The acting Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Isabel Celaá, has inaugurated in Santander the immersion course in English of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in collaboration with the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP).
"You and you have this great opportunity that you should take advantage of and take to your educational or work centers because you can be catalysts for the development of that knowledge." Knowledge is the real treasure ", highlighted Celaá.
Around 15,000 students and teachers benefit from these courses that will last for six months, taught at the twelve offices of the UIMP throughout the national territory.
Organized in five levels, they are developed in boarding regime, in small groups, with a duration of five days and forty hours. Its content focuses on the development of oral agility and is taught by expert teachers in the working methodology of this skill.
With an investment of 8.23 million euros, the Ministry of Education and FP has convened 14,000 grants aimed at students, with a grant from the MEFP for university studies, Vocational Training of Higher Degree and other higher education, and other 1,005 for teachers and graduates in a master's degree. Those offered to teachers try to promote quality in bilingual teaching, improving the development of fluency to teach English, systematizing the resources necessary for oral skills.
The impulse of this training is part of the strategy set in motion by the ministry directed by Isabel Celaá, to encourage and modernize the teaching of foreign languages in Spain, adapting it to the new needs of the students. During the 2018-2019 academic year, the MEFP has updated and reinforced the multiplicity of programs aimed at this subject in order to guarantee students the acquisition and improvement of the skills required by foreign languages. The objective of the ministry is to continue with the expansion and updating of this training offer.
"English is a language that we mainly want to promote from the Spanish educational system, so we have to work with self-determination, we want to work with the objective of at least achieving a B1 or even a B2 at the end of post-compulsory education", concluded the also spokesman of the Government.
'English village' and neighborhoods for 2,900 students in July
In addition to the immersion courses in English organized by the UIMP, the ministry develops intensive courses of linguistic immersion that respond to the model "English people", aimed at high school students, training cycles of the intermediate level of vocational training and art, sports, intermediate and advanced level of languages in official schools and professional music and dance education.
The training, which incorporates native English-speaking staff of similar age to the participants, takes place during the month of July in different centers of Spain with a duration of four weeks. The MEFP allocates 2.16 million euros to these courses that have 2,400 seats for this summer.
In addition, the Ministry of Education and FP has organized 500 scholarships for the language immersion program in English in holiday camps for this summer, aimed at students in the first and second years of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO). The initiative aims to promote the learning of the language and the coexistence of students from different backgrounds, socioeconomic level and ability, in an educational environment outside the classroom. The training takes place between July 7 and August 3, in two shifts of two weeks each.
In this section, we should mention the program of linguistic immersion in the school course that is taught in the fall, aimed at students in the sixth year of Primary Education and the second year in ESO in public schools. The initiative proposes that two groups of students accompanied by their professors from different autonomous communities live for a week in an immersion center in Spain. It is expected that for the next academic year, 2019-2020, the MEFP will convene a total of 110 grants for 2,750 participants.
19,000 students of bilingual programs in English, French, Arabic and Portuguese
In addition to the language immersion courses, the ministry develops teaching programs in schools for the languages of French, English, Arabic and Portuguese, in collaboration with the autonomous communities and foreign institutions.
Among these initiatives, the Bachibac stands out, a double-degree BachillerBaccalauréat system that allows students to simultaneously reach the two national qualifications at the end of secondary studies in schools that offer mixed curricula. In the 2018-2019 academic year, a total of 2,945 students with excellent academic results participated in this model implemented in 13 autonomous communities.
On the other hand, the MEFP has renewed its agreement with the British Council to develop a bilingual program through the teaching of the integrated Spanish-British curriculum. This training project starts in the second cycle of Early Childhood Education and develops up to fourth of ESO in 89 public schools of Pre-school and Primary Education and in 56 Secondary Education Institutes in ten autonomous communities.
Likewise, almost 5,500 students and 23 teachers have participated in the teaching program of the Portuguese language and culture taught in 56 centers of seven autonomous communities in the 2018-2019 academic year, whose improvement has been promoted by the Minister of Education and VET during its participation in the HispanoPortuguesa summit held on November 21.
On the other hand, and during the same period, more than 10,500 students and about a hundred teachers from almost 500 centers have participated in the program of teaching Arabic language and Moroccan culture that seeks to promote the social and educational integration of students of origin Moroccan, safeguarding his identity.
Improving the teaching of English at a distance
The MEFP has recently improved the distance education program 'That's English', linked to the Official Schools of Languages (EOI), with the signing of a new agreement with Radio Televisión Española that will expand the offer of training up to the advanced level (C1) from 2020.
In addition, the Ministry of Education and FP has promoted, through a Royal Decree approved by the Government last January, the teachings of the Official Schools of Languages in all the autonomous communities. The standard establishes the common basic evaluation principles applicable to the official certification tests of intermediate levels B1, intermediate B2, Advanced C1 and Advanced C2 of the special regime language teachings.
More than 5,000 foreign conversation assistants
A total of 5,029 foreign conversation assistants have been selected by the ministry for the 2018-2019 academic year, in order to reinforce the learning of languages and bilingual and multilingual programs in centers of the Spanish educational system. It is estimated that 1.8 million students and 24,000 Spanish teachers have benefited from this initiative during the period indicated.
Regarding the Visiting Professor program, nearly 10,000 teachers have already been part of it since its origin, more than three decades ago. The project offers Spanish teachers the opportunity to work and train for a period of three to five years in the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom, within the framework of a program of cultural and educational exchange that allows the improvement of bilingual programs and plurilingual in English in Spain.