The Spanish School System

It would be easy just to say the school systems in Spain and the United States are different. They are different in every way, shape and form. I am working in Maestro Aurea Lopez, which is a public elementary school. I am teaching English to students ages 3 (Ninos de 3) to 11 (Year 6). After that, they go the high school in town. The mandatory age is much younger here than at home (even though I can't remember exactly what it is). After high school, they can go to either a trade school, a professional school, or a university, depending on what they want to do. I met a girl Ana who is in her 5th year of Medical School. It sounds like a lot, but in reality, they start med school directly after high school. She does not need a degree from a university prior to going to med school. She attended school like other people for the first four years, and now has two years left. Two semesters of classroom work and two semesters of clinical work. I asked about the price, knowing how expensive med school is at home, and she said it doesn't cost any more than other students going to public universities. Therefore, it is very inexpensive for her to become a doctor. That is a new concept to me, one of many about the Spanish school system.

At my school, students go to class from 9-2 Monday to Fridays from September through end of May. Their public schools teach religion classes. Every day is a different schedule. Their playground is a concrete floor with brick walls around it for protection. They get to play outside from 12-12:30 daily, but that is also when they are to eat (mainly a snack). So students are playing soccer outside, all holding a sandwich eating their snack. Teachers can come in professional clothes (similar to being at home), or jeans, or sweats. Literally. A teacher today was wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt to classes. There is very little discipline in the classroom. It is not uncommon for students to talk, sing, walk around, arrange their desk, go to a friends desk to talk, while the teacher is lecturing. Its just the way it is. Completely different! Also, a lot of students at younger ages have multiple piercings, and therefore teachers do as well. It is much more laid back than any school I have been to before.

Recently Spain has started making their public schools bilingual schools. What this means, starting in preschool students learn English. By the time they reach Year 4, one or two of their classes are taught in English and Spanish (I have helped in multiple science classes). The teacher first describes everything in  Spanish, then slowly integrates English into the lessons, and the students are tested this material in English. Imagine learning chemistry or history in a foreign language. My school is a year 4 school, which means it has been bilingual for 4 years now. Therefore the students by year 4 or 5 are expected to be able to take other classes in English and by high school it is mostly English. There has been a lot of opposition within the community to make the public schools bilingual. Several parents have taken there students out and to another school district where Spanish is the language of learning. But as this program grows within Spain, more and more schools are becoming bilingual. Which is why this program I am here with, the Cultural and Language Assistant program through the Spanish Ministry of Education sent 1,236 assistants from the United States to teach their children English.

Its been a learning curve to teach English to students who don't understand me. I have no background in Education. I have no idea what I am doing. It is very hard to not speak in Spanish to them (even if it is just translating a word or phrase). I am supposed to talk in Engllish 100% of the time. But they don't know American English. They only know British English. I have already been told I need to adjust my vocabulary and spelling to match what their book says (which defeats the purpose of having an American in the classroom). Its very hard when I am with 3 year olds whose only English knowledge is how to count to 10, the colors, a few animals and mom and dad. But through the immersion this early in their life to the language, the will be better at English than I ever will be at Spanish. This is one aspect I think the US should look into. Little children have the easiest time to learn a foreign language, so why wait until high school to offer it? I think parents should have the option to have their children take a foreign language throughout elementary school so one day they can be proficient of a different language than their native tongue. Its just a thought, but as I have learned here, a lot of people don't agree. Besides, the school systems are so different, could it even work?