Spring has sprung!

Before I get to the recap of the past few weeks, I have to tell everyone what I'm doing right now. As in, right RIGHT now. I'm in a classroom at School Year Abroad, "teaching" a class. Let me explain, lest you think I'm either giving a test or simply ignoring my students: The class is a once-a-week, two-hour, international conversation class that we call Joven Erasmus (Young Erasmus), after the European international student exchange program. Every Thursday, from 6-8pm, I gather with eight SYA students (chosen through an application process) and eight students that come, in pairs, from four local private schools. The class has a simple construct: Students must sit with someone from "the other country" on their left and right, Americans must speak Spanish and Spaniards must speak English, and each class meeting will be led/moderated by one American and one Spaniard. That's it for the rules. Oh, one more thing: The topics for each class are chosen during the first meeting, and students sign up to be teachers for each meeting. The topics range from differences in school systems, to youth culture, to poverty, to movies and cultural statements, etc. Today's topic is abortion.

And its awesome.

For an hour now I have listened to 16 young people respectfully, powerfully, emotionally, tackle one of the hot button topics of our time. Seriously, when was the last time you heard people, especially high school students, struggle to define for themselves and others how to define "human being", "human rights", "life", and "responsibility." No slogans, no name-calling, no disrespect, just good honest debate. Seriously, this is the best class I teach all year, and I don't have to do anything. I'm the guy with the keys; I turn off the lights at the end of the day, and that's about it. I only posed one question, and let them run with it for a while: "How do we determine what the rights and responsibilities of the father are in questions of abortion? For example, what if a woman wants to terminate and the "other chromosomal half" (sometimes called "father") doesn't? Or vice versa?"

And then I shut up.

Honestly, the hardest part of this class for me is to STAY shut-up, but I think I do a pretty good job of it.

OK, the descanso (break) is over, so i have to go back to not talking. I'll post the rest later tonight. Suffice to say, it is in the upper sixties right now, and sunny almost every day. I could get used to this...