Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

28 Our first experience of the language school was on our second day, our first full day of the trip. Once we had all arrived and were sitting in the classroom we were all given a welcome pack with a pen, paper, and two maps of the area. Bearing in mind I was given a map by my host family on arrival, as well as before setting off in the morning, I was now confident that, equipped with my four maps, I would not be getting lost. We started off, as expected, with some icebreakers but the real excitement on this day was found in the afternoon. Ever since the itinerary for the trip was released, we were all fixated on finding out what the mystic activity of ‘We are a marketing agency’ entailed. And I can confidently say we were not disappointed. The main idea of the activity was to come up with a product, and make an advert for it, then perform the advert in front of the rest of the group. One notable product was ‘Mi baño y yo’, the portable, inflatable toilet. But the product that really stole the show, in my opinion at least, was Halcon, the energy drink that changes your life. The rest of our lessons were language lessons and exposed us to a style of teaching that we’d never experienced before. They equipped us with new and improved skills to take back to the English classroom and without a doubt they will allow us to perform a lot better in the exams … which we would have sat had it not been for the Coronavirus! By Tom Adams We were put into teams and had to make a Torta de Santiago (a local speciality) and a tortilla de patata (a potato omelette) I won the prize for the best tortilla flipper and was truly humbled. Yet the best culinary experience was just eating the food prepared by our host families. Ranging from paella to lentil soup (a delicious Spanish staple), I don't think any of us will ever forget the delights we tried that week! By Ryan Fedi I can confidently say that everyone was nervous when first arriving in Galicia. None of us had been there before apart from Mr Smith who had visited once but only for 24 hours! The idea of staying with a family that you do not know much about can seem very daunting, however I genuinely think this trip was one of the most rewarding and helpful experiences I have ever had and I do not think any of the students that went would have changed a thing. You cannot help but get immersed in the culture and the language and, despite only being there five full days, everyone’s language skills, particularly listening and speaking, improved massively. Personally I feel that the trip had the perfect balance between free time and activities organised by the teachers. Staying with a host family and not in a hotel with teachers really encouraged a sense of independence which I thought was particularly beneficial as it meant we spoke a lot more Spanish in shops and cafés. However we still managed to visit lots of beautiful places. As well as the language lessons and the Spanish cookery class that we have already mentioned, we also visited the city of ‘A Coruna’ where we walked around a lighthouse and an aquarium in ridiculously windy weather! We also walked 5km of the famous ‘El Camino’ and due to the rain, managed to visit a shopping mall which Lucy Twyford and I were very happy about (the boys were not as excited). I can’t recommend this trip enough to anyone taking Spanish for A Level/IB; it was most definitely one of the best trips I’ve been on throughout my time at Brentwood and will be one of my fondest memories. By Evie McKnight Activities/Excursions and Recommendation language school