French & Spanish trips to Paris & Salamanca/Madrid 2023

20 July 2023

Each year, our Modern Foreign Languages students taking A Levels in French or Spanish visit the corresponding native countries to enjoy the language, the sights and the culture. Along with mastering fluency of the given language, understanding the culture of France and Spain and how the language is influenced and built upon the people of those countries is a crucial part of the courses. Often, students will stay with local families to immerse themselves in conversing in the native tongue and learning about day-today life.

Head of Modern Foreign Languages at the College, Viviane Ouvradou, explained about the trip to Spain:

All of the students loved it and came back really happy about their experience. We travelled to Madrid and spent a day in the capital visiting the town centre and the Reina Sofía museum with a Spanish Guide (we saw the Guernica painting by Picasso, some Dalí) before taking a private bus to Salamanca in the evening and being welcomed by host families organised by Intilanguages. Students attended classes in the mornings in two private groups and they loved learning more about the culture and language with their local tutors. The lessons were conducted entirely in Spanish.

Students returned home at lunchtime to converse with their host family in the evening. In the afternoon, we took part in a number of exciting activities which enabled the students to explore the town centre of Salamanca further and have fun: a tour of the town centre, going up the Cathedral towers, visiting the local museum on the Civil War and taking part in an Escape Room game and a Flamenco danse class, trying some evening tapas and singing an (English or) Spanish song on karaoke night.

On the last day, we stopped in Avila, famous for its fortifications, and visited the Prado museum in Madrid, where the guide gave us some insights into ‘Saturno devorando a su hijo’ by Goya and ‘Las Meninas’ by Velazquez, all in Spanish. Students did very well in developing their speaking skills by interacting with the local guides, tutors, families as well as their class teachers.