Lee Pryke comes from the UK and is a Conversation Assitant in Col·legi Claret, Barcelona. He works with students from 4 to 18 years old, so he has to adapt his activities to very different levels. He’s having a good experience overall, and so is the school!
I first arrived in Barcelona on the 30th September to work as a Conversation Assistant in Claret. After a big group meeting on some minor details we waited to meet our host families. Everyone was really nervous as we sat there waiting to be picked up, as we had very little information about them and I didn’t know what to expect.
However, it seems I was very lucky with my family. I was greeted with big smiles and kisses and a few nervous kids. But the nerves soon dissolved and they were very welcoming and willing to talk and play. We spend a lot of time together and often go away at the weekends to France. It’s great fun spending time with them. I will miss them all a lot when I move to my next host family.
A couple of days later I started at school again and I wasn’t too sure about what to expect so the nerves crept back in. The first impression of the school was very good although it seems to resemble a maze. It only took a couple of weeks to understand the layout. Everyone at the school was really welcoming and very helpful with anything I needed help with. My tutors Cristina and Pere provide me with all the resources I need and are always willing to help with any problems I have. We have weekly meetings to discuss any problems and new ideas, which is really great as I’m learning a lot from them both.
I’m working with children from fourth grade up to Batxillerat. The younger children took a couple of weeks to get used to my accent. I needed to learn to slow my speech down as it seemed I was faced with a confused bunch of children for the first couple of weeks every time I spoke to them. They are all very interested in talking with me and willing to practise their English. The older children are really good fun. Being able to have a full conversation with them about varied topics is really interesting and I’m getting to know them all. We’re working on projects with the younger children which they all find very exciting. With the older children we work on discussions to practice their conversational skills about topics they can relate too.
When I arrived in Barcelona I wasn’t aware that their first language wasn’t Spanish. Or even there was a place called Catalunya. So now I’m trying to learn Spanish and little bits of Catalan. I’ve learnt a lot about the culture here already and the way of life. Everything here is much more relaxed than back home. I can easily get used to this lifestyle, It’s taken a while to get used to the times of eating as it’s a lot later than what it is back home but with a few snacks snuck in I soon got used to it.
I look forward to spending the next year with the school and meeting the new families.
