As for being in an office setting, I am finding it to be mostly enjoyable since I don’t have to be “on” all day like teaching. I was reminded that sitting and doing work at a desk probably isn’t my best match. It’s a good reminder because it’s easy to forget during the long days of standing at school. It has also been interesting to note that lunch isn’t taken in the middle of the day at work. I know we have written about that numerous times, but I have to say it’s a little weird when 12:00 rolls around and people are taking their 10 min. coffee break for the first time that day. Fortunately, I bring a snack and make it home with Trisha around 2:30 for lunch. The late lunch hasn’t been a problem for us.

In summary, the positives have outweighed any little negatives on the first two days. This will be a worthwhile endeavor regardless of how it turns out in the end. I hope to aide Aculco the best I can and maybe even learn something new in the process. As for Trisha, lets just say that she is teaching tomorrow! Read again later to find out what happens.