The meeting

First off, a huge thank you to all who turned up for the meeting with Aurelio this afternoon. I know he was very impressed that  so many had taken the time to listen to his plans.

I believe there is a lot of merit in the idea of helping young Spanish children to improve their English and at the same time teaching them something about our culture.

I think it is fair to say that the standard of English teaching in local schools is not high, mainly because the schools do not have native English speakers to conduct the lessons. So anything we can do will help to improve that situation. However, what needs some thought  is how we go about achieving this.

When our children were at school, they both went on exchanges to France which involved them living with a French family for a week. In return we had French children to stay with us in England.

The difference between then and now though is that Pam and I are a lot older, more set in our ways and most important, we don’t  have a young family living with us to keep company with an exchange student. For us, the idea of having a young Spaniards living with us for any period of time is therefore a no no.

That doesn’t mean though that we have to dismiss the whole idea out of hand. I am sure there are other ways, more acceptable to us and to the families of the Spanish children that we could explore.

As an example-  the daughter of our Spanish hairdresser came up to our house a few days each week a couple of summers ago. Her father, or mother would bring her up, she would stay and chat to us for a couple of hours or so and then her father would return to take her home. It was a very rewarding experience for Pamela and I and hopefully for the young lady. Apart from anything else, it helped to cement our relationship with a Spanish family.

Now Pamela teaches a young boy English twice a week. The lessons are just one hour each so it is hardly an imposition and again the rewards work both ways.

I am sure that many of the residents will have other ideas about how this could work best for them. Hopefully, you  will bring them to the meeting next Monday at the Auditorium at 5pm.