Auxiliares Round Two: Re-Applying to the Program for Next Year

Copied below is my Letter of Motivation to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC),  part of the Spanish national government. I have decided to re-apply to this program for the upcoming academic year, as my experience as an auxiliary has been both fulfilling and enriching. Because I am applying directly through MEC, I will not be a part of CIEE, the organization to which I applied for the current semester. I have listed my top preference as Madrid, though I would not mind returning to Malaga. There are, however, many places in Spain where I have not been, so I suppose it is best to keep an open mind. 

A quien corresponda:

Soy Luke Tecson. Actualmente estoy trabajando como auxiliar de conversación en un instituto, y me gustaría renovar para el año siguiente. Mis experiencias como auxiliar me han dado una perspectiva nueva y rica, y por eso tengo ganas de volver. 

Mi carrera universitaria la enfoqué hacia las relaciones internacionales. Siempre he tenido interés en conocer otras culturas y sociedades, y en mi tercer año aproveché la oportunidad de vivir en el extranjero. Permanecí en Madrid dos meses, y después en Marbella durante seis semanas. Era la primera vez en que vivía en otro país. Desde entonces, yo ya sabía que me dedicaría a la búsqueda del conocimiento que te da ver otras maneras de vivir.

Como auxiliar, he disfrutado con los profesores y los alumnos. A través de las clases, he observado las habilidades de los alumnos; han hecho progresos, y bien vale el esfuerzo. 

Estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad de trabajar con personas tan agradables. Los profesores de Litoral me han aconsejado sobre varios temas, incluyendo vacaciones, sitios de Málaga en los que se puede pasar bien, zonas peligrosas, el comportamiento de los alumnos, y mucho más. Ya hemos hablado de política, de cultura, de los problemas de sociedad, y sobre las diferencias entre el sistema de educación en España y el de los Estados Unidos. Sin duda, me gustaría renovar mi estancia como auxiliar para poder aprender y seguir conociendo  al maravilloso estilo de vida de España. 

Atentamente, 

Luke Tecson

A Week in Portugal

Apologies for the long delay in posts.

Two weeks ago was Semana Blanca in Malaga. I learned from my students that the holiday has no special significance, and it owes its existence to the mere fact that most of the provincial holidays occur during the summer (each province has its own holidays). Since Malaga's holidays fall during the summer, Semana Blanca was created by the Junta de Andalucia to ensure that students in Malaga get the same number of holidays as students in other parts of the state of Andalucia (to be clear, the city of Malaga is located in a province of the same name, which in turn is located in the state of Andalucia). The shorter version of this is that I got a week off from classes.

Taking advantage of this holiday, I decided to travel to neighboring Portugal, a country that I have wanted to visit for some time. I flew from Madrid to Lisbon, which is somehow in a different time zone (there is an explanation for why this has happened, though I don't know the facts well enough to convey what happened. I do know that it was initiated by the dictator Francisco Franco in order to be in sync with Nazi Germany). Excited to be in a new country, I neglected to follow basic travel protocol, and promptly was charged 38 euros for a ride from the airport to the Traveller's House, my hostel in Baixa. To put this into perspective, when I returned to the airport at the end of my journey I took the metro, which cost less than two euros.

Nevertheless, Lisbon was a fantastic city. The hostel proved to be in a phenomenal location, in the middle of the Bairro Alto (Lisbon's center for nightlife), Chiado (Lisbon's most famous cultural zone), and Alfama, a historic neighborhood that contains the Castle of Sao Jorge, as well as numerous fado bars, fado being the melancholy, sentimental style of music that is as culturally significant to Portugal as flamenco is to Spain.

Traveller's House was an excellent establishment, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in traveling to Lisbon on a budget. The desk attendant, Joao, was incredibly helpful in suggesting tours, giving directions, and even preparing a superb authentic Portuguese meal for us! The hostel also organized nighttime activities for its guests, which enabled me to meet some very cool people from all over the world.

The meal that Joao prepared.

One of the people I met, Dustin, was a fellow American who  had been traveling through Spain, Portugal and Morocco for the past four months. We spent an afternoon together walking around Alfama, and he gave me a few recommendations for day trips from Lisbon. Lisbon in very hilly, though it does not show on a map. By the end of the day, it is likely that we traveled a greater distance in terms of elevation than in a linear direction.

Dustin, from Arizona. He isn't one for photographs, so this is a rare sighting.

The next day I visited a few of the museums. Portugal was once a great empire as well as the most dominant navy in the world, so my first stop was the Naval Museum. Thanks to Joao's advice, on the day that I went there I got to tour all of the museums free of charge. I also included the Jeronimo Monastery on my tour, where I saw the tomb of the explorer Vasco de Gama, known for being the first European explorer to reach India by sea.

The next day I took the metro to the other side of the city, where I visited the Oceanarium of Lisbon, the largest indoor aquarium in Europe. It was a beautiful day, so I was hesitant about spending most of it inside, but I was not disappointed. It was worth it just to see the seascapes, which could be viewed from above and below the surface.

Outside the Oceanarium on a beautiful day

In the middle of the week, I took a day trip to Sintra, a site just outside of Lisbon, about 45 minutes by train. Sintra is where the Royal Family built a palace as a retreat. Centuries prior, the Moors had already established a fortress in Sintra, as early as the 8th or 9th century. Most significant was the Pena National Palace, as well as the Quinta da Regaleira, a massive park that features lakes, lagoons, hidden caves and spiral staircases, fountains, a chapel and several grottos. Walking through the park feels like being in the pages of Alice in Wonderland. Were it not for the other attractions of Sintra, I could have easily spent an entire day there.

Sintra was pretty difficult to top, so the next day I took a train to the city of Porto. It is about two and a half hours, being in the north (Lisbon is toward the south). Porto proved to be distinct from Lisbon, with a beautiful Ribeira that was very pleasant. Porto is also famous for its wine, which is exported all across the world. During one very mellow afternoon, I went to a wine tasting, where I drank three glasses of wine in the span of approximately forty-five minutes. Then I went on a wine tour, where I was offered another two glasses at the end (I tasted them, but was unable to finish either).

Above: The Rebeira
Below: The Calem Winery

My stay in Porto lasted only one night. I went out that night with a group comprised of Germans, French, Brazilians, and one crazy Spanish guy, and we ended up at a disco where we were basically one of only three large groups (to be fair, it was a Wednesday night).

The next day, back in Lisbon, I had a low key day, which was quite welcome, as I was rather tired from traveling. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see some of Lisbon's youth celebrating carnival (they were celebrating it in Spain as well, which I found out the next night when I returned). There is no better way to end a vacation with a bunch of wild people in costume dancing in the streets.

Happy Semana Blanca, everyone!

Meet the Students

I do not know the precise level of noise that can be generated by a small group of primera de ESO students, but judging from the students before me it is the rough equivalent in decibels of a jet engine.  Rafa alone is loud enough to be heard several classrooms away, and combined with his peers he could   probably go to a heavy metal concert and drown out the performers. In another of my classes is a boy whose name I don't know, mostly because he insists on being called "Jetty," the Spanish word for the infamous ape-like cryptic that we call Yeti. Little Napoleon, a student of mine who resembles a thirteen year old version of the French Emperor in both appearance and stature, has mastered the standard greeting: "How are you?" He practices with me in the hallways every time we pass each other. Then there is The Lopexx, who is unique among my students for both abiding by a title with a definite article and for including his YouTube channel on his name tag, although he is not the only one who has his own channel. Little Napoleon also apparently has a YouTube channel, and last week he triumphantly claimed to have five thousand followers. 

"Five thousand!" he affirmed, after I asked him to repeat the number. "Five thousand followers!"

The student sitting behind him waved for my attention, holding up two fingers.

"Two followers," said the other student. "He only has two."

Meanwhile, in tercera de ESO, we continued our game of mimica, the name in Spanish of Charades. This game, while relatively straightforward, has had its complications. Most of the difficulty comes from simple errors in translation, though illegible handwriting is also a factor. Recently, I had to ask one of my young students to clarify what she was trying to say. On her card, she had written: I am going to the 200. 

"What do you mean to say here?" I asked. "I am going to the 200."

"I am going to the zoo," she replied. 

"Oh...right..."

But it isn't all fun and games in IES Litoral. As part of a unit on describing the community and landmarks, I had my students create and present their own towns. They were instructed to brainstorm different buildings important to a community, and then to work in groups to design their towns. Among the most important buildings was the school, the library and the soccer stadium. Among the least important buildings was the bank. Once they had finished designing the town, they presented their work to the rest of the class. One student, Juan Pauli, was especially pleased with his community. 

"I will call it Chernobyl," he said proudly. 

In another class, love is in the air. 

"Claudia is my girlfriend," declared Eduardo, pointing to the wide-eyed girl sitting beside him who was vigorously shaking her head. 

"No," said Claudia. "It's a lie."

More recently, I met Aula, an American student who is doing a year long exchange program at Litoral. No one had bothered to tell me that there was an American exchange student at our school. 

"You know," I said to Aula. "Your English is very good."

"Well, I am from Texas," said Aula. 

I have eleven classes, and approximately 250 students. Since I only see them once a week, I am still in the process of learning all of there names. In all seriousness, it is a privilege to work with these students, even those who do not put in much effort. Many of my students express a strong desire to learn English, and those students are the ones who make this experience so rewarding. Though there are students who likely will not show much improvement at the end of the year, there are others who work very hard and consistently express interest in acquiring new language skills. I can only hope that, by the end of my time here, I will have enriched their lives in the same way that they have enriched mine. 

I Love The Nightlife

The most difficult part about Spanish nightlife is not staying out all night. It is waking up the next day and realizing that it is already three in the afternoon. Here in Malaga, as in the rest of Spain, the Spanish regularly stay out on weekends until six or seven in the morning. Returning home at three a.m. is an early hour for them, and not necessarily one that they only see on Fridays and Saturdays. Nightlife is an integral part of Spanish culture, and they have made it an art like no other culture in the world.

Thanks to the flourishing language exchange scene, it is very easy for foreigners, especially those fluent in English, to meet locals and other foreigners in Malaga. The language exchanges are held at local bars in the center of Malaga, and are usually organized so that participants speak to each other for one hour in Spanish and then one hour in English. One of the best exchanges, or intercambios, is through the Pachange network. I have attended this exchange several times, and through it I have met Spaniards, other auxiliares, and nationals of other European countries. Pachange meets every Monday and Friday, and on Fridays the groups often go out for drinks after the exchange. On Wednesdays, there is an exchange at Casa Invisible, and Morrissey's holds an exchange of their own on Thursday evenings. If one were to look hard enough, attending an exchange every night of the week would not be out of the question.

Beyond the exchanges hosted by local bars, there are also numerous websites such as conversationexchange.com through which I have met locals here in the city. One of these individuals, David (in the photo below), has become a friend of mine. This past weekend he took me to some of the more popular bars in Malaga, in particular those where many of the students and young people hang out.

Through one of my roommates, Scott, I have also met more of the auxiliares based in Malaga. Though only two of us from the January orientation came to Malaga, more than one hundred auxiliares were placed in the province last September. I also have encountered US students on study abroad programs, and European students who are participating in the Erasmus program.

Right now it is still winter in Malaga, which means that it is sometimes rainy and windy. Compared to Chicago, however, the winter is very mild. Still, one of the other auxiliaries yesterday informed me that many Spaniards go out less during the winter, and that once the weather becomes more agreeable over the next few weeks, more people will meet up by the beach. I am very excited for this experience.

The upcoming week of classes should be relatively uneventful. Of the eleven classes that I teach, only one is difficult to manage. Since the other teachers give me so much autonomy, I plan to prepare a lesson on the Olympics in Sochi. Here in Malaga, the Olympics are being overshadowed by the Copa del Rey, a national basketball tournament that has overtaken the entire city. Since I don't follow basketball even in the United States, I am not much interested in the Copa del Rey. The Olympics are much more exciting, though I have not yet been able to watch many of the events, as NBC's content is not available outside the US. Hopefully, my students will find it interesting.

The Fact and the Fiction of Teaching English at IES Litoral

CIEE Staff: You will never be alone with the students. You are there to serve as an assistant, so you will always be in the same room as the teacher.

Reality: I have been alone with the students in nearly every single one of the 11 classes that I teach. IES Litoral's teaching staff favors dividing the students into two groups, with one group remaining with the teacher and the other being led by the auxiliar. This means that, in practice, I spend half of each class with half of the students, and then switch with the teacher to work with the other half. The teacher and I are never in the same room with each other.

CIEE Staff: You do not have to worry about disciplining the students. Since you are an assistant, the teacher is responsible for dealing with problematic students. This is not your responsibility. 

Reality: On my second day of teaching, the bilingual coordinator informed me that I should send any student who is misbehaving to the detention room. Not only have I been given the authority to deal with misbehaving students; it is part of my responsibilities as an auxiliar.

CIEE Staff: The teacher will design the lesson plans. All you will need to do is help implement the lesson with the students. 

Reality: IES Litoral views the auxiliar as an opportunity for students to speak with a native English speaker. As such, they do not care what I teach, as long as the students are speaking with me. In practice, this means that I am responsible for designing my own lessons, though they do not necessarily need to match those of the teacher.

In truth, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Welcome to Spain.

The Start of a Long Stay in Málaga

"¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,una sombra, una ficción,y el mayor bien es pequeño;que toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños, sueños son."

Pedro Calderon de la Barca

It is a sunny afternoon in the Spanish port city of Malaga. Locals and tourists walk up and down the main promenade of Larios, a pedestrian boulevard that runs due north from the Alameda Principal, Malaga's main road. After around one hundred meters from Alameda, Larios branches into three separate roads. The road that veers right leads to the Alcazaba, an old Moorish fortress that once protected the city. The road that leads straight will bring pedestrians to the Plaza de la Constitucion, an open plaza located in the heart of the zona historica, Malaga's old city. The third branch leads left, veering slightly to the west before curving again to the north. Along this road are many shops and cafes, offering everything from bookstores to cosmetics to footwear. At one point along this road is an unremarkable side street called Calderon de la Barca. On this street is located the apartment that I now call home. 

I have now been in Spain since the sixth of January. After arriving in Madrid, I took the Renfe, the Spanish high speed train, to Sevilla, where I met up with approximately thirty or so participants in the CIEE Teach English Abroad program. For the next five months we will serve as auxiliary teaching staff to high school students throughout Andalucia, the southernmost state of Spain. Having applied to start in January, we are coming to Spain midway through the academic year, and will be replacing individuals who left their schools at the conclusion of the first term. I was told that overall there are 999 auxiliaries serving the Junta de Andalucia. This number includes us, the auxiliaries already here, and more personnel serving as language assistants from other countries besides the United States. 

Of the thirty individuals in the Seville orientation, only one other individual will be based with me in Malaga. The rest will serve in such cities as Sevilla, Granada, Huelva, Marbella, Cordoba and Cadiz. Though it is reassuring to have a network of contacts in place in case I wish to travel throughout Andalucia, my own personal goal for this program is to master the Spanish language. Time that is spent traveling will reduce the amount of time that I can spend interacting with Spanish nationals in Malaga, something that I must do incessantly in order to become fluent. 

For the past two weeks, I have been serving as a classroom assistant at IES Litoral, a bilingual high school based in the outskirts of Malaga. The Spanish system of education differs from its US counterpart, most notably in its structure. Institute, or ESO, contains students as young as 12 through students at the age of 16. Following ESO, the Spanish have Bachillerato, a two year program for students aged 17 and 18 that prepares them for academic study at the university level. The other noteworthy difference is the disintegration of extracurricular activities from their academic institution, which leaves Spanish students without any strong identity to their school. During the first two weeks at Litoral, I prepared a presentation on the athletic and fine arts programs at my own high school in Downers Grove, Illinois. I believe that the fine arts video, produced by the Downers Grove North Fine Arts Department, made a very good impression on the students at IES Litoral. 

I am now at the point where I can refocus my energy on building a social circle and pursuing my hobbies. At first, it was difficult to find an apartment, as I was limited by my mediocre linguistic abilities. Fortunately, I have now found a nice apartment in an outstanding location. My roommates consist of Eva, a 26 year old Malaga native, Yannis, a 17 year old Moroccan architecture student from Casablanca, and Scott, a 25 year old American from South Dakota, who coincidentally happens to be another one of the auxiliaries assigned to Malaga. 

Beyond finding an apartment, I was also successful in obtaining a Spanish mobile SIM card (data plans are much cheaper than in the United States), opening a bank account, and joining a gym. Last Wednesday I went to a class called body combat, which seemed to be loosely based on a blend of boxing, footwork, karate and tai chi. 

Through such sites as Conversation Exchange and Pachange, I have also attended several language exchanges. These are a good way to practice another language with a native speaker. They are also excellent for meeting new people and making friends. Last week I established a few contacts, and after an evening of sending out messages I was pleasantly surprised to have 11 responses on Conversation Exchange. I have also found that many of the Irish Pubs in Malaga leverage their English speaking clientele and host language exchanges in the evenings. Combined with the fact that they serve my favorite drink (Magners Cider, the greatest ever), I believe that such exchanges, whether through the internet or through local bars, will provide me with the best opportunity to make connections during my time in Malaga. 

I am very excited to be in Spain. Though this is not my first time in this country, I hope that these months will provide me with an opportunity to re-evaluate my personal goals and take some time to appreciate freedom and youth in a part of the world that is renowned for its tranquility and grace. The Costa del Sol, or Sun Coast, in which Malaga is located, is renowned for its Mediterranean climate, with long, warm summers and short, mild winters. Being here is a reminder of what life can be, and how each day can be so rich and fulfilling. Today, like all days, is another great day to be in Malaga.