Last week I began tutoring two ladies in English one-on-one. Both of them are preparing to take an exam in December to get their first certificate in English. My first client, Ayoda, is an early childhood teacher and would like to spend time in England or the United States to teach Spanish. I am tutoring her three times a week for an hour each. The other one, Estibaliz, works in an employment agency and would just like to improve her ability to converse in English because she feels like it is important to learn. I am tutoring her once a week for an hour. Both are around the same level, so I have worked on similar skills with each of them. We have focused mainly on listening and talking in English, in addition to some grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The English professors at my school have provided me with materials to use for these lessons, which has been helpful. Surprisingly, they have been a lot easier than I thought they would have been. Since so few people in Vitoria speak English they are just looking for someone to practice their English with and correct their errors. Today, one of the professors at my school approached me and would like me to tutor her 15 year old son once a week. She said she would just like him to work on conversations in English. So I will start my first lesson with him next week. Working in the morning at the secondary school and doing private lessons in the afternoon with definitely keep me busy during the week.
Last week I went on a field trip to La Rioja with a class of students from my school. La Rioja is a region in the north of Spain located directly below the Basque Country. I went on this trip with other teachers from the school who are not part of the English department. The English professors invited me to go on this trip because they thought it would be a good opportunity for me to see these sites. Despite the rain, I enjoyed my visit. We saw some monasteries and cathedrals along with some good sites. At the beginning of the day my interactions with the students was very minimal, since I hadn’t had any of them in class yet they were unsure who I was. Towards the end of the day and as they learned who I was they all became very interested and started to crowd around me talking in both English and Spanish.


Apparently I enjoyed my time in La Rioja so much that I wanted to go back. On Saturday I returned with three of the other American Auxiliaries from Vitoria. La Rioja is known as the wine country in the North of Spain, therefore we decided to go to a winery, also known as a bodega in Spanish. There we got a tour of the winery. We learned about the history, where and how it is made along with some wine tasting. It was a beautiful day, so after our tour we went to the center of Logrono, which is the capital of La Rioja. There we just walked around and explored the small city. We got lunch, spent some time in the plaza with the big fountain, saw the cathedral and walked along the river.

Since Halloween is coming up on Saturday, all of the auxiliaries have decided to talk about Halloween in our classes. So on Monday we all got together at one of the auxiliary’s apartment to carve pumpkins. It is nice being able to take part in holiday traditions with the other Americans here, I was surprised to find out they even sell pumpkins in Spain. One of the English teacher’s at my school was very impressed with my Jack-O-Lantern although anyone who knows me well enough knows that I do not have any artistic ability.


This weekend my school has a 5 day holiday in commemoration to All Saints Day which is on Sunday, November 1. So I have decided to go to Salamanca for the weekend. I will be meeting another auxiliary there who met I over the summer along with the other auxiliaries from her city. I am definitely looking forward to going back.