open house

A. brought home a paper from school (the only way I learn about anything).

Initially A. encouraged me to visit a classroom other than the one he would be in, but
after some consideration he invited me to play Kahoot! with part of his English class.

I made my way past all the displays,

through the cafeteria,

and to the classroom where we had to figure out the
right answer to a question or in response to a video.

The kids worked together to figure out the right answer. A. and I would give unhelpful
answers like, "It is the right answer because it sounds right." We did not win!

The final project was to unscramble a quote from a humanitarian, including some challenging words. Afterward the kids will create a piece of art to go with the quote and when it is approved by the art teacher the kids will paint it onto the wall, decorating one hall with quotes related to social justice.

I was sorry to miss the college fair and Model U.N. demonstration, but I was glad to be able to have a glimpse into A.'s day.

Story time

I am not quite sure why I got asked, maybe because she knew I would say yes? I agreed to read a book and come up with a craft for an event sponsored by the school's PTA-like group.

The first job was to find a book in English that I thought would lend itself to a craft.  I narrowed it down to Eric Carle's book honoring the Franz Marc, a controversial German expressionist.

I was excited to find this video of Eric Carle discussing the book.

Shel Silverstein's Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros? was the other book. In the end I read both.

I thought the kids could make paper lunch bag puppets, which would allow them to do something easy (just color) or something more complex (cut, glue, create).  I forgot that everyone here eats a hot lunch and have no concept of a lunch bag!  Lucky for me the coordinator has been saving toilet paper tubes for two years.

I have no idea how much English the children (ages 3-7?) understood, but they seemed to enjoy the books and loved having stickers, pipe cleaners, yarn, and googly eyes to create whatever they wanted.

One thirteen-year-old came to help and also had fun being creative!

Futbol (or fútbol in Castilian)

The academic system here is made up of primary grades, then ESO 1-4, and then some people get a national baccalaureate degree (and a few people get an international baccalaureate degree). A. is playing with his school team (which is less competitive than the city clubs, but also significantly less expensive) which is broken into two groups, ESO 1 and 2 and ESO 3 and 4. The younger group had three goalkeepers (portero) and the ESO 3 and ESO 4 kids had none. Last year they simply rotated through putting field players in goal. The keepers for the younger team who have been here longer than A. were offered the chance to play up. Guess who is now the full-time keeper for ESO 3 and 4?!

A. is happy to be playing on artificial turn instead of on concrete, which is what we see at most schools. In the background you can see the semi-covered benches of each team, sitting side-by-side. That funny thing sticking up between the benches is a sprinkler, which is used to keep the turf cool so the players so get burned (I am guessing they don't use this feature year-round).

They applauded the parents and shook hands with opponents before the game.

We enjoy going to the games and talking to the parents in a mix of English and Spanish.  I am hoping the weather continues to cooperate on game days!

School Saga

What happens when you would normally start eighth grade and your parents put you in a school where your classmates started learning their fourth language the year before?  Chin up and figure out how to fit in.  It does to seem to help to be able to keep in touch with people back home electronically.

A. has been doing his U.S. math during math class, keeping up with his English reading during another class, and having Spanish lessons during another.  Lucky for him about a third of the classes are taught in English, a language he excels in.

The ride to school is not particularly bike-friendly, but he manages the 15-20 minute ride safely. Once a week he has orchestra and a cello lesson so he catches the public bus, along with other students from a couple schools.  Some kids make the trek to his school all the way from Barcelona, either by public transit or charter bus.  A. is very happy not to be doing that.

One hard part has been the timing.  School starts at 8:50, there is a break from 10:30-11 when the kids have a snack many call breakfast, and then there is a break from 13:30-15:00.  During that time A. has soccer twice a week, cello lesson once a week, and paddle tennis once a week.  School lets out at 16:40.  It is fairly standard to have a long lunch break because of the tradition of going home for a hot lunch, but the late dismissal is still something he is adjusting to.

Outside of school A. is enjoying Pokemon Go, drawing, listening to Harry Potter, and evaluating the local bakeries.  He has also made a friend who likes to toss an American football, which A. enjoys, too.

I hope he looks back fondly on this time!


**Breaking news**
When A. asked where to park his bike he was told one had asked that before.  They found a place, but yesterday he told us they installed a bike rack!  Too bad he liked the old space better.

A little cheese...

...To go with that whine!

"Barcelona is my favorite city!"  "Oh, I just love Barcelona!" "I was there X years ago and had the best time."

Fine, but we aren't in Barcelona and we aren't on vacation.  We are living here and dealing with the reality.  Here are the minor annoyances to balance out the other posts.

• Cleaning the entire kitchen after finding meal moths.
• Not being able to get a membership card at the office/school supply store because I didn't know the phone number (even though I had my passport and legal currency).
• Writing to the language school, being told where to go, going there, being told that registration for first level classes are held elsewhere.
• Not having a tea kettle or any measuring utensils (cups, spoons, scale).
• The heat wave.
• As my aunt would say, there is always a prior step.  And it means translating from Catalan.

Of course those things are balanced by the funny (like being told that my Spanish was better than that person's English) and the good (the school finding an entire second-hand wardrobe for A. to use as long as we return it).

• two shirts
• one pair of pants
• one sweater
• one coat
• one sport shirt
• one sport shorts
• one warm-up coat
• one pair of warm-up pants

As someone joked, they don't make him wear school-issued underwear yet.  Today we need to buy socks.

Adapting to local culture

Did you know that if you look at the Claremont Unified School District website you can see the calendar for the 2017-2018 academic year?  For your information, the first day of school is August 30, 2017.

Six months ago I asked the admissions counselor when the first day of school would be for A.  I received the following response.  "The first day of School in September has not been set because the official dates have not been released yet by the Education Dept."

It seems like this adventure will help me work toward my goal of being more of a go-with-the-flow type person!