Free day

Saturday, 25^th   February 2017

Free time for individual research. We went to Oxford. I loved it, It is  Harry Potter city. I felt to have been in this place in other times...

Balcarras School

Friday  February the 24th

Today we have visited Balcarras School.:

- Welcome at  8 :45  by Neil Baxter,  Deputy Headteacher. While drinking coffee,  he has given us our Programme for the day, and some details of the School .  

-  9 :00 am:  two students accompanied us for a tour of the school and then we returned to the reception. We could take some photos to the building and classrooms. 

- 9.55-10.50 am:  teachers of Maths were collected by the staff to take lessons of Maths KS3-KS5, 18- year -old students. No more than 15 per class. Mechanics lesson, about "particles".

At 10.55 Coffee in staffroom

At 11.10-12.10 We had another lesson , but  this time the subsidiary subject was Physics. Students were studying Stars (Asronomy).

At 12.10 -1.10 We had a meeting with Burke, Headteacher. We discusssed about  English Education system and how Balcarras operates: House system

Each child who joins Balcarras is placed in a House.  The four Houses are Foley, Graveney, Ottewell and Selvey. Nowadays there are 250 children in each one, except in the last one, with 400 students, that they are in the 6^th form.  Children with older brothers and/or sisters already at Balcarras normally join the same House. Year 7 tutor groups are taught together with the exception of mathematics and are gradually introduced to Balcarras.

Although each house has its own “personality” certain principles apply to all. It is hoped that each House provides pupils with an education of the highest quality so that they leave Balcarras with the qualifications, skills and personal qualities they need to lead a successful life.

Balcarras: “From strength to strength”

Students in this School are from  11 to 18 years old. It is a coeducational and comprehensive centre. It is known as an Academy School: 11-14  Key Stage 3; 14-16: GCSE; 16-18: A-level.   Staff: 81 teachers and 24 teaching assistants.

The ETHOS: Attendance, Behaviour, Classroom, Enjoyment, Extracurricular and Environment.

At 1.10 : Lunch and reflection with Head of Business/Economics, Head of Mathematics and Head of Science and several teachers from the staff.

We departed at 14:00 am 

Free day

Thursday, 23^rd   February 2017

Free time for individual research.

Today we took a train  and visited Bath and Bristol. We discovered two very nice Catholic Cathedrals and a Protestant Church (in which we have drunk a tea and eaten lunch during a « speech »).

We walked a lot and saw the Jane Austen Museum, the Fashion Museum and the Roman Terms.

It was a long day for our legs and feet.

Dean Close Independent School

Wednesday  22^nd February  2017

Today: Observation of lessons in chosen subjects and meetigns with Heads of Departments. We went to DEAN CLOSE School. It’s an independence school (that means private in France/Spain)……In the morning, they have welcomed us in a tea-room and each of us went to several Maths lesson. The pupils were been prepared for the London Examinations IGCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

We interacted with students while they were solving exercises related to the application of displacement, velocity and acceleration.

We helped some of them and chated with the teacher who was very friendly.

After that, a teacher accompanied us to a Spanish language lesson or French language lesson, where we could see that the methodology used for teaching languages in England is similar than the ones in our countries. 

Damian O'Donovan

Tuesday,   21 February 2017

English Language Training with Damian O’Donovan (a really Irish name).

The day was really enjoyable while learning with the teacher. Here you are some notes to take into account:

Time flies    To freshen up    incognito     So far so good      accent   minimal pairs: pronunciation      British or American: have you got or do you have     acronym: posh         in/ at     questions     open mouth and laugh       phonetic    shoe size     what /where/ who/ why/ when    

 a spire   a  steeple   a dome  tongue twisters

encourage students asking questions      remember    after lunch      to write a report: the situation   what was the weather like there?   Which   
un exams/ lessons    monuments    how many money did you pay for it?     The landscape had an impressive aspect for the mountains                         AFTER BREAK : FEEDBACK                          so/ such a   

After he left (the : day) school(period) he went to (the: particular) sea ( general)      get on/off the train    plurals: people and children    some information               
  He stole my thunder  by the sea(area)   on the sea/cost(very close)   do some sports/didn´t any sports    pick off/through/up/over    I will pick you up at 5pm      

I picked over the remains of the Christmas turkey  pick off: to kill/ to shoot    
I picked  through my papers (look for, examine, search)   
 Bottom up/top down (political social theory)     to top up  to tip down   bottoms up  into/ onto      ale    trip(short, business)/journey(longway)/tour(visit specific places, museums)    pneumatic drill   

                   fortnight: fourteen nights-15days

     
      I have to practice it to improve my English

Now I am really conscious of the great importance of pronunciation.  

After the lesson, we went for a walk to the centre town of Cheltenham. 

Chosen Hill School

Monday, 20^th   February 2017

After having breakfast with my partner Sandrine, Stuart brought us to his School where we met Neil, the organiser, who picked us up and accompanied to Chosen Hill Secondary School “. We stayed there from 9:00 am to 15:00 pm, in different lessons of Algebra, Geometry and Statistics. There, we met many teachers who teach Maths.

I could see that the way of teaching Maths in English is not so different from teaching it in Spanish, though there are some variations in the curricula because of the education system.
I observed Maths classes all day (5 courses) it was very interesting to see the different ways of teaching.
The students were  from 11 to 16 years old and were in the year  from 7 to 11 (level). At  school there are 4 or 5 steps in a level for the students who have difficulties when learning the knowledge  in Maths, and in English. There are about 18 to 26 students in each class, and in several of them there are an assistant teacher who sits down next to those students who have special needs.  Students have got a workbook and a text book that they can take home or not (they can leave it in the Maths classroom). What I liked the best is that they have Subject Classrooms. 

After finishing our day visit, at 3:00 pm, we went to Gloucester by bus in 15minutes.  We discovered the Cathedral where the movie Harry Potter was shot, it’s an Anglican church.   It’s very nice, I loved it.

To know something about Anglicanism  visit the link 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicanism

Arrive Chelthenham

Sunday, 19^th February 2017

Today it has been a long day travelling. I got up at 5:30 am and departed from Madrid at 9:30am. The plane landed at 12:00 am, then I took two buses from the London Heathrow to Cheltenham.  Stuart picked me up at the station in the centre of the city.   I arrived at my new host family home at 04:00pm.

My hosts are Stuart and Yen who are very friendly. They have a son, Lee, who is nearly 1 year old.
Yen is a Vietnamese woman, she has cooked a Vietnamese dish for us.
Stuart is a Geography teacher. We are three Maths teachers in the same house, Sandrine from France, Laura from Italy and me, Belén from Spain.

CHELTENHAM, England

Population: 108,000; 98 miles (157 kilometres) west of London (2 hours by rail, 2½ hours by coach).Cheltenham is an elegant spa town, situated on the edge of the Cotswold Hills with their picturesque stone villages .Cheltenham is known for its Regency architecture, wide tree-lined streets, parks and gardens. It has many attractive residential areas and an excellent shopping centre. It is famous for its many festivals including literature, science, music and horse racing.