Another year has passed at IES San Clemente, and the first thing I have to say is that it ended on a much more positive note than the previous year.
As I wrote last May, the Coronavirus pandemic caused an abrupt end to the 2019-20 school year, sending most of us home from mid-March until the start of the summer. I had really enjoyed my stay thus far at San Clemente in 2019-20 and the year felt too short. This was one of the reasons I decided to stay at San Clemente for a second year.
San Clemente’s policy for the 2020-21 school year was to have half of the students attend lessons remotely. This was to keep the students and teachers safe and let the school remain open for the whole year. The policy was successful, but as all the teachers and students at San Clemente would probably tell you, it brought about its own share of challenges.
For example, It was sometimes difficult to have class discussions which would keep the whole class engaged. It also was impossible to play some of the speaking games and activities that involved students moving around the classroom or separating into close discussion groups.
Yet, despite these obstacles, we all learned new ways to keep the students engaged and discovered new online and technological resources that helped us to teach in new ways. While many students and teachers, including myself, have complaints about teaching from home, sometimes it proved to make smaller group discussions with students a bit more relaxed and informal when everyone was at home attending the Google Meet.
Overall, I look back on the 2020-21 school year as a very positive experience. I got to work alongside great professors like Rachel, Eva, Bruno, and Carrión for another year. I also had the pleasure of working alongside Cristina Paris for the first time this year. I also had the privilege of meeting and teaching alongside Ismael and Chema this year as well for their first year at San Clemente. Additionally, after the second year students finished their exams, I had the opportunity to hold small, informal English conversation lessons both at the school and online with the staff at San Clemente. This gave me the chance to meet many of the other great teachers I didn’t have a chance to meet before and also get to know some of the teachers I’d worked alongside this year better.
En conclusión, primeiro quero dar as grazas a todos os profesores cos que traballei este ano. Igualmente, quixera agradecer aos estudantes o feito de que tivesen tanta paciencia e souberan superar as dificultades tecnolóxicas que conleva a ensinanza en remoto e tamén por traballar duro nas clases de inglés e nas sesións de Etwinning. Non quixera esquecer o meu agradecemento á dirección do instituto que me permitiu estar outro ano en San Clemente e toda a axuda brindada nos últimos dous anos. Por último, quero expresar a miña gratitude aos demais profesores do San Clemente que teñen sido enormemente acolledores comigo e aos conserxes por toda a súa asistencia recibida nestes últimos dous anos.
Grazas por facer deste ano en San Clemente unha experiencia tan positiva. Aínda que non estou seguro de se estarei en San Clemente o ano que vén, espero estar en Santiago de Compostella. Deséxovos a todos un bo final de curso e un bo verán e espero vervos por Santiago de Compostela o ano que vén!
