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20 January 2013

Colegio Caja Granada




When you make the decision to study abroad, studying will definitely be just one of the many things you will do during your time. Other activities may include traveling and meeting/becoming friends with the locals. But one of the coolest things you could do while studying abroad is to volunteer in your host city. 

The (amazing, wonderful, incredible, etc.) program that I studied abroad with, Academic Programs International (API), has a relationship established with a local school in Granada, Spain  called Colegio Caja Granada. This is where I decided to do my volunteer work. First, API set up a general meeting for interested students with the director of the school. Afterwards, if we decided we were interested, they assigned us to a classroom of either primary or secondary students. That was when I was placed in a classroom of 27 primary school students, between the ages of 7 and 8. For 6 months, I volunteered around 3-4 hours per week.

Similar to the elementary schools in the States, the kids studied a variety of subjects throughout the day including Math, English, and Religion. I served as a teaching assistant to the main teacher, María Carmen and the other permanent teaching assistant, Mario. I taught Conocimiento del Medio or the Social and Natural Sciences. I taught many different types of things (including things I didn’t even remember or know about in English!). Some of them were:

-        --  The body including the respiratory system, teeth, and the digestive system
-        --  Nature
-        --  Nutrition/how nutrients are absorbed by the body

It was so much fun to teach these kids about these subjects. I put together different activities for each one from channeling my 4th grade leaf project and bringing in real life leaves to study, to taking an hour to tape string to the end of a straw to teach them about our breathing/respiratory system.

Mi clase!: My class with their teacher, María Carmen

My class and me :)



Throughout the whole school year, the 3 classrooms of primary students worked to prepare a theatre production of the Little Red Riding Hood, entirely in English. It was such a fun way for the kids to learn English. I helped them with the songs and dialogue of the play. There were the main characters while the rest of the kids wore bees, flowers, butterflies, and ladybugs to depict the forest. While the main characters had all the speaking roles, the ‘chorus’ sang songs in between. Let me just tell you, it was the cutest thing ever.


The forest for Little Red Riding Hood

The Lumberjack, Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, me, the Grandma, and the Narrator


Little Red Riding Hood when she found the Wolf instead of her Grandma

Ta-da! All done their first performance


The day of the production was my last day in Granada so there were already lots of emotions flowing. After seeing my kids up there doing all of Little Red Riding Hood in English, pride was added to that list. It was so great to see all their hard work paying off. It was also very cool to see at my school in Spain because Little Red Riding Hood is such a traditional and common thing to see during the elementary years here in the States. 


So, if you choose to study abroad, don't forget about the great opportunities to volunteer! No matter if you decide to teach or do a different type of volunteering, it'll be a great learning experience and an awesome thing to put on your resumé.


 

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