My First Day Teaching English In Spain As An Auxiliar de Conversación

“First day of school! First day of school!”

Somehow, despite the fact that “Finding Nemo” was released way back in 2003, on the first day of school each year, Nemo’s high pitched voice rings in my head, signaling the start of a new year.

This morning is no different. As my alarm blares off at 6:00 AM, I can’t help but smile as this familiar refrain plays in my head.

“First day of school! First day of school!”

The only difference? This year I am no longer the student. I am the teacher, and I’m about to start my first day as an auxiliar de conversación in Spain.

The following post is a run down of how my first day teaching English in Spain went-from (nearly) missing my train, to forgetting the essentials (food and water) to meeting the students and answering their sometimes hilarious questions. If you are at all curious about life as an auxiliar de conversación or are nervous about your first day, then this post is definitely for you! You’ll also want to check out these 10 tips for your first day as an auxiliar!

Note: this post only details my personal experience at one school! Everyone’s first day is different! I’ve heard stories of auxiliares who showed up day 1 and no one knew they were coming, and others where the auxiliares had been in communication with their schools for months. So don’t worry if your first day is nothing like mine-it’s very likely that it won’t be!

Getting to School

While some of my fellow auxiliares lucked out and have classes directly in the cities they live in, that is unfortunately not the case for me! I was placed in a town called Lebrija, which is about 47 miles outside of Sevilla, meaning that I have quite a long commute. While I could have chosen to live in Lebrija, I definitely prefer living in a big city, and completely fell in love with Sevilla when I visited last fall. So, commuting it is!

My alarm woke me up at 6:00 AM, and I definitely spent the first 10 minutes hitting my snooze button and wishing I could roll over and fall back to sleep. (I had just spent the weekend playing on the beach in Portugal, and definitely didn’t get enough sleep!)

Eventually, I convinced myself to wake up, hop in the shower, get dressed (nice jeans and a blouse), eat a small breakfast, and say goodbye to my roommates (who were heading out to their first day of class as well).

Unfortunately, I allowed myself to snooze a little too much, and wound up having to frantically half-walk half-run the 35-minute trek through the side streets of Sevilla until I finally made it to Santa Justa train station-sweaty and a little disheveled- with only 5 minutes to spare.

Note to self: no more snoozing, unless it’s napping on the train!

And napping is exactly what I did for the next 47 minutes as my train peacefully ambled through the Andalusian countryside and the sun rose over Lebrija.

Once my train arrived, I hopped on the local bus (really more of a van) and got off the stop nearest to my school.

The only reason I knew what stop this was is from my practice commute a few days before-otherwise I would have had no clue.

Pro tip:  If you are planning on working as auxiliar de conversación, I highly recommend doing a dry run before your first day to work out any kinks in your commute. I would have been off to an even rougher start had I not attempted my commute beforehand!

After walking to school (another 10 minutes), I tracked down my bilingual coordinator and she helped show me where my first class was.

Introductions

For most auxiliaries, the first day of classes is also the first day you will be introduced to the rest of the teachers you will be working with.

However, when I first visited my school and practiced my commute, I was actually able to meet with my bilingual coordinator, and she showed me around the school and introduced me to the rest of the staff before my first day.

Visiting the school beforehand and meeting the other teachers definitely helped me feel way less anxious on day one, so if you can work out a first meeting time in addition to attempting your commute beforehand, you probably won’t feel very nervous either!

Since I had already met most of the staff, I was able to jump right into classes.

Going To Classes

I luckily received my class schedule the Saturday before my first day, which is early compared to many auxiliares who were simply told to show up at 9:00 AM on their first day.

My particular school is an elementary school, and I am assisting in classrooms with students from 1st-6th grade. Each of the classes is 45 minutes long, and the school day is between 9:00 AM-2:00 PM each day. Since I am only required to work 12 hours a week, I usually have one free period in each day and I don’t start any classes until 9:45. There is also a 30-minute break for recess between 11:15-11:45.

One thing that I didn’t understand before starting the program is that auxiliares work in bilingual schools. I thought I would spend the whole day working with just the English teacher. Instead, most of the classes are taught in English, and the auxiliar switches classes and grades throughout the day. One period you’ll be helping a Science class, the next minute you could be assisting in Physical Education. This means you’ll probably be working with several different teachers and covering different topics every day.

To give you an idea of what the first day of classes was like, here is a breakdown of my first day’s schedule and my experiences in each class!

Note: my schedule changes each day of the week, but remains the same week after week.

9:45-10:30: 4th Grade, Science

My first class was a 4th grade group learning about geology. This group is a bit older and has a higher English level, so the science teacher only introduced me quickly before the lesson.

Hello, this is Catalina, she is from the United States and doesn’t speak any Spanish! That means we must all ask her questions in English. She is here to help us with our pronunciation, so if you have any questions you can ask her.

Then he pretty much went about class as usual, having me read the vocabulary words about rocks and minerals aloud so the students could hear the proper pronunciation. He also had me go around and answer questions (in English) about the text or what certain words meant.

Note: Even if you do speak Spanish (I don’t speak much), the teachers will probably tell the kids you don’t understand any. The goal is for the children to practice their English with you, so it is best to pretend, even if you can perfectly understand what is being said!

10:30-11:15: 2nd Grade

The 2nd graders I had next were much younger-between 6-7 years old- but had been practicing some of their introductory vocabulary. I introduced myself to the class and showed them where I was from on a map of the United States, and then each child introduced themselves to me, telling me where they are from and how old they were. Once we were all introduced, the students were given free reign to ask me questions about myself, which they were quite excited about!

Popular questions:

• Where are you from?
• What is your name?
• How old are you? (I was definitely caught off guard on this one! Some teachers told the kids this was a personal question, others had me make something up, and yet another teacher just revealed both our ages. Be prepared with whatever answer you feel comfortable with!)
• Do you have any pets?
• What is your favorite (color, food, music)?
• What soccer team do you like? (totally wish I had an answer for that one-I’ll keep you posted the longer I live in Spain!)

Funniest questions:

• Do you have a boyfriend? (OMG)
• Have you ever seen Donald Trump? (Facepalm)
• Do you like Donald Trump?

11:15-11:45: Recess

We then took a short break (30 minutes) for recess. I totally wish I had brought something to do/eat during this time, but I completely blanked, and the supermarkets weren’t open when I got home from Portugal on Sunday. Fortunately, some of the teachers let me have some food as they chatted a bit and prepare for their classes.

11:45-12:30: 2nd Grade (Class 2)

The next class was led by a different teacher, but the children were the same age so we went over a lot of the same concepts. I introduced myself and then the kids all took turns asking me questions. I also found that asking them the questions back was helpful, and helped them practice their pronunciation by repeating their answers back to them. I tried to speak slowly and clearly throughout the day and made sure to smile a lot so the kids weren’t afraid to speak to me! Hand signals are also a great way to help them understand what you are talking about. The teacher also told me what vocabulary they were familiar with (colors, numbers, animals) so we played a color guessing game, I asked what their favorite number was (most said 21, since that was what I said – so cute!), and we also talked a lot about what pets everybody had.

12:30-1:15: Break

As I only work 12 hours a week, at this point in the day I had a free period. Once I am more settled in, I can use this time to prepare for the next day’s classes. Not many teachers were free at this time, so I just hung out in the teacher’s lounge wishing I had food to eat and something to keep me looking busy!

1:15-2:00: 1st Grade

The first graders are the youngest kids that I teach, and therefore have the most English to learn. After we all introduced ourselves the teacher mentioned that the students were learning the body parts and suggested we play some games and sing some songs using this vocabulary. We spent the next 45 minutes playing Simon Says, singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, and doing a rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands.” These games were all familiar to me, so the teacher pretty much let me take over, and it was definitely fun interacting with all of the kids. Thank goodness I’m not shy (although I will admit that my singing voice isn’t the best!).

2:00

At 2:00 the bell rang and the school day officially ended, excited children spilling into the hallways before being collected by their moms/dads. I briefly checked in with my bilingual coordinator before walking (40 minutes!) back to the train station to catch my 3:00 PM train.

Overall Thoughts

It wasn’t stressful

I don’t know about you, but I usually have some level of anxiety when starting a new job. For some reason, this time around that was pretty absent! Perhaps it was because my bilingual coordinator was so kind and helpful when talking to me before the program and when we first mat. My low anxiety might also be related to the fact that last year’s auxiliar told me she loved the school and would have liked to stay another year. Maybe it was meeting the staff beforehand that did the trick, or it is possible that I was simply open to the adventure of teaching in a different country. It is probably a combination of all of these factors. Either that or I was still chilled out from laying on the beach in Portugal all weekend!

The kids are pretty freakin’ cute

I have always loved kids. From the second parents were able to hire me I started babysitting, and I have been looking after children on and off since I was 12 years old. I’ve even seriously considered becoming a teacher in the past, so it is no surprise that I was definitely excited to be interacting with kids and get to live in Spain while doing it!

You’re a celebrity

From the second I walked into my school I was like a minor celebrity. Kids would excitedly point or whisper as I walked by. Others would peek out from behind a doorway, and more bold children would proudly call out “Hello!” It definitely doesn’t help that I have blonde hair and blue eyes, so I for sure stand out! It was seriously so adorable seeing all of the kids react to “the new girl allllllll the way from the United States” and see the looks of excitement and curiosity on their faces as they got to interact with me in class. If I said I liked the color pink, suddenly all the girls in my class liked the color pink. When I said I liked dogs, everyone who had a pet dog was excited to tell me about theirs. I’m sure in a few months, the novelty will wear off, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

I felt really welcomed

Every teacher I met was incredibly welcoming to me and made me feel at ease. Whenever a moment seemed uncomfortable in class, they were able to step in and suggest another activity to keep things lively and the kids entertained. Throughout the day, members of the staff would walk up and ask me how my day was going, and during recess, teachers kept offering me food when they noticed I had none. As we switched classes, teachers in the hallways took the time to help me find my next class. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer welcome on my first day, and even teachers who didn’t speak much English went out of their way to say hello.

I should have brought food!

I knew this was going to be a problem from the get-go, but literally, every grocery store in Sevilla was closed on Sunday, and I couldn’t exactly shop for the week while in Portugal. I also realized I need to invest in a water bottle-after talking so much it is easy to get thirsty in class!

In Conclusion…

On your 1st day of any job, there are bound to be awkward moments, especially if that job is one you haven’t done before or…you know…in a completely different country. That being said, I must admit I couldn’t have asked for a better first day as an auxiliar de conversación. If I had any doubts about my decision to move to Spain to help teach English, today definitely helped me feel like I made the right decision.

Stay tuned to stay updated on what life is like as an auxiliar de conversación and how my experience evolves as time goes on! You can read my 1-month update here!

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Have you worked as an auxiliar de conversación? I’d love to hear about your 1st day! Let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to check out these 10 Essential Tips For Your First Day Teaching English In Spain!

You might also enjoy these auxiliar de conversación posts:

• Auxiliar de Conversación Budget: Exactly How Much I Make (And Spend) Each Month In Spain
• Teaching English In Spain: Auxiliares de Conversación November Update
• Dear Italy, I Love You, But I’m Leaving You For Spain
• Why Choosing To Live & Work Abroad After Graduating Was The Best Decision I Ever Made

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