Submitted by Mackenzie Conners on the 2020 winter session program in Barcelona, Spain sponsored by the College of Education and Human Development…
During our second week in Barcelona, we began working in our partner school St. Peter’s. We took a tour of the school on Monday morning and that alone was impressive. St. Peter’s is a private school in Barcelona. The students here are taught all basic instruction, ie. Maths, Literacy, in English. On top of that, they also have class time for instruction in Spanish, Catalan (the native language in this region), and when they reach Year 6 (middle school for us) they have the option of taking German and French as well. I am working in a classroom of Year 1 students, or first grade in the United States. These students are absolutely brilliant. Many of them can speak in two to three languages already. There are times they may not know a word in another language, but their peers and teachers can help them and tell them the English word for something. My students are working on their reading skills, basic multiplication and division facts, and have work in STEM class. The school is very impressive and the students do very well. The main difference between St. Peter’s and schools in the U.S. is the structure. At St. Peter’s, students begin school as young as 12 months and begin learning in English right away. From there, they continue learning in English and have lessons in their other languages as well. Their daily schedule is also built differently than most U.S. schools. The school day begins at 9:00 am and ends at 4:30 pm. There are many breaks throughout the day, at least for the year 1 class. They have play time from 10:30-11:00 am, then lunch at 12:00 pm, play time again from 12:30-1:30 pm, and finally once more at 3:00 pm when they have a snack. It is interesting to see this many breaks being given to students, but many teachers find it necessary because the students tend to get distracted or silly when times of instruction are too long. During the student breaks, many teachers get breaks as well. There is a lot of support given to the teachers at the school. They are provided with ample time for planning, eating, and relaxing a bit. The school has a very positive atmosphere and it seems as though the students enjoy being there, as well as the teachers. I have heard very few complaints about working in this school. I have really enjoyed the first couple of days working in the school, and look forward to my last. However, it will be very sad to leave the students. They enjoy having us in the room, as do the teachers. (Who doesn’t love extra hands while working with 16 six- year olds?) It has been a very eye-opening experience and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about the school and education in Spain.