Trip to Spain
Learning a foreign language encompasses many different aspects, including understanding the culture and history of the target language. And nothing makes a language come alive more than experiencing all of it components first hand; which was the main goal for the trip to Spain organized during the summer holiday.
On 22nd July 2017, 22 students (F.3 to F.6) and 2 teachers went for an amazing adventure to visit this Mediterranean country, to better understand the culture and language of this beautiful peninsula. The trip started in Madrid, where the students and teachers spent the weekend enjoying the architecture, parks, monuments, museums and restaurants of the buzzing capital of Spain. A highlight of these two days were the Palacio Real and the Reina Sofía Museum, where students were able to admire Picasso´s masterpiece “Guernica” and learn more about Salvador Dalí.
On the way to Salamanca, a smaller city not too far from Madrid, the group stopped in Segovia to visit the old city and the Roman aqueduct, getting a feeling for the long and varied history of the country. Once in Salamanca, the students were received by their respective host families, with whom they stayed the following five days, sharing their daily lives. Every morning students attended lessons in small groups, according to their ability and interests. In the afternoons and evenings there were plenty of fun and engaging activities, all of them were guided by Spanish-speaking coordinators. Students enjoyed Spanish cooking classes, a guided sightseeing city tour in Spanish , testing their knowledge of Spanish language and culture in a game show setting. On the last day, just a few hours before boarding the plane to Hong Kong, there was a special treat: a visit to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid.
All in all, it was an amazing trip, which gave the students the chance to experience life with a local family, learn about different food and meal times –dinner is usually served after eight o’clock at night, for example-, try some delicious Spanish food, practise their language skills, discover some of the most impressive sights in the peninsula and meet new friends. It was certainly a very fruitful and rewarding trip.
