Intercultural observations - at school

As one can imagine, the Spanish classroom and its students are similar in many ways to their American counterparts – and very different in others. While I have learned about the educational system of Spain on paper, seeing the daily lives of students and teachers firsthand adds a whole new dimension to my perspective. Simultaneously, I am able to gain insight not only from the point of view of an American, teacher, and student of Spanish, but also from the perspective of a Spanish student trying to learn English. And after attending several classes and observing their struggles with the language, I have realized just how difficult English can be! As much as we complain sometimes about topics such as the subjunctive in Spanish, I think that English would drive me crazy with its countless prepositional phrases, among other details.

So far at Colegio El Limonar, I have taken note of how the classroom is run and how the students behave in general. On the first day I was surprised to hear the students calling their teacher by her first name, since I was expecting a more formal environment considering how everyone must wear a school uniform, the classroom are very plain, any tardiness is unacceptable, etc. Also, the customary method of teaching is lecturing and writing (usually extensive) notes on the board for the students to copy down. While we do this in the U.S. as well, it is more common for teachers to be more creative (at least in my experience, with foreign language classes). Subsequently, in a lecture-based class, the students are less engaged and seldom actively participate. So I can see how the “epidemic” of apathetic students in the U.S. is not confined to our borders; whenever the teacher poses a question in class here, it is rare to see a hand raised in response. Furthermore, I noticed in the ESO (secondary education) classes that a large percentage of students did not bother to complete their homework. I hope to make a difference in this matter by bringing an engaging activity into the classroom at least once a week, prompting the students to practice English and do something interesting for once.

According to our syllabus for this seminar, we should be able to reflect upon our internship experiences in a critical and informed way. However, in order to do so I can’t just sit here and create a list of how our two countries are different. Going at least one step further – asking “why?” after each observation – is essential if we are to attain any sort of “intercultural understanding” at all. For example, in Spain students need to choose at a much younger age what type of career they want to have, whereas in the U.S., even college students are still figuring out what their future entails. What does this say about Spanish society? For me, this observation points towards a higher degree of individualism in the U.S. than Spain, and also towards Spain's possible focus on ensuring a work force for the country. Furthermore, schooling is compulsory through age 16 in Spain, and free - demonstrating the importance of education here.