Vaya Campmento!

Sevilla is a frying pan in the summer. Nothing like leaving your air-conditioned apartment at 6pm to see this terrifying sight:

I’m teaching English at an intensive language camp called Forenex for the second summer. Being an auxiliar is a piece of cake compared to FNX: I have my own classroom with 16 teenagers, am responsible for the lesson plans, decoration and language development of my students, and must give exams, grades and evaluations. For an EFL professional, it’s an everyday job. For me, its a welcome change to what I do during the school year.

This year, I’m working with the fluency level again. Don’t be fooled – my students are not fluent, but they’re nice and improving. There are two 13 year olds and the rest are 15 and 16. Since the level of interest, ability and speaking proficiency are all over the board, it’s been a real challenge to come up with interesting and creative lessons, but I love the subject matter. We did superstitions and bad luck charms (complete with an obstacle course) last week, are finishing tall tales and urban legends now, and will work on modern art next week. I’m really excited, and the kids seem to like the topics. I’m working twice as hard as last summer, but learning quite a bit in the process.

My students are, for the most part, a pleasure to have in class. They can get chatty or a bit mouthy, but all seem to respond fairly well to the activities and are eager to learn. We even won the class decorations contest last week, as voted on by the Spanish monitors (it may or my not have been a fluke…). My kids were treated to VIP treatment at their little disco and invited me along.

The great part about this camp is that we’re so close to a major city that has a lot to offer. In the afternoons we shop or go to the beach, and there’s a lot of movida at night. Coruna has a medieval fest going on this week, so we’ve been heading down to the city frequently. Last weekend, FNX took us to Santiago de Compostela for free, too: