Whitehouse Common Primary -

Day Seven -Martes/Tuesday

After another early start we headed for our last Spanish session at the university. We finished the course by looking at common irregular verbs and how to conjugate them, as well as giving presentations about how to best teach Spanish using stories.

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As a thank you, we bought the course tutors, Carmen and Isabel, some beautiful orchids. They were very surprised and loved them. It was a lovely way to finish our last day at Barcelona University.

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A quick lunch and then we had our first visit to Els Pins School. Mar was there to meet us and she gave Miss Kenny (another teacher on the trip from Court Farm School) and I a tour of the buildings and grounds. All the staff were extremely welcoming and friendly and I’m very excited about being able to observe some of the lessons tomorrow. Mar also invited us both to join her and some of the other staff from Els Pins for some Basque tapas and a ‘Pub Quiz’ later this evening.

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Next, we made our way down La Rambla De Catalyna and found a fantastic tapas bar where we stopped for some traditional ‘Torrija de Sant Teresa’ Santa Teresa’s infused crispy milk bread. It was delicious!

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To finish the day, we traveled to La Zona Alta, an area in the hills full of beautiful houses. We traveled to the top of the hill and were rewarded with a magnificent view of the whole city. We enjoyed spotting different sights that we had visited in the glorious sunshine.

A quick stop at our accommodation and it’s back out again to meet Mar from Els Pins. I’m looking forward to being with a Spanish collogue that will be able to talk us through a tapas menu.

Day Six -Lunes/Monday

This morning I awoke to the sound of torrential rain, thunder and lightening. The rain continued on and off all day. We spent the majority of the day continuing our course at the university, looking at reflexive verbs and how best to teach the importance of pronunciation.

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Lunch was a feast of various different Basque tapas dishes shared with some of the other teachers from the group.

For me, the highlight of the trip so far was this evening when we visited Casa Batlló. This is one of the houses designed by Gaudi. It was absolutely fabulous and I’m amazed how modern a building that was rebuilt between 1898 and 1906 can be. Locals know Casa Batlló as ‘Casa dels ossos’ (House of dragons) or ‘Casa del drac’ (House of the dragon).

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Everything swirls and the internal light wells shimmer with tiles of deep blue sea. Gaudi eschewed the straight line and the staircase wafts you up to the top of the building. As I’m writing this blog, three hours after my visit, I’m still blown away by how magical the house is. I’d definitely recommend anyone lucky enough to be visiting Barcelona to go and see it for themselves!

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Day Five -Domingo/Sunday

Today has been another busy day exploring the city. We started the day with a Metro ride to visit the Sagrada Familia. It is one of Gaudi's most famous works in Barcelona. It's a giant Basilica that has been under construction since 1882 (that's not a typing error!) and it's not expected to be completed for another 30 years. Gaudi played an active role in directing the construction of the Sagrada Familia until his death in 1926. He would often request that work be modified and adjusted until it was exactly what he had in mind. However today, because of the nature of the existing designs, his work is partly open to interpretation. It's an amazing building and hopefully I'll be able to visit Barcelona in 30 years time to see it completed!

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After visiting the cathedral we jumped back on the Metro and headed back towards Montjuïc Mountain. We caught another cable car up towards the castle. Montjuïc Castle is an imposing castle that has dominated the city since 1640. The views from the castle were fabulous and I took some great photos. I also managed to find a yellow postbox so I could post all the postcards that I have written. I hope people receive them before I get home! 2HB will have to keep checking the letter tray when they get back to school after half term.

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After visiting the castle we went back on the Metro to get to the Ramblas. We looked in lots of shops then I made my way back to the accommodation and will shortly be heading out for some dinner. I have lots of homework to do before we are at the university tomorrow so don't want to be back late!

Day Four -Sábado/Saturday

Last night we had a delicious seafood Paella for dinner at a restaurant called 'Tapa Tapa'. The restaurant was near the aquarium and had been recommended by Mrs Dixon from when she visited Barcelona with Miss Harper and Mrs Stevens earlier in the year.

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Today started very early and I managed to go for a run along the seafront. We all met at the Cable car in Port Vell, the views from onbaord were fantastic. The 'Teleférico del Puerto' took us from the port to Miramar, on the slopes of Montjuic.

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Next we walked along to the Fundació Joan Miró. On the way we spotted the outdoor swimming pool used for the Olympic games that took place here in 1992. The next stop was at the art museum for the spanish artist Joan Miró. Miró is among the most iconic of modern artists, using a language of symbols that reflects his personal vision, sense of freedom, and energy.

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Our course tutors, Carmen and Isabel, came with us to the museum. They told us about a food festival 'Mercat de Mercats' that was taking place in the city. The 'Market of Markets' took place on the square in front of Barcelona Cathedral. It is a three day gastronomic festival for Barcelona to present the best of Catalan and Mediterranean food and cooking. We sampled lots of different tapas and I especially enjoyed the pudding!

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Next, we wandered back to our accommodation and it was a quick change before heading out again. We met up with the teachers from Holy Cross for dinner and noticed that it was 20°C!

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Day Three -Viernes/Friday

Today was another full day learning Spanish at Barcelona University. I took Barnaby Bear along with me for the journey and he enjoyed catching the Metro. We had to teach the rest of the group our poem which was called 'Vestidos'. When the day at the university had finished we headed towards Parc Guell. The Park Guell was formed with the joining of two areas 'Can Muntaner de Dalt' and 'Can Coll i Pujol', in the 'Muntanya Pelada' (today muntanya del Caramel), purchased by Count Güell the year 1899. It houses work by Anton Gaudi. Tomorrow we are heading to the 'Funcdació Joan Miró' which we are hopefully getting to by cable car! I'm looking forward to enjoying more Tapas tonight and hope to get up extra early tomorrow morning so that I can go for a run along the seafront.

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Day Two -Jueves/Thursday

barca5 Dinner last night was a selection of tapas and it was delicious! It was a very early start this morning, as the University is over an hour away. We jumped on two different Metro lines and then climbed our way up hundreds of steps to reach the university buildings, situated at the top of a very high hill.

Our course tutors, Carmen and Isabel, are lovely but they wouldn't speak any English all day and banned it from the classroom! I feel like I've been thrown in at the deep end but I'd say my Spanish is definitely improving.

We spent all day learning Spanish and then had to climb our way down all the steps again. We got back on the Metro but decided to get off at Catalunya station so that we could walk back to our accommodation along the Ramblas and through Port Vell.

Tonight, I am busy learning a poem that I have to teach to the rest of the group tomorrow.

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Day One -Miércoles/Wednesday Continued

I arrived safely in Barcelona late this afternnon after a stress free flight. A one hour bus ride later and we were in the city centre. I am staying in the University residence which is right next to the beach. It's really warm and the sun is shining! We walked around the local area this afternoon and shortly I will be heading out for some dinner. I'm looking forward to starting at Barcelona University in the morning.

Day One -Miércoles/Wednesday

I was up very early this morning with excitement about my trip. My bags are all packed and filled with all your lovely work, for me to share with the children at Els Pins School. I've even found room for Barnaby Bear. I'll try to make sure that I keep this blog updated with news and pictures regularly, whenever I can get internet access. Keep watching!

A visit from the Lord Mayor!

This morning we were lucky enough to have a visit from the Lord Mayor. She came to school to present us with our International School Award and Quality Mark 4. Key Stage One children took part in a special assembly where children for Year One and Two performed a traditional English Ceildh Dance and sang a Spanish song.