Having been attempting to learn Spanish for the past 5 years, one of the biggest stumbling blocks I have found was my confidence in actually speaking the language. I have a major problem with opening my mouth and talking to people in Spanish as I get too worried about looking idiotic. Oral exams at uni put me into a complete state of panic where I would literally feel sick walking into the exam and then come out from it and nearly faint.
In the past year or so I have finally decided what I want to do with my life – going into my final year of joint honours sociology and anthropology at Glasgow University, I am now determined that I want to be a researcher for anthropological documentaries, with the ideal being to eventually work for something as prestigious as Human Planet. This dream, however, requires me to get my act together and force myself to get some kind of grip of one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, and the only way to do this is to throw myself in at the deep end.
After volunteering with this company 3 years ago, and working for them last year, I was asked to return again to Spain this year to work for a Madrid based company called Pueblo Inglés. This translates literally into 'English Village', and is an incredible company that runs summer camps for Spanish kids and teens who are learning English. The teen camps rely on a half and half mix of paying Spanish teenagers and volunteer 'Anglos' and the premise is that the Spaniards will be immersed in the language by meeting English speakers from around the world and only speaking English for the entire week. Having volunteered on this before, it is an amazing idea that works incredibly efficiently – the rule of 'No Spanish' being at first very difficult for the Spaniards, but eventually forcing them to speak English and learn as they go. The camp also makes for long-lasting and brilliant friendships – to this day I am still in touch with people I met 3 years ago from the camp, from all over the world.
With the kids camps however it is is a different set up. The rule of 'No Spanish' still stays strong, but there are no Anglos to break up the workload – the source of English comes purely from the monitors working at the camp. This was my job for two weeks this year – being one of 9 monitors looking after a group of 68 children between the ages of 8-12... mayhem!The job is not particularly difficult, in fact you don't even need to know Spanish to work for them as the camp relies on using English to describe everything and not resorting to Spanish translations for anything. If any of the children find it too difficult to get by or they have a major problem, there is a Spanish program director to help out, but otherwise we monitors have to use as many combinations of patience, sign language, persistence and willpower to get it through to the kids that they have to speak English! So in this way it is not a very hard job, it is just long hours, tiring work, and you have to constantly keep the children entertained and make sure they are having fun. I swear that I am sick to death of playing 'Simon Says'!
Heather at the lake at Candeleda |
Monitors when the children were to dress-up |
The camps are based in various beautiful rural areas of Spain, though Pueblo Inglés's office is based in Madrid. The camp I worked at for two weeks was in a place called Candeleda, Ávila – about 2 and a half hours west of Madrid. I worked in this same place last year and was very glad to return – it is absolutely stunning. You are surrounded by amazing views of mountains and a huge lake, and the weather is perfect every day. The hotel is lovely too, and the set up is ideal for the kids program.
Monitors on the final day |
A Group of Monitors at the lake at sunset |
So, although I was working hard at teaching English in the company of the kids, I made it my priority to be switched on to Spanish in my free time. Before starting at the camp, I went out to Madrid 5 days earlier and met up with a few friends, one of whom was a Spanish girl living in Madrid. Waiting to meet these friends at a bus station, they were an hour late, and I ended up whiling away the time having a full-on Spanish conversation with a male student sitting at the bus station next to me. At first I was positively terrified and insisted I couldn't speak Spanish, but he persuaded me to try, and we sat and talked for about half an hour, my confidence growing more and more throughout the conversation. He told me that my Spanish was better than I thought, and I came away from that experience absolutely exhilarated and so pleased with myself that I had managed it. I was also pretty sure that I had spoken more Spanish in that time than I had in the past 5 years of school, uni and night classes!
After that I went to stay with my friend in her family house just outside of the centre of Madrid. Being around a Spanish family was fascinating for me as I love they way they live over there, and adore their family values – it makes me pretty sure that when I have children I want to raise them in Spain. Having been in Madrid 4 times before, I didn't know if there was much left for me to do, but surprisingly I found a few beautiful places I had never seen and immediately fell in love with. One of these places was Templo de Debod – an Egyptian Temple donated to Spain in 1968 – and is next to a stunning park as well as having an amazing view over Madrid. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Madrid! My friend took me out one night to show me the Madrid social scene, and so we had delicious tapas (probably my favourite thing about Spain) and after a sangria or two my confidence with speaking Spanish soared! In the bar we went to I ended up chatting away to a Spanish girl and her brother and spent the entire night speaking in Spanish – yes it probably was a little bit sketchy, but the girl said she understood me perfectly and that all I needed was a bit of practice.
At camp in Candeleda I made sure to listen carefully to the staff working at the hotel, learning little bits of Spanish in my free time, laughing about some of the things the children said when they thought you weren't listening, and also chatting away to the monitors I worked with who did speak Spanish. Time at camp flew by as we had been working so hard and had busy days, so before I knew it I was back in Madrid and only had 2 days to go before returning home. I made some brilliant friendships with the monitors I worked with, so we made sure to make the most of our last days together in Madrid, drinking and eating very Spanish things, and having an excellent time. On my last night I stayed at another friend's flat in Madrid, therefore seeing another side to the city, and also seeing the side of life I could easily manage if I moved out there... The time I had in Spain helped me come to a few conclusions: firstly, that my Spanish is really nowhere near as bad as I thought it was. Secondly, that it is entirely possible to pick up a language as long as you are in an environment where it is spoken all the time and you have the will to learn it. Thirdly, that I now have a new determination to move to Madrid when I finish university as I believe it is the easiest and by far the best way for me to learn the language properly, whilst also living in a place that I absolutely adore. It is all thanks to the bursary that I managed to make the most out of my trip, and I thank the Troon Town Twinning Association and the Liz Trantor Memorial Trust so much for giving me this opportunity!
Heather Donaldson
In the springtime of 2009 I lost my job in Edinburgh as a financial recruitment consultant.
I decided this was the perfect opportunity to travel abroad so with only a one-way ticket, a back-pack and
French phrase book, I boarded my plane to Toulouse. After unsuccessfully searching for work in Toulouse.
I took a train north to Bordeaux and after weeks of job-searching in this beautiful town and increasing
frustration and questioning whether I had made the correct decision I eventually found cleaning work in a
small, French hotel. I quickly made friends in this popular city and they all recommended
I search for work as an English Language Assistant. After enquiring online with the British Council
who co-ordinate assistants and language students from Britain I discovered I had two weeks before the
deadline to apply for a job. I was lucky enough to be accepted and began work on October 1st in a quiet
French town called Laval in the north-west of the country.
It is between Rennes and Le Mans and approximately a two hour TGV train ride to Paris.
The British Council were great. They were extremely efficient in emailing information, teaching material and put me in contact with other assistants who would also be working in the region. On arriving in Laval I was taken to a ‘foyer’ - a bit like University halls of residence accommodation that was to be home for myself and other language assistants. Being in the same accommodation as other assisstants and finding myself in such an structured set-up felt like the opposite of three months earlier when I originally arrived in the country. This made adapting to life in a foreign country a great deal easier.
I was allocated work within five different primary schools which provided me with a well-rounded experience of all the town’s estates and a fantastic insight into how different teams of staff work in schools.
I quickly discovered that not only the pupils, but also the teachers weren’t very educated on Scotland and Scottish culture. Their knowledge of the UK was often limited to England and their memories of a school trip to London. As a typically patriotic Scot I was keen to establish any interest in my own wee country and after attempts with Scottish inventors, kilts, bagpipes, caelidh dancing and J. K Rowling I quickly found the big interest for French infants – the Loch Ness Monster!This captured the children’s imaginations and prompted many discussions – mostly about its existence!
With the money kindly given to myself I was able to explore more of France, enrol on a course to improve my French and buy teaching materials that otherwise I would have been unable to finance myself.
I travelled within France to fantastic destinations such as Amboise, Mont-Saint-Michel and made regular visits to Paris. I visited ancient castles, including one with the Chapel of Saint-Hubert which has the burial spot of Leonardo de Vinci, Parisian museums including the Musée de l’Orangerie – which I would strongly recommend.
Throughout my time in the country I worked on my French and made a point of refusing to speak in my native tongue. Taking part in a weekly class allowed me to meet people and furthered my learning of the language. I enjoyed these classes so much and the sense of achievement felt in progressing that I am soon to enrol on Spanish night classes at Marr College.
I have now returned to live in Troon and only this week have begun a teaching course at University of the West of Scotland. My long term plans are to qualify as a teacher in Scotland and sometime in the distant future live abroad once more and once again experience the joys of a different culture. I am certain that when fully qualified I will tell my own students of the time I spent in France and of everything I learned whilst there. I hope this will motivate them to travel and take a leap of faith in a new direction. This has made me a better person and given me a new perspective on Scotland’s place in the world.
Hi,
I had the privilege of receiving the Liz Trantor Memorial Bursary to enable
me to spend time in France over the summer of 2008. I had a very successful
trip and the bursary was a great financial aid to me.
I travelled with Lise Barriere, a young French student who had spent 4 months in Troon, and was welcomed warmly into her home just outside Villeneuve-Sur-Lot. In the first week I also spent time with two other families in order to meet new people and experience the way different families in France live. The first was with a family who own a restaurant in Penne d'Agenais (L'Air du Temps), so I was able to explore this historic village and converse in French with the teenage son for a couple of days. Then I went and stayed in Villeneuve with the family who own the large 'Bazaar' home hardware store. Here, I experienced the Friday evening marché in Villeneuve where all the locals meet in the centre of town and buy and eat a meal of local produce, with music playing and a lot of mingling involved too!
During the next couple of weeks I spent most of my time with Lise - enjoying the countryside, speaking with her family and friends every day to improve my French, visiting Villeneuve and Agen and learning more every day about the culture today in France. C'est vrai que j'ai profité bien de ces semaines, surtout parce que mon français a amélioré chaque jour! I loved everything about this area of the south west of France - from the weather, to the wonderful food, and even to the accent!
In my last week I chose to travel to Bordeaux and stay there for several days in order to do some sightseeing. Using the very efficient tram system I saw le Grand Théâtre, la Cathédrale, le quai, le musée d'art contemporain, les jardins botaniques et la grande statue et fontaine à Quinconces. I really enjoyed my stay in Bordeaux as I was able to have some independence and the city was very impressive and lively.
The bursary especially helped me to pay for my return flights for the journey - with the best option for me being Glasgow - Bristol - Bordeaux; and also for my time in Bordeaux for travel, accomodation and living costs. This exchange was a very fruitful one and Lise and I developed a deep friendship which will last a long time and help us both to practice our English/French language skills as we keep in contact. I am now just coming to the end of a six-month internship in Paris, where Lise now also lives, so we have met up with each other many times and had a great time together.
Thank you for the help of the Town Twinning Association and I very much hope
that another exchange will be arranged for two new people in Troon and
Villeneuve this summer.
Best regards,
Yvonne
Hello everyone. Welcome to the new dedicated Web-Site for the Troon-Town-Twinning-Association. Twinning is for everyone. It offers the opportunity for us to meet our European partners and learn through the friendships which are made between people from all walks of life in our two towns.
If you are a visitor to this site and have not previously participated in Twinning why not consider joining? (you can get an application form at “Join” on our site).
This blog gives an additional opportunity for members to contribute to the life of our association. I hope that others will come up with material for this or other parts of the Site, and continue to contribute from time to time.
We are getting more than 100 “hits” a week to the Town-Twinning Web-Site – quite an impressive figure so soon, for a new site, for a very small organisation. So somebody is interested!
We have received two general suggestions: 1.We need to keep the site “alive” by updating it and not letting it become a “fossil” site. 2. Members want to contribute to the content of the site.
To try and respond to both We’ve created a “blog” page. This is a page where members can post a contribution about anything loosely related to the Town-Twinning – a personal experience, a view on something twinning related, etc.
We hope that people will come forward with material for this page or any other part of the site that they think appropriate. We could for example expand the “Archive Page” by linking in multiple pages if members have reminiscences and or photos of past events. Perhaps we could create a “Gallery” with additional photos.To submit material, send your text in any format that suits you – A Word document, a plain text e-mail, or pen and paper by ordinary mail. Photos are best sent in their original full size as it is easier then to adjust them to the size that will keep them looking good, but not occupy too much “Web-Space.” We can scan good quality photo prints or slides.
Please send your contributions and comments (positive or negative) to us at our e-mail address: info@troontta.org
