PROMOTING OUR PROJECT



 5th Conference of Official Language schools in the Canaries

The 5th Regional Conference for professionals working in Official Language schools took place on November 4th and 5th, 2011. This biennial event has been used by our institution (EOI Masapalomas) as the perfect platform to promote our European projects, including our Study Visit "How to Integrate ICT and Foreign Language Learning in Language Schools in Spain": Miguel Suárez (Principal) and José Rodríguez (Secretary and Organiser) ran a one-hour workshop on the different European projects being implemented at EOI Maspalomas, so that we could inform other colleagues about the nature of this kind of European action, bringing attention to the value added of this event and pointing out the benefits for the institutions visited as well as the opportunities for European cooperation.
Not only are these events important to disseminate our project, but also to promote ourselves and to identify and contact speakers and host institutions. These were also the goals for publishing a short statement issued on the December local education magazine "Sabías Que..."

GETTING READY FOR OUR STUDY VISIT




Cristina Figueroa (National Agency Head for Study Visits)
and Miguel Suárez (EOI Maspalomas Principal)

  
 The Study Visits team has welcomed our institution in Thessaloniki (Greece) and Madrid (Spain) on 22nd and 23rd September (2011) for the knowledge sharing seminar for study visits organisers. Both Miguel Suárez (Principal) and José Rodríguez (Organiser) have enjoyed the company of many experienced organisers of 2011/2012 study visits and selected representatives of the different national agencies. We have been informed about recent developments in education and training in Europe, we have shared with the organisers who hosted study visits in the previous years our concerns and challenges about organising visits, we have learned from one another, and we have given and got advice on how to organise a good quality visit so that you can learn and enjoy a fruitful and lively sharing experience with us in Maspalomas.



José Rodríguez (organiser) in Thessaloniki for the knowledge sharing seminar



WHAT IS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE SCHOOL?

               

There are similarities in all European educative systems, for example, the four major stages in education: primary and secondary education, vocational studies and university. However, there are also some differences which may be novel for some of you: that is the case of the Spanish network of Official Language Schools.
These state schools provide people of all ages (minimum of 14 years of age) with courses in different languages according with the new levels of reference of the European Council, which means that our students can get official certificates according to European standards: A1, A2, B1, B2 (and C1 in certain communities).
We are already 100 years old and the prestige of our institution among Spanish citizens (and people from other countries as well) has increased throughout this period because of the level of competence acquired by our students. There is a lot to say about the past, present and future of Official Language Schools in Spain, but for the time being here you have a fourteen-minute video which we have kindly translated, transcribed and subtitled for you: you will find everything you need to know about our system so that you can visit Maspalomas (Gran Canaria, Spain) with the right expectations. Enjoy it!



 

FROM SCRATCH




catalogue - page 232

 
A year has already gone by since we sent our proposal for the organisation of a study visit, which has been finally accepted and published in the CEDEFOP's catalogue for 2011/2012 study visits.  catalogue

Why have we chosen to organise this event? 

Foreign languages in Spain have been traditionally studied in a few specific degrees (e.g. translators, linguists, etc) and for a few specific professions (e.g. the world of tourism), but more and more people are facing the challenges of being part of Europe and the advantages of communicating in one of the official languages of the European Community in order to adapt the present ever-changing world. In this sense, the offer of non-compulsory and supplementary studies in foreign languages has increased in the last twenty years in Spain, with a wider scope of education: students of all kind of ages (from 14 up to 65 or more) and of all kind of economic sectors (services, tourism, education, health, business, etc) have realised the importance of learning a foreing language for their personal and professional development and opportunities not only in Spain but also in Europe. In Maspalomas people are twice as much challenged, since the 95% of our economy depends on tourism and since we are permanently in touch with citizens from different European countries, which turns our institution into one of the most experienced centres in teaching foreign languages not only to Spanish students, but also to a wide range of students from other nationalities.The Canarian net of Official  Language Schools (EOI-Spanish acronym) is the second biggest and most important net in the country, and the Official School of Languages of Maspalomas has been implementing the national standards and policies in the field of foreign languages as they have been improved throughout the past 20 years in order to meet the expected levels of quality, and we have also integrated the use of ICT as part of our curriculum in accordance with the European educative policies, so we are determined to share our experience in how to get people be highly qualified in their command of a foreign language, in harmony with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and we are also thirsty for experience and ideas from other European institutions who work in the same field.