spanish@owen's

Spanish Exchange 2010 Copsey's last school trip

Debbie has pestered me long enough! Here are the photos.

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Tuesday in Burgos, by Elizabeth and Sriya

As soon as we stepped off the coach, we were bombarded by a gust of wind. We stood shivering, waiting for everyone else to follow, and once all twenty-eight of us were on the pavement, the teachers offered those who had less layers some jumpers they had brought along. We set off at a quick pace, Mr Copsey and Mr Meekin at the front and Mrs Anderson at the back. Once we got to the cathedral we were dispatched for an hour's free time (most of which was spent sprinting between the warmer shops in an effort to keep warm) and finished off the last of our money. As we speed walked back to the cathedral we noticed a few flakes of snow. We found this amusing as we are meant to be in a hot country, as it was a few days ago.

In the cathedral's locker room we sat around for about ten minutes waiting for people to turn up and speculating on whether the volcanic ash would affect our flight. Once the guide turned up we entered the cathedral. Though on the outside the cathedral was breathtakingly beautiful, the inside was better. Huge stained-glass windows shone their light on marble statues and paintings and our guide described the ancient history of the artifacts with knowledge and enthusiasm, including vigorous hand movements in her descriptions. We trooped around the cathedral, gaping at the incredible handiwork displayed. There were several chapels gifted by various benefactors and a clock nicknamed the 'flycatcher'. We just missed the hands strike the hour, which was annoying as we had been informed that the mouth on the stone man holding the clock would open.

Once we had done that we were presented with another couple of hours free time, much to our delight, which we spent visiting cafés to eat in and a few shops, though we had no money left to spend. We all met up at three and discovered that there were only twenty-seven of us. After a few minutes panic we found the missing person who had been taking a phone call. A group of us, who the previous day had collected money together in secret, called the teachers over to present them the gifts bought with the donated money. They opened their presents with much applause and were delighted with the chocolates they found there.

Overall our trip so far has been a very good experience. We have seen a lot of varied sights, most of which were more beautiful than we could ever have imagined. We are definitely going to stay in touch with our exchanges as we really enjoyed the trip.

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Segovia, by Annabelle

Firstly, we set off on the hour-and-a-half long journey from Valladolid. It was fun as we were all with our friends, and we watched DVDs (courtesy of Saskia). When we arrived, we went straight down to the main square and got some hot chocolate that Mr. Copsey bought us. After we were all warmed up we went to the castle, the 'Alcazar'. Here, we looked around the immense detail and beauty of the castle. It was ornately decorated with gold and other metals. Then, we went over and over to the gift shop and I got presents for my family. Next, we were allowed 2 hours free time to go around the shops and hang out. There were a range of tourist shops, all selling pretty much the same thing, and quite a few cafés. Me and my friend Amaarah went into a café and got some chips and some of us had a 'battle' in the square with fake swords you could buy at the castle gift shop. It was all good fun, and we have many photos taken by the expert photographer Mr Meekin (aka Barbara).

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Valladolid, by Ambika and Amaarah

On the first day of our week in Spain, we saw the sights of Valladolid, the large town in which we are currently situated. The weather was hot and sunny, so very different to England. We looked around Colegio San José, the school of our Spanish exchanges. We were told that students attend the school from 3-18 years. There was also an extraordinary church attached to the school.

We later set off to view the many sights Valladolid had to offer, including a museum dedicated to Christopher Columbus. We were also given 2 hours free time which many girls used for shopping, much to the boys' dismay. We were distraught to find that the shop Blanco is not in England :( :(

Throughout the rest of the week we stayed with our host families, speaking lots of Spanish. Although it was a challenge, we thoroughly enjoyed it and we believe that this experience has greatly improved our linguistic skills :) ;)

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Year 9 Spanish exchange - Saskia

On Friday we visited Salamanca, a city most famous for its university, about two hours from Valladolid. There were many different historical monuments, including the two famous cathedrals and La Casa de las Conchas i.e. the House of Shells. There was even a famous modern aspect: from one of the balconies the film Vantage Point was shot - the bit where he swings from it, not the whole film!!

The best bit, however, was the tourist shops. You can buy many different presents for family or souvenirs of Spain and Salamanca. However, most of the shops were all the same!! It was very cheap, and conversing with the shop owners increased important Spanish skills i.e. How much is this?, or Can I buy this please?

All in all, a fun day!

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Year 9 Spanish exchange to Valladolid - George

¡Hola!

Our day started with a coach journey to Luton, and I was very excited because I hadn't travelled abroad for a long time (since I was three years old). As we arrived at Madrid airport and entered the beautiful country of Spain, the heat struck me. It was 29ºC, one of the hottest I'd every experienced. After a 2 hour journey on another coach to Valladolid, we saw all of our exchanges waiting in excitement, and us too.

As we were all very tired, we all went to our houses and experienced the real Spain in detail. Many people live in large flats, so we all enjoyed the flats (swimming pools for some!). Valladolid is a beautiful place. It has many buildings and restaurants, like an exotic London. As I enjoyed the life in Spain more, I started to realise what a beautiful language Spanish was. I love to use the knowledge I have of Spanish, e.g. buying food and drink, asking if I can have a shower, and speaking with the family in general. Along the way I learned much more vocabulary and I understood the sentence structure of Spanish more.

I love the freedom of Spain. Whether that meant being able to go out or just speaking with Spanish people. I think living the Spanish life and speaking the language will definitely help me in the classroom. I'm getting better at conjugating verbs and remembering verb endings, something that was very hard for me at first but that now comes more naturally.

I absolutely love Spain. The culture, the music, the language, the people, the beautiful scenery, and just Spain! I hope and wish that everybody who reads this will visit Spain.

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Year 9 Goanimations

Year 9 students have finished their work on asking people out, agreeing, and giving excuses by using the dialogue to create animations. Take a look and feel free to leave a comment.

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