Swine Flu Strikes?

It appears that the school where I am working may have been struck by an outbreak of swine flu (or "gripe A" as it is known here).

It's not entirely clear that it IS swine flu that has caused a large number of teachers and students to call in ill over the past week, but given the frequent and slightly apocalyptic reporting on the illness by the media (which is just as bad here as in the UK) that is the first conclusion pretty much everyone has jumped to. Although it could well be right!

Either way, yesterday there was a particularly large amount of staff and students off sick. One of the classes I had in the afternoon normally consists of twenty-seven students, of which I usually teach half each week. Yesterday, however, I ended up taking all of the class. Or at least the seven of them that weren't off sick...

I should point out that this class was an exceptional case and that most classes were nowhere near as badly depleted as this one!

(If you are wondering about the picture, then it happens to be the first thing that came up on Google Image search for "swine flu"!)

Girona

This weekend I decided to go to Girona, which is only a couple of hours or so away from where I am by coach. Girona is a fantastic little city, with a history that stretches back to when Rome controlled the Iberian peninsula. Sadly there is very little to be seen from the periods of Roman or Moorish rule, but there is a lot of very impressive Romanesque and Gothic architecture. More modern, but still very nice, are the painted houses that can be seen along the river that runs through the heart of the city.



I arrived slightly later than I had intended, since I missed the first bus to Girona and had to wait another two hours for the next one. Nor was this the first piece of back luck I've had with buses - the weekend before I went to Barcelona for the day on Saturday and managed to miss the last bus back! But I arrived in Girona eventually...only to spend the best part of an hour looking for my hostel. The directions on the website had been very vague, but to fair it has to be said that a large part of the problem was my own lack of observational skills, since I walked right past the hostel at least three times before finding it, and even looked straight through the window (I saw people sitting at tables and assumed it was a café).

Once I was finally all sorted with the hostel, I headed out into the city to explore. Girona is a very nice city to wander around, with lots of interesting architecture and a generally pleasant atmosphere. The cathedral is particularly impressive (with what is supposedly one of the largest naves in the world), as is the Benedictine church of Sant Pere de Galligants, a fine Romanesque structure that now houses the archaeological museum.

The weekend I was in Girona was the start of "Les Fires de Girona", a week-long festival for the patron saint of the city, Saint Narcissus. It started with a short sermon given from the balcony of the town hall, which was followed by a fairly strange performance by two men on a trampoline set to the tune of "Daddy Cool" by Boney M. I can't say I really understood the point of it all, but it was quite entertaining anyway!

The next day, after a night of sleep that was disturbed several times by rowdy French schoolchildren who were staying in the hostel, I continued exploring the city. I also met up with a friend for a tour of the city and some lunch, which was good. In the evening I headed out to see more of the festivities. My first stop was at a small plaza to see two groups of "castellers". "Castell" is the Catalan for "castle", and the peformances involved the construction of a human tower that looked something like this. The outer ring of people then climbed down layer by layer, leaving a central pillar with each person standing on the shoulders of the person beneath them. It's really quite impressive, and I will try and upload one of the videos I took of them soon.

After this I headed to the Parc de la Devesa, which is the largest park in the city. For the festival it had been converted into a large carnival ground, with a great range of stalls offering all sorts of food/drink and games and also plenty of rides and other attractions. There were loads of people and a great atmosphere, and if I had been able to it would have been nice to be able to stay for the whole week and enjoy all of the various activities and entertainment on offer.



On the night I was at the park there happened to be a free concert by a group called "Els Pets", who are very well known in Catalonia. Their name translates as "The Farts". In a way the name is quite fitting for one of the most successful Catalan bands, since the Catalans have some fairly interesting cultural quirks based around a similar sort of thing...but I will go into that nearer to Christmas time! The concert was good fun, and by the time it was finished it was well past midnight. It was early by Spanish standards, but since I needed to catch a train at 8.30am the next morning I headed back to the hostel to get some sleep. Alas, the hostel was inhabited by more noisy people, but I guess that's what you get when you pay for a cheap bed in a hostel dorm (only €15 a night, with breakfast included)!

Girona was well worth a visit. In fact, I would have to say that it is my favourite place in Catalunya after Barcelona. Having said that, there are still plenty of places in Catalunya for me to visit, so who knows? It will be pretty hard to beat, however.

American / English?

Although there are language assistants in Spain that have come from places such as America and Australia, UK English is the version of the language that is taught in Spanish schools. Of course, from my point of view that is a good thing as I don't have to worry about inadvertently teaching my students something that might be deemed "incorrect" by an exam board.

However, despite UK English being used as the standard in schools, there are occasional signs of US English creeping in. This is probably inevitable given the global importance of America and its unparalleled ability to project itself culturally across the world, but it is nonetheless irksome.

The two most obvious "Americanisms" that keep cropping up are the use of the term "high school" and the pronunciation of the word "tomato".

Partly, of course, this is down to the teachers. Indeed, I've heard some of the English teachers here saying both of these things. But it is also partly down to the widespread presence of American cultural products. The use of "high school" instead of "secondary school" (despite the Catalan equivalent - "escola d'educació secundària" - being closer to the UK English term) is quite probably reinforced by the great popularity here of the "High School Musical" films. As students are naturally more likely to be influenced by their favourite films, books, music, etc than by me telling them something in a classroom, I suspect that it would be very hard to get them to use the term "secondary school" instead. And if this is what their teachers are telling them as well, it is probably best not to give them a different version and cause confusion. So I think I will largely let that one pass.

With the pronunciation of "tomato", however, I am determined to have my way and encourage students to use the common British pronunciation of "tom-ah-toe" instead of "tom-ay-toe". Today I ended up standing at the front of one of my classes and getting students to repeat it until I was satisfied. ("It's pronounced 'tom-ah-toe'. 'Tom-aaaah-toe'.") They probably thought I was quite strange.

These things are not "mistakes" as such. And even within the UK there are variations, making the concept of encouraging a "correct" version of something a bit dubious. So perhaps I shouldn't be doing so at all. On the other hand, since the syllabus is in UK English I feel I have some justification for correcting Americanisms!

What I found more surprising was the apparent blurring of the distinction between British and American culture. More than once in my classes I've heard both Madonna and Hannah Montana described as being English. They are, of course, both American.

Given that American culture is dominant globally, it struck me as a bit odd that some students are assuming that American cultural icons are British rather than the other way around. Perhaps it is something to do with the geographical proximity of Britain? I honestly couldn't say.

Education in Catalonia

When I was still in the UK I asked my tutor at the school here in Catalonia whether there was a dress code for teachers. I was aware that school children in Spain don't wear any uniform, but I thought that perhaps staff were expected to dress a bit more formally.

When my tutor, Alba, replied to my email she told me that I could "dress the way you like as long as you are dressed!".

I'm mentioning this because the first thing I noticed when I arrived at the school on the first day was has informally dressed everyone was. I was half-expecting it, but still opted for a smart shirt and smart brown shoes to avoid dressing too casually. I really needn't have bothered. It's quite common for teachers to be walking around in jeans, t-shirts and trainers, just like the students.

That's just the most immediately apparent of the ways in which the atmosphere in schools here is a lot more informal than that in their British counterparts. Students don't call teachers "Sir", but use first names instead (whereas I was calling teachers "Sir" or "Miss" until the start of Sixth Form).

I'm not generally a big fan of overly formal situations, so I'm finding the more relaxed and informal way of doing things very positive. It's especially interesting in the light of Michael Gove, Tory education spokesperson in the UK, opening his speech at the recent Conservative party conference with a discussion of the need for more discipline in the classroom and the importance of a smart school uniform. From what I've seen here the lack of such formality does not seem to have any clearly adverse effect on teaching, although perhaps the schoolchildren here are a bit rowdier and it can take a long time to get them settled down. On the other hand I have no doubt that it is the same (if not worse) in some British schools.

There are, of course, plenty of other differences. The first class starts at 8.30am (groan) and the last finishes at 5.30pm, making for a much longer school day. However, on Friday school finishes early. Students doing the Batxillerat (equivalent of AS/A-levels) study a minimum of eight subjects, as opposed to the three or four that a British college student will usually do.

A distinct feature of Catalan (as opposed to Spanish) education is, of course the use of Catalan. Castilian is taught in Catalan schools as a second language, and nearly all of the classes and administration are conducted in Catalan. In fact, there was recently a story in the news here over the ongoing controversy over whether Catalan schools should have to provide two hours of tuition per week in Castilian or whether this should be increased to three hours, as the central government in Madrid has been trying to impose. Given that Castilian is the main language of the country, it is striking that the amount of time being talked about is so small.

From what I've seen I have to say I like the education system here. I'm happy not to have to dress up smartly to go to work, and the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed.

And of course there is the wine at lunch time...

All Things Must Come to an End...

After three weeks of almost uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of around 25 degrees every day, it was all brought to an abrupt end today.

This morning it was very cold and overcast, and by the afternoon it was absolutely pouring it down with rain.

A few students and teachers felt the need to point out that it was like English weather and that I should be used to it. I guess they have a point. In a way it made me feel more at home!

My First Days in Catalonia

I’ve already been out here for nearly three weeks now (three weeks tomorrow, in fact), and I’ve done too much to fit into one post without it being incredibly long and very boring. But it’s probably worth describing my first few days here.

On my fist day (29th September) I arrived in Barcelona airport and was picked up by the wife and oldest son of the headmaster of the school where I am working, and whose house I am currently living in. The trip to Artés is only about an hour by car, although in public transport it takes over two hours. I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but the family I am staying with are very welcoming so there was no trouble on that front. The only problem was that we didn’t eat dinner until 9pm (a lot of Spaniards eat even later than this), and since I had had an early lunch before leaving the UK I was extremely hungry by this point!

My second day was spent in Barcelona, attending an induction day organised by the Catalan Departament d’Educació. I had to get up at some silly hour in the morning to meet up with my tutor, Alba, in the city of Manresa and then get to Barcelona for a 9am start. All of this would have been bearable were it not for the fact that, apart from the presentation at the end of the day on administrative issues, the series of presentations that followed were on the whole tediously dull and did little more than repeat information that we have been given already.

The next day was the one that I was a bit nervous about – my first day of work at I.E.S. Castell del Quer. As the headmaster had to go in early, I was picked up by one of the other teachers in the morning. Upon arriving I was given a guided tour of the school and introduced to lots of people before doing my first two hours of lessons. It was immediately clear that schools here are quite different from those in the UK, but I’ll go into that another time.

My first week in the school was fairly easy, since all of my classes were done with another teacher and I was just doing a presentation before answering questions from students and getting them to talk about themselves. At lunch on the first day I went with a group of teachers to a restaurant called Restaurant Cal Quico, where I admit I was a little surprised by the teachers drinking wine before afternoon classes.

“We need wine to get through the afternoon!” one of the teachers said when I mentioned it. I’m not entirely sure he was joking. Either way, I decided that it was a great idea and helped myself to a glass.

So, the first few days in Catalonia were very enjoyable, and after them I have to say I felt a lot more positive about the forthcoming year. Things are still going well, and with any luck they will continue to do so!

First Post

Hello, and welcome to my blog about my year in Catalonia!

Before I left the UK several people suggested that I write a blog to keep people updated about what I'm doing on my year abroad. After having to describe what I've been doing so far to quite a few different people, I decided that it was actually a very good idea. So here it is.

For anyone who isn't exactly sure what I'm doing out here, then I am working as an English-language assistant at a secondary school (I.E.S. Castell del Quer) in a small Catalan town called Prats de Lluçanès . For twelve hours a week I do speaking classes with groups of students, and I have the rest of the week free to travel around the country and immerse myself in local culture (or something like that).

I'm doing this as part of my degree (History and Modern European Languages), with the aim of improving my language skills when I'm not in the classroom teaching English. The only problem with this is that the language component of my degree primarily consists of Spanish. Naturally this means that the main goal of my year here should be to consolidate and build upon my Spanish skills.

This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that I've come to rural Catalonia, where the spoken language is, of course, Catalan. In the area where I work and live, Castilian Spanish is spoken infrequently, and some people are loath to use it at all. Fortunately, however, I studied Catalan for a year before coming here and am picking it up quickly.

Catalonia has a very strong sense of cultural identity, largely centred around the Catalan language, and many Catalans are in favour of becoming independent from Spain. I decided that it made much more sense to call this a "Catalan" rather than a "Spanish" blog in recognition of this acute sense of being different from the rest of the country. After spending all your time around people who think like this it is hard not to be influenced by them!

I intend to post on here fairly frequently with tales of what I've been up to, snippets about my life here in Catalonia, and also some comments about Catalan (and Spanish) culture in general.

I hope you find it interesting, and please feel free to leave comments on any of the posts!