English & The Spanish School System

The Simpsons would qualify as a large famliy

Since I've been teaching English to her kids, I've been asking Magui a few questions about the school system and how it all works. I wrote about it a bit previously but now that I've learned a bit more and discussed it with some people, it deserves an entry all its own.

First, a quick re-cap of the point system: This determines which school your son or daughter can go to.  You get points for - proximity to the school, having a sibling who's already/currently attending, and for having a large family. The more points you have, the higher up you are in the lottery/selection for that school. My family has 3 points so they always get their first option, while Jamie - Alvaro's friend - only has 1 point (proximity to the school) so he goes to a different school despite living near to this one.

You reach "large family status" when you have 3 kids, and actually get a special card (similar to a passport) that officially shows that you are a large family. It includes a family portrait, and information of your residence too. Having this status gets my famliy discounted prices for things, or better admission rates for the adults. It also gets them some tax breaks and other things like that, which, in the end don't end up being that financially beneficial, but help a bit along the way. I found this very interesting.

Also, through some brief Google searching, this seems to be an EU wide thing. Here's one site I found that seems to have decent information ELFAC Google Site

This document is a brief overview of the cause Child's Rights PDF

And here is the official .org site that leads you to another part of the Google Site elfac.org

English taught from the beginning of a student's education for 1 hour a day, but the classes are very poor. Many parents elect to put their kids into private tutoring for an additional hour a day, but this doesn't seem to be that effective as Alvaro told his mom he learned more about English from me in 1 week than he did from a whole year of his private tutoring.

He will be going to a new school in the fall that is bilingual: Half Spanish, Half English. The school the Mercedes goes to has 'sessions' so some things are taught in English, while the rest is in Spanish. Alvaro's previous school only had the 1hr English class, with everything in Spanish, so his sister has the advantage in my classes as she's more exposed to the language already.

From what I gather, there are about 4 different levels of English incorporation during a child's schooling years. Depending on their scores, as well as proximity to the school and (if its private) ability to pay, some students get much better English training than others. Both of my parents spent a few years living in London, and that is where they learned their English. My host dad said he really started to learn English when he was 18. Hopefully this new school will help Alvaro advance his English so he can learn it much earlier than his parents did. 

Its interesting, because the school system clearly understands the importance of English, as they start it right along with formalized education (even if it isn't done that well). While we don't introduce the option of a second language until the 6th grade/middle school, their need to learn English (or any other language for that matter) is much more pressing than ours. Living in Europe makes the knowledge of a second language that much more important, because you are much more likely to come across a situation where you can use it. If you go a few hundred miles in any direction, you're facing a new language. I could take a language trail from Spanish to French, to German to Polish in Europe, but in the US the most difference you'll get could be some funny phrases or an accent.

Our philosophy towards a second language is much more educational, and becoming more pressing given the US's position in the global economy, and the increasing rates of international travel. You could easily traverse all of North America with out any difficulty if you have English in hand. Of course if you are living in a highly Mexican populated area like Texas, New Mexico, or Southern California, Spanish can come in handy, but there are minimal situations in which you'll be the odd man out speaking English.

Last night at the terrace I was talking to Antonio (Magui's brother in law) about languages, and he knows 4 (Spanish, English, Catalan, Italian). This isn't out of a heightened cultural interest, or a unique language ability - it is out of necessity, and there are many more Europeans who fit this mold of being armed with multiple languages than you'll probably find anywhere else in the world.

It's great how the geography of a continent has so much to do with language education, skills, and abilities. In fact, geography can be the attributing factor to a lot of things we do. Language and communication is just one of them.