One week down...

I have now been in A Coruña for just over a week and it is safe to say it has been one of the most overwhelming weeks, full of ups and downs.

From the first day at Colexio Salesiano our mentors and all the other teachers have made us feel SO welcome. They are extremely supportive and available all the time to ask questions or get advice from.

The first lesson I taught was on Wednesday and was, to be honest, a bit of a disaster. But, after a few tears, a pep talk from Emile, and some tough love from my tutor, I went and taught the same lesson again the next day and it worked x100 better with a younger group.
From there, it has all been uphill. I'm really looking forward to experimenting with some of my lessons and trying to veer away from the coursebook as much as possible - as I feel I have used it as a bit of a safety net so far.

The biggest lesson I have learned from my first week teaching children is: however many activities you would plan for teaching adults, double it. Not only do they get bored (and start speaking in Spanish) if the activity goes on too long, but they just seem to get through all the activities a lot quicker than I expected...and I learned the hard way that running out of activities is the worst case scenario.

Anyway, I am going into week 2 feeling a lot more confident and prepared for the week ahead!