LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS IN OUR SCHOOL (2017-18)!
Our school believes that hosting a language assistant in our families is an ideal way to improve language learning for our students. One of the challenges in our project of being a trilingual school is to improve the learning process of English language by providing the students the possibility of holding real conversations and encouraging them to speak and interact with native speakers.
This year our language assistants are Alexander, from England; Briana, from New York; and Emily, from Wales. They arrived in Sant Sadurní on the 30th September and they will stay in different students’ homes during all the school year. Their presence in our school will be relevant not only for our students but also for the teachers and school staff who will have the chance to learn about a new culture with people from other parts of the world and to improve their language skills and live a real experience of life.
So our language assistants will:
- Encourage our students to speak in real situations.
- Explain them their culture from their countries.
- Help in other subjects apart from English.
- Act as a role model for a proper pronunciation.
- Collaborate with our teaching staff in creating material and planning lessons.
And, the most important thing, our students from P3 to 2nd of Batxillerat will have the opportunity to benefit from real spoken English sessions with native English speakers. We hope that the experience will be as much positive as it has been until now. We wish our students and CAPs to make the most of their experience.
CAPs Video Competition – Our speakers won!
As part of the Conversation Assistant Program in Spain (CAPs) and as speakers here in St Josep, we wanted to create a video to show what we are doing both inside the school and outside. Apart from the video being a lot of fun to make (credit: Emily) it was a great way to show our parents and friends back in our own countries what sort of experience we are having here in the school and with our accommodating host families. What’s more, this video will be shown as an advertisement for CAPs and have St Josep proudly on the front page. We hope that you enjoy the video as much as we are enjoying our time here!
Our experience with the speakers
This year we have had the pleasure to have three spectacular speakers at the English classes, they helped a lot of students to improve their English. Here some opinions of the students who attended their classes.
“Alex has been a good teacher and a friendly person who showed us how to pronounce difficult words in English. Alex did funny classes that helped us to learn English in an easier way”.
“Alex is very comprehensive and treats all students very well. He knows how to control the class and he is a funny person. I like his classes”.
“Briana is from the U.S.A. She is a good person and a good teacher. Her classes are very funny and all the students are happy to have her in class. Briana connects with the students very well”.
“Her classes are funny and dynamic. She helps everyone”.
“Emily is a good teacher. Her classes are motivating and funny. All the students say that they are happy with her classes. She connects with the students using an adapted language and she is very comprehensive with the students that have more difficulties to speak English”.
Thanks you all Alex, Emily and Brianna!
Vladimir Georgiev and Laura Fabregat
Our experiences
My experience of being a language assistant in Sant Josep can be summed up in one word: unforgettable! Everybody in this school has been very welcoming and has helped make the move away from my home, my family and my friends painless. I have had the opportunity to work with all ages from three to 17 and all (well, most) of the students have been a pleasure to teach. These last eight months have genuinely been the best of my life and I know that I will never forget my time in this school; working in Sant Josep and living in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia has opened my eyes to a new culture and a new way of living. Thank you for everything! Emily
The feeling from walking in the school on the first Monday morning to now couldn’t be further apart. From being that nervous new speaker to the high fives and feeling of family that I sense now, I know I’ve grown as much as the wonderful people I work with on a daily basis. In fact there are far too many good memories to list here so all I can say is thank you to everyone for a year that I will not ever forget! Alex
It has always been a dream of mine to work abroad and this year my dream has been fulfilled at Col·legi St. Josep. Living 6 hours ahead of family and friends who were miles away was not always easy but coming into school and seeing my students would brighten my day. I worked with students from 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th Primary and 1st, 2nd, and 4th of ESO. I would like to thank all my students for being themselves and allowing me into their lives. I would also like to thank the teachers who I have worked with and supported me during this journey. You have all made this year a special one! Briana
