I have had an amazing year in Spain. I’ve lived abroad (properly) for the first time, I’ve travelled more than I ever have and I’ve met some fantastic people. But more importantly, I’ve loved my job. I moved here thinking teaching English could be pretty cool, but it has been so much more than that.
I’m so lucky I found my place in CP Peñalta. So lucky I was accepted and valued from day one. So lucky I got to have an amazing school year with them.
So without too much crying, here are the 5 highlights of my amazing year at this fantastic school.
- Special Activities.
Spain in general, but it seems especially this school, is big on celebrating. We’ve had so many fantastic parties and events. We’ve had Dia de la Paz (Peace Day), Halloween, a cultural week and even a water party on the last day to top it all off. For Halloween, we all dressed up and the teachers ran fun workshops, like touch and feel, craft making and a dance class. I made little masks with gorgeous 4-6-year-olds, which was certainly a challenge! During the Semana Cultural (Culture Week), we had a day filled with English workshops where we watched magic tricks, danced and banged homemade musical instruments so hard that they could hear us in Madrid! Our water party on the last day of school was great too, as we chucked wet sponges at the kids and got soaked in return. Thank goodness it was hot!
I have two favourite activities that we did – Carnival and St Patrick’s Day. Carnival was the first time I’ve dressed up properly in years, I made a costume that I was proud of, and then danced through the streets of this little town with 300 children. It was both mad and wonderful. St Patrick’s day was special for me too, as Lucky the Leprechaun made a visit and did crafts with the kids. Watching the kids’ faces as they saw me dressed up and them pulling at my beard trying to prove it was me was hilarious. As someone who doesn’t particularly like St. Patrick’s Day, it was my best one in years!
- School Trips.
We took the kids on so many trips this year too, so many I’ll probably forget one! We started off big with an overnight trip to an adventure centre in November, bringing 1st-4th grade (6-10 years old). It was fantastic, though the teachers didn´t have much to do other that watch the kids have fun!
We also went to a children´s science museum in Madrid, which was fantastic, and a Primates rescue reserve which was so interesting. The kids were so good it was easy to bring them anywhere! We also had a few trips close to home, going for the day to a little forest nearby to do whole school games at the end of the cultural week and spending the afternoon in a park just for the fun of it at the end of the year. It was so much fun to play with the kids and just enjoy their company.
- Teacher Time
I also really enjoyed spending time with the teachers when we had downtime. From day one with our Friday lunches I felt included and wanted, an apparently rare experience for many auxiliars. The overnight trip to the adventure centre meant I got to know some of the lovely teachers I didn’t work with, which I really enjoyed. I also went to a big joint birthday party, an “Irish” dinner, a random book publishers promo night and had many other mini parties at my lovely friend Maria’s house.
I really loved our trip to the wine festival though, that was a big highlight. An effort was made to invite myself and Cathy (another key highlight of my year as my partner in crime) and it was lovely to feel so included. It was great to relax and chat with the other teachers, both at the festival and afterwards at lunch. These moments are a great way to get to know the other staff better and chill as adults without kids coming in every 20 seconds!
- Christmas
Christmas was probably the best of the previous two highlights – a great day with the kids and the teachers. With the kids, the day started off with a visit from a Royal Page. Here in Spain, the kids get their presents from the 3 Wise Men who visited Baby Jesus and presented him with gifts. Of course, the Kings don’t have time to talk to every child individually, so they send Royal Pages in their place to ask the children what they would like. This was so sweet, as I haven’t had a children’s Christmas in quite a while and it really is so magical. After the pages were informed, we had the Christmas Concert, where all the different age groups sang and the teachers even joined in. It really was so much fun!
After all the fun with the kids, us teachers headed across the road to our normal restaurant and sat down to a feast. Afterwards, the party really kicked off, with 5 hours of karaoke which was hilarious. It was a fantastic night, one of my favourites from this year, and I’m so glad I went. I have our end of year dinner coming up this week, and after Christmas, I have high expectations!
- Everything
To be honest, writing these highlights has been difficult because everything this year was wonderful. Yes, of course, there were some children who need to learn some manners and some days I just didn’t feel like being there, but every day had a brightness. There was a moment every day when I knew I had made the best decision in the world to come to Spain and that I had been so incredibly lucky to have been placed in this amazing school. As I wrote a thank you card to my coordinator this week, I broke down crying at the realisation that my life has truly changed because of this year. Since coming to this school, I made a decision I thought I’d never make to become a teacher and I’ll be starting a masters to be a History and Spanish Secondary School teacher in August. Without this year, I don’t know if I would have ended up on this path which I’m so excited to begin.
So I just want to take this moment to be incredibly grateful for this year and for all those who helped and supported me during my time in CP Peñalta. To all the teachers with their reassuring smiles, all the children with their endless hugs and all the friends who I hope I’ll know forever. Thank you for an amazing year, and don’t worry, I’ll be back to visit very very soon. Thank you CP Peñalta, truly from the bottom of my heart.
From Meath to Madrid 