As part of a school trip I spent 20 hours being taught some spine-tingling subjunctive, other pieces of articulate grammar and some extremely useful oral ideas at ‘La Escuela Tandem.’ On our immediate arrival we received folders outlining our housing and family information and we were picked up within moments by our family. The atmosphere in the car ride up to the school had been very eerie, but this was quashed on arrival due to the friendly and warm atmosphere of the people in the school and the magnificent school building itself. The families were all so welcoming in their own different ways. I was lucky enough to stay in some fantastic accommodation, only 10 minutes away from the school which was ideal.
In the mornings from 9.30am through to 1pm we were taught Spanish by two phenomenal teachers, Juan and Belen. They were so energetic and eager to get us involved and this shone through in some exquisite Spanish phrases we came up with, all of which were extremely useful to us for our exams. Also it was ideal to practice our listening skills and to communicate with a proper Spanish local. We studied themes such as family and relationships, media and popular culture. I can speak on behalf of my friends when I say it was without doubt extremely useful and enjoyable.
We saw all of the El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, and Miró displays in both the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia and they were captivating and I speak on behalf of the school group when I say it was much more enjoyable than expected. What’s more, our guide Sonia certainly enjoyed talking about each of the pieces and this shone through as she threw massive amounts of information at us in such a small frame of time, which made the trip even more worthwhile! It was Sonia again who was our guide when we visited Toledo, the old capital of Spain, by the AVE high speed train. Toledo was picture-perfect and its beauty shone down with the beaming sun. There were hundreds of picturesque buildings, which dare I say would rival the architectural genius of Gaudi in Barcelona? The organization was superb and we all had a fantastic time.
Back in Tandem we also took part in a clown class with a Basque actor called ‘Axon’. It was a big hit with all of the boys and all our throats were sore after having to scream and growl like a samurai warrior!
On behalf of The Manchester Grammar School I would like to extend our gratitude to ‘La Escuela Tandem’ for all their hard work and effort in designing a perfect package for each individual. I would thoroughly recommend it!’
Matthew Jones,
Manchester Grammar School
