Our X24 / Year 9 GCSE Spanish students will shortly conclude work centred on health. Beginning with learning body parts, they progressed to describing ailments and injuries, obtaining medicine, classifying healthy and unhealthy food, and describing what should and should not be done to lead a healthy lifestyle.

As they work towards meeting the demands of their GCSE Spanish course, our students’ studies also include consolidation of the preterite, present and near future tenses. Here they are, engaged in a paired speaking activity, in order to increase their confidence and oracy in their modern foreign language. Lovely to see such focus and engagement – well done X24!

X24 / Y9 GCSE Spanish Extended Study

This week’s X24/ Y9 GCSE Spanish Extended Study is centred on learning the irregular verbs “tener” (“to have”) and “estar” (“to be”), currently being used to describe ailments and injuries. Vocabulary retrieval, i.e. a test on these two verbs, will take place in session on Friday 17th January. Relevant slides will be shared with students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you.

X24/Y9 Admiral Running Text Protocol in Spanish

Today our X24/Y9 Admiral students were highly productive as they grappled with the preterite tense in Spanish. I praise their consistently very high levels of engagement, and how they work with compassion to support and help each other.

We then identified examples of past actions (described using the preterite tense) outside the classroom, following the ‘running text” protocol – assessing the accuracy of our group’s collective memory against the original text.

Beautiful Work in X23 Skipper Spanish

I really must praise the high levels of craftsmanship and quality exhibited by Callie, Michaela, Lois, Jaspreet and Chandni in their recent Spanish sessions. Callie worked exceptionally hard to prepare answers to general conversation questions on health and fitness, exceeding her MEG in the process.

Lois initiated our focused study of the Basque Country with a BBK protocol on Bilbao, frontón, Euskera and the cultural and historical significance of the tree of Guernica. Her work shows how she layered her knowledge, using three different reference sources:

Lois concluded her study with a postcard addressed to a student in X23 Admiral , written in three different tenses, highlighting a fictional visit to Bilbao. Chandni, Jaspreet and Michaela also produced great extended writing in fluent Spanish…..beautiful work indeed

These are more examples of beautiful work in X23 Skipper….

X23 Barcelona Celebration of Learning

This evening 25 of our X23 students shared their Barcelona Celebration of Learning with their parents and carers. Uniquely, this is the only such school event held entirely in Spanish, and is the result of our four day visit to Spain’s iconic second city.

For those who were unable to attend the COL, and/or who wish to view the photo storyboard again then please click on the video-clip below:

Guests were then invited to view our X23 students’ work journals, showing sketches of Gaudí’s artistic and architectural creations that were completed as we toured the Parc Guell.

A special thank you to FXP who provided refreshments and who continue to give so freely and willingly of their time to support the work of the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barcelona Day 3

The students began the final day by sitting in the sunny courtyard of our hostel and spending time on their journals. Once we had finished our sketches of the famous landmarks or beautiful buildings in Barcelona we headed out to catch a glimpse of the Olympic Park Stadium.

With rumbling stomachs we then headed into the bustling streets to find a traditional Spanish restaurant so the students could have the opportunity to taste the delights that Spain has to offer.

Following this relaxed lunch break we returned to the hostel to gather belongings before making our second visit to the beach. The students voiced how desperately they wanted to revisit the famous food market and indulge once again in the delicious snacks that were on offer. A slight detour on our walk to the beach allowed for this. Once at the beach the students enjoyed having time to be together, playing football or just simply relaxing in the sun.

As the sun began to fade it was time to return to the hostel to get packed and ready to travel home tomorrow.

It’s been a busy three days of exploring Barcelona and brilliant opportunity to spend quality time together, explore a new city, to learn about another culture and most of all to have an opportunity to practice speaking Spanish.

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Barcelona Day 2

We woke up early on Tuesday ready for a productive day in the beautiful city of Barcelona.  After a big breakfast we headed off on the metro to meet our tour guide Theo.  During our walking tour of the city centre, Theo showed us a range of beautiful buildings and explained the ideas, history and thinking behind the architecture of Antoni Gaudí and others. We learned that St George is a significant figure in Barcelona and features heavily in the decoration and extravagant carvings adorning many of the buildings in the centre.  The tour came to a close at the awe inspiring Sagrada Família.

After grabbing some lunch and quenching our thirst our travel manager Sunni organised for us to continue our work on Gaudí by visiting his house and the magnificent Park Güell.  This allowed the students to take some quiet time to reflect and draw their surroundings in their journals.

Following this we made our way back down hundreds of steps, several hills and metro stops before finally reaching the beach and getting our first close up view of the Mediterranean.  Here we were able to enjoy some quality time together, eating ice creams, playing football, building sand castles and in the case of Ethan, being buried in sand.

After an eventful day it was time to dust the sand off our feet and head back to hostel to shower off the suncream and get some well earned rest. 

Day one – Year 9 Spanish Trip
An early start for Year 9 students, many hours travelling and passing through many checkpoints to get here, however I am pleased to say we all arrived safely in Barcelona. The way the students conducted themselves through what could of been a very stressful process was highly commendable and appreciated by all staff. Although very tired, the sun was shining and we were ready for the day.
Once we arrived we checked our bags in at the hostel and headed straight out to see all that Barcelona has to offer. First up we headed to a local shopping centre where the students were allowed to shop, explore and most importantly grab some food to fuel them for the day. Then to the Estadio Nou Camp (Barcelona Football Studium) for a tour around the stadium.
Following this, our tour guide Sunny took us to the bustling street of Las Ramblas and to the world famous food market La Boqueria. The students throughly enjoyed tasting the many Spanish delicacies that the market had to offer.
With tired eyes and tired feet we headed back to the hostel to enjoy a meal together and get some rest before another action packed day tomorrow.

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X23 Fieldwork for 9.4 Bioshock

X23 have begun their series of fieldwork research visits to areas in the Doncaster area to evaluate biodiversity. X23 are currently working on expedition 9.4 Bioshock and have the guiding questions: ‘Has biodiversity in Doncaster changed for the better or the worse?’ and ‘What are nature’s rights?’

 

We’ll be visiting a new site each week for the next four weeks before students will begin writing a formal report to share with the council.