SUMMER 2015
Once again we repeated the two previous years. I took Marc to Poole in the UK after he finished the Spanish school year and he went to his cousin's local state school.
He was put in his older cousin's class (the year above) as the school preferred him to go with his cousin and a teacher who already knew him. As this was only for 3.5 weeks it wasn't a problem and at the end of every school year the classes are more 'relaxed'.
He said he enjoyed the classes and was able to keep up. although being in a year higher made it more difficult.
When he's in Poole for the summer he often picks up phrases. This year it was 'literally', as in "we were literally there all day", or with 'actually and 'basically' all in the same sentence'. Actually he was literally beating all the other boys at football basically. The point here is that children only really pick up this language if they mix with native kids in the home country. Accent wise, he picked up less of a Dorset accent as his standard southern English accent is now very stable and assimilated.
As I've said in previous blog entries, any European citizen can send their children to a state school in the UK. The main problem is accommodation. If you can sort this out and combine it with a holiday, the experience is very worthwhile for the child, although the child must have a level that permits them to participate in the classes.
SCHOOL IN THE UK. Should you or shouldn't you?
The advantages of 3 or 4 more weeks in a UK school after Spanish school term has finished far outweigh the disadvantages. The linguistic and cultural gains are invaluable. The question is if parents are willing or able to make the 'sacrifice' to allow this to happen.
For the Irish option, due to the holidays there, you'd have to do the last week of August and the first ones in September.
Outside Saint Joseph's school in Parkstone, Poole at the end of June 2015 with his older and younger cousins.
No comments:
Post a Comment