Alosno (Pronunciation: a-LOW-snow)

Alosno: population of 4,000, located 45 minutes north of Huelva by car, one primary school, one secondary school. Talk about a small town out in the boondocks. I ride with my language coordinator Rocío everyday, and I've been working there for three weeks now. I work three days a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which means a four day weekend every week! Besides the stellar schedule, I am happy to say that I absolutely love it!! I work with kids ages 3-12, and they are intrigued by me...a new teacher from the United States whose Spanish is WAY different from their Spanish, and who is teaching them English! I am greeted with a chorus of "hello teacher!" everyday, from the shy and bold students alike. Since I'm just an assistant, I don't actually teach full lessons. The truth is, they don't actually ask me to do much at all...I walk into the classrooms, most of the time having no idea what they're studying at the moment, and am asked to do various English tasks with the kids. This is frustrating at times, because I feel like more of a hindrance than anything, but the students seem to enjoy my presence--and since I enjoy their's, I can't complain! I work with the fourth grade class the most, and they just happen to be the WORST behaved class in the entire school, not including the 3 year olds of course. However, the difference in their bad behavior and that of other children I've worked with in America is that in no way is it malicious. Most of the time they're loud and unruly because they're excited about something...and I'll take a loud interested class over a quiet apathetic one any day! I have a feeling that as time goes on I will be more involved and have more responsibility, so I'm just taking things in stride. In addition to my job in Alosno, I have also picked up two private classes teaching English to two different 7 year olds an hour a week. These classes are great because we just get to have English fun for an hour and then I get paid cash on the spot. I also got a job teaching English in an academy! I teach a B1 class and a B2 class, which are just different levels according to the European standard. The classes are an hour and a half long each on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I'm teaching people my own age, which is new for me! I love these classes, because I feel like I'm imparting knowledge with peers as opposed to lecturing a class. The pay from these classes will pay for my rent each month, and the private classes will pay for gas to and from Alosno! It was amazing how easy it was to get these jobs. With "la crisis" in Spain, everyone is desperate to learn English so that they will be more desirable job candidates. And I must say, I'm happy to help!