In the very early hours of Thursday 18th March, a group of 11 students from AS and A2 Spanish and two staff set off for Gijón on Spain’s Atlantic coast for a week’s educational and study visit.

After arriving at the Hostal and having lunch, the students set out on an orientation exercise in the centre of Gijón, after which they could not only find their way round, but they’d also had to ask (in Spanish, of course – very few people in Gijón speak English) for information and for the way to places like the Tourist Office.

The first full day began with a visit to IES Roces, a secondary school in Gijón’s modern suburbs, where students attended lessons in small groups, even taking part in them, reading aloud parts in plays in Spanish among other tasks. The Spanish and English students got on really well, and lots of Spanish was spoken.

A day visit to Oviedo on the Saturday meant that students could explore this ancient provincial capital with its Gothic cathedral. Whilst at the cathedral, the group were lucky to see a wedding party arrive, accompanied by a local troupe of bagpipe and tambourine playing folk musicians, all wearing regional costume. They were also interviewed by the regional TV station! Students also had the chance for some free time either shopping or spending more time looking around the old town. In the evening some of the students even went salsa dancing with the Spaniards.

The second school visit took place on Monday, when Wyke were guests of IES Doña Jimena, a larger and older school. Other places visited included Gijón’s Old Town, the Cimadevilla, built on a promontory out into the bay, the Pueblu d’Asturies, a folk museum with reconstructions of buildings from 300 years of life in the Asturian countryside, and the Termas Romanas, a major Roman baths complex complete with hypocaust and mosaics. At the Universidad Laboral, a showpiece project from the Franco period which is now being restored, there was a guided tour.

What did the students get out of it? The most valuable things were probably the contacts with the Spanish students, giving them a distinct view of life for teenagers in Spain, and giving them huge opportunities to practice speaking in Spanish. Several of the students are still in contact with the friends they made in the two Spanish schools. Being surrounded by Spanish in this part of Spain which gets few English-speaking tourists, they were forced to speak, read and listen to Spanish all the time as their only means of communication – invaluable practice just before their As and A2 exams. Then there was the exposure to a different kind of culture and a different rhythm of life. It was all in all a great experience.