I just got off the phone with the math teacher after the latest little fiasco. I am so very very tired of dealing with this issue.
I used to feel a little bad for her; you know, first year teacher, big bad classroom.
Not so much now.
Two words come to mind to describer her:
Arrogant
and worse still,
Unteachable.
'nuff said.
5 comments:
An unteachable teacher - not a good mix.
Did you have any degree of success???
With that combination, she WON'T go very far! Too bad!
Being teachable and humble are very attractive qualities in any human being in my book!
I've been reading your blog with a lot of interest as my family (wife and pre-teen daughter) will be moving to Spain (Madrid). I've really learned a lot, but I still have questions and since it seems your eldest may close in age to my daughter (12 going on 13 and entering the 7th grade) I was hoping you might take the time to answer them.
1. We've heard a lot about the hours spaniards keep and are wondering does that extend to children during the week when school is in session?
2. What is a typical day like at school?
3. Did your daughter have problems with the language? Was she able to speak Catalan beforehand?
I guess that's it for now, I have a thousand questions of course. If you'd rather you can email your answer to me cocolema@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Cosby
Beth, with that woman specifically, I suspect none. Talk about a brick wall.
Grrrrrr.
She, no she won't. Her contract is not being renewed. Everyone from the superintendant down has visited her class and NOTHING is changing, and she assured me that everything is going just tickity-boo.
Hmmmmmmmm.
Cosby, Whew, that is almost worth a whole post, which I should copy over to expat blogs....
I'll give a quick and dirty, although things might alter in many ways in Madrid, as Catalonia is an autonomous region.
1. The hours, I would say that in general, yes. The kids here go to bed fairly late and go to bed on the weekend really late. If you are planning on being here through her later teenage years, you will have to brace yourself because your 16 year old may not be coming home till the morning, as in 11am or so. The clubs don't open till at least 1am, as everyone is home with their families eating before that.
That said, we don't really do that. People think we are nuts, but youngest usually crashes out around 9:30 and Eldest has started putting herself to bed at 10:00, though we were letting her stay up till 10:30.
School hours, again there may be considerable variation....Eldest in 1st of ESO goes to school from 8:45 through 1:45 with a half hour break, then is back from 3:15 to 5:15. Wednesdays she doesn't go back after lunch, nor Fridays, and on Fridays she finished at 1pm. The day is LONG.
The Catalans have their own curriculum, but they love love love memorisation, and I think that is a little universal.
You have an advantage in Madrid as there is only one language for your daughter to learn....not a small thing frankly, but we have received a lot of help here.
There are also three types of schools, at least here in Cat....public, which is completely as we think, though you have to buy all the books every year and it is pricey. semi-private, which is usually associated with the church, though not strongly, and usually runs around 100€ a month and totally private which runs around 500€ per month.
The girls arrived with almost no Catalan and it has honestly been difficult for them. There were days when they were absolutely mentally exhausted when they returned home. Absolutely.
I don't want to discourage you at all, but it will be a lot of work for her, just so you know. The more Spanish she can possibly learn before going the better. Honestly...learn as much as she possibly can. Immersion if possible.....Spanish camps, lessons, intensive courses for teens, anything. She may hate it now, or not, but it will make her life a LOT better once she is there.
Ask away, and I may write a post out of this comment.
Cheers,
O
Thanks so very much! We know it will be difficult for her, but we'll have help from family (mine) and we've started her on daily spanish lessons already. Hopefully it will all work out as we are planning this to be a permanent move for us.
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