# Bilingual State Schools in Madrid



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

There are ads on the telly here advertising the fact that there are now 242 bilingual primary schools and 32 secondary schools in the STATE system in Madrid now and that you can apply for places now.

Here are 2 links

Madrid, comunidad bilingüe - Madrid.org - Portal de Educación

http://www.madrid.org/cs/Satellite?...goBlobs&blobwhere=1268599319702&ssbinary=true

Just before anybody says anything, I'm not actually saying I think it's a good idea, I'm just telling you what's out there. If this info and education system exists in Madrid it's probably underway in other areas too, so smth should come up if you google colegios institutos bilingue en XXXX.

The ad has children shouting *yes we want* in response to the question *do you want to learn English ?* As an English teacher I would never have let my students get away with that as a short answer, and sadly I think that's a reflection of the standard of English that children are receiving in these schools...


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> There are ads on the telly here advertising the fact that there are now 242 bilingual primary schools and 32 secondary schools in the STATE system in Madrid now and that you can apply for places now.
> 
> Here are 2 links
> 
> ...


And.... "Yes we want!"??? 

The bilingual program has been implemented in many other comunidades.

I'm not really sure I want to comment on this since it could open a can of worms for myself, but bilingual education is new in many places and ... well, you can tell it's new.

It's a very interesting project, at least.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

SteveHall said:


> "Yes we want"????????????????????
> 
> Is that meant to be English? What an advert for the system!!!


"Look! The children are saying words I understand! The system must be cojonudo!" 

I'm having a very bad culture shock day and it's related to English language. I will restrain from commenting more.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

SteveHall said:


> As an American, I can understand the problems you have with the English language and nothing that Obama says is going to make it any easier for the next generation LOL


Vaya por dios. Es que 12 horas de español y 4 horas de inglés (¡solo en la aula!) afecta mi habilidad de speek eenglish y wri-te eenglish. 

Four years of university in Canada and I still refuse to insert "u"s where they don't belong. Toma.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> Four years of university in Canada and I still refuse to insert "u"s where they don't belong. Toma.


 
That might require a little explanation, but don't hurry, whenever you feel up to speaking like a native again!


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

SteveHall said:


> favor - favour?
> color - colour?


*twitch*


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

> That might require a little explanation, but don't hurry, whenever you feel up to speaking like a native again!


Friends and professors corrected my "incorrect" spelling. It was my one little rebellion, refusing to put "u"-s. 
Oooh - and centre. That was a big one. 

It's come back to bite me hard here. You can now catch me using the "have got" construction instead of "have," as many teachers I've worked with insist that we do things that way.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

halydia said:


> *twitch*


Surely its simple!?? The American version of the language doesnt stick "u"s in and the British version does! Deal over! At least we dont have to spend years learning to talk to each other - I just wish I could speak and write spanish as easily as I can American!!

Jo xxx


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2010)

jojo said:


> Surely its simple!?? The American version of the language doesnt stick "u"s in and the British version does! Deal over! At least we dont have to spend years learning to talk to each other - I just wish I could speak and write spanish as easily as I can American!!
> 
> Jo xxx


Very true. However, the "u" bit became an identity thing while studying in Canada 



As for Spanish... I still let the odd bit of Mexican Spanish fly and get laughed at by the folks over here.


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## scharlack (Nov 21, 2008)

Hey there,

Just as a side note -

A few days ago I read an article that stated children that go to bilingual schools usually have better control and use of their native language. In this case I think it was Spanish-English. 

So, most kids who have Spanish as their 1st language and go to a bilingual school have better control and use of Spanish than kids who go to average schools. However, some kids presented "bad" reactions as they could not cope with learning under the bilingual system.

I think the article was on El Pais a couple weeks ago. I wish I could find it now.

Cheers!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

scharlack said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Just as a side note -
> 
> ...


 Would like to read the article if you could find it! I'll try finding it later on.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> Very true. However, the "u" bit became an identity thing while studying in Canada
> 
> 
> 
> As for Spanish... I still let the odd bit of Mexican Spanish fly and get laughed at by the folks over here.


Hahaha! 
I came to Spain straight from Colombia with Colombian boyfriend in tow. I still remember the first day I tried saying GraAJJJE, AleJJJandro with the Spanish rasping!!!!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> OMG, PeskyWesky is up. That must mean "Time for bed", said Zebedee
> 
> Have a great day, guys


 Dressed, showered and it's time to go 'cos there's a bank manager chomping at the bit for his English class!!
See you Steve!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> Mmm, ·$%&/( bank manager. Remind him "Hay dinero para tapar los agujeros de las entidades financieras, pero no lo hay para acabar con el hambre"
> 
> Enjoy!


Actually, that was written by someone in his team - this is no ordinary bank!

DINERO Y CONCIENCIA ¿A quién sirve mi dinero? (MELÉ, JOAN ANTONI) - QueLibroLeo


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> There are ads on the telly here advertising the fact that there are now 242 bilingual primary schools and 32 secondary schools in the STATE system in Madrid now and that you can apply for places now.
> 
> Here are 2 links
> 
> ...


 
Now it's hit the press...
La Comunidad suspende en inglés: 'Yes, we want' es incorrecto. europapress.es

In Spanish sorry, but basically it's saying that the comunidad de madrid should have got it's sh*t sorted out before plastering the city with this advertising.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Now it's hit the press...
> La Comunidad suspende en inglés: 'Yes, we want' es incorrecto. europapress.es
> 
> In Spanish sorry, but basically it's saying that the comunidad de madrid should have got it's sh*t sorted out before plastering the city with this advertising.


:clap2:


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## jockm (Jun 23, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> :clap2:


Yes, it's embarassing really, isn't it  Surely someone, _someone_, would have spotted the error during the development of the marketing campaign, review of the content, signing off of the campaign by the big bwana, etc etc....?

I currently work for the government, so I love a good [email protected]#$ up story like this (just to add to the similar daily sort of stuff we experience at the coal face!!!).


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jockm said:


> Yes, it's embarassing really, isn't it  Surely someone, _someone_, would have spotted the error during the development of the marketing campaign, review of the content, signing off of the campaign by the big bwana, etc etc....?
> 
> I currently work for the government, so I love a good [email protected]#$ up story like this (just to add to the similar daily sort of stuff we experience at the coal face!!!).


You would have thought so, wouldn't you? Especially in the education dept. of the capital city

Unfortunately dreadful translations are commonplace. In our town we have a pretty big English-speaking community & even have British people on the local council - and yet whenever anything is circulated in English it reads as if Babel translate has been used

Sometimes it's so bad that I will need to read the Spanish original just to be clear of the meaning.

Always gives me a giggle though


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2010)

scharlack said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Just as a side note -
> 
> ...


Interesting that they say that. I know that in Canada, Anglophone students educated in French often struggle in later English studies since English was left to just a few hours a week. A certain important man in my life studied in his regional autonomous language and I am constantly correcting him on his written Spanish. 

I went digging on El Pais this morning for the article and stumbled across some things that may be interesting for any language nerds like myself:

"Un Cerebro a Dos Velocidades"
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/cerebro/velocidades/elpepisoc/20100326elpepisoc_2/Tes: "La tendencia es aprender una segunda lengua como el inglés a edades cada vez más tempranas. En ese caso, los profesores *deben ser nativos,* advierte Costa. "Si no, estamos exponiendo a los niños a ejemplos de la lengua que no son los correctos. Es como si aprendiera muy pronto a esquiar mal". "

One of the things that kills me is when I see mistakes in the fundamentals of English here. I had students the other day arguing with me that I was wrong and it's "not double 'u', it's double 'v'! Our teacher said so!"

El Pais' take on the "Yes we want!": "Yes, we want": cómo anunciar 'coles' bilingües con mal inglés · ELPAÍS.com

Finally, the article itself: El mejor español, el del bilingüe · ELPAÍS.com
and an interesting rebuttal, which states "Nice thesis, but where's the proof?" La Comunidad » Apuntes científicos desde el MIT » Los límites de la epidemiología

One final note: Know that, at least in my experience, there's a big difference between the bilingual *British Council* schools and bilingual schools.


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## jockm (Jun 23, 2009)

*A jolly good read!*



halydia said:


> El Pais' take on the "Yes we want!": "Yes, we want": cómo anunciar 'coles' bilingües con mal inglés · ELPAÍS.com


This article was most enjoyable.

Highlights:

Re: the stark naked fact that "yes we want" sounds a wee bit pidginesque:

'Falta algo", dice Mariann Larsen Pehrzon (translated: "It lacks something") - she ain't jokin'...

With a campaign costing 2 million euros I would be complaining if I were one of the 20% unemployed....

But given that it was "como un chiste" (like a joke), even though it was a mega failure - (han fallado) it appears it is our fault for not getting the joke!!! 

I'm sure said unemployed will take comfort in the Education Department stating that "es una de las mejores de los últimos años" - it's one of the best (publicity slogans) in the last few years".

But, irrelevant of all that, I think the bilingual education is a fantastic concept and good on them. I wonder how the Swedish have it so right...?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> > Interesting that they say that. I know that in Canada, Anglophone students educated in French often struggle in later English studies since English was left to just a few hours a week. A certain important man in my life studied in his regional autonomous language and I am constantly correcting him on his written Spanish.
> 
> 
> Very interesting comment. I have certainly met Catalans that mix Catalan and Castellano constantly without being aware that they are doing so, and cases of Catalans who just cannot exprexx themselves in Castellano, not having neither the vocabulary nor the grammatical basis
> ...


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Very interesting comment. I have certainly met Catalans that mix Catalan and Castellano constantly without being aware that they are doing so, and cases of Catalans who just cannot exprexx themselves in Castellano, not having neither the vocabulary nor the grammatical basis


His Basque only comes out when he tries to speak English. 



Pesky Wesky said:


> I don't believe for example a primary school teacher doesn't have to have as good a level of English as a secondary school teacher


I should be careful here. There's a lot of VERY good Spanish teachers teaching English. Secondary doesn't worry me - I'm more worried about major errors in the basics the kids learn when they're young.


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