Bazaar Navideño, New Job and a Violin Concert

I am officially done with teaching music in La Molina this year! Overall, I am really grateful for the experience and while I don't see myself teaching general music any time soon, I do see myself working with primary aged kids and that is exactly what I will be doing next year. I was fortunate enough to get a job as the English enrichment teacher for kindergarten at an all girls Catholic school in Miraflores starting next February. I have decided to use general references when it comes to names of people and places because, while we think we are safe while typing away at a screen, there are plenty of people out there who might want to use information to be malicious. Granted, if someone really wanted to be malicious, it wouldn't be too hard to get the information he or she needed. I digress. I am extremely happy because I will be working with 5 kindergarten classes on a daily basis singing songs, playing games and improving pronunciation. I will have my own office with a computer, desk and a table for kids to sit at and work on English tutoring. I will also have a violin workshop on Mondays and Wednesdays! I am beyond excited about all of it. On top of all of this, it is only 25 minutes from home and my best friend J will be working next door in Pre-kinder. She is the reason I got the job as well. I actually have to thank M from Coro Arpegio because she teaches music there and originally told me about it but it was after J's interview in which she passed along my info, that I finally decided to go for it. Funny how things work out when you are open to opportunities.

This past week we had the Bazaar Navideño or Christmas Bazaar at the school in La Molina. My kindergarteners, 1st graders and 2nd graders all performed. It was a great atmosphere and since people were milling about buying things from vendors, the kids weren't as stressed out about the performance. I was very pleased with everyone's performance and I am so thankful to all the tutoras that helped with rehearsals and practiced the songs in class. I am definitely going to miss some of my colleagues. 

On Thursday we had the final presentation of the pre-school show. The preparation was intense and egos and attitudes were all over the place among the teachers but I was able to play mediator and we were able to have a successful show which is the most important thing. The kids did a great job and while the choir was a bit difficult to animate, the majority of them sang and didn't fidget too much. They are 3 and 4 year olds after all. All in all, this year has been a huge demonstration to me that attitude makes all the difference when it comes to something panning out stress free or not. Positivity is key!

Finally, last week one of my two violin students took part in the end of the year violin and music theory concert that two of my Suzuki colleagues put on. It went really well and I hope that next year my students will be able to participate in Saturday groups classes that my friend teaches. Here is a picture of my student's performance.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to lunch with my colleagues. One of my co-workers so sweetly organized a lunch for my despedida. I was not expecting that at all especially considering I only worked 2 days a week. There is nothing like feeling appreciated and I am super appreciative of them.