School in Spain

The Kid has been in school now for about three weeks and so he's into his routine. I thought I would share what it's been like because I know some of you have been curious/concerned about it. It's been an interesting experience and not at all what we'd expected or been led to believe would happen.

I'll begin with the review of what was going on before. The Kid, whose birthday (through no fault of his own) is a mere two days before Christmas (that's right, he is a Festivus Baby) should be in 6th grade in back at home. Had he been born in April when he was due this would be a moot point, but he was not, so it became an issue here. Apparently the age cut off here is December 31. This put him, not in 6th as it would have at home, but in 7th. In other words, instead of finishing primaria here, he would be starting the first year of secundaria.

The educational system of Spain works like this: you go to a prek-k thing. Then 1-6 is primary school. Then 7-10 is secondary school (with many students finishing at age 16). Then some go on to do their IB equivalent in 11 and 12 (also at the secondary school).

We were concerned because not only was The Kid going to be going to school suddenly in Spanish immersion (a language he speaks fairly well, but doesn't really read and write in) but he'd be skipping a grade of school in and would then be going into a high school on top of it. That seemed like a lot to do shortly upon moving to a brand new country.

And as it turned out, the school was a bilingual French and Spanish school. But the students were just starting French so he should be fine, right?

And so it began. Or it tried to. Out of the first three days, 7 periods had no teacher in them. The kids just sat there chatting unless a "guardia" (literally a guard) showed up to watch them. It turns out they had some staffing difficulties. But still there was a lot to look forward to. The school had just gotten a huge grant and had all new Promethean Boards (like SmartBoards) in every classroom, the kids were taking 3 hours of technology a week, Art, French, the geography text for social studies looked incredible (despite the European belief that North and South America are a single continent). This could be a good year. At least he would not be behind.

We'd feared what everyone had told us about how in math, Europeans were so far ahead of the US. Perhaps The Kid would need tutoring to catch up in math. But as we perused the math textbook, it became clear that he would learn absolutely nothing new in math until, maybe April or May. Basically the math he was doing here in 7th was what he did in an advanced 5th grade class last year. So, not a problem.

It became clear very quickly that asking questions and thinking about what you were learning about, much less challenging the teacher's opinions with your own, were no-nos. The students are expected to sit silently, listen to the teachers talk and write notes. Then they come home are read and answer questions. What they will do with the Promethean Boards, I have no idea.

And so we come to the "technology class." It seemed quite strange to me that The Kid had been in a technology class 3 times a week for a few weeks and never touched a computer. He explained to me that they were learning the difference between technology and technique. The Spanish love nothing more than tuna except maybe the process by which something happens, so this kind of made sense to me. He explained that before you could use any technology you had to know how to approach a problem (Ahhhh, how Spanish! I thought). And then I left it alone.

Then on Thursday, Ricardo had a lunch out with a friend and I took The Kid out for pizza (amazing!!! fresh fig, jamón iberico, and goat cheese). He asked if I could help him with some flash cards for his technology vocabulary. I've been doing this for him. I use PowerPoint to make animated, illustrated flashcards with a picture, the Spanish term and then the French term so that he can learn the words and their spelling (because he spells like Guaman Poma apparently). Sure, no problem.

Hey, I asked, when will you guys get to use computers? Well, he didn't know. But they might get to use hammers by December.

Hammers?! Huh???????

Well, it's a technology class, he explained.

Yeah, right. Like technology.

No he says, not like what we mean at home. like building stuff.

So......... shop class?

What's shop class? he asks

Like when you make birdhouses and mailboxes and stuff.

Like woodworking at Spectrum camp?

Yeah like that.

Yeah, that's technology here.

So, my son is spending 3 hours a week in a shop class. In a school with state of the art technology. Where the teacher just got a white board and apparently freaked out because she prefers chalk.

Yeah. School in Spain.