ENGLISH INMERSION PROGRAM IN DUBLIN

In July 2018, I had the opportunity to participate in another English Inmersion Experience. In this case, The Regional Ministry of Education recovered this program abroad, so I could improve my English skills in a real English-speaking city. Dublin was my town for 2 weeks and I could live, study and enjoy the Irish custom and culture.

It was a 50 hours English C1 course for bilingual teachers, led by a prestige English Learning School called International House Dublin, where we spent around 8 hours everyday. While the most of teachers were enjoying their holidays, others were involved in intensive classes studing grammar, vocabulary, useful expressions... and practicing listening and speaking all the time. We approached the Irish Language, Oscar Wilde, Hugh Lane, James Joyce and we worked on the Book of Kells, U2, Sinéad O'Connor... After classes, we had a complete cultural program full of visits to museums, theaters, typical places, and also activities like dancing, sports or sightseing. All the time we were with native teachers and monitors who guided us in a professional and kind way.

Meanwhile, we discovered Dublin. It is the capital of Ireland so there are a lot of things to do, but it is also a cozy city where dubliners enjoy talking with foreigners and sharing their knowledge about this particular island. We were able to enjoy the most lively area and taste the best Guinness in Temple Bar Street, take a picture of Molly Malone after listening to her legend, cross the Ha'penny Bridge, admire the Spire of Dublin or the Monument of Light in O'Connell Street or get shocked in Trinity Collegue and its famous library. 

The accommodation was with host families, I mean, all of the teachers lived as a part of an Irish family for 15 days in a single bedroom and without Spanish speakers living there. So at the end of our days, we had to return to our homes with our families, in order to get a total immersion in Irish culture and share daily routines in a dubliner atmosphere. I was so lucky with my hosts. Mary and Martin welcomed me as one of their children and I could taste their foods like Fish and Chips, boiled potatoes, vegetables or the Irish breakfast, and talk about Irish sports like Cricket, Hurling or Irish Football.

Taking into account that we studied a lot, we also enjoyed our free time, almost always speaking in English, of course. We enjoyed the typical pubs with live music, visited some picturesque towns like Howth or Greystones and travelled to Northern Ireland and discovered its gorgeous landscapes like The Giant's Causeway. It was the time to get to know the rest of the participants and have the opportunity of learning through our colleagues' experiences and lives.

All things considered, we spent many hours practicing and improving our English in a real context. We took advantage of the resources and people around us and we are looking forward to applying this knowledge to our classes. I would like to end this essay congratulating the organization and the Junta de Andalucía for their work. This kind of program is really worthwhile.

VOLLEY CHAMPIONSHIP - 3rd Edition

Every two years, we work on volleyball in Physical Education classes and we end up practicing it in a volunteer championship that is celebrated during break time. This was the third Volley Championship edition and it took place in June. Our oldest students formed teams of three/four people from different groups and different ages and they compited in two categories, on one hand, male, and on the other hand female and mixed. We want to congratulate to all of students for their good behaviour and fair play. Here you are some pictures and one video to check out how the championship was ;)

ROALD DAHL in the Book Day 2018

The bilingual team chose Roald Dahl to work in the Cultural Week and the Book Day this 27th of April, because he is considered as one of the best children books writer all over the world.  The proposal included classroom activities and short tiered activities to expose the other students what they worked at class. We learnt a briefly biography of the author and every level focused on scenes of his most famous works.

Georgia Fagg, our language assistant, guided the presentation of works with a short speech about her experiences with Roal Dahl in England. You can check out our final performance clicking on the picture below.

Andalusian Day and School Race

Hi students!
Like every year, we have celebrated the Andalusian Day with our particular SPORT WEEK. This year we got the XXVI edition and our students participated in different traditional games and sport activities for a month in physical education classes and for a week competing between groups. Here you are the activities we practiced:

• Sport games in Pre-School.
• Walker race: handicapped students.
• Team sports: our personal Champion league in football and Euroleague in basketball.
• Traditional games: strip rope, sack race and school race.
• Football and basketball matches: teachers versus a selection of the oldest students.

This year we had our I School Race Ángel Pérez Galán, where students from 4th to 6th grades ran an outside race through the streets that surround our school. Here you can check out some pictures and a video about it. All of us enjoyed a lot!!

KNOWING GEORGIA, OUR LANGUAGE ASSISTANT

Georgia Fagg is the Language and Culture Assistant in CEIP Virgen del Rocío this eighth year. She is 20 years-old and she is from London, England. She is our third LA from United Kingdom and students and teachers are so glad learning from her.

If you want to know more from her, you can watch her introduction video or read the following interview made by our pre-school English teacher Mar Oliver.

We are in the English classroom, at CEIP Virgen del Rocío´s preschool building. We meet Georgia, our conversation assistant for this course. Today, we are alone in class, so it's a perfect day to know more about her. 

• M : How did you come across this assistantship project?
• G: basically, it was really simple. All I had to do was apply to an organization called British Council which sends native English speakers abroad to teach in schools. So, I applied and it was luck of the draw, which meant I could have been placed anywhere in Spain but luckily I got placed in Pilas.
• M: Why did you choose Andalucía?
• G: I had been warned about not understanding the accent here but the weather and the culture of this region was really appealing to me. Now that I am here, the accent is not as hard to understand as I thought.
• M: You are very young. Are you afraid of being so far from your family?
• G: After being at Leeds University for two years I have gotten used to living away from home and living in Spain is not that different, apart from the weather. I like the independence of living away from home too, even though I do miss my family at times.
• M: What do you like most about this school?
• G: It's hard to specify just one thing because there´s so much to enjoy here. Firstly, the team I work with have all been so welcoming and they´ve really helped me feel at home here. And secondly, the children are always so excited and well behaved, and it's really a pleasure to have met everyone here.
• M: Have you thought about being a teacher in the future?
• G: I never thought that I wanted to teach until I arrived here. I had no idea what to expect but after being here for half a year I´m starting to consider it as a career option.
• M: To finish the interview, I would like to ask you what have been your worst and your best day at school.
• G: I would have to say my best days are when I have prepared a lesson or activity for the day that go really well. It makes me feel accomplished when my colleagues say they like the work I'm doing. I´m struggling to think of my worst day, maybe it hasn't happened yet, but overall my days at school are really enjoyable.
• M: Have you got something more to tell us before you go?
• G: Just a huge thank you to everyone at the school who are making my time here so great!
• M: Thanks for everything, hope you continue having fun and that you take something good from this experience. Goodbye!
• G: Thanks very much, goodbye!