just the facts: aznalcóllar

Aznalcóllar is located about forty kilometers to the northwest of Sevilla. The population is about 6000. It had been a mining community until 1998 when the mine was closed. Now miners from Aznalcóllar and other towns can be seen protesting broken promises of the Andaluz government regarding these closings. If Googled, Aznalcóllar immediately turns up a number of articles on a toxic spill in the early 90’s. It looks a lot like the other towns in the area, that is, whitewashed with tile roofs, a couple of bars in the center and a supervising church tower. The area is surrounded by farmland, and there is a man-made lake nearby where the children like to fish, though you couldn’t get me to drink the water never mind eat any sort of animal with an upper echelon position on the food chain (see aforementioned toxic waste spill). According to the school’s employees, there are high rates of teen pregnancy, drug abuse and divorce.
There are two colegios or primaria schools and one instituto or secondary school. I work in one of the primary schools. There are about 200 students from ages three to twelve. There is one class at each level in each school, except second which has been split into two. Most classes have under twenty students, except for the two highest levels, the fifth and sixth, which each have almost thirty students. School begins at 9am when a tornado alarm (I am told by my Midwestern colleagues) summons the children into alphabetical lines to enter school then spits them back out at 2pm. English begins in first year or six years old.
I am an auxiliar not a teacher. I am not supposed to plan lessons or correct papers, just to go into the classroom and assist in the teaching of English and North American culture. I go in from 9-2 three days a week, right now Mon-Wed and then have my four day weekends to spend my $800/mo. paycheck. Six of my twelve classes are with split between third and fourth (8-9 yr olds).