I went to meet the principal of the American School of Barcelona’s elementary school this morning. She was very nice and worked with my mom when my parents lived in Barcelona. I had written her an email to the effect of: I’m sure you aren’t hiring, but I would like to have a talk with you about any advice you could give to someone starting as a new teacher.
The American School is a top-notch private school in Barcelona and I didn’t have any notions of landing a contract with them. I learned on the side that a teacher there must have a teaching certification (the year program you take in the USA) and at least three years of experience. So yeah, there was no way. I could however hope for some sort of point in the right direction or maybe get some students to tutor.
Here is what happened:
I got a phone call before I even arrived asking if I could also substitute a kindergarten class that day. I told the secretary that I haven’t taught kids that young but I would certainly love the experience. When I got there, it turned out they didn’t need me that afternoon but certainly for tomorrow. I met the coordinator of the Early Childhood Center (Kindergarten/pre-school kids from 3 to 5) and she told me that all of the teachers there work with assistants. For the first few times I would come in, I would be working with a full time teacher as an assistant so I could kind of learn the ropes. That made me feel a lot better since I have no clue what to do with three year olds. Maybe this will get me over my fear of raising kids (or make it worse, depending). I would be needed tomorrow from 9am to 4pm and if all goes well, more days after that.
The impression I got was that they have a staff of over a hundred teachers and it is common that the school needs a substitute for someone every day or every other one. If I worked well with the school and the kids then I would become a regular. This means that I could be going there several times a week! That almost sounds like a normal job.
I’ll take that.
In combination with the more sporadic calls to substitute from another school, things could turn out to be okay money-wise. I simply have to do my best to make this go over well.
Screaming little kids? Bring it on.