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Hasta Luego Barcelona

Of all the adventures we had on our trip to Spain, the memories I made with the students were my very favorite. I have enjoyed working with second grade. The age group has been especially fun because they are more independent and are also able to have fun and interesting conversations. One of the most eye opening parts of this trip was how easy it was to connect to my students. These students are continents away from the students I worked with in Kentucky; however, both students truly had very similar needs. Students -whether from Spain, Kentucky or anywhere in between- need teachers to take time out of their schedule to talk to them, listen to them and treat them with respect. I was able to connect with students despite a language and culture barrier because I interacted with them and met their social and emotional needs. I hope to remember these important qualities of educators in my future because it is what makes a difference in kids lives. My teacher has been a kind and patient
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La escuela

I am active in St. Paul's in differnt ways each day. Most days I work with students in small groups to practice reading and writing in English. I have supervised two playground workshops. These workshops were conducted outside. I taught the students fun games that helped them practice their English. These games were new to the students and they were very excited to play. Most of the girls participated in the games while most if the boys played futbol. I have also taught large group reading and social studies lessons. The class I am placed with is very easy to engage in lessons and they are excited to learn. Since my time at St. Paul's I have also assisted teachers with various organizational tasks  for lessons and classroom organization. The main differences I have noticed in St. Paul's school compared to the schools I have worked in back home are the language skills, the socioeconomic background of students, and the structure of the classes. The students are fluent in 3
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Week 1

Traveling to Spain has been an eye opening experience so far! Barcelona is a beautiful city with an abundance of things to do. There are shops and restaurants in walking distance of the apartment. It is easy to use public transport around the city, but it is also possible to walk to several places. There is a large variety of food and I have tried several local dishes already. The most interesting was the Paella. Paella is a rice dish. I have tried one with sea food and one without. They were both very tasty and different. The food at supermercados is similar, but slightly different. There seems to be less processed food. You can buy bread from bakeries and meat from butchers instead of purchasing it all at one grocery.  It is incredible how many people are able to communicate with us in English. I have been amazed at the different languages I have heard spoken. I have also been surprised at how much Spanish I have picked up on. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and 1 semes
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Pre-Departure

I am leaving for Barcelona in less than a month and I am growing excited about many things. I think I have grown more as an educator during my student teaching than I have throughout the rest of my college experience combined. The opportunity to teach, experiment and reflect on my lessons during student teaching has made me a much more effective educator. So, when asked what I am looking forward to the most about student teaching in Spain, my answer is the chance to practice teaching in a new environment and to learn about new resources/methods I can use in the future. In each school I have been placed at throughout my experience at WKU, I have learned about new resources and teaching methods. Working in a school in a new country will likely give me the opportunity to learn about teaching methods and resources that I have yet to see. It may also be interesting to see what methods of classroom management and instruction are similar to practices i have seen in Kentucky. Before having m
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