1 00:00:00,820 --> 00:00:04,759 Can you highlight the most significant aspects of your experience 2 00:00:04,759 --> 00:00:09,240 with the Madrid Global Classrooms Model United Nations program? 3 00:00:16,339 --> 00:00:19,179 I had a really good setup in my high school 4 00:00:19,179 --> 00:00:22,339 because I had a counterpart who worked with Global Classrooms the year before, 5 00:00:22,339 --> 00:00:27,500 and she was very gung-ho about being very active in Global Classrooms this year. 6 00:00:28,059 --> 00:00:30,600 And she had even set up two different classes 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,439 that would receive Global Classrooms curriculum, 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,740 and they would each be with me two hours a week. 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,479 And so I had a very structured approach to global classrooms, 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,240 and that made things very positive from the get-go 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,280 because I started to get to know my students, 12 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:47,840 and we were able to touch on serious topics from the beginning. 13 00:00:48,359 --> 00:00:50,560 And then once we got our countries assigned to us, 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,500 then we had the students research their countries and their topics. 15 00:00:53,500 --> 00:00:57,740 And so everything flowed very nicely, 16 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,159 and thanks in large part to my counterpart at my high school, 17 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:03,020 things went very well. 18 00:01:03,740 --> 00:01:11,840 And then, so on my end, I had a very positive experience because I feel like I was very able to just walk into the structured environment and help out. 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:24,879 And my counterpart did have specific things to ask of me, and I was able to provide them and teach the rules to global classroom conferences to my students and help them with their research skills and presentation skills. 20 00:01:25,859 --> 00:01:27,859 And so that was very good on my end. 21 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,640 And then it was also, and I'll get to this in my other question. 22 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:37,120 But it was also a really good experience as far as I could tell for all of the students who participated. 23 00:01:38,939 --> 00:01:45,060 Working with two classes, I had about 50 Global Classroom students, and so not all of them were able to go to the final conference. 24 00:01:45,340 --> 00:01:50,459 We only had a group of 10 go to the conference in January. 25 00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:55,939 But everyone participated in a mock conference, and everyone took it very seriously. 26 00:01:55,939 --> 00:02:06,680 And by that point, after a semester of research and studying and working on presenting, it was very clear that the students had made tangible progress. 27 00:02:07,459 --> 00:02:12,639 And they were excited to give their presentations, they were proud of their work, and they took the competition seriously. 28 00:02:13,319 --> 00:02:19,699 And so it ended up being a very academically beneficial program for the students as well. 29 00:02:19,699 --> 00:02:28,039 so global classrooms was also a highlight for me but at the same time it was a really stressful 30 00:02:28,039 --> 00:02:35,620 experience at the beginning i was really frustrated because my students didn't really 31 00:02:35,620 --> 00:02:42,900 respect the project or had trouble doing the research my school was a little bit unorganized 32 00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:48,340 in how we were teaching global classrooms the students english skills were really difficult 33 00:02:48,340 --> 00:02:54,159 to work with with the topic. So at first it was really hard, especially because I'd never 34 00:02:54,159 --> 00:02:59,819 taught my own class, and I had to be in charge of a class of 30 students teaching them this 35 00:02:59,819 --> 00:03:06,259 material. But eventually I started working with more motivated students, working in smaller 36 00:03:06,259 --> 00:03:11,419 groups, and I think I really started to see the benefits of the program in terms of their 37 00:03:11,419 --> 00:03:15,340 confidence in debating, their confidence in their English skills, and also the benefits 38 00:03:15,340 --> 00:03:19,180 for me learning how to teach this subject which I never taught before 39 00:03:19,180 --> 00:03:23,860 getting a chance to do really interesting activities with the students 40 00:03:23,860 --> 00:03:29,219 and at the end when we went to the conference my students had a really 41 00:03:29,219 --> 00:03:33,699 really good time which was fun for me to see because at that point I really 42 00:03:33,699 --> 00:03:39,460 cared about how they were doing so so in the end I walked away with it being a 43 00:03:39,460 --> 00:03:42,520 really amazing experience but it was definitely the most challenging 44 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:51,710 challenging experience that I faced as a language assistant. 45 00:03:51,710 --> 00:04:02,039 How would you describe Global Classrooms in a few sentences? 46 00:04:02,039 --> 00:04:07,219 Global Classrooms is a debating program primarily that teaches students research skills and 47 00:04:07,219 --> 00:04:11,800 reading and writing and speaking skills so that they can attend model United Nations 48 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,420 conferences and represent the real interests of real countries and collaborate with other 49 00:04:17,420 --> 00:04:22,699 countries so that they can craft solutions to some of the world's most serious human 50 00:04:22,699 --> 00:04:28,680 rights problems. For me, the significance of global classrooms isn't only that it helps 51 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,920 improve students' reading skills and writing skills and speaking skills in English, which 52 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:37,500 of course will be useful for them throughout the rest of their lives, nor is it only that 53 00:04:37,500 --> 00:04:43,199 it helps them become more engaged with international politics, but also that in the broadest of 54 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:49,199 senses, almost in a moral sense, global classrooms, by emphasizing collaboration and cooperation 55 00:04:49,199 --> 00:04:52,699 and negotiation and compromise between countries 56 00:04:52,699 --> 00:04:56,779 I think helps train students for lifetimes of democratic citizenship 57 00:04:56,779 --> 00:05:00,779 because that ultimately is what democratic societies are supposed to be built on 58 00:05:00,779 --> 00:05:04,740 principles of discussion and debate and negotiation and compromise 59 00:05:04,740 --> 00:05:08,600 so that for me the most important part of global classrooms is that by 60 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:13,019 teaching students to appreciate these democratic virtues, it helps I think 61 00:05:13,019 --> 00:05:16,579 to remind them and all of us of the possibilities 62 00:05:16,579 --> 00:05:18,540 of democratic politics. 63 00:05:23,810 --> 00:05:25,709 What are some of the benefits for students 64 00:05:25,709 --> 00:05:27,569 who participate in Global Classrooms? 65 00:05:35,060 --> 00:05:37,819 Global Classrooms is a really great program for the students 66 00:05:37,819 --> 00:05:40,560 because it sort of gets to combine a lot of different skills 67 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,079 that they need, especially for their careers and later on in life, 68 00:05:44,319 --> 00:05:46,819 and lets them enact them in the classroom setting. 69 00:05:47,420 --> 00:05:49,899 So students get to learn how to, first of all, 70 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,439 they have to research a country that they might have never heard of. 71 00:05:52,980 --> 00:05:55,500 They have to put themselves in the position of that country 72 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:58,819 so they really learn to see the world through a different set of eyes. 73 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,300 They have to debate that country's opinion, defend that country's opinion, 74 00:06:04,939 --> 00:06:09,660 and also learn to listen to others and see each other more as peers. 75 00:06:10,639 --> 00:06:16,639 So overall, it's a great experience for them to really learn professional skills of debate, research, 76 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:23,100 essays and making firm arguments, and also just really learning about other cultures. 77 00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:28,160 so I think it was a great overall around experience with students and in addition 78 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,720 they have to do everything in English so it really helps with their language 79 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:42,600 skills and to apply them to a real-world context right so the from my exposure to 80 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,980 the Spanish educational system by working in just one high school here in 81 00:06:46,980 --> 00:06:56,639 Madrid. It seems like in Spain, they focus less on, uh, group work and presentations and giving 82 00:06:56,639 --> 00:07:02,139 a presentation in front of an audience and having those confident presentation skills. 83 00:07:02,980 --> 00:07:10,560 And so that, and also, uh, it seems that academic research is not done as much in the classroom 84 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:16,420 here as in my memory, we did it in high school in the U S and so there were two very tangible 85 00:07:16,420 --> 00:07:20,899 skills that i feel like global classrooms left my students with which were the ability to do 86 00:07:20,899 --> 00:07:28,100 research look things up online cite your sources give quotes give credit to your sources and then 87 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:32,579 create a coherent paper that touches on an argument that you're defending using the research 88 00:07:32,579 --> 00:07:38,740 you have independently researched and it was all of my students in global classrooms had to write 89 00:07:38,740 --> 00:07:45,300 a position paper and they had to include sources and and cite their um all of their references 90 00:07:46,420 --> 00:07:50,379 And that was something that they could not have done at all before doing global classrooms. 91 00:07:50,379 --> 00:07:57,180 And so after this whole process about a semester of learning how to write a research paper, they were definitely able to do it. 92 00:07:57,259 --> 00:08:01,779 And there was visible proof of that in the papers that they all wrote. 93 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:10,060 Likewise, you could see that their presentation skills improved greatly because they were pretty universally. 94 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:14,300 My students were very timid and shy and embarrassed to give a presentation in front of their class. 95 00:08:14,300 --> 00:08:18,519 and they didn't take it seriously or they didn't know how to handle their body language 96 00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:21,000 or their tone or their speed when they were talking. 97 00:08:21,339 --> 00:08:26,819 And after many rounds of trial and error and making kids get up in front of the class 98 00:08:26,819 --> 00:08:32,299 and then also me and myself going up and showing them, like, these are... 99 00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:37,740 I gave multiple examples of bad presentation skills by talking very softly, very quietly, 100 00:08:38,299 --> 00:08:41,919 gesticulating too much, and they could see, okay, this is what you should not do 101 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:44,740 and try to not do that when presenting yourself. 102 00:08:45,639 --> 00:08:49,879 And again, by the end of the semester of working on these presentation skills, 103 00:08:50,460 --> 00:08:55,320 I would say that you could see a very noticeable improvement on all of my students. 104 00:08:56,059 --> 00:09:00,139 And that was something that I think they could also see in themselves 105 00:09:00,139 --> 00:09:03,500 because you saw a tangible boost of confidence on their part. 106 00:09:03,740 --> 00:09:14,480 Did Global Classrooms and the Language Assistant Program meet your expectations? 107 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,480 What would you change to improve these programs? 108 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:29,309 So before I came to Spain as a language assistant, I had very scattered teaching experiences. 109 00:09:29,309 --> 00:09:33,309 I worked a bit in college as an academic tutor and as a debate coach, 110 00:09:33,309 --> 00:09:37,309 and I had observed some high school classrooms to see what it was like. 111 00:09:37,309 --> 00:09:41,309 But what I was lacking at the time and what I came to Spain in search of 112 00:09:41,309 --> 00:09:45,309 was a more complete sense of what classroom teaching is like 113 00:09:45,309 --> 00:09:49,629 teaching is like so that I could think more clearly about whether classroom teaching life 114 00:09:49,629 --> 00:09:55,309 might be the right life for me. And I also came to Spain because I wanted not only to become a 115 00:09:55,309 --> 00:10:01,370 better educator, but also to help situate my work within a broader context of diplomacy and 116 00:10:01,370 --> 00:10:07,190 international politics that I agreed in and that I thought was important. And the language assistant 117 00:10:07,190 --> 00:10:11,629 program and the global classrooms programs absolutely met and exceeded my expectations 118 00:10:11,629 --> 00:10:13,830 in all senses and in more than I had anticipated, 119 00:10:14,309 --> 00:10:17,269 I was able to see what classroom teaching really is like, 120 00:10:17,330 --> 00:10:19,750 not in a romanticized way, but in a real way. 121 00:10:19,830 --> 00:10:23,549 All of the behind-the-scenes preparation and complexities and frustrations 122 00:10:23,549 --> 00:10:28,529 and creativity and joy and moments of inspiration that teaching entails. 123 00:10:29,289 --> 00:10:31,250 And in terms of global classrooms specifically, 124 00:10:31,649 --> 00:10:36,509 it helped me to think of education not just in the context of improving students' skills, 125 00:10:36,509 --> 00:10:40,509 but also of connecting them to broader conversations of international affairs 126 00:10:40,509 --> 00:10:45,230 affairs and democratic discourse that I think will make them, as well as all of us, more 127 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:49,590 enlightened intellectuals and participants in democratic life in the future. 128 00:10:49,590 --> 00:10:53,610 So I absolutely had a wonderful time in this language assistant program. 129 00:10:53,610 --> 00:10:58,710 And I would say to people who are thinking about coming to Spain as a language assistant, 130 00:10:58,710 --> 00:11:03,690 if you want to get a more real sense of what teaching is like, a sense that is not romanticized 131 00:11:03,690 --> 00:11:07,789 and that will help you think much more clearly about whether teaching is a correct path for 132 00:11:07,789 --> 00:11:08,789 you. 133 00:11:08,789 --> 00:11:14,470 want to participate in programs that ennoble your students and yourself as well as a democratic 134 00:11:14,470 --> 00:11:19,470 ideal more broadly, then I think that you should seriously consider applying to become 135 00:11:19,470 --> 00:11:23,929 a language assistant in Spain. 136 00:11:23,929 --> 00:11:32,710 I think that it met some of my expectations, and it met... it didn't meet some of my expectations. 137 00:11:32,710 --> 00:11:38,690 So the class that I usually worked with were kids around the ages of 14 and 15, and that 138 00:11:38,690 --> 00:11:42,830 That was the first time, and for some of them it's going to be the last time that they get 139 00:11:42,830 --> 00:11:46,429 to experience something like Global Classrooms. 140 00:11:46,429 --> 00:11:51,769 They get to learn, I mean, these are the things that met my expectations, that not only did 141 00:11:51,769 --> 00:11:56,929 I learn how to become a teacher or become an educator for people, not just Spanish students 142 00:11:56,929 --> 00:12:03,190 but also American students, university students, whatever I decide to do, but they also learned 143 00:12:03,190 --> 00:12:05,649 how to speak publicly. 144 00:12:05,649 --> 00:12:07,429 They know how to cooperate with other people. 145 00:12:07,429 --> 00:12:11,789 They know how to speak English better than they did one year ago. 146 00:12:11,789 --> 00:12:16,370 They know how to question things that they read in the news. 147 00:12:16,370 --> 00:12:21,289 They begin to question statistics that they read on Facebook or if they see something 148 00:12:21,289 --> 00:12:24,970 on Twitter that doesn't really add up. 149 00:12:24,970 --> 00:12:26,289 They know about current events. 150 00:12:26,289 --> 00:12:27,549 They know how to discuss them. 151 00:12:27,549 --> 00:12:27,950 All of this.