CLARA, OUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSISTANT, IS ALREADY HERE.

Clara has already arrived in Torredonjimeno and, today, she's going to introduce herself to all of us.

Welcome Clara! We all hope your stay in Acebuche school is a great one!

Hello, my name is Clara Maddison, I am from California and I will be the teaching assistant at I.E.S. Acebuche for the next four months. My family lives in northern California in a small town named Forestville, two hours north of San Francisco. That part of California grows grapes for wine and has a big farming community. While I was growing up, I raised chickens and market lambs for ten years with 4-H, an agricultural organization in our community. The organization is structured so that younger children learn from older children how to take care of their animals. 4-H and its counterpart FFA, Future Farmers of America, are both well-known and fundamental to our Sonoma County community.

 

I went to college at California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo and graduated with my major in English and two minors in Spanish and Economics. I love to read and write, and I believe being an English major helped me view the world differently. During my time in college, I was in the organization Student Community Services and involved with planning environmental events.

I have a small immediate family and a big extended family. My mom is a veterinarian, so we always have had lots of dogs and cats, and my dad is a handyman. I am an only child, but my extended family includes lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins spread across the United States. The pictures below are of my Mom, Barbara and my Dad, Bob.

I have had a variety of jobs. I have worked in bakeries, been a bike mechanic, and even spent a summer as an Alaskan fishing boat deckhand. I have also taught swim lessons, worked as a marketing intern for a non-profit in San Luis Obispo, and been a teaching assistant for an English class at my university. These experiences truly have taught me how important it is for students to learn multiple languages and about different cultures. I began learning Spanish in high school, and I wish that I had started a lot earlier.

This is my first time in Spain, and I am happy to be here. I have never traveled to Europe before, and I am very grateful that I was able to come despite all the problems with Covid-19. I hope that you will feel free to talk to me and ask me questions. If you aren’t sure what to ask me, some more information about me is that I love being outdoors, especially for hiking and camping. I am passionate about environmental protection and want my career to focus on that field. I love reading, have many favorite books, and because of my mom being a veterinarian my family has had many interesting and unusual pets over the years. The final pictures are of my family, our dog Stanley, my friend and I at Lassen National Park this summer, and a friend I found tide pooling on the California Coast.