You never know what you fully sign up for when deciding to become a teacher. Some people want to be a teacher because when they were younger it was the one profession to which they felt personally attached and the "teacher" became a source of comfort. Others have that undying flare of idealism that lets them appreciate the smallest things about children and genuinely love to spend their time creatively and passionately teaching them. Others need a job.
Now I know I am not a teacher full time and I hold the most esteemed respect for those teaching full time, especially at such a young age, but I am in the classroom enough to have grasped the dynamics from the other side of the chalkboard. From this perspective you see how easy it is to generalize the kids, to group them together as "more independent," "needing more attention," and "needing to go to the principal's office." And with over 28 students per class and 6 classes a day it can be difficult to really meet all of your kids. But sometimes you are given that enchanting opportunity to not only meet and talk with someone but learn more than you ever imagined at the same time.
His name is Antonio. He's tall, slim and is one of the best English speakers in the school. And he knows it. You can't miss him your first day in class because he will eagerly want to talk to you about any and everything in English. At first it's refreshing to have a student who is so animated to speak English (and speak it well!) but his endearing outbursts soon turn disruptive and dysfunctional. Over the course of the next few weeks he dominates all conversations in class, makes snide remarks about the poor level of English with the other students, and makes anyone else feel uncomfortable to even open her mouth in class. Pretty soon the teachers are all talking about this kid and his disruptive behavior and how difficult it is to conduct any lessons with him in the class. Oh, also, he is from Romania.
Why is this last piece of information important? Because in Spain, and many Western European countries in general, there is a giant stigma against Roma/Gypsies/people from Eastern European countries. Many are beggars in the center of the city and the populace has a general dislike, if not disgust, for them. But Antonio is going to school and seems to be doing all right for himself? Well, yes in English class. In Romania he learned his native language, French and English. He moved to Spain four months ago with minimal Spanish speaking skills and now all of his classes are in Spanish (minus English). He rarely studies for his other classes like language, philosophy, etc. because the language is too dense for him to understand. Many of his other teachers bemoan the fact that he is failing all of his classes except English and Math. And they bemoan these facts with other teachers in the teacher's lounge, myself included.
He talks a lot and is presumptuous in English class because his level was very advanced in Romania and now his class is at least 2 levels below where he was before. He does tend to dominate the conversations a bit in class but I now realize it must be because it is one of the few classes where he excels and he wants to prove himself. While talking with him today, I also learned that there is a work restriction against Romanians in Spain. For the first year of living here, Romanian citizens cannot work in Spain. His mom can't find a job and luckily his dad was recently able to work something out being self-employed to earn a living.
Now my intention is not to judge the other teachers prematurely. There can be separate issues that I have no idea about and perhaps even some of them understand his situation and are trying to help him. But I know if some of the teachers I work with donated 15 minutes of their time talking with some of their students, they can perhaps not just think of teaching as their job but as something they actually enjoy as well.
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