The one with the Conference in Villafranca de los Barros

Yesterday we had sort of a special occasion.  One of the schools in the area holds an annual get-together of many of the local schools with English or Bilingual Section programs.  The schools involved create a presentation of some sort for their students to give, and there are games and activities for the students who come from all the groups.  In all, there were 21 schools present, a mix of public and private, secondary and primary.  It was interesting to see what the different schools came up with.  Many of them gave virtual tours of their schools and explained how their school had developed their Bilingual section.  My school had enough studetns in our Bilingual program that we only brought our first years.  Not counting the students who didn't come (the flu is passing through our school, so 8 were out), we had 48 of them, coming from three classes.

My students had been practicing a presentation for a while.  Here, the parents of students leaving primary school get to choose what secondary school their children attend.  To some extent it creates some competition.  The schools give presentations and tours, etc., trying to entice the students to come.  Our first years this year go to the primary schools to give the presentation.  It conveniently is useful for the conference.

When we arrived in Villafranca, we all got some churros and chocolate, which was awesome :)  I love it when they feed me.  I always think it is kind of funny when my kids get the chance to speak with me outside of normal school contexts because I can tell they never know what language to use and how much I am going to understand.  Oftentimes, this means they avoid talking to me, but I don't take it too personally.  After mingling for a while, Chus, the students doing the presentation, and I headed to the auditorium to watch the other presentations and wait for our turn.  It ended up taking all morning, but our kids did a good job.  Afterwards, Chus and I walked around the school, checking things out and grabbed a bocadillo from the cafeteria.

My favorite part of the day came next.  We were standing outside waiting for everyone to get together to leave, when a large group of my girls came up and started talking to me, asking me questions, and having me translate things.  The things they want to know.... In Spanish, it seems that there is some "joke" popular with the kids that goes, Eres tonto o... It roughly seems equivalent to the American "You're so dumb that..." Well, they were translating them into English, "Are you silly or do you smoke glue?" When I realized that was what they were saying, I told them that we don't smoke glue, we SNIFF it.  They thought it was the funniest thing known to mankind, and I can't believe that is what I have taught my kids.  I guess if they are going to talk about it in English it might as well be using the right words, right? Then on the bus one of my girls tried to tell me jokes in English.  I appreciated her effort, and she actually did a pretty good job.  Yay for the occasional bright, motivated student!!