Job Discussion Forums

[jess1619]

Hi
I'm an inexperienced teacher, teaching in a small school in spain and it seems now that i've got here and been working for 3 weeks it's all rather suspicious. not only are we not allowed to do lesson plans outside of school but we can't do them during the siesta time as the school's closed. so we have to do lesson plans when we can which isn't a great deal of time, an hour/half an hour here or there. we haven't got our identity card thing yet, we've got an apartment and just opened a bank account but no identity paper/card thing. so are we technically working illegally here? and she's just sprung on us that we've got observations this afternoon, less than 24hours notice. it's just a DOS, a secretary (who's her partner) and 4 teachers. so we feel we have no one to ask here and we're all reasonably new to teaching or teaching in spain. can anyone help or give us some advice please? thanks.

[TwinCentre]

If you are an EU citizen, then you are legally working there - even though you are waiting for the offical documents. It is down to the school to sort that out for you.

Why can't you do the lesson planning at home? No-one can stop you from planning in your head....just do it! No-one can tell you what you can or cannot write on a piece of paper in your free-time....just do your plans when you want.

[spiral78]

not only are we not allowed to do lesson plans outside of school
Not sure what you mean by this...not allowed to make plans?

I don't think three weeks is unreasonably long for paperwork to be filed and for the school to start sorting things out. You might just ask how long they expect it all to take.

As for being observed, that's pretty normal. You've had a few weeks to get used to the students and the class, and, well 24 hours notice isn't totally unreasonable. I wouldn't worry too much!

Overall, I think after you've been observed might be a good time for you to ask questions about paperwork, and possibly also to express whatever concerns you have about lesson planning. You could frame this as a request for advice (how/when would you recommend we can best do this?).

Good luck!

[mozzar]

In fairness, if you're thinking about getting the NIE then it'll take a long time (normally a few months) in Spain. So don't worry unless they don't pay you.

EDIT: I, too, am also a little confused about the lesson planning situation. How can someone stop you lesson planning?

[naturegirl321]

A place I worked for had the same rules. Their logic was that the shcool made all the materials and they didn't want them being taken out so that teachers or anyone else could copy them.

[dackinator]

[jess1619]

thanks for all the posts, we're now finally going to another town to get our papers sorted next week. but we've still yet to sign a contract...and we're now getting observed...so does this mean she can get rid of us at any point. Because I "signed" a brief contract via email so technically none of us have physically signed one yet. i'm getting observed tonight, i don't mind getting observed, it's the fact that i feel that if she doesn't like my style of teaching she can get rid of me easily and without paying me...

the thing about the planning is that she is adament that we cannot plan outside of the school hours. we can't photocopy the pages we need as she asks us why we're photocopying. I tried to explain to her that im a new teacher and need more time outside of the school hours to plan and she said no. i can't plan when i don't have anything to go by. we can't even take our plans home with us to go over. it's just a bit ridiculous. the dos is driving us all mad as she's like a robot with no understanding, feelings or flexibility - its her way or the highway. and believe me we've tried to talking to her and she's always dismissed us and our views.

sorry for the ramble, it's just the school is driving us all mad. thanks.

[artemisia]

Jeez, sorry to sound negative here but I doubt this controlling behaviour will change. I know it's a lot to cope with on top of everything else but I think I'd start looking for work elsewhere and as soon as I could. If that's something you can get your head around, you'll need to find out how much notice you have to give if you sign a contract. Even then, frankly, if you up and leave what's she going to do about it?
It's not the best way to do things, but if you're up against it, I'd put yourself first. Otherwise if that too much or impractical right now then you might have to bear with this situation for a while (and it might get easier).

As far as the planning bit goes; I'm wondering the same. Has this school developed its own materials and so is paranoid about letting them out the door just in case anyone steals these wondrous, precious ideas? Or you are just using standard coursebooks? Are you expected to follow the text to the letter? I mean is the DOS likely to be dictating to you exactly how you teach?

I'm not sure about these points but I'm going to suggest you take a mental note of the main language points (eg; comparative and superlatives or Present simple vs Present continuous) that are coming up next and build up some teaching ideas around that. I can't see why you wouldn't at least be able to supplement whatever the text is with other materials. You can look at ESL websites online for material which you might be able to print off somewhere (Bogglesworld is quite good: they have lesson plans, too). At least you can note things down in your own time and start getting an idea of what you want to try and cover in the lesson. You might start off with some kind of warmer - perhaps a "Find someone who...." mix & mingle exercise or pairwork questions (depending on the level of the class). Once you've got the students started off on this, it'd give you some breathing place at the beginning of the class while you consult your lesson plan and coursebook to see what's coming up next.