Things You Might Encounter While Teaching in a Spanish Public School

I'm not a teacher. Not here in Spain, and definitely not back home. But this job has given me a little peek at the world of Spanish education, and after two years, I've come across some bizarre things that have happened in my classes. I thought I would share for those who want to come over to Spain to teach, and give a bit of a chuckle (or facepalm) to my fellow auxiliares, who have inevitably encountered similar situations. 

While Teaching in Spain...

You might lose your voice yelling at kids to be quiet

You might have a fellow teacher pull out a fan and furiously start fanning herself in the middle of class

You might have a kid get arrested in your presence

You might realize you will never be able to explain the difference between "fun" and "funny"

You might get to enjoy a tortilla española during class, every once and awhile

You might hear a teacher exclaim, "Oh my, it's an orgy in here!" when walking into a crowded room

You might hear your kids scream "FUCK!" whenever you're in earshot, because they want to get a rise out of you

You might witness a student hitting a teacher (and not getting in any serious trouble for it)

You might have a party on your last day of class, and see kids show up that you haven't seen all year

You might have a teacher tell you that certain kids are "super-gypsy", and you shouldn't bother to include them, because they'll never do anything besides get married young and work "gypsy jobs"

You (and a teacher) might hear a student talk about how they have lice, and not do anything about it

You might smell the smell of weed permeating the hallways, bathrooms and courtyards, and the teachers do nothing about it

You might see students full-on sprinting, jumping, and all around doing tonterías, and the teacher sdo nothing about it

You might see students full on making out (and more), and the teachers do nothing about it (are we sensing a trend here?)

You might hear the teacher yell, "Shut up! Why are you so stupid?" at the students

You might be treated to an impromptu bachata/salsa dance break in the middle of class

You might have a teacher ask you a question about English that you don't know how to answer

You might be asked to do a lesson on swearing in English

While doing said lesson on swearing, a teacher might ask you to explain the subtle difference between "He's fucked up" and "He fucked up"

You might show up to school, only to be sent home because the kids have an exam-actually, this might happen to you a lot

I've been putting off publishing this because I keep thinking of new things that have happened to me, and new things keep happening to me. But with only a few weeks left, I think the list is pretty complete.  My fellow auxiliares, I want to hear from you. What's the strangest/funniest/outrageous thing that's happened to you while teaching here in Spain? I can't be the only one!

Originally posted 5.14.12