This Year at San Clemente by Jason Lee Schaefer.

Another year has passed at IES San Clemente, and the first thing I have to say is that it ended on a much more positive note than the previous year.

As I wrote last May, the Coronavirus pandemic caused an abrupt end to the 2019-20 school year, sending most of us home from mid-March until the start of the summer. I had really enjoyed my stay thus far at San Clemente in 2019-20 and the year felt too short. This was one of the reasons I decided to stay at San Clemente for a second year.

San Clemente’s policy for the 2020-21 school year was to have half of the students attend lessons remotely. This was to keep the students and teachers safe and let the school remain open for the whole year. The policy was successful, but as all the teachers and students at San Clemente would probably tell you, it brought about its own share of challenges. 

For example, It was sometimes difficult to have class discussions which would keep the whole class engaged. It also was impossible to play some of the speaking games and activities that involved students moving around the classroom or separating into close discussion groups. 

Yet, despite these obstacles, we all learned new ways to keep the students engaged and discovered new online and technological resources that helped us to teach in new ways. While many students and teachers, including myself, have complaints about teaching from home, sometimes it proved to make smaller group discussions with students a bit more relaxed and informal when everyone was at home attending the Google Meet. 

Overall, I look back on the 2020-21 school year as a very positive experience. I got to work alongside great professors like Rachel, Eva, Bruno, and Carrión for another year. I also had the pleasure of working alongside Cristina Paris for the first time this year. I also had the privilege of meeting and teaching alongside Ismael and Chema this year as well for their first year at San Clemente. Additionally, after the second year students finished their exams, I had the opportunity to hold small, informal English conversation lessons both at the school and online with the staff at San Clemente. This gave me the chance to meet many of the other great teachers I didn’t have a chance to meet before and also get to know some of the teachers I’d worked alongside this year better. 

En conclusión, primeiro quero dar as grazas a todos os profesores cos que traballei este ano. Igualmente, quixera agradecer aos estudantes o feito de que tivesen tanta paciencia e souberan superar as dificultades tecnolóxicas que conleva a ensinanza en remoto e tamén por traballar duro nas clases de inglés e nas sesións de Etwinning. Non quixera esquecer o meu agradecemento á dirección do instituto que me permitiu estar outro ano en San Clemente e toda a axuda brindada nos últimos dous anos. Por último, quero expresar a miña gratitude aos demais profesores do San Clemente que teñen sido enormemente acolledores comigo e aos conserxes por toda a súa asistencia recibida nestes últimos dous anos. 

Grazas por facer deste ano en San Clemente unha experiencia tan positiva. Aínda que non estou seguro de se estarei en San Clemente o ano que vén, espero estar en Santiago de Compostella. Deséxovos a todos un bo final de curso e un bo verán e espero vervos por Santiago de Compostela o ano que vén!

An Auxiliar's Look Back on a Year at IES San Clemente

As the 2019-20 school year draws to a close in the grips of a global pandemic, it’s a good time to look back on happier times.

            While I’ve worked as an Auxiliar de Conversación (AdC) for several years, I would have to say that my first year at IES San Clemente has been one of my best experiences so far. It was my first year working in a FP school, which brought numerous changes and challenges.

One challenge was the fact that I’m a complete Luddite. The fact that the students are all learning highly specialized vocabulary and terminology related to the creation of apps and web design spurred me on to have to learn a lot of new concepts. Many of them I still don’t really understand, but my technological blind spot gave the students and faculty many opportunities to teach me new concepts and ideas.

Another challenge that I faced this year was that I had previously spent the last few years teaching at primary schools. Teaching at a primary school is very different from teaching at a vocational school. All in all, I have to say I prefer teaching at a vocational school. While it can sometimes be a challenge finding a task or organizing a lesson around complex, real-world subjects in a way that keeps a classroom of adults with varying levels of English engaged, I feel like it was always worth it at the end of the day.

Most of the students had already had English lessons in primary and secondary school, so I quickly learned that doing grammar lessons based solely on grammatical concepts or vocabulary was a good way to put the students (and myself) to sleep. The classroom experience was much more rewarding when we had open discussions as a class or played games related to grammar, vocabulary, American culture, or IT. There were also many great opportunities to split the class up into smaller groups to have conversations about videos we had watched as a class, or just played competitive games involving English.

Jason & Kelly with Year 2 DAM students

One of the best parts about working at San Clemente was the students. They all had a very positive attitude and I looked forward to classes with them every day. They were also very eager to teach me about Galician culture and history, the Galician language, and (most importantly—for me, anyways) about Galician cuisine. This year we also had the chance to prepare many students to take English exams (both organizing the Trinity Exams and setting up mock exams for the EOI). This was a very challenging experience, but it was also very rewarding seeing many of the students improve their level as the year went on and seeing many of them pass their exams or boost their confidence levels when speaking English.

I would say the overall highlight of the year, though, was working with the staff at San Clemente. It’s been an absolute pleasure working alongside Rachel and Kelly in our English classes. I’ve definitely become a better English teacher working alongside the two of them and I’ve learned a lot from both of them. In addition to preparing the students for exams or job interviews, we did a lot of fun activities in these lessons with the students which I’ll certainly steal and use as I continue to teach. It’s also been great working in the bilingual classes with Eva, Rafa, Bruno and Carrion. Eva has been especially helpful in helping me come up with activities for the classroom as well as encouraging the students to speak about difficult topics related to their field. I’ve missed our weekly coffee and English meeting these last few weeks of confinamento. 

Jason, Kelly and Rachel (English Department)

It’s also been great getting to know the rest of the staff at San Clemente. Whether we talked in the hallways, in the language office, at the cafe, or over delicious cocido at a local restaurant, I’ve enjoyed meeting the teachers and staff at San Clemente. The directora Carmen was especially helpful and always let me know that if I needed anything the school would help me out. The workers in the conserxería were also especially helpful if I needed anything as well.

Next year, I’m happy to say that I’ve reapplied to work at IES San Clemente. While I haven’t received an official acceptance letter yet, I’m positive that I will be accepted to stay another year at San Clemente. The school year passed too quickly—and ended too shortly–and I would like to experience it again if possible.

Thanks San Clemente! I hope to see you again next year!

Jason Schaefer
AdC IES San Clemente

Mi despedida del IES San Clemente

Después de cuatro años fantásticos, se acaba mi estancia como auxiliar de conversación en el IES San Clemente. Aprendí y evolucioné mucho desde que empecé en octubre de 2015, tanto en el ámbito profesional como en el personal. Aprovecharé este último artículo para reflexionar acerca de las experiencias vividas en el instituto y compartir parte del conocimiento que he adquirido a lo largo de estos años.

Llegué al IES San Clemente casi sin experiencia docente y ni idea de lo que me esperaba. Tras hablar con la anterior auxiliar e intercambiar algunos correos electrónicos con mi coordinadora de los primeros dos años, Eva, tenía una idea general de cómo era el centro. Sabía que me iban a recibir bien pero aun así, no me sentía suficientemente preparada para comenzar esta nueva aventura y estaba nerviosa. Mis primeras experiencias con la gente en el instituto superaron mis expectativas. La recepción fue acogedora, Eva fue increíblemente amable e incluso me llevó por la zona vieja como guía personal el día en que nos conocimos. Es curioso recordar ese día y lo perdida que me sentía, ya que ahora creo que podría caminar por Santiago con los ojos cerrados.

Las primeras semanas supusieron un reto importante. Conocí a todos los alumnos y alumnas por primera vez, y para muchos fue también su primera clase con una hablante nativa del inglés. No sabía cómo sería su nivel de inglés, ni si estarían interesados en practicar el idioma. Esas primeras semanas fueron una época de ajustes—me costó averiguar cómo ser útil, tanto para los profesores como para los alumnos, y hubo muchas veces en las que me estresé planeando actividades y creando lecciones divertidas y educativas.

No tardé en darme cuenta de que a ninguno de los alumnos le interesaban lecciones básicas de gramática. Todos habían recibido ya este tipo de clases. Esta era una oportunidad de poner sus habilidades a prueba por primera vez y practicar conversación de una manera natural. Pero el mayor desafío fue planear actividades que les gustasen a todos. Descubrí que unos alumnos tenían un nivel de inglés muy básico y otros lo hablaban fluidamente. Olvidando todas las ideas que pudiese tener acerca de lecciones de gramática, decidí comenzar a adaptar las clases para atender a todos los alumnos a pesar de la diversidad de niveles.

Descubrí que la mejor manera de hacerlo era a través de juegos. Los alumnos y alumnas empezaron a abrirse y participar más en clase desde el primer día que traje juegos. A veces creé juegos de “quiz,” por ejemplo “Jeopardy,” para repasar en inglés la materia técnica en la que colaboraba. Otras veces hice juegos de trabajo en equipo, como “Taboo,” para que el alumnado pensase de una manera creativa. Y otras muchas y diversas actividades. Este tipo de actividad permitió que los alumnos participaran lo mejor que podían—los que tenían niveles más bajos podían contribuir con unas cuantas palabras, mientras que aquellos con niveles más avanzados podían elaborar sus ideas con más detalle.

No sólo aprendí en el ámbito profesional sino también en el personal. Gané confianza en mí misma, desarrollé mi creatividad mientras ideaba nuevas actividades para usar en el aula. Al principio dudaba mucho de mi eficacia como auxiliar de inglés, pero me fui sintiendo cada vez mejor al ver los resultados obtenidos con el alumnado. Algunos de los mejores días fueron aquellos en los que llevaba vídeos o artículos en inglés y eran los alumnos quienes dirigían la conversación y la discusión del tema de forma natural, sin necesidad de estar forzándolos a intervenir. Podía ver que estaban practicando el idioma porque querían, y no porque se sintiesen obligados a hacerlo.

Aunque todas estas experiencias fueron increíbles, trabajar como profesora en cualquier capacidad, incluso como asistente, tiene sus retos. Siempre habrá alumnos desmotivados o sin interés en aprender el inglés. Es frustrante ver esa falta de entusiasmo, pero tienes que acordarte de que es imposible ser la profesora perfecta para todo el mundo. Lo único que puedes hacer es intentar incluir a todos, y esperar que tantos alumnos como sea posible aprendan gracias a poder practicar el inglés con una hablante nativa.

Ser auxiliar de inglés es más que simplemente compartir el idioma. También incluye compartir la cultura. Aunque prepararé presentaciones y enseñé videos sobre aspectos específicos de la cultura de los Estados Unidos, descubrí que la mayoría del tiempo compartía mi cultura a través de conversaciones que surgían de manera natural en clase. Compartir historias sobre mi niñez o experiencias educativas, o comparar tradiciones gallegas con las de Estados Unidos después de una pregunta curiosa de un alumno, fue la forma más habitual de compartir con mis alumnos la cultura de mi país. Incluso cuestiones tan básicas como el léxico que uso, mi entonación o pronunciación de ciertas palabras o frases, fueron formas de compartir cultura. A veces ayuda más a entender una cultura conocer y tratar con las personas que la poseen y lo que las hace diferentes, que impartir una clase sobre las tradiciones y las costumbres generales de un país.

IES San Clemente es un lugar especial, y siempre recordaré con cariño los cuatro años que pasé aquí. He conocido allí profesores y alumnos muy entrañables, que nunca olvidaré y con los que seguiré en contacto. Me iré del centro al final de mayo sabiendo que me convertí en una versión mejorada de mi misma, y espero que mis alumnos opinen igual.

Gracias por todo, IES San Clemente. Te echaré de menos.

An Auxiliar´s Farewell

After four great years, my time as an auxiliar at IES San Clemente is coming to an end. I´ve learned so much over the years, and grown immensely since my time here began in October 2015. I want to use this last post to reflect on my time in the school and share some things I´ve learned over the years.

I came to San Clemente with virtually no experience teaching and no idea of what to expect. I had a vague notion of what the school was like after talking to the previous auxiliar and emailing back and forth with my then-coordinator, Eva. I knew that I could expect a warm welcome, but I was still nervous to embark on a journey that I felt little prepared for. Yet my first encounters with the people I met at the school still exceeded my expectations. Eva was incredibly kind and welcoming, and even took me on a personal tour through the old town the first day we met. It´s funny to think back on that day and remember how lost I felt--I feel like these days I could navigate Santiago with my eyes closed!

The biggest challenge came in the first few weeks of assistant teaching. I was meeting all my students for the first time, and many of them were experiencing classes with a native English speaker for the first time, too. I had no idea how advanced their English skills would be, or how interested they would be in practicing the language. Those first weeks were definitely a big adjutsment period--I struggled to find ways to be useful to the teachers and the students, and I was often very stressed trying to plan activities and create lessons that would be both fun and educational.

I learned quickly that none of the students were interested in basic grammar lessons. All of them had already taken normal English classes--this was an opportunity for them to actually put their skills to the test and practice speaking in a more natural, conversational way. The biggest challenge, however, was planning activities that catered to all students. I noticed that some students had very basic English skills, while others were approaching fluency. Putting aside all ideas of traditional grammar lessons, I started adapting my lessons to cater to students with a wide variety of English skills.

I found that the best way to do this was through games. The students started warming up to me and participating more in class the very first day that I started bringing games. Sometimes I would create quiz games liek Jeopardy to review class material in English, and other times I would bring team competition games like Taboo to get them thinking outside the box. These types of activities allowed all students to participate to the best of their abilities--students with lower levels could contribute just a few words or phrases, whereas more advanced speakers could elaborate upon their ideas in more detail.

My own self-confidence and creativity grew as I developed these activities. I was very doubtful about how effective I would be as an English auxiliar, but I felt better and better as I saw the effect my lessons were having on students. Some of the best days were when I would bring in a video or article to discuss in English, and the students would essentially carry the conversation themselves and occupy the entire class period with thoughtful discussion without me having to force the conversation along. I could see that they were practicing English out of their own desire to do so, not because they felt obligated.

And while these were all excellent experiences, working as a teacher in any capacity, even just as an assistant, has its challenges. There will always be students who are unmotivated or show no interest in learning English. It´s frustrating to see such a lack of enthusiasm, but you just have to remind yourself that you can´t be a perfect teacher for everyone. All you can do is try to involve everyone, and hope that as many students as possible come away having gained something from the experience of practicing English with a native speaker.

Being an English auxiliar is about more than just sharing the language, however. The second part of the job involves sharing culture. While sometimes I would prepare presentations or show videos about specific cultural aspects of the United States, I found that more often than not I would share my culture simply through the conversations that naturally arose while in class. Sharing anecdotes about my childhood or educational experiences, or comparing traditions in Galicia to those in the USA after a student asks me a simple question out of curiosity, were often the most common ways by which I would impart cultural knowledge of my home country to my students. Even things as basic as the words I chose to use, or my intonation or pronunciation of certain words or phrases, was a way of sharing culture. Sometimes understanding a culture is more about meeting individuals and learning about what makes each person unique, than lecturing about the broader traditions and customs of a place.

IES San Clemente is a special place, and I will always cherish the four years I spent here. I´ve made wonderful connections with not only the staff, but also the students I´ve had the opporunity to work with. I will leave the school at the end of May knowing I´ve become a better version of myself, and I hope my students feel the same.

Thank you for everything, San Clemente. You will be missed.

Auxiliar de Conversación en IES San Clemente 2016-2017

My second year at IES San Clemente is already coming to an end. It's been a very rewarding year, and I feel that I began the year much better prepared to bring effective English-learning techniques to the classroom. I worked with mostly the same teachers, and was therefore familiar with classroom structure and how to best adapt activities for each teacher's schedules.

One benefit this year was that I had two classes per week with my first-year students from last year. Already being familiar with these students was a huge benefit, and helped me jump right into the school year without any shy introductory periods. I'm very proud of the progress they've made and the interest they showed in not only practicing English, but also in maintaining their English skills in the future (with English certification exams, internships abroad, etc.).

I began this year with a new approach: I brought an arsenal of English-language conversation games with me from the United States (such as Apples to Apples, the Game of Things, and Catchphrase). These games provided a natural icebreaker (especially in my new first-year classes) and helped the students eagerly engage in English practice. Since almost all of the students have learned the foundation of English grammar rules, I've found that the best way to reinforce those rules is by fostering natural discussion whenever possible. These conversation games have proven to be wildly successful in encouraging the students to speak in English not only with me, but also with each other. I also find them useful because it helps them learn more natural, colloquial English spoken in everyday situations.

I resumed teaching separate conversation classes during the third trimester this year, and have been very happy with how they've gone. Each class has eager students that show up each week ready to practice English and learn what they can.

I'm incredibly pleased with how this year has gone. I feel that I've grown in my own abilities as a language assistant, and I'm very proud of how engaged the students were.

Auxiliar de Conversación (Inglés), IES San Clemente 2015-2016

I have been working at IES San Clemente, an adult computer science school in the historic heart of Santiago de Compostela, since October. My key role in the school involves assisting with English language acquisition in bilingual classes for first- and second-year students. I prepare an activity for each class each week. I vary the activity each week by focusing on a different aspect of language acquisition, including writing, reading, speaking, and listening. These activities include group games such as Jeopardy and modified card games. I reinforce grammar with worksheets and engage students in English conversation by playing speaking games or showing a video or PowerPoint presentation designed to foster discussion. I also help students individually with conversation practice to enhance speaking skills.

I also lead two English conversation classes each week in addition to assisting in bilingual classes. These classes are focused on improving oral skills and sharing American culture with the students. I accomplish this through a series of language games prompting conversation, culturally-relevant videos, writing activities, English-focused games and activities, and discussions about TED talks.