MYDIARY

(IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF AN ALIEN TEACHER IN BOGNOR REGIS)

Written by ESTHER PLANELLS

WEEK 1

MY DIARY

2015-10-13

PART 1:

One more day getting up so early in the morning! This is one of the first things I realize it has changed in my live since I am in UK. At home, timetables are very different than here, everything happen quiet later.

Since I wake up, my senses notice I am in a new environment that I am not used to. It does not smell of coffee but tea. The light that comes through the windows is slightly different. And when I put my feet on the floor I can feel the padded, warm and pleasant carpet.

But, I definitely have the strongest feeling when an adorable old lady, who met me couple of days ago, greets me by saying so nice words such as;

“Good morning dear!” “Did you sleep ok last night, honey?” “Would you like a cup of tea, darling?”

Here is the first big difference I find in communication between English and Spanish language. The way that British people use kind words and expressions is completely different that the manner and the context in which Spanish would use this friendly and close way of speaking. In fact, this is quiet surprising due to I realize that same words have clearly different connotations in one language and another. Words and expressions that are only used for me in very personal and intimate relationships become now part of my daily life.

Therefore, I think likely it w ill be something rewarding for me when I familiarize with this new way to mingle with

others. And I am not sure If I would be able to use them properly, but what I am sure is that they cheer me up.

PART 2:

After a hard day at university, I have arrived home with my mind plenty of new concepts, lot of thought and the feeling that I need to put into practice something that I have learnt during the day. So that, during the dinner time, I have decided to ask my host family about their opinion of the referendum they did last year, concerning to the Independence of Scotland. On one hand, because I am interested on the fact (due to we are dealing with a similar problem in my country) and on the other hand, due to I wanted to use some of the phrasal verbs that I had learnt in class. So that, I have tried to use sentences like:

“What is your opinion about the tussle between English and Scottish over the independence referendum?”

“We are coming through the same problem in Spain with Cataluña, and I grapple with the reasons why some people want the independence”

“Moreover, even if the Spanish politicians are wrestling with the problem, I strongly believe that they are not doing it as well as they could. And I think we should take the Uk experience among the referendum of the independence as an example.”

It has been such an interesting conversation and I think I have learnt some important history facts of Uk. But, I have found quiet difficult to add these new phrasal verbs in a natural and fluent way. I had to stop, think for a while and then carry on with the speaking. However I feel very happy because finally I could include them in my speech.

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-14

PART 1:

Today has been a long and very British day!

Once I have had my British breakfast (English tea with a toast and cereals), I have gone to the university trying to survive to this crazy English stile of driving.

When I entered to the class Francisco was giving a very quick and funny lesson about how we should greet people in any circumstances while we are in Great Britain. Even if he or she is the bus driver, the shop assistant of the supermarket, your teacher or your mate you should be polite to him/her and show interest about him/herself; how

he/she feels today or how he/she slept. I can imagine this is not that extremist and it was kind of a joke, but what it is sure is that the relationship with others (specially with strangers)is much more affectionate in UK that what it is in my country. And I had my first purpose of the day; this evening, I will try to put all this new social standards into practice in the pub.

After that the day has been plenty of new concepts and new knowledge that I have tried to attached as much as possible,

Fortunately, during the lunch time, I could relax my mind enjoying a delicious typical British meal called cottage pie, what gave me the energy to carry on with the lessons after the break.

PART 2:

In the evening we went to the pub and I strongly tried to be as polite and as solicitous as British people are. So I asked my mates and my teachers about their day with courteous questions like: How are you? Did you have a nice meal? Or

did you enjoy your dinner? How do you feel after such a long day? .

I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the intonation, the speed (they do it so fast) and the way of asking itself. But at the time it was quite fun and I think I slowly feeling more confident.

After that practice, everything was easier. I relaxed myself and I enjoyed the conversation with different people. Some of us tried to imitate a group of teenagers in order to put into practice the several slang words we had learnt during the afternoon. It was a really nice joke and we had very fun, but I also believe it was a great way to consolidate the knowledge we had acquired.

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-15

PART 1:

We spend a lot of hours at the university absorbing such a huge amount of information that sometimes I feel I´m going to collapse. Nevertheless, I am so exciting with the idea of being studying again. I am sure I have a lot to learn not only from the teachers but also from my mates. I have noticed they are really challenging teachers plenty of new and interesting ideas about education and the different ways of carry on with the teaching-learning process. It is also very interesting we are teachers of different subjects due to I am sure this is going to enrich our experience.

At the same time, I feel so lucky to have a team of really well qualified teachers with a wide experience in training bilingual teachers. In Fact, this becomes quite important if we take into account that it is not the same to be an English teacher that to be a CLIL teacher, what means you have to teach contents through a language that is not your mother tongue language (what it is, in my opinion, much more complex). And I have faith in my teachers they can give us useful tools and new knowledge to get better our work in that sense at the time that they help us to improve our language skills.

PART 2:

I am aware of how positive the opportunity of being here can be in order to use the language in a different context than the one that I am used to. That means that, hopefully, my lexical is going to rise by a considerable amount.

For example, today we have learnt some slang words and expressions related to technology that children and teenagers frequently use. And we have put them in the appropriate context to understand them better.

After words, I have tried to put them into practice with my host family and it has been so funny because since they are elderly people they had never heard about certain expressions such as; This is epic, It is legit . Or terms like; silver surfers or a computer geek.

We have been discussing for a while about how slang changes with every new generation and they have told me some expressions that they used to say when they were young. It has been a very nice and productive evening.

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-16

PART 1:

Today, I had the opportunity to work with mates that I did not work before. This is such a nice thing. On the one hand, because you can meet them more deeply, and on the other hand because, as I said the other day, I think I can learn a lot from my colleagues. In fact, during the afternoon periods, we had to work in peers and my partner was an expert in the activity we had to do due to he had than it before in other course. So I could KISS (keep it short and simple)

We prepared a questioner about education. We wrote open and close questions about the British educational system; Types of schools, weaks and strongs of the system, own preferences...

It was a really interesting experience because we could interact with British people from outside of our context. We talked to a young boy and a couple of young girls (all of them around the twenties). Even if They were very polite and nice people I got shocked by the fact that they did not know a lot about their own educational system, although two of them were studying pedagogy at the university.

By the way, I hope we can do this activity more often because I believe that it is a very useful way of practicing the language in a real context among native speakers.

PART 2:

During the Kathy´s lesson I became aware how important it is the intonation and the proper use of the stress when talking. We should put the stress on the important words of the sentences which can be a little bit confusing sometime. But Kathy has told us something that I thing is going to be very useful for us; the example of the telegram. That is, in the telegram you only right the most important works and

those word would be the same that we would stress in a sentences.

The other part of the lesson was focus on the way British people discus about agrees and disagrees due to it is well known that British and Spanish manage disagreements. After having an interesting debate about the differences between to be polite and to be harmless when we use language, we prectived with several british expressions to express disagree;

Actualy, I´m afraid I don´t really agree with you

I do get what you are saying, but...

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

WEEKEND 2015-10-17/18

PART 1:

On Saturday, we travelled around the Sussex villages, which

was a great opportunity to live and experiment some of the

cultural facts and aspects of British style life that we had

been working on during the week.

We have interacted with many people in different contexts

(the bus driver, the waiter in the pub, shop assistant in the

craft shop, the guide in the church,,,). And It was a nice

experience to realize that most of the knowledge we

acquired in class is meaningful and can be also very useful

for our integration during our staying in UK.

By the time we learnt a little bit about some event and

important historical facts, such as the fight between Saxons

and Normans, which may help us to understand better the

English culture.

On Sunday, we went to the Seven Sisters Country Park,

which is located near Brighton. I could enjoy some of the

most spectacular views of cliffs I had never seen before. I

had lunch on the beach and we walked around the park.

Moreover, the weather was so nice and the company really

friendly so that I can say it was almost a perfect day.

PART 2:

It was really nice to have the chance of knowing Dave and

Simon a little bit better. They are very kind and friendly

people, they make you feel comfortable and relax so that I

think that my English becomes more fluent. I feel confident

with them so I am not afraid of committing mistakes which

let me put into practice new linguistic aspect without feeling

a lot of pressure. Then, I realize how important is to feel

calm and sure when you need to talk in a language that it is

not your mother tongue.

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-19

PART 1:

I really love the way our teachers use positive support.

Whenever we have an intervention or a question in class

they try to encourage us saying that it is an interesting point

of view or a good question. That makes me be stimulated

because I feel we are learning through a really useful

teaching learning process by sharing at the time we are

acquiring new knowledge and improvement in the language

thanks to her lessons.

Once again, I realize that, the polite manners of saying

thinks in this country, help us to feel comfortable and

confident which is necessary when learning a language.

PART 2:

Apart from the clarification of the several types of school in

Great Britain and the different exams that students have to

do in UK, today I learnt some new expressions which I hope I

can put into practice as soon as possible. I consider they are

very common expressions that can be used in many

contexts. These are:

“Horses for courses” which means there is always

something for any like.

“To dumb (something) down” that is to make it easier

And “slip through the net” That I had to look in the

dictionary because I was not sure, and I found the definition

which was; to escape   a punishment   or be missed   by a

system   that should deal   with or protect   you.

Moreover, I could be aware about some mistakes I do in my

writing thanks to kathy´s corrections of the diary. Therefore,

I will try to correct them and do not make them again in my

next texts

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-20

PART 1:

This morning, during breakfast time, I had an intense and

deep conversation with my host family about some of the

wars and conflicts that England has had through history. He

told me some facts about the wars against Scotland,

Australia and Ireland in the last centuries.

The conversation started because I realized my host father

thinks nobody likes English people! He told me that because

of these past conflicts Australian, Ireland and even Scottish

are not very friendly with them. In his opinion, there are two

main reasons for this fact, on the one hand population from

these countries do not forgive them because of their old

conflicts and on the other hand they envy English because

they are one of the most global power countries.

This is not the first time I see the patriotic fervour in my host

father and it surprises me due I have not the same sense of

nations and patriotism he has. However, I really enjoy

talking about history with them. I am definitely learning a lot

of British events of past.

PAST 2:

I must say that today was a complicate day for me at the

university. I reckon I am a little bit overfaced by all the work

we have to do between the university and my school.

Therefore, I beg It was so difficult to be concentrated in

class. I had too many thing in my mind and I could not pay

as much attention as I wish.

However, I finally could focus myself on the lesson due to it

was related to educational aspects of British education

system which I must to understand due to I am going to be

involved in it in a couple of weeks. Fortunately, I found out

the purpose and the characteristics of some school exams

that students have to do a long their educational lives. More

over I got a better idea of what verbs I should use when

talking about exams; Do an exam, take an exam or sit an

exam ( more formal).

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY

2015-10-21

PART 1:

Today I met my host family’s daughter and son. It is quite

funny because she is my host mother’s daughter and he is

the son of my host father. Actually, they both met because

their children married each other. We had a very nice

evening telling stories about how they met and fun

anecdotes about their first date. Once again, I could realize

how different our cultures can be. And I must say that I

really like the way that British over sixties face their lives

which is very different than the way Old Spanish people do

it. Normally, in Spain, If you lose your husband or your wife

after the sixties you do not even think on finding a new

relationship, that is, we are very traditionalist in that sense.

But I feel that in England old people are much more vitalist,

they are still full of life and open minded which I think is a

very positive aspect of the British culture.

PART 2:

We have finally had a leisure evening!

Even if we felt a little bite guilty because we had to do the

diary, read some articles, do an essay, think about items for

our presentation... we decided to take some time off and

enjoy a free evening going to Chichester. We went for a

walk trying to do some shopping but we were so surprise

when we realized in England most of the shops are closed at

5pm. For that reason, we decided to go to have dinner to a

traditional British pub. We were joking about this could

make us feel better due to we were trying to learn more

aspects about British culture and it allow us interact with

native people at the time we could enjoy a typical English

meal so we could write it in our diaries later on. But it was

not a joke but a real fact. I strongly believe that to be here is

a great opportunity to get involved in the British live in order

to absorb as much information as possible. And, in my

opinion, we are not taking enough profit of it because we

spend too much time in our computers.

After the pub we went to the theatre to see The Seagull by

Chejov. The staging of the show was spectacular. It was so

thrilling to me the fact of having the chance to enjoy a

fabulous play as The Seagull is, in a beautiful theatre such

as Chichester Theatre and in a different language. Even

though it was really difficult to understand the actors in

some dialogues I could have a lot of fun.

However, I noticed something that made me feel blue, and it

was the fact that most spectators from the audience were

elderly people. This is something very usual in Spain to, but

I had the hope of believing that British people had found the

magic potion to stimulate young people to go to the theatre.

MYDIARY

(IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF AN ALIEN TEACHER IN BOGNOR REGIS)

Written by ESTHER PLANELLS

WEEK 2/3MY DIARY

2015-10-23

PART 1:

Thanks to Kathy’s questioner I have finally had the

opportunity to talk to young people. Due to I live with an

elderly couple and I spend most of the time at home and at

University with my adult and responsible mates and

teachers, I hadn’t had time to talk with young people who I

really like because of their fresh and spontaneous language.

But today, I could stop some of them with the excuse of

asking them few questions about idioms (our topic for the

presentation). And, as I expected, It was a quite nice and

enjoyable experience. Most of them did not really know

what an idiom was, but after telling them some examples,

they realized they use this kind of colloquial expressions a

lot and they thought us some funny ones, like Browny nose,

that I am sure I could not learn in class or with my host

family. Therefore, I feel I got in touch with another part of

the British population with slightly different English

costumes.

PART 2:

Today we had a reflection on the course so far, and I could

be aware of the many things we have learnt in just two

weeks.

I strongly believe that I have acquired lot of new vocabulary

and expressions which I have been trying to put into

practice with my host family and my mates. Moreover, I am

more conscious of the importance of stressing the

sentences and the pronunciation of some tricky words. On

the other hand, during these two weeks I clarified some

daubs I had about the British educational system that I am

quiet sere they will help me to understand better the

management of the the English school I go in few days.

So, having into account all this new knowledge acquired, I

think it is more than understandable that I feel overtired. By

the way, my next week purpose is taking my learning

process a little bite easy. Let see if i am able to do it.

MY DIARY

WEEKEND

PART 1:

It has been a great and very cultural weekend!

On Saturday, we went to Portsmouth which is one of the

most important ports in England. It has a beautiful city

centre and a nice shopping area but some of us decided to

spend much of the time visiting The Portsmouth Historic

Dockyard. And it was an excellent idea because, apart from

having a really funny time, I learnt lots of facts and events

from the British History (told by British people who work

there) which is other of our aims during our staying in

England. We visited the Victory ship in which Nelson died

during the Trafalgar Battle. It was so impressing due to it

was quiet easy to imaging and reconstruct the hard

conditions of the sailors´ lives.

After that, we went to the museum where the rests of Mery

Rose´s ship are. I really liked the architecture of the

museum which simulate a ship on itself. But not only for the

shape but also for the sound. Moreover, it was so interesting

to know about the process of rescue the rests of the sunken

galleon at the time we could see them.

And finally, we visited the first iron ship of the world The

HMS Warrior

On Sunday, we decided to continue being steeped in the

British History so we went to Arundel to visit the castle and

learn few more thing about the Middle Age in England. The

castle is so beautiful and you also could imagine the way

nobles lived in that period of the history. But what I liked the

best was the amazing views it had from its wall.

We also visited the Cathedral and the little and cute town

plenty of interesting and curious antique furniture shops.

To end with the nice and sunny day, we decided to come

into a typical tea room and we had a delicious and sweet

British meal in which we ate some of the best apple pies I

had never tasted before!

In both trips, I had the opportunity of speaking with quite

interesting people who knew a lot of things about English

history so I could say that, apart from learning about history,

I was practicing my English interacting with English people

away from my regular environment which it has been really

rewarding.

MY DIARY

2015-10-26

PART 1:

Today was a relaxing and quiet day at University due to the

rest of the students are on holiday. I did not know it since I

went to the dining hall for the break time and I founded

completely empty so I asked the lady who works there and

she explained to me. This is another point of the British

educational system that I think we should copy. I believe

that having a two weeks break every couple of months is

much more suitable and more coherent, in terms of

teaching and learning, that having two months holiday

during summer time as we do.

Moreover, and apart from the pedagogical advantages of

this holiday, I must say it was so nice to feel that the

University was for us! We didn´t have to cue for asking the

lunch or the coffee and we could sit down all together. And

It was also a good chance to talk with the stuff that was not

very busy.

PART 2:

Over and above the evening was quite stormy. I asked my

host family about their opinion of the current political

landscape and I got so surprise when my host father was

completely cheesed of this country politicians. He told me

he was really angry because He voted David Cameron and

he is not covering his expectations even though he is let

him down because of his politics related to immigrations.

Actually he told me he had written a letter to the Prime

Minister telling him that he is so disappointed to pay all the

social benefits they have. Therefore, He is convinced he is

going to vote Nigel Farge who, as he said, “is the only one

who can expel the immigrants from this country”. Once

having heard that I saw myself forced to put into practice

the polite way of disagree that we learnt in Kathy´s class, I

do not share any of his points of view about politics and

immigration and I felt a little bite. I beg I felt ill at ease with

this awkward situation.

ESTHER PLANELLS