TEODORA PRERADOVIK

Hi! My name is Tea and I’ve been working as an auxiliar de conversación in Málaga’s Universidad Laboral Núm. 1 since the fall of 2023. I’m from Chicago in the United States and this is my second year as an auxiliar. Last year, I was placed in northern Spain in the region of Cantabria, and lived in its capital, Santander. When I was there, I heard a lot about how varied the culture is across Spain. Wanting to expand on the generalizations I would tend to hear, I renewed in the region on the complete opposite side of the country that has a distinct history and climate, Andalucía. 

Málaga was attractive to me because of its medium size and the mountain-sea combination that I fell in love with back when I lived in Santander. Also, 300 days out of the year are sunny so how could I resist? After doing some research on schools, I found the previous assistant Amrita’s blogpost on her positive experience at Universidad Laboral, and the fact that it was a large, nature-filled campus sounded amazing to me. I quickly and easily chose the school in my application portal.

Not only did it sound amazing, but that’s how the experience has been. Besides the campus of Universidad Laboral being an absolute high-school dream — full of diverse colorful flowers, trees, places to sit and hang out, vivid green patches of grass, a café — this high school has given me nothing but great memories and relationships!

There was never a time where I didn’t feel welcomed by the students and teachers. From the moment I walked in, I was greeted with positive, warm energy that has maintained itself throughout the year. The teachers I’ve worked with are really kind, personable, and understanding. I’ve gotten to know many that I didn’t even have a chance to work with, but have had mini conversations with around campus. Not only did I work with English teachers, but with history, math, art, music, and technology teachers, too. I enjoyed the variety of subjects and ways in which I was able to assist the students in class, even if it simply came down to chatting with them and getting them comfortable speaking English!

The students I worked with were great — I loved getting to know them through class activities and out-of-class conversations. After the first half of the year, all my classes changed, and I was sad to stop working with some of my previous students because we had finally gotten comfortable with each other. One of my favorite classes even threw me a surprise party the day of my last class with them, bearing gifts and a big chocolate cake to share. It was one of the sweetest experiences in my two years as an auxiliar. The students’ sociability made it easy to relate and laugh with them. They made it easy to support them and root them on in their English journey.

If Andalucía hadn’t changed its rules, now prohibiting current auxiliars from renewing in the region the following year, I would’ve renewed my application to work at Universidad Laboral. I think it’s important for students to have a friendly familiar face (that doesn’t grade them) in what can be a disheartening, difficult, and frustrating journey toward English fluency. Regardless, I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to support the students at Universidad Laboral this school year — the experience has been invaluable!