Spanish School System

I finally had my first official day as a language assistant today! Although Erin and I were supposed to start at the school yesterday, Carmen was too busy to worry about getting us settled in yesterday, so we didn’t have to go in at all. Then today all we really did was figure out our schedules and go to one English class with Carmen. My schedule is actually pretty good, as I have Mondays off and then work Tuesday-Friday. However, it is almost like working full-time, since you have hour-long breaks in between classes. It turns out that I will have to be at school almost all day Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, even though I only have 3-4 hours of class each day. Wednesdays are good though, because I only have 1 hour of class. The majority of my classes (9/12 hours) are actually just conversation classes with the teachers in order to help them improve their English, but I think it will be really interesting.

In Spain the school system is a bit different than at home, although there are some similarities as well. Starting at the age of 6, all children in Spain are required to complete 6 years at a Colegio (elementary school), followed by 4 years at an Instituto (high school). When they are 16, they receive a Secondary Education Certificate. After this, continuing further with their studies is completely optional. If they decide they want to attend University, they must complete the 2-year Bachillerato program, also taught in the Institutos, and then pass an entrance exam (Pruebas de Accesos a la Universidad). They can also choose to take vocational studies (Formación Profesional). One thing that confused me at first was that their high school years are referred to by their initials (ESO – Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) and a numeric designation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th).

So the class that I assisted in today was 1ª ESO, or grade 7. Basically all I did was talk to a group of 5 boys in English, asking specific questions that Carmen had provided, which made it really easy, but also kind of boring.