how well do the children speak Spanish.....and English?

[Hepa]

University education it seems is almost mandatory in this day and age.

Thank goodness I was born in the 1940's, when only posh people went to university and normal people worked, I hated school, one of the best days of my life was the day I left.

People here are still in full time education when they are over 20, I have to admire their resilience, but in no way whatsoever do I envy them.

Must be awful, when do they fledge and gain independence? I managed aged 16 attended the National Sea Training School in Gravesend in Kent, seven weeks later I was on board the T.S.S. Corfu, bound for Hong Kong. What a life!

[jimenato]

Originally Posted by xabiachica

do none of those who go through the state system go on to uni in Spain?

It's a good question which I can't answer right now - I'll get back to you.

[xabiachica]

Originally Posted by jimenato

It's a good question which I can't answer right now - I'll get back to you.

thanks

some from around here do go onto uni here - my elder dd will & at the moment the younger one (13) intends to

but admittedly they are a minority

[thrax]

I have been able, through teaching English to pre University students, to witness first hand the level of education Spanish kids receive at school and then into university and I am nothing but very impressed. Apart from private schools in UK someone tell me where you will find 10 yr olds being taught advance concepts such as single cell division and sexual reproduction in all forms of life? Advanced calculus at 14 and quantum physics at 13?? None of the state schools where I lived in UK would consider such things until at least 16. The maths is also at a very high level with advanced trigonometry, algebra etc being taught from 12 years of age. We live in Andalucia and having struggled with two girls going through the state school system in UK I am nothing but happy that our boy won't have to experience such dreadful teaching methods. One of my students, who is 10, is taught at a Spanish school where the majority of lessons are given in English because the school recognises the importance of a second language for their future. Poor kid!! I do my best and give remedial homework lessons as her English really isn't up to the structure and complexity of the lessons, but she will get there as she is very determined. And I will do everything I can to help.

[xabiachica]

Originally Posted by thrax

I have been able, through teaching English to pre University students, to witness first hand the level of education Spanish kids receive at school and then into university and I am nothing but very impressed. Apart from private schools in UK someone tell me where you will find 10 yr olds being taught advance concepts such as single cell division and sexual reproduction in all forms of life? Advanced calculus at 14 and quantum physics at 13?? None of the state schools where I lived in UK would consider such things until at least 16. The maths is also at a very high level with advanced trigonometry, algebra etc being taught from 12 years of age. We live in Andalucia and having struggled with two girls going through the state school system in UK I am nothing but happy that our boy won't have to experience such dreadful teaching methods. One of my students, who is 10, is taught at a Spanish school where the majority of lessons are given in English because the school recognises the importance of a second language for their future. Poor kid!! I do my best and give remedial homework lessons as her English really isn't up to the structure and complexity of the lessons, but she will get there as she is very determined. And I will do everything I can to help.

I totally agree about the level of education - I too can make a direct comparison with maths

until last year I tutored GCSE maths & also maths to English kids in the Spanish system who were struggling

an 11/12 year old in the first year of secondary here will be studying things not covered in the GCSE syllabus, & a 16 year old graduating here will have covered a lot of the A level syllabus

maths is the only subject I can compare directly - but I'd be very surprised if it was the only subject in which this is the case

[agua642]

My daughter has attended Spanish state school all her life, in Sept she will be doing Bachillerato afán in Spanish state school, it's going to be very hard work especially with all the edu cut backs! and classes with 40 pupils in !However she will be well prepped up for Spanish University which she defiantly wants to attend

Sent from my iPhone using ExpatForum

[Cazzy]

When we moved here my son was 13. I thought it highly unfair to put him in a Spanish school at that age (we live inland ,so no international schools). We asked him what he wanted to do, we would either stay in the UK until he had finished his education, or he could go to boarding school in the UK, He chose boarding school and has done very well. He has just finished a degree and walked straight into a graduate job with airbus. If he had not settled at boarding school we would have returned to the UK until his education had finished!!

I think education is very important and it is the parents duty to help provide it. I do realise that boarding school is expensive and not everyone can afford it, and yes we struggled!!

There are a few Brit kids in our village and my OH offered to teach them English (free) The parents were not interested and questioned why their children needed it in Spain!! Since then a couple of the families have returned to the UK with children that can hardly read or write English! What future do these children have?? The narrow mindedness of their parents has probably destined them to a life of poorly paid jobs, if they manage to get one at all!!

[sadlybroke]

Originally Posted by Cazzy

There are a few Brit kids in our village and my OH offered to teach them English (free) The parents were not interested and questioned why their children needed it in Spain!! Since then a couple of the families have returned to the UK with children that can hardly read or write English! What future do these children have??

I know several children up to the age of 12 who moved to the UK from countries like Slovakia or Poland, without being able to say a word in English. All of them struggle initially but after a year or two they are nearly as fluent in English as UK born kids. I suppose these British children, once they are back in the UK, should be able to pick up English reading, spelling and grammar pretty quickly.

Having said that, I do agree that their parents' attitude is wrong. Our children are in pre-school age and when we move to Spain in Spetember we want to find an English tutor for regular English lessons so that they do not loose their language skills but improve.

[mrypg9]

[QUOTE=Hepa;838887]University education it seems is almost mandatory in this day and age.

Thank goodness I was born in the 1940's, when only posh people went to university and normal people worked, I hated school, one of the best days of my life was the day I left.

QUOTE]


Well, I was born in the 1940s and went to a good university but I wasn't posh....I was the single daughter of a widowed charwoman...Apparently my chances of going to University were about one in ten thousand.
But I was lucky. I passed a 'scholarship'[ to go to a selective highly-academic school where I had a wonderful education which really opened my mind and encouraged me to want to learn more.
Part of my family was supportive, part not. My peasant grandmother thought 'all they damn books' were a waste of time and that my education had given me only 'airs and graces' - probably true.
As someone who worked for decades in education I can only agree with those who bemoan its current quality.
Imo the blame has to be placed on those academic, well-meaning but ultimately quite authoritarian people who became influential in the late 1950s and 1960s who saw education as an ideological weapon, a tool of social engineering in the dubious service of 'equality'.
Now we have equality in spadesful...the equality of low standards, meaningless curricula and poorly trained and educated teachers in all levels of education.
No wonder we are short of skilled professionals and equally skilled and valuable technicians and craftsmen.
Stoneybroke is quite right. I have experience of education in Poland and the Czech Republic and standards in basic skills of literacy and numeracy are way above those in the UK.
Schools in the UK have for too long been in the grip of the latest educational fad or theory...I've seen so many of them come and go from 'Brain Gym' to playing Mozart to aid concentration (yes, honestly, I'm not making it up).
History and geography are now subsumed in a mush called 'Humanities', music is rarely taught well and games skills often not taught at all.
At one point I was 'manager' of our school football team as no-one else wanted to take on the job. Says it all.
The real scandal is that it is students from less well-off homes with little incentive or motivation to study who need structure and discipline not only in their lives but in their schools. Those from better-off homes will always survive.

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by Cazzy

highly !! Since then a couple of the families have returned to the UK with children that can hardly read or write English! What future do these children have?? The narrow mindedness of their parents has probably destined them to a life of poorly paid jobs, if they manage to get one at all!!

They will fit in well, sadly, as many UK school leavers are barely articulate, numerate and literate.
The general standard of written English is quite dreadful, considering the money spent on education.
You only have to consider some of the posts on this Forum to see that's true.