Opportunities in Spain

Well Sally - reverting to my old cynical self - as long as they keep it that way then there will be plenty of work for us!

There's been a rumour around these parts (Comunidad de Valencia) that as from the next school year a certain percentage (varying from 25% to 100%!!) of ALL lessons will be in English -- I hate to think of the mess that would cause (I suspect it is pure rumour with no basis in fact)

The parents of the  childre from the local school are all fully aware how bad the English teaching is.  The silly thing is the headmaster of the school speaks excellent English and was a big help to us when we first arrived, its just the standard of the English teachers that is poor.  A good example is for 2 weeks running so approx 4 hours of English all the children did was copy down off the board every number (written) from 1 to 200.  They never had to say them out loud and the problem was they were so bored they could have been writing down anything.  I regularly play bingo with them and they love it as I let themcall the numbers out at first they hadalot of problems recognising the actual numbers (as they had written them all down in words at school), but bit by bit they are getting much better.The poers that be obviously realise how important English is but why is the teaching so boring?

Just to labour the point, earlier today I was in my Bank where they have a dedicated English speaker (her English is VERY good). On mentioning our English Centre she said - quite unprompted - what a great idea as learning English is popular BUT the standard of native-Spanish English teachers is very bad .. and this from a Spaniard!

That is very true.  We also live in the sticks, Val de Gallinera the local village primary school is very small only about 20 children, the current Englsih teacher often asks my daughter if she has pronounced a word correctly,and usually she hasn´t, maybe she is embarrassed to talk too much as her English is so bad and there are 3 English children in her class.  I thought when they moved to ESO is Pego it would be better but my son who has just started down there says they still don´t talk much English, atleast he gets a 10/10 in his English tests. I am still in the early stages of teaching and doing the lessons in my home but have asked to use a room in the town hall, had to complete a form and waiting for the mayor to give permission, mañana,mañana.

Having heard some of the native spanish English teachers speaking - I hate to say it but maybe it's a good thing they don't talk as their standard of spoken English is appalling. (This may be different where you live but here in the sticks they really are bad).

We try to give equal emphasis to writing and speaking, the two compliment each other, but the important thing is to keep their interest high - we have invested in electronic white-boards which allows us to use them for video, interactive activities or plain old-fashioned notes; the interactive stuff is proving very popular esp. with the youngest age groups (we start at 5/6 years old)

That is very true Ihave 2 children 1 aged 13 and 1aged 10, wehave lived in Spain for 6 years, they both go to local Spanish schools, where the children learn English from age 3.  They hardly speak any English in the lessons, apart from learning the occasional song, its all writing and reading (but not out loud), and listening to tapes.  I completed my 100 hour TEFL just before Christmas and already I am teaching 4 of the local Spanish children and hope to have more shortly.  They love my lessons as I do a minimum of writing and as much talking and reading as possible.

Sally

Perhaps the communicative approach hasn't reached mainstream English education in Spain. Until fairly recently, I belive that French was the language of choice in public schools.

What approach/method do you use in your school? I'd be interested to know.

All the best,

Lee.

Wow, what a weird way for students to learn English. I don't know maybe they have a sacred Spanish speaking tongue...lol.