First Day!
What emotions, positive and negative are
contained in those two words! No matter
that this was not our actual first day in school (we have been here since the
first of September) but this was the first day with the kids.
As I was not a form teacher I did not take
part in the first two lessons when those poor benighted souls were stuck with
their classes for the first two hours. I
used the time to create, (with the air of desperation which is the keynote of
our existence in this place) a set of stories for my first form, as their
actual books have not arrived yet.
The booklets for Media Studies and Making
Sense of Modern Art are also not completed yet so that is something else which
is awaiting my attention. On might have
thought that it would have been ideal to have done such work during the time
without the kids, but the Meeting Mania which sweeps over the school when there
is a spare moment was in full lunatic force and such practical work was
impossible!
The first class was with the equivalent of
the second year sixth and I have a smallish class who are going to attempt to
pass the Proficiency in English examination which is the highest level of
English Use that we prepare the kids for.
This was followed by a second year class which again was of a limited
size and reasonably responsive.
Yet again I have a lunch duty. This is a shameful thing as I spent a long
time working together with colleagues in my union to make sure that our lunchtime was our own and
now, here in Spain, I weakly give in when I am loaded with a duty on an already
overloaded day! Ah, how times have
changed! An ex-President of Cardiff NUT
reduced to selling himself for a lowly salary and at the expense of his long held
principles. Ah well, as the saying goes,
if those don’t work I have others!
No one else appears to be as genuinely
depressed at the start of a new term as I. The kids are visibly bubbly and my colleagues are not crying. Perhaps it’s me – but surely they must feel
the primal horror of almost four months ahead without a half term. Mustn’t they?
My last lesson of the day was with the
equivalent of Year 9. Just what you want
on the last period of the day and I have them again on Wednesday for the last
period. Inspired timetabling!
Having to teach last period three times a
week means that I do not get away those vital minutes before the parents collecting their precious charges clog
the single lane road to escape. Even
though I left a quarter of an hour for the parental congestion to dissipate
itself it still took me twelve minutes to travel about 200 yards. The next twelve minutes on the motorway took
me from Barcelona to the turn off for Castelldefels! Minutes mean misery if you miss the window of
opportunity to get away at the right time!
Apart from news about Toni’s wonky knee
(none; doctor’s appointment Thursday) the most pressing information I need to
find out was about the Ruta.
Toni had managed to hobble his way to the
Tourist Office and finally get my completed form accepted by the official and
was presented was a ticket for the XXIV Mostra de Cuina Castelldefels to take
place this Saturday. This is like a food
fair and the ticket I have been given comprises tokens which can be exchanged
for food and drink during the course of the festival.
I am still waiting for the telephone call
to tell me that I have won an ipad. It
also turns out that you can leave out 5 tapas and still get the free
entry! I think we should have read the
small print a little more carefully!
Toni said that the woman who took my form was surprised and impressed
that I had managed to collect all the stamps, but I don’t think that there is a
separate draw for we purists who have completed the ruta!
So, the first day is over and there are
only 60 odd working days to go before Christmas.
Sigh!
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