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Thursday, June 22, 2006

today is my last day at work.

whilst in reality, time has gone quite slowly (well at normal pace) it
seems like only yesterday when i walked into this school for the first
time, extended my hand to the deputy head and was promptly kissed on
both cheeks.

it's fair to say, i knew very little back then about how things worked
in this country (not least the bleedin' language). the majority of
embarassing situations have been caused by not understanding. i feel
my skin has grown thicker this year, because every time you make a tit
out of yourself (and that's happened to me quite a bit) you learn
something. being embarassed about cocking up in spanish doesn't bother
me anymore, everyone knows i'm not a native so why worry about making
mistakes.

if we're going to get philosophical, i believe learning a language is
all about confidence. if you have to confidence to try, to cock up and
not mind, to admit that you don't understand, the faster you learn -
which is why i think teaching english from such a young age is
fantastic.

the kids have english lessons from age 3 in my school (personally, i
think it should be 4) but it still amazes me that children who are
only just learning how to use their own language have a competence in
english. yesterday, my classes performed english theatre for their
parents - forty 6/7 year olds did a play completely in english. is
that not impressive?

even though it's the last day, i'm not leaving til the 30th, so
there's probably time for another post. until next time blogfans...

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 9:17 AM.
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:: Anonymous Anonymous commented Thursday, June 22, 2006 2:41:00 PM

Hi! If I remember rightly it's foam night on Sunday night at the local club 'Costa Sur'.... haven't been there in a couple of years but hopefully it's still on. Don't know what your plans are but you are more than welcome to stay over we have 2 single beds and a spare double bed so if you want to bring a mate your more than welcome! Alice    



:: Anonymous Anonymous commented Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:36:00 AM

Sorry to get all sentimental and gushy, I'm sure most people who count themselves as blog fans aren't quite so bad as me... but you're leaving soon? That was always so far off in the future.

I know things now are a long way away but it's not long enough for me to forget the fact that you never stole a Faborit mug for me.

*Sigh*

xXx    



:: Anonymous Anonymous commented Sunday, June 25, 2006 5:40:00 PM

hey matt,
this is celine. need help wif madrid... have a last minute trip planned for madrid. need to know where is El Escorial, and how to get there. please email me as soon as you read this. many many thanks.
email: suicidalpixie@gmail.com    



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