My experience as a Spanish teacher assistant

Do I regret going to Germany to be a Spanish teacher assistan? Of course not. But would I go again? Also no.

Salzmannschule Snepfenthal Spezialgymnasium für Sprache

In September 2018 I packed my things and took a plane, two trains and a tram to Waltershausen, right in the geographical center of Germany to start teaching Spanish to teenagers.

I was lucky in a way because my school was a public boarding school specialised in languages, in which each student had to choose 5 languages among 9 and the immersion was wonderful. First day of school I met my tutor and she was one of my fav teachers I had the pleasure to work with. Whenever I had classes with her we diveded the class in halves and I had the chance to speak with my students, who already had a good Spanish level. Even sometimes after class we explored together the woods sourranding the school and play uke all together and had jam sessions. It was a blast.

But unluckily not all teachers were like her. There was this one teacher that always forgot I was in class. Everytime we had classes together she made me sit with her students and I never had the chance to participate in the class. Sometimes she asked me how would I say a word or how I would translate this or that term, but that was it. Not a very good experience, to be honest.

One of the other Spanish teachers at the school was from Valladolid. So when I saw my calendar and went to his class the very first day he told me that he was already a native and didn't need another one in the class with him, so yes, I had to leave and was assigned another teacher.

This last teacher was ok. We did things together in the classroom, sometimes I gave the class and sometimes I participated in it, but we always prepared activities together. But at some point she got sick and had to leave school for a period of time, and I had to be in charge of her classes, which was a experienced I liked a lot. One of the classes was with beginners students, that was their first time learning Spanish and even though sometimes I used German to communicate with them and explained thing to them, classes were mostly in Spanish. I was the one preparing and correcting their exams and with them I had a real teaching experience.

But then you may be wondering why I said at the beginning that I wouldn't do it again. Easy answer: the school was in the middle of nowhere, in a very small town, not very well conected and where I knew almost no one, apart from the Russian and American teaching assistants (I AM SEEING THEM AGAIN IN TWO WEEKS!!!!).

So basically one of the reasons I am this year at the URJC because of that academic year at the Salzmannschule. All I can say is THANK YOU.