Marvelous Monday Morning at Mar Bella

Today I (finally) started working in Col-legio Mar Bella (also known as Mar Bella Elementary School). After a brief transportation snafu (I didn´t really know what bus stop to get off at and overshot - good thing I walk fast), I arrived at 9, just as all the kids and their parents were lining up outside the school gates. Some things are exactly the same - all the little kids had Hello Kitty, Disney and FC Barcelona backpacks, the sixth graders had those annyoing wheely backpacks, with which they were running over everyone´s feet.

I walked inside and found Ángels and Ángels, the two English instructors at the school. They introduced me to a couple key people, including the vice principal. She asked me questions in Catalan, I responded in Castellano, and was told I could only speak English while in the classroom. Oy vey.

First I worked with a class of first graders. Within the last few years, Halloween has become an actual holiday in Spain (for totally commercial reasons), but prior to that, it´s always been celebrated in English classes. The class was learning different vocabulary, like "witch" and "spider," and making little booklets to help them along. I sat down with a boy named Guillem, who showed me his coloring and started spèaking in Catalan. "Guillem," a nearby little girl said (also in Catalan), "Ángels SAID she only speaks English." (Obviously they believed that and I was pretty good at pretending I had no idea what was going on.) "I know that," Guillem responded, "but I´m going to teach her."

My favorite part about six year olds though: every little girl came and hugged my legs at the end of the hour.

Next I headed to a very rambunctious third grade class, where we practiced the song they´ll be singing at the Halloween party on Friday. They were getting antsy though - at 11 am they have "breakfast" (sandwiches brought from home) and play extremely physical fútbol on the playground.

Between classes, I had a chance to sit down with the two Ángels and talk about future classes. I´m really glad this program actually allows me to help coordinate what I do. When I worked in a bilingual classroom in Providence, I showed up, stood there and did what I was told. I felt like I was helping - but only to a degree. Here, I get to actually influence what we do during the hours I´m in the classroom.

To finish off my morning I went to a classroom of sixth graders. They were shyer about speaking at first, but by the end, had warmed up to me. All they wanted to know (once they found out where I´m from) is whether I had ever seen any famous people. I named a couple of my more obscure celeb sightings, but what they really wanted to know is whether I have ever seen the Jonas Brothers.

It was actually a challenge to NOT speak any Spanish, especially with everyone around me rattling away in a combination of Catalan and Castellano. I had to think really hard about what to say before I started speaking in English. One of the Ángels said she felt more self-conscious speaking English to the class with me there, and I understand the feeling. Right now I´m in the UPF library about to walk into my social theory class, where I am mildly terrified of raising my hand because I don´t even know what´s going to come out. But if I can teach a bunch of elementary school kids how to speak English, maybe Guillem and his friends can teach me to speak Catalan too. Maybe.