Our Working World in Spain

It’s been quite some time since we’ve updated you on our daily lives here of working amongst our foreign surroundings. Although we have been traveling and exploring this country a lot, we’ve also managed to fit in 4-5 hours of work each day as well as the additional teaching prep time. Surprisingly, I’ve found my English teaching gig to be an incredibly perfect fit for me. I began this experience with some hesitation and doubt in my abilities to instruct adults, especially in a subject matter that I’ve never taught before. The English language is so vast, comprised of so many rules and exceptions- it was overwhelming to picture a typical classroom environment and the pacing of a lesson without any prior experience or observation. Somehow though, I’ve found my way down this path with ease and with much pleasure.

The students have made all the difference for me. Teaching to this new “adult” population has been an incredible discovery to me. I’ve encompassed a level of comfort and connection with my students that I’ve not before experienced in my prior teaching. Perhaps it’s the fact that we have much in common being that we’re all “foreigners” in a way living in a new country (since they’re recent immigrants), or perhaps it’s just the fact that they are adults like myself and I’ve never before taught on an equal-age playing field. Whatever it is, I’m having a great time. The lessons come to me without much thought, and I look forward to the enriching interactions we have each day.

It’s amazing how much of a new language can be learned in 5 weeks time! As I mentioned before, the first day of class was spent teaching: “Hello. My name is________.” I think we had to review these basic greetings for the first 5 classes or so before it was comfortable and close to becoming second nature for my students. It was endearing to watch them translate in their heads the questions I’d ask them so they were sure to answer correctly. Many times mistakes were made- The question, “What is your name?” would be answered with something like, “I’m fine. Thank you.” But after a few weeks of growth in their own confidence of learning, I’m now blown away each morning as I teach more and more vocabulary, verbs and adjectives, and as they are forming more and more sentences. It’s so gratifying as a teacher to see the language click and make sense to them as they ask me thoughtful questions and make comparisons to what they’ve already learned.

The stories of my student’s lives and the glimpses I hear of their past in their home countries are fascinating to me. With three students coming from Ecuador, one from Peru and one from Bolivia, none of their stories are quite the same. However, they all came here seeking similar goals of a better life and more opportunities for work and overall survival. Half of my students are the young adult (19-21 yrs.) children of their parents who moved them out here when they were younger, the other half moved here on their own initiative as young singles in their 20’s. One of my students is here solely to make money to send home to her mom who is taking care of her 10-year-old daughter. It sometimes takes an immigrant up to 3 years of independently working and supporting themselves to obtain the necessary paperwork from the government to have their children join them. Many of the immigrants I’ve met at my organization are supporting families at home, some with kids they haven’t seen in over 10 years.

Sadly, the reason I’m able to teach these students during the morning hours is because they are not employed at this time. They are desperately searching for jobs, but with the low employment rate across all of Spain right now, being without a job here is a devastating reality for immigrants and natives alike. Their hopes are that with better language skills, more opportunities will await them. I admire their incredible courage and strength through hardships. None of my students have said they like Spain better than their home countries. I think all of them would move back if they knew life would be better for them there. Just think, it’s HOME to them. Their families are there. Their memories are there. They can’t easily return there even for visits without dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy. These are strong individuals. They live on hope and dreams… and they make the most out of every situation.

Leaving Spain will also mean leaving these new classroom friendships I’ve been so enriched by. I can only hope Travis and I encounter more of these same opportunities in our future travels. Regarding Travis, his organization finally got their stuff together and he began teaching his own language class this week. He’s been a real trooper… waiting on them to advertise and find the students, all the while preparing his lessons and sometimes assisting me in teaching my classes. His class will be an intensive higher-level conversational course (his students have all had prior English instruction), taught in our three remaining weeks here, with three consecutive evening classes a week. So far, so good! It’s definitely a new experience and an adjustment for Travis to teach adults as well… especially with his 10 years of classroom experience with kids. Although he might have felt like a “fish out of water” the first day striving to motivate this new audience that was not second nature to him, today he felt more like the teaching veteran that he is, and looks forward to the rest of his classes.

So, although we are living in and experiencing another country, culture and lifestyle, there are still some things that don’t change. We both love to work, love the challenge of a new task, and will do our best to take this experience and grow through it.