OCTOBER

International School Libraries Month by Lorena Fuentes Tim, the English Language Assistant by Miriam Castaeda

For the previous 10 years people have been celebrating the International Day of School Libraries, held the fourth Monday in October (October 24), but it has been changed to School Libraries Month. The celebration will take place in October each year and will allow those responsible for school libraries around the world to choose the day that best suits their needs in order to highlight the importance of school libraries. The slogan is "literacy and learning in the library." Halloween by Srgio Lpez

Tim is from Oxford although his parents are from Zimbabwe, in Africa. He plays cricket, hockey, football and rugby, and hed like to learn handball while hes here. He loves Spainall his friends in England are jealous that hes sitting on the beach while theyre in their coats! Hes very happy to be at La Arboleda, where he says the kids are great, if a bit more mischievous than in England, and he really enjoys working with them! Bianca, the American Language Assistant by Ftima Villegas

Halloween is a holiday that is celebrated principally in the USA, northern Mexico and Canada on the night of October 31. It has its origin in the Celtic festivity Samhain, now called All Saints' Day. The day is often associated with the colors orange and black. Typical Halloween activities are the famous "trick or treat," disguises, bonfires, visits to haunted houses, jokes, reading scary stories and watching terror movies. Caitlin, the North American Visiting Teacher by Juanma Prieto

Bianca is from a very small town in Pennsylvania, but she likes Spain a lot: Its a beautiful country and everyone is very friendly! Shes very happy at La Arboleda and thinks the bilingual project is a great idea because the more time you spend communicating in a new language, the better you get at it! She likes to travel, exercise, watch movies and read in Spanish to practice. Armindo, the Portuguese Language Assistant by Celia Romero

Caitlin is from Raleigh, North Carolina, and speaks 3 languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese. She came to Spain 2 years ago to see Europe and improve her Spanish. She likes the way people here in Spain work to live instead of live to work, and that they spend lots of time with their friends and family. Her favorite Spanish food is vegetarian paella from Valencia, its incredible. She really likes teaching at La Arboleda, the kids shes met are very smart and talented and the teachers seem to be really creative and invested in their work.

Armindo is from a village near Oporto called Lustosa, and now lives in Coimbra, a chill university city. He hopes to help students improve their Portuguese, just as he wants to improve his Spanish by using it as much as he can in his daily life here. He hopes to become a teacher but with the economic crisis it will be very difficult. He advocates having an open mind and thinking of oneself as a European citizen, even though he prefers the Portuguese lifestyle to Spains!