Almost 500 visiting Spanish students have taken part in KES Spanish classes as part of our partnership with London House School of English this year. The partnership offers something unique and practical for students of Spanish at KES and for the Spanish students coming to London House to improve their English skills.
Students from Years 7 – 11 enjoyed meeting and working with the Spanish students on a range of activities such as “speed-speaking”, where students ask and answer questions in Spanish for one minute before moving on to a different partner and “Guess the student” where students have to guess the identity of one of their classmates from a description read out in Spanish by one of the visiting Spanish students.
Teachers from KES have worked closely with staff at London house to create original activities which help both sets of students improve their reading, writing, speaking AND listening skills – the four skills that are assessed at GCSE. But more importantly, as Marc Maringer, social coordinator at London House explained, “Our programme helps to enhance cultural understanding, enables students to meet and engage with peers from the UK in a safe and welcoming environment and helps to break down barriers and make international connections”.
He added,
“Visiting teachers love the sessions at your school and feedback from students is always positive — they always ask for more time with your students after a session.”
The lessons are equally popular with KES students who love to try out their Spanish. One Year 7 student commented,
“I enjoy having Spanish students because it helps with all of our learning and we thoroughly enjoy it. We can text each other in Spanish or English. They are very kind and funny and I would love to have them again”.
We are thrilled to be continuing this unique partnership next academic year!