An English Experience I

The English Experience

Arranged through NewLink, 25 teenaged students from Vigo, aged 15-16, had been awarded a scholarship to spend 3 weeks studying alongside English students at the Swinton Community School in Rotherham – a new experience for everyone involved in this pioneering project.

Together with one other teacher, my role in the first week was to assess the level of the students, previously assessed as upper - intermediate, using an ARELS test and to get to know my group, mainly by just talking with them and using a whiteboard and my own resources. I had never heard of the city of Vigo before and, in my first lesson, I discussed a few topics that can be found on the internet and, when I mentioned Sir Francis Drake, the whole class cried out in unison ¡el pirata! 

 

A Maths & Computing College

My last memory of learning history at school was counting the number of times that the teacher said 'um' or 'err' in the lesson and I have to say that I never developed an interest in the subject; I had always believed that Sir Francis Drake was one of the great English heroes and, from this moment onward, I developed a real interest in learning more about Anglo-Hispanic relationships. 

There is nothing like a bit of controversy to spark a good debate and I have to say that this was one of the ‘magic moments’ that has been described in one of the textbooks that I had to study, when learning how to be an English language teacher.