- February 01, 2022
Nick had the opportunity to experience a different culture from the perspective of a teacher while building relationships with educators, his host family, and students.
Nick collaborated as an educator across cultures in Spain to bring new perspectives to the physics classroom.
Using past teaching experience to succeed in teaching high school physics
Nick taught physics at public high school outside of Barcelona. Working closely with two other physics teachers in the school, he leveraged his past teaching experience to organize hands-on lessons for the students. It was a challenging switch for some students because at this school, they typically learn directly from the textbook and rarely partake in interactive lessons. While Nick got to practice his lesson planning and teaching, his host teacher was introduced to new types of physics lessons that she plans on implementing in future classes. While the oldest students at the school could easily be taught in English, younger students did not understand very much English, so Nick used his basic Spanish skills to teach some concepts which was challenging.
Cultural differences
Nick took advantage of his close proximity to Barcelona to explore both the historic and social sites of the city. He was able to utilize some of his basic Spanish knowledge to travel around the area alone and with other MIT students. One striking cultural difference is how much more laid back his host school was compared to his own high school experience in the US. Students called teachers by their first names and teachers seemed to take a much more relaxed approach to the classroom. Another notable difference in culture was the time at which people ate meals. At the school in Sant Quirze, there was a short, 30 minute break for a sandwich during the day and then lunch was eaten after school around 3PM, with dinner occurring as late as 10PM some nights. Fortunately, it only took a few days to adjust to this new eating schedule!
Hindsight and insight
"My biggest success in the classroom was introducing a couple fun, hands-on lessons to the students and teachers", says Nick. "It was rewarding being able to exchange strategies and tips so that the other teachers and I could learn from each other. One thing that I would have done differently is to speak more Spanish earlier in the experience. I was definitely a little shy since I hadn’t studied Spanish since high school, but when I had the courage to practice it, I was able to communicate much more effectively. I recommend this experience to any student who is interested in teaching and looking to immerse themselves in a new culture for a few weeks. My professional and social circles are now expanded into another country, which is a neat asset to have."