My Experience

Assigned Grades and Subjects

5th grade (all four classes): English, Natural Science, PE

6th grade (1 class): PE

Goals for Myself and the Students

My goals as a Language Assistant are as follows:

• gain an understanding for the education system here in Spain (on its own, and in comparison to the United States’ education system)
• get a stronger feel for classroom management
• discover how I feel about possibly teaching as a future profession
• find my own teaching or tutoring style
• learn different teaching and communication styles between other teachers and the students
• exercise my patience and humility when teaching is difficult
• help the students to find a love of learning or show them how it can be fun

My goals for the students are as follows (all pertaining to English):

• improve overall level
• gain confident in speaking
• strengthen ability to understand
• have a greater sense of self efficacy in attempting to communicate
• improve pronunciation

Main Activities/Responsibilities as a LA

The main responsibilities I have as a LA at my school are to work in small groups under the assistance of the teacher I am working with at that time. Some of the students that I work with are a lower level than the rest of the class, so I aim to help guide them in the level in which they are while still attempting to bring them up a gear – so to speak. In these small groups I have various activities that we do together, ranging from board games and cards to conversational activities. In addition to working in small groups, there are some class in which I present to the class presentations about phonics, American holidays, or even just review their current chapter’s materials with them.

Highlights of My Experience as a LA

Without a doubt, the highlights of my experiences as a language assistant are all including the relationships I have built with the students. I was originally working with 4th and 5th grade classes, but was changed to only 5th grade classes when our school gained another language assistant. I had built relationships with some of the 4th graders and was sad to change schedules but understood the reasoning.

One day, weeks after I had stopped working with the 4th graders one of my students came up to me right after recess and said, “Brooke! I miss you. I miss the moments when you would teach me.” This really touched my heart because it was so specific to my time as a language assistant. It really is just about the moments. It is the most rewarding when I see that a student is understanding what I have been trying to teach them, or when they are confidently practicing English with me or their classmates.

I find so much joy in the times when the whole class is excited about the presentation I am giving (usually my presentations are about phonics – helping to explain pronunciation, which is what my Final Project is about). Listening to proper pronunciation, and their excitement over it is very rewarding for me.