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307, editado Lunes, 13 Abril, 2009

European Work Experience 2009
London, 2009

Leslie Mauro, Georgia Odd,
estudiante de secundaria, St Michael´s Catholic School, London (UK), grammar school newsletter

On 27th February 2009 the AS Level Spanish students landed in the north of Spain - Torrelavega, Cantabria.

It was the start of our week-Iong journey in a foreign country where we not only get to experience life in Spain, but also of work there. As we walked through the airport we finally came face to face with each of our exchange partners and for everyone the many greetings of "i hola!" were mixed with emotions of nervousness and excitement. We quickly became acquainted with our new families as we all went our separate ways to each of our homes.
Since we arrived on Friday, we had a whole weekend before starting our work experience and so we spent the time becoming familiar with the town of Torrelavega. We found ourselves going to different places such as restaurants, cafes and numerous shops. One day the whole group travelled to Santander, the capital port city of Cantabria, and we were able to visit "El Corte Ingles" which is a huge shopping centre with different types of shops. We found that they were quite similar to those in London and so once we began shopping we couldn't help but compare prices - euros to pounds. We also went bowling, dancing and did other activities and so we kept busy throughout the whole week.
On Monday morning we were all really nervous aQout starting work, which for most of us was working in a school or nursery. By the end of our first day at work, everyone was rather content and had already widened their range of Spanish vocabulary. The five working days fIew by and before we knew it, it was our last day at our work placement. Al! of us had become attached to the smiling children whom we spent the five days with and on that Friday afternoon, it was sad parting with them. Some of our work placements even invited us to come and visit them again next year!

"It can seem a daunting prospect; living, working and spending a week with a family in a foreigh country. The AS level Spanish group were certainly nervous as we arrived at Santander airport. However, our families all took the greatest effort to ensure that we felt at home and the end of the first night had dispelled the majority of our qualms. After a weekend of bonding with our exchange and familiarising ourselves with the local area, on monday morning each of us went to work. I was working in a school with children of 6 & 7 years old, and I spent my week observing lessons, helping out, supervising lunchtime meals and even giving English and Maths lessons by myself (!) entirely in Spanish.
Although I made errors, the children were amazingly patient, correcting me and helping me out. Spending tiem in a foreigh country, being completely surrounded by the language and submerged in the culture is definitely the best way to learn a language.

The week helped immensely with my Spanish skills and even instilled a new confidence within myself. 1 would recommend such an invaluable experience to al! language students, and urge them to participate. Although it is a challenge, the benefits of it cannot be stressed enough, and by the end of the week, 1 was reluctant to leave both the children at school and my wonderful adopted family for the week, and can only thank Senora and Senor Zinchiri for making such an unforgettable experience possible."

On 6th March 2009 the time came for us to leave our life in Spain and return back home to London. We al! missed our families and friends but we couldn't help but feel sad that we would no longer be living in Torrelavega - a life we had become so used to in such a short time. The week that we spent in Spain on European Work Experience was an extremely unforgettable and exciting week for everyone. Our exchange partners and their families greeted us with smiles and made us feel very welcome. We had become so attached to our Spanish families that some even invited us to stay at their homes again duing the summer.
Our time in Torrelavega allowed us all to have the chance to be away from home and to gain some experience in an area of work. We certainly found it difficult at first as we were completely surrounded by the Spanish language but very soon, we became used to not speaking English and so we found that we were improving our abilities in terms of listening to and speaking Spanish. Our time in Spain also gave us a chance to be more independent as well as getting the opportunity to meet new and different types of people.
On behalf of all of us who took part in the exchange, we would like to thank Miss Morrissey, Mr Paul Ward and especially Senora and Senor Zinchiri who made this memorable experience possible.