I'm Famous!

But seriously, though. I'm famous.

It all started last week when the headmaster of my school came to me and told me that a radio show would be coming into one of my classes the very next day. No other information. Just that some sort of radio program would be there at some point during the day.

Well, come to find out it was Radio Nacional de España, which is equivalent to NPR in the US or maybe BBV Radio in the UK. Basically, it was a big deal. A lot bigger deal than what I was expecting.

So finally I get some details on the situation. The radio host is going to come into one of my 1st grade science classes and kind of listen in on the class and see what actually goes on in a bilingual school. They were doing a show on bilingual education in Spain, which is becoming more and more popular and of all the classes in all the schools in the country, they picked mine. Which was pretty dang cool.

So they tell me to just do a normal class and don't do anything differently from what I would normally do in class. No problem there. However, right as class is about to start and the radio host lady is setting up, in walks my class' home room teacher, the director of English programs in the school, the headmaster from primary school, the headmaster for the entire school, the director of UCETAM (the association that our school is a part of...a big deal that he is there), the director of all Gredos San Diego schools (the school system that my school is a part of), and various other big wigs from Madrid.

So at that point, the nervous level went from around 4 or 5 to 150.

So I start class, and I'm hoping and praying that the kids remember all of the vocab that we've gone over and that they'll do me proud. I had a lot of eyes on me and I think all of them were thinking the same thing. I mean, this show is going to be broadcast over the entire country of Spain. They were hoping that this guy from Oklahoma had been doing his job and would make the schools look good.

So as I'm teaching, the radio host continually requests for me to do special things. Like, as I'm going over vocabulary with the kids, she comes and whispers in my ear "Can you ask a question and have the entire class answer all together?" Which is no small feat. Coordinating 30 6 and 7 year olds to do something all together? Near impossible. But it magically worked out.

Then, "Can you have them sing a song in English?" Okay. I've only been teaching them for nearly two weeks. I haven't taught any songs yet. So I had to think of some songs that I've heard them sing in their pre-school classes and came up with "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and I had to pray that they remembered it from the year before. And once again, my little angels didn't disappoint.

So it went on that way for the entire class and my little kids, bless them, performed like pros.

And then it was over.

Or so I thought.

So then, as I'm exiting the class, the radio host comes to me and tells me that she now wants to interview me to add to the program (all in Spanish, of course). Now let me just tell you, I'm pretty confident in my Spanish skills. I still don't think I'm fluent, but in my day to day life, I get by without many problems. However, a full-on interview in Spanish that is going to be broadcast to the entire country? Holy crap.

I wish I could tell you I did good. Or that I did bad. But to be honest, I don't remember at all what I said. It was a lot of questions from her and a lot of word vomit from me. The headmaster of my school listened in on the interview and told me that I did "excellent." And by the amount she was beaming, I assumed she was telling the truth. But man oh man, I was so nervous.

I still haven't heard the show yet. Supposedly they're going to send me an mp3 of it, so if you're interested in hearing it, let me know and I'll get you a copy as soon as I get one. And keep your fingers crossed that I don't make an idiot of myself in front of the entire country of Spain.