A Day Out in Barnsley...

At The Civic in Barnsley

During our lessons, Irene’s confidence in speaking and listening to English improved considerably and, on one memorable occasion, she enthusiastically announced that – when left entirely on her own in the office - she had successfully negotiated a telephone call.

As an English teacher, I also learned a lot from our lessons. Having had an extended period of time, in which to get to know Irene and her interests and to discuss her strengths and weaknesses with the English language, I was able to devise a schedule of work that suited her exact needs.

Football

Our last day out started at Sheffield railway station at 10.30. Although Raul had also been invited, Irene mumbled something about not being ready on time and so we both shrugged our shoulders and got on the train. 

We were both surprised to discover that the train was full of football supporters at this time of day, but this just added to the experience of being in South Yorkshire.

Picasso in Barnsley

Barnsley, like Doncaster, is a bustling market town with historic connections to the coal mining industry and without obvious tourist attractions. The main commercial centre is dominated by ugly concrete buildings; however, walking up the hill past the old Town Hall, there are some really interesting things to see – especially if you take a few diversions along the way and spend enough time to look up and around.

Returning to Sheffield railway station, our lessons ended and we gave each other the customary hugs and kisses in the Spanish way. The best thing that I can say is that I looked forward to each lesson as though I was meeting a good friend and I felt sad when saying “goodbye” to Irene - but that is another story...

Rotherham

Geological Maps in Imperial Buildings

Resuming at Sheffield University, we studied the topic of directions again, using a few maps that I had brought with me, as well as a copy of the Highway Code. Having driven in mainland Europe on the ‘wrong side of the road’ in a right hand drive car, I could empathise with Irene and Raul, when they lost their sense of direction.

Now into our 4th week, our lessons followed their natural course and we both decided that the idea of compressing our remaining weekend lessons into a Saturday day out was a good one.

Herbs in the Walled Garden at Clifton Park

A change of routine freed up the Sunday for more leisure time and it also gave Irene the opportunity to visit Rotherham, which she would otherwise be unlikely to see during her stay.

I doubt very much if Rotherham is at the top of any list of tourist attractions but, with a little bit of local knowledge, the town can be viewed in another light. With Raul working this time, Irene arrived on the X78 bus and we met at the Chapel on the Bridge.

The Chapel of Our Lady on Rotherham Bridge

Our first port of call was Imperial Buildings, to drop off my contribution to an ‘open art’ exhibition that was being held on the day; although not my own work, I thought that everyone would be interested in seeing geological maps of Catalonia and Bavaria - I also knew that it would add a bit more colour to this event.

Walking up Doncaster Gate to Clifton Park Museum, we looked at the Rhinoceros Vase and explored other aspects of Rotherham’s history, before taking a quick tour of Clifton Park and heading off back into the town centre via the market. There, yet another variety of the South Yorkshire language is used and, when talking with some of my friends, Irene had to listen to us all when we spoke very quickly...

The Rhinoceros Vase at Clifton Park Museum

Tapas in Doncaster

The best fish market in South Yorkshire

Conisbrough Castle

With Irene at the wheel, Raul in the back and me navigating from the front seat, the drive to Doncaster went a lot more smoothly. 

In no time at all, we got to Conisbrough Castle, where the plan had been to walk around my favourite English castle. 

Once there, we stopped very briefly to stretch our legs in the spring sunshine and take a few photographs.

The open countryside that can be found between Rotherham and Doncaster has a completely different character to that seen in and around Sheffield and - coming from Almería where there is very little rain - for Irene and Raul it was quite remarkable to see everything looking so green.

The Corn Exchange

As a thriving market town, Doncaster is worth visiting for a day out. The shopping facilities there are excellent and, although there aren’t many obvious tourist attractions except for St. George’s church, the streets are full of public art.

If you take the time to have a good look around, Doncaster Museum always has some interesting exhibitions and there are also fragments of the Roman wall to see.

This fish market is exceptional and most of the fishmongers were very keen to talk about their produce - and one or two tried to practise their Spanish, during a wide variety of conversations, which included a discussion on the merits of tripe. Along the way, we sampled cockles, mussels and whelks from one of the many seafood stalls and, at the Greek delicatessen, we were treated to a wide variety of tasty food. “There is good tapas in Doncaster”, we all agreed!

Doncaster Fish Market

Leaving Raul to wander around on his own, Irene and I spent an hour over coffee reviewing our last lesson on directions and happily discussing where things went wrong. We also looked at directions for the return journey along the motorway to Sheffield, which I had prepared in both English and Spanish - just in case they had to find their own way home.

Directions...

On the way to Treeton

Whenever I visit a new place, the first thing that I do is get a map and orientate myself in my new surroundings. In my classroom, I like to teach the language of maps and directions too.

In 2013, it seemed like the winter would never end and, having already walked on snow for the first time and endured the cold, Irene didn’t hesitate in saying yes, when I suggested that we should take advantage of the predicted sunny spring weather at the weekend.

Having spent the best part of three weeks in various cafes - our classroom - we decided to make a change to our routine. For both the student and the teacher, one to one lessons can be extremely tiring and, after 30 hours of this, we decided to go to Doncaster for a day out.

My suggestion was made on the assumption that we would meet up in Sheffield, relatively early in the morning, and then take either the bus or train to Doncaster – both of which are well tried and trusted routes. Notwithstanding my good advice, Irene felt confident enough to meet me at 10.30 at my house. After all, she had driven all the way from Granada to Sheffield and, in preparation for this event, we studied a good set of directions, complete with a map, to get to my house.

It takes 20 minutes by bus or 15 minutes by car, if the traffic is good, but despite assurances on the phone - a few times - to say that they were nearly there, they finally arrived nearly 2 hours later from the wrong direction. At this point in time, we all just fell about laughing.

Irene assures me that, by having to stop at least 3 times to ask for directions, she had another great experience of learning about the people and the language of South Yorkshire.

Finally, in bright sunshine, we set off on the journey to Doncaster, where we briefly encountered Conisbrough Castle on our way.