For the majority of the year, I have been a Language Assistant at a Spanish secondary school called Torreón del Alcázar, which is often shorted to just el Torreón in speech, or IES Torreón in written form . It's
one of the few bilingual schools in the city, and since I've just left the school I wanted to tell you guys a little about it. IES Torreón is a public school, even though I think the children get the level of education that private school pupils
get. This is not only because of the fact that it is a bilingual school, but also because of the fact that the school gives the students a lot of opportunities. For example, the students have been on lots of trips and have taken part in many language exchanges. It's also a training centre, which means that people can study nursing, mechanics and go to classes that teach them how to succeed at job interviews and to perfect their CV at the school too.
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| School trip to Mérida |
Also, the students have been on trips to
Spanish cities like Toledo, Sevilla, Salou, Mérida, Madrid and many more. The
trips in Toledo and Mérida were educational ones, but at the same time the students
were able to see beautiful buildings, such as synagogues, museums, wonderful
view points, plus they had time to explore the city on their own in Toledo. In Mérida, they had the chance to watch a play performed at one of the most important places in
the city, the ampitheatre, and it was a great play indeed. The trip to Salou is
for the leavers in what is the equivalent of year 10/11 (4º ESO)*, and the students have
done many things in Madrid such as going to the Warner Bros theme park, and next month
they are going to watch the Cirque du Soleil in Madrid. These are just trips around their own country. Internationally, they have been to places such as France, Germany, Ireland
and many places in England such as London, Durham and even Newcastle!
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| School trip near Valle de Alcudia |
Lots of schools have trips like this school does,
but I think that the one thing that makes the school standout is the fact that they
have taken part in many foreign exchange trips, or just trips where the
students get to go to England so that they can practise English. For example,
some of them have been to Galway on a foreign exchange, where they had to
attend schools in Ireland and live with a host family for two weeks.Students in 1º ESO (basically year 7/8) are in Canterbury now, and those in 2º ESO (Year 8/9) are going to Whitley Bay in less than two weeks where they'll take part in cultural activities, like visiting Alnwick Castle, having English classes and living with English families. Some of the students have even gone on French foreign exchanges!
Even the
way they are assessed is quite good. At
the end of each term they always have exams in every subject they have, and
throughout the term they have to do assignments such as presentations. This school also offers the IGSCE qualification in English, which is useful to them. Moreover, if students get a high enough grade in the exam then they will qualify for a B2 certificate, which is a European qualification, at the same time as getting an IGCSE qualification. As you can see, the education they receive is excellent. They do
fun educational things too, like watch English language movies and read English
language books. Those in 1º ESO have just finished reading and watching Harry Potter, and some in 4º ESO have read some Edgar Allen Poe books.
Anyway, I'll miss my students very much and I'm sure they'll grow up to be highly intelligent adults. Here are photos of most of the classes I've been in the last couple of months:
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| 4º ESO |
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| 4º ESO |
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| 3º ESO |
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| 1º ESO |
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| 1º ESO |
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| 3º ESO |
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| 2º ESO |
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| 1º ESO |
*In Spain they also group the years differently than we do in England. For example, those in 3º ESO are all born in 2000. The eldest of the year would be born 1st January 2000 and the youngest 31st December 2000. That's why 3º ESO would be year 9/10. Those who are born from January to August 2000 would all be in year 10 here, however those born from September to December 2000 would all be in year 9. In Spain they'd all be in the same year though.
