Week 2...finding a groove



(View from one of the windows in our building)



Hi again!

We´re hoping that everyone back home is doing well! I have the sense that we have settled into a rhythm and the students feel like they are getting a handle on things here. They are constantly remarking about how much their Spanish is improving, and I can tell they are getting more and more confident in their language abilities. Rest assured...they are learning a lot!

On Sunday evening/night, many of us visited the center of Oviedo for the celebration of San Juan (John the Baptist, in English). There was a stage with music for most of the evening, then a short play, and finally a large bonfire to cap off the celebration.

Monday after classes and our afternoon activities, the instructors went to a restaurant to watch the USA-Spain World Cup match. We invited the students to come watch with us during their free time, if they wanted. It was an optional activity, so a few students chose to spend their time elsewhere, but we had a big group come out! It was a lot of fun (USA won, in case you haven´t seen), not only for the fútbol, but also because it was chance to see the students have success communicating in Spanish in a new setting - they ordered Coca Colas or quick snack to eat, in every case with a level of confidence that we wouldn´t have seen 2 weeks ago :)

Since then we've been on our normal class schedule and making some progress on our play/songs/dances for the final show that we'll put on for our host families. I have a few pictures of some rehearsals below, and will do my best to get some videos up so you can see them in action. That´s it for now, but be on the lookout for another update later in the week or over the weekend. We have an excursion planned for Friday, so I´ll have more to share. Ciao!





Taking a break, playing cards...but in Spanish, of course!





Morning announcements, getting some info for the day







¡FÚTBOL!










Rehearsing a dance to "explota mi corazón"



Practicing lines




A few minutes to meet and chat with someone new, someone we haven't spent a ton of time with yet




Juan, giving some instructions...¿¿¿maybe??? (haha!)




Trying to come up with ideas for our dance to "Malamente"





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