ms. hays
WEEK ONE
January 27, 2020
I met Anna and got my new record of number of steps taken in a day!
​
Today was considered our orientation day for student teaching abroad with the University of Vic. The international coordinator for study abroad students, Angel, was our amazing tour guide. He picked us up from our hostel that we are staying at while we are in Vic and drove us to UVIC to meet the other coordinators. Then, we walked around to all of our five schools. In Vic, Catalan is the primary language taught and spoken. The first school we walked to was mine. That is where I met Anna! Anna is my cooperating teacher for these next three weeks at Sagrat Cor School. She was incredibly friendly, and I could tell she was excited and appreciative that she would have an extra set of hands for the next couple of weeks. She had printed her teaching schedule for me and explained a little bit of it to me. She explained that she is one of the three teachers who speaks English at the school. Therefore, she is the English teacher for the whole school meaning she teaches all of the grades. After my visiting my school, we walked to the other student teachers’ schools and met their teachers. We did take a coffee break and lunch break between all of our visits to the schools. If you didn’t know, Vic is a walking town. And if you know me, you might not believe this next sentence. I walked a total of 10.6 miles (24,167 steps) today!!!! It was a wonderful way to see more of the city, especially the different types of schools that we are all placed at and the communities that make up the city of Vic!
January 28, 2020
First day at Sagrat Cor School with a little surprise for Ms. Hays!
​
Anna picked me up for my first day of school today! It was a quick drive (about 6-7 minutes), but on other days I will walk (will be about 25-30 min). We arrived at the school and went straight into the teachers’ lounge where we put our coats and bags away and then headed to our first class of the day. I reviewed the schedule that Anna had given me and saw that our first period of the day was 4B or fourth grade. We got settled into the classroom and students started to arrive, very tall students. I told Anna, “WOW! They are so big!! How old are they?” She replied very casually, “16 and 17 years old.” I was shocked because I thought the students were going to be 10 years old!!! Apparently 4B is considered secondary school at my school! It turned out to be a pleasant surprise as they had many “preguntas,” which means questions in Spanish, for me which made it entertaining! After being with what would be juniors in high school in Texas, we went to Pre-K classes with 3-5-year olds. This transition went from getting asked what my Instagram was from the 17-year old’s to having a group hug of 28 pre-kindergarteners. It was now lunch/siesta time which in Spain is a break where you leave the school from 1pm-3pm. Hailey and I met at a café and enjoyed lunch together. For the end of the school day, I was with (true) third and fifth graders. They had many questions and comments about me which made the afternoon very enjoyable for us all. I got told that I “look like I am from TikTok,” which made me laugh! Overall, I had such a wonderful first day and am already looking forward to tomorrow and the next three weeks!
WEEK TWO
February 5, 2020
Hugs, songs, and letters galore!
​
I started out my day with some little 5 year olds in the preschool. I was greeted with a million hugs and even some kisses on the cheek which is very typical for the culture here! In the preschool classes, they have a "Super" for each day. The "Super" gets to where a crown all day and helps lead the teacher in the morning routine which includes taking attendance, saying good morning to each student in English, deciding what the weather is for that day, etc. I love this because it makes each child feel very special and is engaging for the whole class. After this, it is typical to sing some songs. Every day we have sang what they call the "hello" song! The kiddos LOVE it! We sang and danced all around the classroom. It reminds me very much of our preschools at home. After, we practiced actions such as jumping, walking, running, turning around, sitting, and even waddling like a penguin! Another thing that is interesting is that the students wear a uniform (that is kept at school) that buttons up and has their names stitched on. After even more hugs goodbye, Anna and I ventured over to the primary and secondary school to a fourth grade class. In this class, the students are reading the book "Smile" in English. They read two chapters independently today. I then followed Anna's partner English teacher, Meiria to a second grade class. I noticed that most of the students were completing their activity using cursive handwriting. As Meiria and I got to talking, I learned that in Spain, cursive is taught first and then follows the teaching of manuscript. We started writing our forms of cursive letters on the board. Some were a little different like a cursive "m" for us has two humps but in Catalan, it has three humps. In America, we also are taught how to write cursive capital letters, which Meiria had never even heard of. This was very fun and shocking to us both. This turned into some of the students writing on the board but in their home language. I had two of my little boys from China write their names in Chinese on the board. I enjoyed watching them do this and I could tell it made them feel happy based on their big smiles while doing so. Overall, it was another lovely and eye-opening day!
WEEK THREE
FEBRUARY 10-11, 2020
P.E., animals, and transports, oh my!
​
MONDAY:
When it comes to getting a substitute teacher at my school, it is the responsibility of the other school teachers to cover the class when they have an open period. Because of this, Anna and I got assigned to substitute for the 3rd grade Physical Education class in the afternoon. We took the students out to the open concrete courtyard. We pulled out some materials such as soccer balls (football), basketballs, hula-hoops, cones, etc. Anna and I's P.E. class ended up being an extra recess for the kiddos. They were incredibly active, worked well together, and had smiles all around! I decided to bring out my "inner kid,"and joined in on the fun. A couple of students and I found small hula-hoops and played with them like frisbees. We had what we called "frisbee races" for 45 minutes straight! One of my students with autism is not typically very social. That is, until you play frisbees with him! My sweet friend played in a big group, was laughing and talking to the others and was completely enjoying himself. It touched my heart as well as Anna's. With all of the fun I had, I'd like to substitute for P.E. more often!
​
TUESDAY:
I spent a lot of my day in the Pre-Kindergarten classes, The main focus of our classes was discussing animals in the 2-3 year old class and transports in the 4-5 year old class. The 2-3 year olds learned about animals by practicing with flashcards and having the kiddos repeat the animals name and making the sounds and actions of each one. The 4-5 year olds learned about different types of transports by watching a short video and then playing "transport dominoes." I worked with a small group of 4 students which made it easier to explain in depth proper playing of the game. The students caught on quick and were able to to work fast and hard while kindly helping each other. We were able to make three different domino boards. It was fun to see the lightbulbs go off when they realized their were multiple ways to connect all of the dominoes together! While playing, we reviewed the transports on the dominos and made sound effects which made it very fun! Another day in the books for Ms. Hays!
