October 23, 2015
A Summer in Southern Spain: Unlocking Opportunity with Bilingualism
Imagine that your future depends on learning one specific foreign language, and, without this foreign language, numerous opportunities automatically close to you. This is the challenge confronting many young people in Spain: in the face of compulsory English classes, monolingualism is simply no longer an option. As an intern with the Academia Manhattan, an English-language school in Villanueva de Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain), I worked with Spanish students of all ages and abilities: from singing Disney songs with my class of four-year-olds to debating the advertisements produced by the Spanish media with my advanced speakers, my summer involved preparing students to succeed with English, all while making the language fun and relatable. Through teaching classes, sourcing material for daily lessons, and practicing with students for the Trinity College (London) Integrated Skills in English exam, I learned to teach within the framework of the Spanish educational system while also learning the nuances of a small local business.
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