# For those thinking of opting for Spanish state schools



## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Just though I'd post up some "thoughts" on schools in Spain for those people who may be considering placing their children in the Spanish state school system now that we are approaching the end of the academic year.

Our 10 year old started a bit late, around the end of October. There was no problem with this but I guess that was because they still had places available. The school is about 10 min walk from our apartment and in the middle of town. 

At first the headmistress was a bit pessimistic about his ability to complete the year. Apparently they had had British kids before, none who had stayed and all had struggled. This year the were no English speaking kids there. 

My son's teacher is young and male. He has a class of about 21 to deal with ( much smaller than was the case in the UK). We live in a poor area of town so the school population is made up of many children from low income families. There has never been any problems with this and I am extremely happy that my son now has Russians, Moroccans and Spanish as his friends. Children quite simply do not see the "differences" adults do.!

He started with no Spanish and now after 7 months has sufficient ability to deal with all aspects of his school life. He watches Spanish TV and on Youtube too. It's astonishing to hear him chatting to people in shops about the different properties of peonzas ( spinning tops) and talking to people on the phone. Flip side is most of his speech is peppered with l street-Spanish!!

Back to school. The biggest problem for any parent is going to be the language. Both me and my wife speak Spanish. My wife is fluent and I am about B1. Without my wife this would have been very very very difficult. There is no real assistance in the class room for non-spanish speaking kids and they basically sink or swim. The fact that there were no English speaking kids in the school has been the saving of my boy. If there had been I am sure he would have stuck to those people like glue and would have avoided learning Spanish.

Now you, the parent, really need Spanish. The main reason is the amount of homework they get. Maybe in the UK they got some but I bet it was dispensed with within 15 mins. Here in Spain expect up to an hour a night sometimes more. Add in an exam every second week and you can imagine the work your child will need to do. Now maths might not seem to be too big a problem , in that a lot of it might not require Spanish to explain. However your child will need to learn the correct formats and pronunciation for numbers and strategies. Expect the level to be much higher than in the UK. By the 3rd month we were having to do division of 3 digit decimals, fraction conversion, weights and measures and percentages. A primary school teacher who is a friend of mine was shocked by the level saying most of it wouldn't be introduced in the UK still the end of P7 or the beginning of secondary. This week he has had an exam on geometrical shapes. One question was the following: Name the 5 poliedros regulares, write down the number of faces, lines, vertices and shapes each has. Of course this was in Spanish and was 1 of twenty questions. This takes a lot of memorising and the parents have to help a lot. If you don't speak spanish it is difficult. Try this: Tetraedro, Cubo, Octaedro, Dodecaedro, Icosaedro.

Next you have subjects like natural sciences. Again they are tested every 2/3 weeks. They need to be able to name the mountain ranges of Spain, rivers, communes, cities and different terrains. They have to identity and talk about river basins and coastal features. They have to know the principal bones of the human body and principal organs. They have to identify and label elements of various eco-systems and cell development. They have to know the planets, distances and constellations. They have to identify fauna and plants common to Spain.

Then you have Castellano. Study of grammar and elements of syntax.
Velenciano ( if you live in the provence).
Music, Religion and Art.

Finally, yep, one easy one....English.
If their averages for the exams dips below a certain level then they repeat the year. This is no big deal as 6 of his class will have to do this. Good news is he passed everything apart from Velenciano so he will move up next year.

So there you have it. If you children are younger then there obviously 
it won't be so difficult.

The thing to bear in mind here, is that the Spanish system if very different from the UK system. Parents have to be very active in their child's education if you want them to get anything out of it. The school will do so much but an awful lot rides on the time and patience of the parents. You can't just put them in school here and expect the rest to be up to the teachers. Many kids go to private tutoring classes after school ( you will have seen them everywhere if you live in Spain) because parents don't have the time or even the ability to assist their children. 

All in all it has been an amazing experience despite being very hard at times ( try sitting with you child at 11.30 at night doing impossibly difficult long divisions!!) 
However as I said, if you don't have spanish and you are not really integrated into the community of the school you and your child will struggle. 

Hope this is of some help for those people thinking of taking this path


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

kaipa said:


> Just though I'd post up some "thoughts" on schools in Spain for those people who may be considering placing their children in the Spanish state school system now that we are approaching the end of the academic year.
> 
> Our 10 year old started a bit late, around the end of October. There was no problem with this but I guess that was because they still had places available. The school is about 10 min walk from our apartment and in the middle of town.
> 
> ...


I enjoyed reading that, thankyou
Yes, it's amazing how quickly children pick up another language in the school situation. I've seen Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish and Polish youngsters come to school with not one word of English and as you found with your son, within a few months they can cope well and very often have to translate for their parents.
Of course the first words they learn and use are 'undesirable' ones like '**** off' and '******' but I guess that too helps them fit in, being able to join in the cursing...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Our son started in a Spanish state school when he was just three. Here, in Torrox, the don't teach English until they are 11; he is learning German instead. So, at the age of seven he is fluent in English and Spanish and can do pretty well with German too. There are many good things about his school and, of course, some things we would wish could be changed but the communication links with the school and the parents association AMPA really help. It really does help to be able to speak Spanish as many of the teachers have no English whatsoever. We struggled at first but his Spanish homework, nearly every day, has really helped us to learn the language. Call it free Spanish lessons....


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## KG5 (Mar 21, 2016)

*Thanks*

Great insight for us as we are moving next week with a 4 and an 8 yr old.

We expect it to be tough as none of us speak much though the kids have been having lessons and will also have a summer in holiday camps before Sept.

Really appreciate your post though.

Thanks


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## kdsb (May 3, 2015)

We moved to Spain last fall with four kids who are now ages 4, 7, 10, and 12 and all attend public school. All had some Spanish beforehand but were not at the level of native speaking children. I agree that it would have been very hard to help my older ones with homework if I didn't know Spanish, and probably would have involved outsourcing homework help. My 10-year-old had an especially tough time since his teacher gave a lot of homework and I think he had the biggest gap between his language level and the expected level, but he was mostly independent within a couple months.

However, my 7-year-old is now completely indistinguishable from a native speaker and one of the stronger students in his 2nd grade class. We are returning to the U.S. next month but I think it's likely that he would have been able to continue to be able to do homework independently through the Primary years since he had an early foundation in the language (and I can also see how the topics repeat, so he would have more of a background in some of the science topics my 5th grader was learning for the first time -- most of which was stuff I didn't learn until middle or high school!). 

So I think it may depend both on what age they start at and also what kind of student they are. Some English-speaking kids in the U.S. or England are consistently able to do homework independently, and some regularly require extra help from parents.

I'm not sure how it would compare to the British system but on the whole I have not been thrilled with the Spanish school system compared to my experiences in U.S. schools (I am a teacher there). The teachers and school have been great and it has definitely achieved our goal of having our kids become fluent in Spanish, but I think there is too much rote memorization and less of a focus on developing skills, particularly in reading and writing. There also seems to me to be too much homework, too many tests, and too much of a focus on grades rather than focusing on progress and mastery (too much summative assessment, hardly any formative assessment, for those who speak teacher lingo).


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

kdsb said:


> We moved to Spain last fall with four kids who are now ages 4, 7, 10, and 12 and all attend public school. All had some Spanish beforehand but were not at the level of native speaking children. I agree that it would have been very hard to help my older ones with homework if I didn't know Spanish, and probably would have involved outsourcing homework help. My 10-year-old had an especially tough time since his teacher gave a lot of homework and I think he had the biggest gap between his language level and the expected level, but he was mostly independent within a couple months.
> 
> However, my 7-year-old is now completely indistinguishable from a native speaker and one of the stronger students in his 2nd grade class. We are returning to the U.S. next month but I think it's likely that he would have been able to continue to be able to do homework independently through the Primary years since he had an early foundation in the language (and I can also see how the topics repeat, so he would have more of a background in some of the science topics my 5th grader was learning for the first time -- most of which was stuff I didn't learn until middle or high school!).
> 
> ...


Having moved from Scotland where a fairly recent educative system has been introduced I prefer the Spanish system but that is not to say it is without faults. In Scotland it was pretty much all formative with summative assessment being seen as too stressful for young children. Heavy emphasis on problem solving. But the thing is that prior to coming to Spain my boy hardly knew his multiplication tables. Now he's faster than me. You need to memorise to learn things so I kind of want that ability to be embedded early on and then maybe the problem solving can come later. Funny thing is that the one thing that they all wanted to do was those cubic cubes. Now the way to do it fast is to use a fair number of long algorithms. The kids here have found that having good memorising strategies means they can learn these without too much effort and therefore complete the cubes really quickly. Shows you how basic educational tools can come to life in the real world.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Some cut and pasting from previous threads I have posted on based on my experience of my Spanish daughter who has gone right through the state education system starting with nursery at 6 months and graduating from uni last year and OH being a teacher in the state system



> My daughter went to a state run escuela infantil cooperative and it was excellent. Most kids go to school from aged 3, well preschool. Although schooling is not obligatory until 6, I don't know anybody who started at that age. I found schools here very different to British schools, and as can be expected some differences were good and others not so. However, my daughter is now at university and basically if your child is "normal" and has support from home there's no reason why s/he can't succeed. A few pointers though -
> 
> 
> Don't wait for the school to get in touch with you, You have to anticipate all the time. For example if your child is not doing well you might not find out until s/he's taken an exam and come home with a fail. Your child might be too young for that scenario, but you may not find out that s/he's having problems sharing toys, making friends etc until the end of the Christmas term for example.
> ...





> The Spanish education system calls for all teachers to have a degree and after the degree they have to sit a public exam in order to be allocated a job, and the teacher is sent where the LEA has a post to fill. So this is very different from the UK system where you get a degree and then apply for the job you want and the school takes the candidate that best fits the job.





> I think there's too much reliance on rote learning. It has its place, but not every day and every week.
> I think there's little creativity. It's still very much open your book and do page 23. That there is no painting in primary, no sand box or water tray in the class room is a crying shame. There's no creative writing, no acting out plays in any subject
> The syllabuses are not realistic and so the teachers objectives are to rush through the material, not to make sure that pupils understand.





> The biggest let down however has been university, but that is probably this particular university. Badly organised university, badly organised courses, some teachers who have trouble turning up to class...





> You'd think after all that that I wasn't happy with the education my daughter received, but all in all she had a good experience and had _some_ outstanding teachers. However, I do think she learnt and had good teachers in spite of the education system, not because of it


Save​


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

My eldest is 7 and just finishing first year of primary at a concertado. The school head is very much a traditionalist but she also likes to follow the council guidelines (I guess mainly because she wants the school to get good results in the tests the council set). I think this has lead to a noticeable shift to a more "modern" approach. For example, the children now sit around tables in small groups and work in teams (believe it or not they previously had 6 years olds sitting at desks in pairs, all facing the front). They don't do many arts and crafts in primary school, although plenty of colouring, however they did more crafty things at infant school. They do have drama in English as an extra curricular activity, and the class does various performances at Christmas and the end of the school year. They do quite a lot of music, and the level of English is high in general.

They are given small amounts of homework each weekday, but the emphasis is on getting the kids into the habit of organising their homework and being responsible for their books, etc, rather than how well they actually do it. Apparently they are now given less homework than before. The text books they use are modern and of a high standard (which they should be, considering I had to pay for them ) and they encourage creative problem solving. I haven't noticed much rote learning apart from the usual spelling tests and maths. They do a lot of tests, but in a non-stressfull way. Well, not for the children at least (some paremts seem to obssess about the results)

The school day ends at 5 which is unusually late, even for Spain, and with after school activities my son often leaves at 6, which is great if both parents are working. But because the day is so long we're thankful we live near the school and don't spend much time travelling to and from it.

I can't really compare this to education elsewhere as my personal experience from the UK back in the 70s is no longer relevent. My sister's kids go to an expensive private school in London, and are pobably slightly behind mine in academic terms, and have had little exposure to other languages. So far I'm very pleased with the school my son goes to, and I have been impressed with all the teachers my son has had. I have no idea if the school is typical of Spain though.


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## adamlang (May 25, 2018)

Hi all im a bit late to this party! over 12 months 

we are moving over in April 2019 and staying in Torrox campo. I see that Thrax you stay in Frigiliana we love the area, always things on the go! 
when we arrive our two children will be 11 and 8 yrs old currently thinking of International school for my 11 yr old son maybe in Almunecar?? reason behind that is his age. and for my daughter we were thinking Spanish state school as she is only 8. 
any replys would be great

thanks again

adam, sam


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> My eldest is 7 and just finishing first year of primary at a concertado. The school head is very much a traditionalist but she also likes to follow the council guidelines (I guess mainly because she wants the school to get good results in the tests the council set). I think this has lead to a noticeable shift to a more "modern" approach. For example, the children now sit around tables in small groups and work in teams (believe it or not they previously had 6 years olds sitting at desks in pairs, all facing the front). They don't do many arts and crafts in primary school, although plenty of colouring, however they did more crafty things at infant school. They do have drama in English as an extra curricular activity, and the class does various performances at Christmas and the end of the school year. They do quite a lot of music, and the level of English is high in general.
> 
> They are given small amounts of homework each weekday, but the emphasis is on getting the kids into the habit of organising their homework and being responsible for their books, etc, rather than how well they actually do it. Apparently they are now given less homework than before. The text books they use are modern and of a high standard (which they should be, considering I had to pay for them ) and they encourage creative problem solving. I haven't noticed much rote learning apart from the usual spelling tests and maths. They do a lot of tests, but in a non-stressfull way. Well, not for the children at least (some paremts seem to obssess about the results)
> 
> ...


Finishing at 5 o' clock at semi private concertos and private schools is the norm. In state schools primary varies between 3:00 and 4:00 and secondary start around 8:00 and finish around 2:30!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Finishing at 5 o' clock at semi private concertos and private schools is the norm. In state schools primary varies between 3:00 and 4:00 and secondary start around 8:00 and finish around 2:30!


Most of the primary schools in my town have now moved to a shorter day. They still start at 9am, but have two short breaks, finishing at 2pm. 

Lunch is then available for those who want it, & after school clubs run until 4ish.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

adamlang said:


> Hi all im a bit late to this party! over 12 months
> 
> we are moving over in April 2019 and staying in Torrox campo. I see that Thrax you stay in Frigiliana we love the area, always things on the go!
> when we arrive our two children will be 11 and 8 yrs old currently thinking of International school for my 11 yr old son maybe in Almunecar?? reason behind that is his age. and for my daughter we were thinking Spanish state school as she is only 8.
> ...


Hi, we actually live in the Torrox campo although we are only 10 minutes from Frigiliana. Once you have made 5 posts we can exchange Private Messages which will be easier to communicate and exchange email addresses should you wish to do so. Eleven yerars old is considered to be on the edge of being able to cope with the language but certainly not impossible. School hours at the international schools are longer than state schools and your elder child will probably have to take the school bus to Almuñecar. I have had mixed reports about the school there, some good some bad but you will have to decide. Our son goes to the state school in Torrox Pueblo and loves it and the support is excellent. We also know of some Dutch folk who sent their 10 year old daughter there and although she struggled at first she is now doing really well. Post some more and we will offer whatever help or advice you may need.


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## adamlang (May 25, 2018)

Hi 

thankq very much for getting in touch, my wife a daughter will be heading over on the 1st or 2nd August.

for 8 days, we would love to here and learn from your local knowledge.
how have you found employment over there? my wife will not be working for the first year or so but she is a children's nurse by trade


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

For me, the focus on rote learning and exams, exams, exams is something that makes me worried about putting my son into the Spanish system when the time comes. I've seen in some of my own interactions with Spanish friends the result of this: they know a lot of facts about a wide variety of things but seem to struggle with critical thinking. I remember reading an article from a former Spanish language professor in which he lamented the fact that children were now spending more time memorising Cervantes' birth place and birth date than actually reading his books.

Putting him into a private school for the duration of his education is not feasible financially, but I guess it could be possible to split it: 3-11 in the Spanish public system and then do the English syllabus at a private school through to GCSEs and beyond? That would allow him to integrate and have daily contact with the language to start out with, and then have what I'd consider a more useful education thereafter.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

daveunt said:


> For me, the focus on rote learning and exams, exams, exams is something that makes me worried about putting my son into the Spanish system when the time comes. I've seen in some of my own interactions with Spanish friends the result of this: they know a lot of facts about a wide variety of things but seem to struggle with critical thinking. I remember reading an article from a former Spanish language professor in which he lamented the fact that children were now spending more time memorising Cervantes' birth place and birth date than actually reading his books.
> 
> Putting him into a private school for the duration of his education is not feasible financially, but I guess it could be possible to split it: 3-11 in the Spanish public system and then do the English syllabus at a private school through to GCSEs and beyond? That would allow him to integrate and have daily contact with the language to start out with, and then have what I'd consider a more useful education thereafter.


Possible in theory, you'd have to see how it worked out in practice


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

daveunt said:


> For me, the focus on rote learning and exams, exams, exams is something that makes me worried about putting my son into the Spanish system when the time comes. I've seen in some of my own interactions with Spanish friends the result of this: they know a lot of facts about a wide variety of things but seem to struggle with critical thinking. I remember reading an article from a former Spanish language professor in which he lamented the fact that children were now spending more time memorising Cervantes' birth place and birth date than actually reading his books.
> 
> Putting him into a private school for the duration of his education is not feasible financially, *but I guess it could be possible to split it: 3-11 in the Spanish public system and then do the English syllabus at a private school through to GCSEs and beyond?* That would allow him to integrate and have daily contact with the language to start out with, and then have what I'd consider a more useful education thereafter.



I've heard of plenty of people who have successfully done this. I can't see how it would be a problem and it's something we would consider ourselves. However the schools my kids go to takes them through to 16 and I'd be reluctant to take them out of there if they are still happy and doing well. 

But yes, I do think there's value in things like essay writing, and I worry that Spanish schools don't encourage this. Kids need to learn how to organise their thoughts as much as applying techniques to answering formulaic questions. It also concerns me that many secondary schools, in Madrid at least, are now teaching a lot of subjects in English. I feel that at secondary level, the subjects should be taught in the native language of both the teacher and children, otherwise the children tend to learn just the vocabulary without going into much depth.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> I've heard of plenty of people who have successfully done this. I can't see how it would be a problem and it's something we would consider ourselves. However the schools my kids go to takes them through to 16 and I'd be reluctant to take them out of there if they are still happy and doing well.
> 
> But yes, I do think there's value in things like essay writing, and I worry that Spanish schools don't encourage this. Kids need to learn how to organise their thoughts as much as applying techniques to answering formulaic questions. It also concerns me that many secondary schools, in Madrid at least, are now teaching a lot of subjects in English. I feel that at secondary level, the subjects should be taught in the native language of both the teacher and children, otherwise the children tend to learn just the vocabulary without going into much depth.


Yes, When I said see how it works out, I meant from the point of view of friends, places in the school you want, schools offering the subjects that your children want to study as at a higher level not all subjects are offered across the board - the logistics is what I was referring to


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

Good to know that people have done this successfully, thanks. Yes, it is organising information and applying it to tasks such as essay writing, etc... that I am concerned about him missing out on. History, for instance, should be about taking in the information and then using it to analyse the situation of the time or to form an argument. Not about simply listing the start and end dates of various wars and other such facts. Still some time off, but we'll see how he gets on in Spanish state school and make a decision once we have some more first-hand experience to call on.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

daveunt said:


> For me, the focus on rote learning and exams, exams, exams is something that makes me worried about putting my son into the Spanish system when the time comes. I've seen in some of my own interactions with Spanish friends the result of this: they know a lot of facts about a wide variety of things but seem to struggle with critical thinking. I remember reading an article from a former Spanish language professor in which he lamented the fact that c*hildren were now spending more time memorising Cervantes' birth place and birth date than actually reading his books*.
> 
> Putting him into a private school for the duration of his education is not feasible financially, but I guess it could be possible to split it: 3-11 in the Spanish public system and then do the English syllabus at a private school through to GCSEs and beyond? That would allow him to integrate and have daily contact with the language to start out with, and then have what I'd consider a more useful education thereafter.


That isn't necessarily a fault of the schools more a fault of the home-life where a child is in front of a television rather than encouraged to read books.


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

baldilocks said:


> That isn't necessarily a fault of the schools more a fault of the home-life where a child is in front of a television rather than encouraged to read books.


While I don't doubt that is the case in many households, I think that particular observation was more to do with the Spanish school syllabus no longer prioritising the reading of literature, solely the facts related to its major historical figures. I have no first-hand experience of the Spanish system, so that comment really surprised me when I first read it. I'm hoping it was an exaggeration to make a point, but perhaps someone on here whose child has studied Spanish Literature as a subject in a state school can confirm. Literature without the reading of books would seem to me to be an almost entirely pointless subject.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

daveunt said:


> While I don't doubt that is the case in many households, I think that particular observation was more to do with the Spanish school syllabus no longer prioritising the reading of literature, solely the facts related to its major historical figures. I have no first-hand experience of the Spanish system, so that comment really surprised me when I first read it. I'm hoping it was an exaggeration to make a point, but perhaps someone on here whose child has studied Spanish Literature as a subject in a state school can confirm. Literature without the reading of books would seem to me to be an almost entirely pointless subject.


My kids went through the Spanish states school system in Andalucia. First of all, there is no subject called Spanish Literature. What they do have every year is a subject called "Language". This seems to be mainly a class about Spanish grammar and syntax. They do lots of sentence diagramming and linguistic analysis of texts. Thrown in there is the study of the history of Spanish literature. So they study Spanish literary trends and movements over time, and they learn about the most important authors and their works in each period. I can confirm that they do NOT read any of their works. Shockingly, my two kids went through the entire Spanish system without reading even one Spanish novel. The only writing they practice is for the uni entrance exam and is called "comentario de texto". It's a short, 3 paragraph essay which must follow a very specific formula. My kids were taught how to do it, but their teachers _never once_ collected their practice essays to correct them. The teachers only looked at the essays if they were exams - and even then they only got a mark, with no helpful comments or suggestions. 

Both of my kids hated the subject of "Language" and felt that it was a massive waste of time. Considering that I majored in Spanish language and literature in university, I also feel that their "Language" classes were a total lost opportunity. How is it that in my household with a Spanish husband and two Spanish/American children I'm the only one who has read the Quijote?


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

kalohi said:


> My kids went through the Spanish states school system in Andalucia. First of all, there is no subject called Spanish Literature. What they do have every year is a subject called "Language". This seems to be mainly a class about Spanish grammar and syntax. They do lots of sentence diagramming and linguistic analysis of texts. Thrown in there is the study of the history of Spanish literature. So they study Spanish literary trends and movements over time, and they learn about the most important authors and their works in each period. I can confirm that they do NOT read any of their works. Shockingly, my two kids went through the entire Spanish system without reading even one Spanish novel. The only writing they practice is for the uni entrance exam and is called "comentario de texto". It's a short, 3 paragraph essay which must follow a very specific formula. My kids were taught how to do it, but their teachers _never once_ collected their practice essays to correct them. The teachers only looked at the essays if they were exams - and even then they only got a mark, with no helpful comments or suggestions.
> 
> Both of my kids hated the subject of "Language" and felt that it was a massive waste of time. Considering that I majored in Spanish language and literature in university, I also feel that their "Language" classes were a total lost opportunity. How is it that in my household with a Spanish husband and two Spanish/American children I'm the only one who has read the Quijote?


That just seems incredible to me. Another reason to try and work out an alternative for the latter years of his schooling then!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

kalohi said:


> My kids went through the Spanish states school system in Andalucia. First of all, there is no subject called Spanish Literature. What they do have every year is a subject called "Language". This seems to be mainly a class about Spanish grammar and syntax. They do lots of sentence diagramming and linguistic analysis of texts. Thrown in there is the study of the history of Spanish literature. So they study Spanish literary trends and movements over time, and they learn about the most important authors and their works in each period. I can confirm that they do NOT read any of their works. Shockingly, my two kids went through the entire Spanish system without reading even one Spanish novel. The only writing they practice is for the uni entrance exam and is called "comentario de texto". It's a short, 3 paragraph essay which must follow a very specific formula. My kids were taught how to do it, but their teachers _never once_ collected their practice essays to correct them. The teachers only looked at the essays if they were exams - and even then they only got a mark, with no helpful comments or suggestions.
> 
> Both of my kids hated the subject of "Language" and felt that it was a massive waste of time. Considering that I majored in Spanish language and literature in university, I also feel that their "Language" classes were a total lost opportunity. How is it that in my household with a Spanish husband and two Spanish/American children I'm the only one who has read the Quijote?


Interesting.

Each term, from Y6 primary & all through secondary, my girls had to read a book - some classics & some contemporary, & write a book report! Often they had to do two books, one in castellano & one in valenciano. 

I often read them too  

I do agree that the learning of grammar is perhaps over-emphasised, but speaking as a language teacher, better that than the total lack of grammar that my generation of British people, & those since, were taught.

I hear that in the UK they have now swung to the extreme teaching of grammar now, as in Spanish schools.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

I've often wondered if the reason my kids didn't read any novels was a question of money. In Andalucian state schools the kids are given free books - well, actually they are lent the books because they have to turn them back in at the end of the year. I imagine the school's budget for "free" books isn't endless. It's sad to think that maybe the students aren't reading novels due to budget restrictions.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

kalohi said:


> I've often wondered if the reason my kids didn't read any novels was a question of money. In Andalucian state schools the kids are given free books - well, actually they are lent the books because they have to turn them back in at the end of the year. I imagine the school's budget for "free" books isn't endless. It's sad to think that maybe the students aren't reading novels due to budget restrictions.


We had to pay for books. 

If you were quick you could get the set reading books from the library. Sometimes a few families put 1€ in each & bought the book between them. We donated some back to the school for future years. 

The English department in ESO also gave the native English speakers the task of reading & doing a book report on an English classic! Not every term though, just one a year. I was so glad my girls have always loved to read. It must have been a nightmare for the parents of kids who hate reading.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

As a language teacher here in Spain I do witness the effects of the education system here. For example the kids in my B1 and B2 classes approach language as just another school subject that needs to be memorized then reproduced in the exams. Of course it can't be done like that. Language is purpose driven. Without a need it just remains pieces of memorized vocab. The only students that can learn it well and easily are those who are interested in things in their lives that amalgamated in English. Films, music, video games etc. The point is that here in Spain there is not sufficient pressure on the government to examine more progressive systems that are more common now in Northern Europe to make learning part of a purpose or tasked based program.Hopefully the new government and some of its younger more modern coalition partners will replace PP woefully inadequate approach to education


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

kaipa said:


> As a language teacher here in Spain I do witness the effects of the education system here. For example the kids in my B1 and B2 classes approach language as just another school subject that needs to be memorized then reproduced in the exams. Of course it can't be done like that. Language is purpose driven. Without a need it just remains pieces of memorized vocab. The only students that can learn it well and easily are those who are interested in things in their lives that amalgamated in English. Films, music, video games etc. The point is that here in Spain there is not sufficient pressure on the government to examine more progressive systems that are more common now in Northern Europe to make learning part of a purpose or tasked based program.Hopefully the new government and some of its younger more modern coalition partners will replace PP woefully inadequate approach to education


There does need to be a balance - & a lot of that is down to the teachers. Some of the teachers at my daughters' school were 'stick to the book, deliver, learn, repeat'. 

But a lot were able to bring in more interesting ways of learning. The content of the textbook was still covered, but in a different way.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

I am constantly on the lookout for articles of interest in English covering matters that might not be in the Spanish media and SWMBO uses these to reinforce and extend vocabulary. My sources can be the BBC, The Smithsonian, The Guardian, The New Scientist, The Independent, etc. 

The selection criteria I use are:

Must be in good English and well punctuated
Must be interesting, bearing in mind the target audience
Must be something to which the reader can relate 
etc.


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