Our Irish friends, Gemma and Hannah, her daughter, along with Fran came over for tapas and drinks recently. Fran and her husband, Peter own an Irish pub in Zaragoza called, Bull McCabe's. Parker and Ellen discovered Bull's back in September, and at that time it was a rare treat to hear other people speaking English. The small and relatively tight-knit English speaking community in Zaragoza, largely made up of Brits and Irish, often frequent Bull's. While Zaragoza is some 700K people, it often feels like a small town in that you run into the same people repeatedly...kind of like Concord, New Hampshire!
Photo: Hannah, Gemma and Colin in our living room
When Parker and Ellen first met Gemma, they discovered that she co-owned a local English language school called Number 16. Gemma explained that they were in need of native English teachers and that they would welcome both Kevin King (Ellen's husband), and Celia to teach part time. Zaragoza, and perhaps Spain in general is starving to learn English. With the economic crisis, and English being the standard language of the European Union and global businesses, Spain is lagging in its English education; many Spaniards are eager to learn it.
Photo: Fran with her doggie
Kevin and Celia both did a one week training at the end of September and have been teaching 5-15 hours per week ever since (Kevin is also a seasoned and published ESL teacher so this is right up his alley). Speak Your Mind, the teaching method at #16 is focused on speaking and while the students do have books, they are primarily taught by learning a new word or words and then answering questions which requires them to immediately put their language to use. It's almost the opposite of the Rosetta Stone method that Parker and Celia have been using for Spanish, which relies on visual prompts to teach language.
In addition to some adult level classes, Celia has had a regular Tuesday-Thursday evening class for 10 and 11 year olds. The kids alternate between being adorable and monstrous. Teaching English has been an interesting change of pace from high-tech marketing, and a great way to get out and meet locals.
All the teachers at #16 are British, Scottish, Irish, Australian, or American; they are an impressive and fun group. One guy is a West Point grad, Navy pilot on a military exchange for 3 years in Spain. He flies fighter jets during the day and teaches English some nights "for fun" because he had "too much time on his hands" !!!
About a month ago, after some hullabaloo, Gemma left #16, and now, she's actively working to set up a new school with Fran, and another friend, Nines.
Photo: Parker requesting kisses
Due to the turmoil and the required night work at #16, Celia switched schools in the first week of December and has started prepping students for the Trinity exam at the Sagrado Corazon school (like I said, there's no dearth of Spaniards wanting to learn English!). Gemma and I are sharing the student workload and 12 classes. The completely oral Trinity exam level tests students on their English ability and is used for both children and adults.
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