Cactus Language Blog

Online Diary: TEFL in Seville from our Scholarship winner! (1)

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus TEFL, Learning a language, Spanish

Anna Prime, winner of the Suzanne Furstner Scholarship 2007, reports back from her TEFL & Spanish course in Seville (Week 1 of 6)

Seville is absolutely stunning. If someone asked me to design what I thought an idyllic Spanish city would be like, it would be close to this. The historic centre is filled with winding cobbled streets, some too narrow to let cars pass. There are gorgeous cathedrals and squares lined with palm trees and orange trees. The school itself is a beautiful building and a very pleasant environment to work in. It all makes a very refreshing change after Russia, where my expectations for luxury and cleanliness were severely lowered. Now I feel like I’m living in a dream happy magic land.

It’s Saturday night and it is the first time I have had to relax and take a moment to gather my thoughts on my experience so far. A lack of free time seems to be the most prominent impression. Days are long and there are all number of things to do after school hours too; learning to plan lessons and evaluate them. I don’t think I’ve ever had to concentrate so hard so consistently in my whole life. It’s invigorating, however, because, unlike studying languages at university, it is very practically orientated and has a clear end goal in sight. Everyday I am learning new skills and awareness.

We were thrown right in at the deep end and started teaching on Tuesday. It went okay, and I wasn’t as nervous as the other trainee teachers because I have stood in front of a class before and I used to do a lot of acting so am used to having eyes focused on me whilst performing. I think you do have to perform somewhat as a teacher.

The students we teach speak good English and are truly a pleasure to teach because they really enjoy learning and speaking English. They remind me of one of the main reasons why being an English teacher would be such a great job – it gets you in touch with locals wherever you go. Many students are eager to practise their language in a more social context (because, as we all know, alcohol always aids communicative fluency) and are willing to chat in Spanish in return which is great because I haven’t had masses of opportunities to speak Spanish since I’ve been here. I’m too busy trying to get my head round my own language.

It’s really interesting to spend so much time with the other people on the course as we are a very eclectic group of people from different countries and backgrounds, of very different ages and with different motivations for wanting to teach. I was surprised to find I was the youngest of the 12 of us.

On another topic, it’s so hot I can barely think straight. The school has excellent air conditioning so I didn’t really notice until today when I was home most of the day. I wanted to sleep in after having had a few beers last night and getting to bed late, but the brutal sunshine pounding through my open window had other plans for me. My bedroom is stifling and there is no relief. And I heard it’s going to get progressively hotter each day that I’m here. I don’t know what I’m going to do. My body is not built for the heat so I’d better adapt soon otherwise I risk melting before I manage to finish my course.

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Cactus Note: It’s not too late to enter the 2008 Suzanne Furstner Scholarship! We are accepting entries up to 10th October, and the prize winner will be announced at our Cactus TEFL Open Evening in November 08. This year’s prize is ‘Six Weeks in Latin America’ - a 4-week TEFL course plus a 2-week Spanish course in Latin America, including accommodation and return travel to the UK.

Read more of Anna’s TEFL diary:

Week 1 ¦ Week 2 ¦ Week 3 ¦ Week 4 ¦ Weeks 5 & 6

Tags:Seville, spain, Spanish, Suzanne Furstner Scholarship, tefl