We’ve had a new take on things this year, since it’s the first time that we have run the Bilingual Program, and we were able to welcome our first students to the Section: our first year, first cycle of Bilingual ESO! A welcome challenge!
Without a doubt, the students are the best part of the project. They make up an enthusiastic, outgoing group who are always willing to participate and compete. Our initial concerns have been slowly but surely turned into achievements and we can see how hard our students apply themselves, their progression being evident from one term to another. The students seem happy but this project of teaching non-linguistic subject areas in the English language is still a difficult but achievable challenge, though.
The meticulously prepared materials that we put together during the last academic year are being trailed and tested now. I must congratulate my colleagues on their hard work and because they show a huge determination with their use of this material that we prepared here in the Bilingual Section at Maimónides and not through any publishing house.
Our students are experiencing new and interesting situations such as overseas visits from English speakers from even further afield than ‘the other side of the pond’, by participating in European projects, using new technologies, taking part in English-speaking competitions where they can show specific skills, through having direct contact with Language Assistants, having the opportunity to speak in English on a daily basis, receiving visits from other countries and colleges, and by staying with host families – all of these things are a different but interesting way of learning. p>The early part of this year wasn’t without its handicaps, and we were accompanied by bad luck for almost 2 months while the Bilingual Section didn’t have the support of a Language Assistant until we found Cassandra. Kai joined us a while later, (in February 2010) to cover, in particular, the linguistic needs of our teaching staff. Although somewhat late - they were better late than never - our assistants are absolutely necessary!
This is a year for projects: the conclusion of our E-Twinning project, the follow-on from the Comenius that we signed up to last year, and the planning of other new pilot projects such as the Individual Pupil Mobility that will allow three of our students to experience Norwegian life by staying with host families and attending school with their partners in Norway. Although the main language of communication there will be English, our students, in accordance with the conditions of the project, will be given Norwegian language lessons before, during and after the Mobility. It proved to be a tough challenge to find someone who could teach them a minority language such as Norwegian. Without a doubt the experience will be a unique and unforgettable one for our students!
During the academic year of 2010/11, new materials and subjects will be included such as Technology and other teachers will become part of our project.
We have had, and there will be more, interesting and varied visits. The Head of Modern Languages of Montgomery High School in Blackpool came here with the intention of setting up new projects and shared work between their school and ours. Also, the students and teachers of Westmount Charter School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a school for gifted students, (and as you will know, Maimónides also selects gifted students to support) came to see us too. We hope to organise an exchange with Westmount for our Bachillerato students next year, as long as nothing prevents it!
In October of this year, we will be busy hosting a large number of students and teachers from Ashlyns School, near London, England, who will stay with us for a few days.
We want IES Maimonides to standout as a welcoming host school and as one that forms new relationships with various institutions to satisfy our desire to take on new ideas and projects for the benefit of everyone.
In October 2009, we had the first staff meeting at Emelwerda College in the Netherlands about our Comenius project entitled European Citizenship – What’s happening? In April 2010 we went to Wirral Grammar School for Boys in Bebington, England, with some of our students; we have plans to visit Emelwerda College again but this time with some students too; and then, all the members of the project together with the students will visit us in April-May time and we will bring to a close the Multilateral Association in Norway and with Hof Skole by October 2011.
More English speakers will come to visit us such as Patricia Delessante from Los Angeles, who was a potential candidate for the position of a Language Assistant who would have liked to work with us and will visit us while she is here in our city to attend a seminar.
We continue to work on Exchange projects. Our experience with Montgomery High School was an excellent and unforgettable one. This year, we will try a new destination with Ashlyns School, which is about 40 kilometres from London, and we hope that everything goes as smoothly and successfully, or even better, than last time!
We have a Theatre group who are preparing a fun play about pirates. Although we’ve not had a lot of time to prepare for it this year, perhaps next year, we will be able to take part in Maimónides’ Reading Marathon in English.
We have already established email links with schools such as Queen Elizabeth School and Wirral Grammar School for Boys, among others, and we hope that they last. I say that because we all know how difficult it can be to keep long-distance communications going!
Our teachers continue with their own learning and will once again enjoy the opportunity to do intensive Language Immersion courses this summer, thanks to the help of the Junta de Andalusia.
We continue in this mission for linguistic and cultural enrichment, which is the foundation of a bilingual centre, and although it may be hard work, it opens up new pathways and rejuvenates the spirit and enthusiasm of everyone involved.
