A LEVEL SPANISH IMMERSION RESIDENTIAL 2012

"Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know it just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers" - Richard Bach

When I started to think about this blogpost, this quote jumped off the (virtual) page at me. The main aim of our 2 day residential is really to inspire our A level Spanish pupils by showing them how much they already know as well as letting them see how they can work round it if they can't think of the word.

As usual, we did a vast number of different activities this year with our group of 25 students. As well as the 3 Spanish teachers, there was our Spanish assistant from last year, Vicent, as well as two past pupils, Rachel and Jonny. We led 45 minute workshops with groups of 8 pupils. Mine featured some thinking skills activities on Eva Perón, thanks to the wonderful John Connor, as well as using the Spanish Talking Photos I found on the MFL Twitterati Spanish Dropbox and a series of plenary topic cards.

Para hablar

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As well as the workshops, we had a series of activities aimed at encouraging the pupils to speak.We had a treasure hunt and teambuilding activities as well as watching a Spanish DVD.
This year's survival activity was to choose the top 5 items if your plane crashed in Canada.

2012 SUPERVIVENCIA

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We awarded spot prizes for the text speak activity:

Txt spk

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By far the highlight of the immersion each year, this year's Dragon's Den style activity was to produce a toy using the resources provided:

2012 inventor español

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This is the group who made a theatre

This group made a rocket

This group pitched an idea for a safari jeep

The winning group went for a car. We felt that their pitch included the most Spanish and that was what pushed the final decision

Other activities that we had planned but didn't have time for included a team building activity

Grupos atados

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as well as a language activity

Mentiroso

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I cannot stress enough the amount of enjoyment I personally get from our immersion residential. The sense of pride in seeing pupils blossom, the realisation that some are struggling and need a little more attention in class from now til study leave, the joy at seeing the change from Lower to Upper 6, no matter what the level, the sheer energy that 25 pupils gathered for a common purpose can bring to a group, and the love of a language that we share. If you are thinking about doing something similar, don't think - do it!