First Day of School!

I had started to believe that I was just here on vacation... things didn't seem permanent until we started school. Now, our favorite saying at ASM is that "work is getting in the way of all our fun!" Somehow (as I'm sure you can believe...) we still manage to have a lot of fun even if we are working long days (leave the house at 7am, get home at 6pm). I've never been a big fan of spending lots of time in transit, whether that be in a car, bus or train. So... the one hour commute to work has been tiring to get used to but as time goes on, I'm sure it will become easier. I have the metro and bus system down to a science but only the lines that get me to and from school. Ask me to get anywhere else in the city and it's like looking at a map from another planet; it's a very intricate subway system. (Fun Fact: Madrid built the entire subway system to bolster their chances of winning the 2012 Olympic bid. They did not win but are trying for 2016, as is evident by all of the signs scattered about the city. Boston could learn a lesson or two from Spain's engineers.)

Annual First Day of School Pic!

And so begins another school year. I am teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at ASM this year and looking forward to all of the classes for various reasons. I am piloting a new book for my 6th grade class which has been controversial in the States so we will see how well it is received in Spain. My 7th grade class is Pre-Algebra and since I don't have a book I will be able to use many of the same lessons and activities that I used with my students in Puerto Rico (less lesson planning, yay!). Finally, my 3 students in my 8th grade class will be piloting a new online program where they do a majority of their lessons and assignments on the computer. Luckily our school has an extraordinary number of computers so it shouldn't be too tricky to accomplish this. Although my students don't know it yet, I'll be learning the program right along with them!

In the short amount of time I have spent with my students I have found them to be polite and well mannered, from age 4 up to 18. We have a 33/33/33 mixture of kids at ASM; 33% from Spain, 33% from the US, and 33% from other countries. This makes for an extremely diverse setting. In one class alone I have 6 students from Spain, 5 from the US, 2 from France, 1 from England, 1 from Japan, 2 from Korea, 1 from Sweden and 1 from Egypt. Imagine the language abilities of these students! What I've found is that the foreign students are either American military or Embassy children. The Spanish children come from extremely elite families not only in Madrid but all over Spain (I spoke with one nanny today, saw a butler of another student, and had a professional soccer player and basketball player drop their kids off... what?!?!) As time goes by, who knows what will be in store but for now, I am overly impressed with the students' enthusiasm for school, their speaking abilities, and their overall awareness of the world around them. Never have I seen such an accepting group of young minds-- if only schools everywhere could be like this.

I look forward, as always, to another exciting year. But as with most teachers, I also look forward to all our wonderful breaks that allow us to stay sane and employed! Here are a few pics of my classroom, enjoy! Besos, Linds

Front of the Classroom

Back of the Classroom

Side wall