Doña Carmen lived with her sister in 52 Barón de San Petrillo street. Their living quarters were on the ground floor and upstairs there was a big school room, in which, from around 1900 she taught the girls between zero and fourteen years of age of the barrio. The school hours were in the morning and in the afternoon, and some residents remember that at lunchtime she also offered extra lessons to boys. It was a private school, as was normal in those times, and the fee was 10 pesetas a month, according to the memories of some former students.

There were desks for the girls, where they studied and sang. The five desks of the first row were reserved for the most diligent girls as a kind of prize. Along the sides there were benches for the youngest ones. The room also had a big blackboard and a map. The book used was the “encyclopedia”. Doña Carmen´s sister, Doña Teresa, was in charge of sewing and embroidery lessons. In cold weather they warmed themselves with a “conca”, a kind of coal heater of the times.