Cosas interesantes

Hola! Estoy hablando en Espanol mas y mas cada dia. (I am talking in Spanish more and more every day.) I'm the one in the group with the strongest Spanish speaking skills, so I end up communicating with people the most often when we are getting around town. However, some of the other girls do know Spanish and speak a bit.

The concert is tomorrow and there will be several acts performing. Some students came today and asked to be put on the set list, but they were turned away. I will be singing "Still Hurting" from the Last Five Years at the concert tomorrow night, and Kerry will be faking the piano accompaniment. It's the song in my most recent repertoire that goes along most with the style of most of the singing being done at the concert, so I thought it would be the most appropriate. The concert will probably go at least two hours, as there are about 25 acts performing.

I have done a lot of private voice lesson work with students in the last couple of days to prepare them for the concert. The students have responded well to my suggestions and hopefully will carry them through in performance. Today I also taught for half a lesson with M2 students on rhythm. (Kerry asked me to do that about 10 minutes before the lesson- so no lesson plan allowed!) They are learning to create a rhythmic piece (a la Stomp or Blue Man Group) and so I went over basic rhythms with them as well as helping them learn to perform their own rhythms that they wrote. Fun fact for musicians: here, quarter notes are "crotchets", eighth notes are "quavers" and sixteenth notes are "semi-quavers." It confused me at first when Kerry referred to them, but I understand now. :-)

I also learned how to help run lights and sound in the theatre today, as the M1's that Kerry has for registry (home room) had to present to their parents how Middle Years are different than primary. Their performance included a drum circle, a choral poem reading, and a performance of the song they created about their trip to Casares, a village not too far from the school.

I added more pictures to my picture website (see previous entry for address), including one of my room, student and cooperating teachers, and a picture of my classroom.

That's all from me for now. Have a good night!

-Emily

First few days

Hola! After several attempts with the picture uploader on the website, I find it is not working well with slow internet speeds in this internet cafe (which is my primary way to access the internet). However, I have created a picture website at http://emoran87.shutterfly.com/. It does take a long time for pictures to upload on Shutterfly, so there are only ten on there right now. I feel like this will give you a good idea though of my surroundings, so take a look!

This week has been crazy so far for the music department. There is a concert and fireworks on Friday, for their Halloween party. They do not run things like we do in America. (Which is ok with me.) There have been several students in the last few days who have decided to add a song to the performance set. The kids here have incredible voices, it's really a joy to hear them sing. I find it very interesting that here they perform a lot of American music, including tunes that I listened to while I was in junior high and high school as well as some I still listen to now. (Coldplay, Sum 41, Snow Patrol, AC/DC, Beach Boys, Alien Ant Farm, etc.) I find it interesting because in American vocal music curriculum we study many European composers and tend to stay away from Americans, and here they are doing the exact opposite. The nice thing for me is that I know all the songs and feel like I can really give them constructive feedback since I am so familiar with the songs. I also might be performing for the event on Friday, but am still not sure and need to finalize with Kerry if I am or not. He is also having me conduct the choir on the Snow Patrol song they are singing, "Run", and threw me into that today. It took me back a little bit, but I'm excited for the opportunity.

Kerry teaches levels M1-M5. In America, this is equivalent to 6-10th grade. If I so choose (which I will) I can also have the opportunity to work with the primary music teacher when Kerry teaches technology a few times a week.

I taught my first lesson yesterday, for a portion of the class period. The students in M2 are learning how to sing, so Kerry had me introduce some basic techniques and ideas of harmony to them. Their main goal for the unit is to learn about polyphony and then create their own polyphonic piece as an end result. Deb (our supervisor) came to watch me and said she was very impressed with Kerry and with me, so that was good to hear.

I love Spain. It is beautiful here and I am really enjoying Spanish culture so far. I might be going to Granada this weekend to see the Alhambra and visit and stay with my friend Maria. I'm going to travel as much as possible while I'm here.

The staff here is great. They are very helpful and have been giving us rides a couple of times this week so we don't have to take the bus. We also get served a light snack early in the day and lunch at the school, which has been delightful so far, though I might get sick of it by the end. I heard some of the other girls I'm with talking about how they can't wait to get back to American food, and I am nowhere near that mindset. Bring on more Spanish food! :-)

That's all from me for now. Have a great rest of the day everyone!

-Emily

Estamos en España

Hello everyone! We are here. The traveling was very long, however we managed to make it with no problems. Pippa, Karen, and Deb picked us up from the airport and brought us to our new home in Estepona. It is wonderful! One side of the apartment (my side) faces a mountain and what used to be a bullfighting ring (and has a deck!) and the other side faces the Mediterranean. Last night Kate and I went for a run along the beach boardwalk and watched the beautiful sunset. The sun fell over Gibraltar and Morocco, both of which we can see from where we are.

The weather is beautiful, we all wore skirts or dresses to school today. I also got to meet my teacher today, Kerry, and I think we´re going to have a great time working together. It is really great to be in a school so supportive of the arts. All students are required to take drama, music, and art.

Tonight is Deb´s birthday, so we are going out to dinner shortly, and Deb and Karen (our current supervisors) will be leaving late tomorrow night.

Most people at the school are English, so I am getting accustomed to hearing a lot of English accents. I love English accents, so this is fun for me!

We do not have internet access at our apartment, and we are only at school a certain amount of time every day. I tried to post pictures just now, but it is not working so I will try again later.

All for now. Have a great day!

-Emily

Here we go

Hello everyone! Tomorrow is the big departure day. I'm almost all packed. Yesterday was my last day student teaching in Burnsville. It was really sad to say goodbye to the students there, and one of my students even brought me a cake with my name on it! (It was really cute.) Tonight I am going to have dinner with some of my friends and wrap things up here. I'm going to have a long weekend of traveling. Our itinerary is as follows:

OCTOBER 24 AMERICAN AIRLIENES FLT#835

DEPART MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL 11:05AM

ARRIVE DALLAS/FT. WORTH 1:40PM

CONNECT WITH

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLT#36

DEPART DALLAS/FT. WORTH 5:30PM

ARRIVE MADRID 8:55AM (OCT. 25)

CONNECT WITH

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLT#6203 (OPERATED BY IBERIA)

DEPART MADRID 11:50AM

ARRIVE MALAGA 12:55PM

So if you do the math for the time difference, we'll be traveling for about 19 hours. Needless to say, it will be pretty tiring!

I also got a mobile phone thanks to my aunt Linda, and the number to dial from a mobile phone is +44 792 422 2044. If you are dialing from a land line, dial 011 then the number. But please remember that I will be busy and do not be offended if I do not return your phone calls as I am paying 50 cents per minute. Again, email and Skype will be the best ways to communicate with me. There is also a 7 hour time difference from Central time to Spain time.

I should get back to packing and get stuff ready. Have a great night everyone!

-Emily

Greetings!

Hello everyone! I will be using this blog to make note of my travels and teaching in Spain and beyond in my journey as a teacher. I leave in 10 days from now! (Oct. 24) I will be returning from Spain December 13th. To reach me while I am abroad, my email is emily.a.moran@gmail.com, and my Skype name is emoran87. I do not currently have a European phone, so email and Skype will be the best ways to contact me. I will be teaching at the International School in Sotogrande, Spain, and will be living in Estepona, Spain.

Have a great day!

-Emily