In addition to the city of Madrid looking Christmasy, my school also has helped me get in the Christmas spirit. Take a look at my third graders practicing their song for their Christmas presentation while they colored their pop-up manger scene. However, don’t let this rare moment of classroom tranquility fool you, because when it came to handing out Secret Santa gifts just a few hours before, all I can say is Mass Chaos.



Sometimes there’s not much difference between students’ and teachers’ behavior. Almost all of the teachers at my school participated in the first-time-ever faculty game of Amigo invisible (aka Secret Santa). On Tuesday, we had a huge lunch in the teacher’s lounge, which included lots of meats, cheeses, tortilla, bread, a little wine, and even champagne (as you can see in this picture with Arielle and me), and then went through everyone’s AI one by one. It was slightly more organized than Mass Chaos. Everyone had to listen to the MC read aloud each card, pass the gift to the receiver, watch them open it, and then see if they could guess who their Amigo invisible was. My AI was María, an Infantil teacher who is in my English I conversation class, and she gave me a cool wallet de moda. Here’s a picture of me with all three women in that class (Marisa, me, María, and Concha).

Over the course of the past few months, I feel like I’ve laid the foundation for some good friendship with some of my fellow co-workers (Pilar, Susana, and Victor--pictured here--are three good examples of teachers I'm close to). I’m excited about returning and knowing where I fit in at my workplace, because now I know more fully my role in my classes. I’m not just the teaching assistant anymore. Pilar was absent on two separate occasions in recent weeks, and I didn’t find out until I walked into my 3rd grade classroom the day-of. Let me tell you: hearing “Pilar not here” when I had 2 hours to entertain 20 eight and nine year old kids during back to back English and Science classes was a little overwhelming the first time around. Handled it like a pro when it happened again a week later.

I don’t think I’ll ever be a Pro Second Grade Teacher, though. These kids are nuts, and I can never gain control of the classroom when Cristina leaves me with the little cute monsters. Then again, Cristina can barely keep them calm for 10 minutes either. In a moment of camp counselor-like glory, I managed to entertain them all by acting out our Christmas song, “The Six Days of Christmas,” which goes something along these lines:
On the sixth day of Christmas, my teacher gives to me six white lights, five blue presents! Four silver bells, three red stars, two yellow birds, and a gold candle for my Christmas tree.
Since I was raised on a slightly different version, I was rather confused and didn’t know which cardboard cut-out to hold up at the right time and was waving my arms around frantically trying to present them on cue. The kids got a real kick out of my knee-slapping antics, and later on that period, Rodrigo (who is actually my favorite) told me one of the best things a teacher could ever hope to hear: “Laura, you are cool.”

It’s true that my celebrity status has dramatically increased over the past few weeks. Hugs, waves, and calling for my attention as I walk through throngs of small children happen with much more frequency. It makes my heart feel warm on these chilly Madrid days. However, probably what warms my heart the most these days is this video I took of my 2nd graders. All I have to say is that I promise I did not teach this to them!




Lastly, as of 7:40 PM Wednesday night, I am officially on Christmas vacation! I'm leaving dark-and-early NOW (it's Thursday) to fly to Barcelona and spend a few days there before flying back to the USA on Monday. Oh, what a holiday I'm going to have! Felices fiestas.