Accounts of a year abroad

Periodically this year we will bring you the account of a pupil from our school who has returned from a year spent living abroad. The first one is from Leticia (3º ESO), but watch this space for several more in the future!


Last year I went to England to study a full academic year. I went to a town an hour away from London called Marlow.

This place was a modern town with a really high level, as a two-bedroom flat could cost a million pounds. The town was well cared for as in the streets there wasn't any rubbish and in the parks there was always someone clearing the rubbish or leaves that fell from the trees. As for the shops, they were alright for a town of this size. In the high street there were food, stationery and clothes shops and also a few cafés.

The flat that I lived in with my Dad, as he works there, was big enough for two. It's a small apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room.

I went to a public school in the town, ten minutes from where I lived. The school was enormous. They had it organised into blocks, which we would move between according to the subject. For lunch we had a canteen, where you could buy food or bring your own lunch to eat. At break when the weather was good we went to a huge field where people played or sat and talked. School started at 9 o'clock and finished at 3 o'clock, which was perfect for after-school activities and then to do your homework.

I had an amazing time there with my father, who I was lucky to have there if I needed something. Even though I had my father, I missed the rest of my family, which was the worst aspect of the year. In conclusion, I had lots of fun and it's an experience I will never forget.

Space (1ºESO)

We have just had a great week in the English Workshop with the first group of new 1ºESO pupils, who are just starting a very important new phase in their lives - secondary school. 

After learning about each other a little in the first class, we spent the rest of the week looking at space and the Solar System through different activities in English, such as a quiz and a video listening. 

The final part of the week was dedicated to producing the content you can see below: some fantastic space-related games and curiosities to practise your English and learn something new! Please leave a comment to let us know what you think!

First, check out these curiosities about space, prepared by Claudia, Laura, and Malena:

Harald and Álvaro made this space-related wordsearch. Try to find the words!

The following fun quiz was designed by Jimena & Paloma:

And finally, can you solve the crossword?

The Biggest Year of our Lives

The oldest students in the school, who have just started their final school year ("2º de Bachillerato"), have been reflecting on this exciting and challenging time of their lives. They have been thinking specifically about their hopes and fears of what promises to be a very tough but, hopefully, equally rewarding time of their lives. Please spare a thought for these pupils and wish them all the best to help them get through this difficult year. Read on to get an idea of what is going through their minds at the moment!

Estela

Starting school is harder to do when the year you are about to start is 2º bach. Nobody talks about this year in a good way. So many hopes and fears, but the biggest hope for this whole school year is to be happy, and not stressing out, because that's my biggest worry.

Talking about my future, I haven't planned anything yet. There are so many degrees I don't know about and I want to be sure about what to study for the next five years. I would love to be a lawyer and I also love business, like my father, so I may study a double degree in business and law, perhaps in English.

There is something I am sure I want to do, and it is to go out of Spain one year and study abroad. I think that's something that everyone should take. 

In conclusion, I think that in the next year there are so many big and important decisions mthat we, eighteen-year-old teenagers, have to take, and that we have to be careful, as some decisions can lead to our happiness and others to our future sadness!

Ángeles

One of the biggest aims I have for this year is to be able to have a high enough grade at the end of the course, thus having a wider range of options to choose from when selecting a degree.

My biggest fear is not being able capable of combining studying with going out with friends and family, as well as not keeping up to date with school work. What is more, another problem would be not knowing what the final exam for getting into university is going to be be like, as it is far harder to prepare for something that has never taken place.

I don't really know what I want to study in the future, but it would definitely be something related to maths and physics, which are my favourite subjects.

Another of my future ideas is to study in the Polytechnic University, and I would be grateful if I got to study one of the degree years in another country, like the United States. This way I would not only have the Spanish perspective of my degree, but also from another important part of the world.

Finally, it would be a great opportunity to study in Germany, but also a real challenge, as I consider German really hard to understand, thus it would take me more than a couple of months to get used to this language, never being able to speak perfectly.

Jorge

Second bach seems to be the hardest school year, as I've heard from lots of friends that have gone through this situation before me.

To be honest I'm not really worried about this year, even though I know that I will need to study a lot and be very well organised in order to finish my year with good grades and achieve my future plans.

My main concern is to be accepted in the university I want to get into, so I'd say that's my biggest challenge this year. Another problem which I find difficult to deal with are the exams held every three months, because they require a great deal of studying and preparation.

Furthermore, this year is very important for the reason that we are doing our leaving certificate and a lot of our future will rely on it.