Kids Rule, Teachers Drool!

There is virtually no use for English in this inverted mountain town in the middle of nowhere. I say inverted because this “pueblo blanco” (white town) of southern Spain is quite possibly the only pueblo blanco to be situated in the crevice of the surrounding limestone-based crag. Beautiful but isolated, the people who live here are very friendly, generous, close-knit and proud of their town, which often frustrates me by its limitations, including my students’ limited interest in learning any inkling of English. Because of its isolation, there are generally no English speaking tourists who bother venturing here to purchase from Ubrique’s famous and over-priced selection of leather goods. Thus, there is very little incentive for people to speak English for utilitarian purposes and furthermore, few consider venturing out of the town in search of opportunity and experience that is different from what they already know. There are, of course, exceptions to this general apathy and these exceptional few keep me sane while the majority of the students keep me inventing new ways to interest even the most disassociated brains. I have a new found respect for all those teachers of my yester-years who wrangled whole classes of hooligans. But on a 10-point scale of hooliganism, if Americans are a 3, Ubriquenos are a 9. I am talking about, running around the room, always shouting, interrupting, throwing things, picking fights, making excuses for consequences that that are deserving of their actions and not doing any assignments that they are given. According to the other teachers, it all stems from problems in the Spanish educational system. Whatever. Nevertheless, I try to do interesting activities…if I can even get around to explaining them, but if anyone has any suggestions…I am open them…really. Wide open.