NewsUpper SchoolStudent LifeFaculty/StaffAcademics
Ten students participate in Spain Summer Program
Jul 31, 2003 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
Ten Darlington students traveled to Spain for four weeks to take part in an immersion program, led by Darlington faculty members Carlos and Marisa Ortega. An immersion program provides the students with the advantage of learning more than the Spanish language by living with a family during their stay in Spain.
The students traveled to Madrid where they had the opportunity to experience life, art, and culture in Spain’s capital. The home stay of the students took place in southern Spain, in the city of Cádiz. There, the students lived with Spanish families while attending school at the Instituto San Fernando in the mornings.
The classes are taught by Spanish teachers and focused on grammar and cultural aspects of the Spanish way of life. In the afternoons, twice a week, the students participated in cultural activities like touring a cathedral or visiting an old neighborhood or learning to dance sevillanas.
On the weekends, the group toured some of the major sites in Spain. On the first weekend, the students went to Sevilla where they visited La Giralda, La catedral, El Alcazár, and El barrio de Santa Cruz. The next day, the group visited La Mezquita in Córdoba.
The second weekend the group stayed in Granada where they walked through La Alhambra. On the way back to Cádiz, the group stopped at Ronda to see La plaza de toros. Ronda’s bullring is said to be the oldest in Spain and where Hemingway and Wells learned about bullfighting. On the third weekend, the students enjoyed the beautiful beach of Bolonia. That Sunday, the group attended a bullfight with Iñigo Osborne, class of 02, in the Puerto de Santa María.
The end of the four weeks of studies culminated with a farewell dinner where the students received their certificate and grade from the Instituto San Fernando. The last weekend was spent in Madrid where the students enjoyed a great dinner at El Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. The last excursion was a visit to El Escorial, and to the city of Segovia. In Segovia, the students admired the beauty of the country-side from the towers of El Alcazár, and marveled at the great Roman engineering that built the over 2,000 year old aqueduct that runs through the city. “The program was successful in that the students returned home with a better knowledge of Spanish and a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Spanish culture,” Carlos Ortega said.
The students traveled to Madrid where they had the opportunity to experience life, art, and culture in Spain’s capital. The home stay of the students took place in southern Spain, in the city of Cádiz. There, the students lived with Spanish families while attending school at the Instituto San Fernando in the mornings.
The classes are taught by Spanish teachers and focused on grammar and cultural aspects of the Spanish way of life. In the afternoons, twice a week, the students participated in cultural activities like touring a cathedral or visiting an old neighborhood or learning to dance sevillanas.
On the weekends, the group toured some of the major sites in Spain. On the first weekend, the students went to Sevilla where they visited La Giralda, La catedral, El Alcazár, and El barrio de Santa Cruz. The next day, the group visited La Mezquita in Córdoba.
The second weekend the group stayed in Granada where they walked through La Alhambra. On the way back to Cádiz, the group stopped at Ronda to see La plaza de toros. Ronda’s bullring is said to be the oldest in Spain and where Hemingway and Wells learned about bullfighting. On the third weekend, the students enjoyed the beautiful beach of Bolonia. That Sunday, the group attended a bullfight with Iñigo Osborne, class of 02, in the Puerto de Santa María.
The end of the four weeks of studies culminated with a farewell dinner where the students received their certificate and grade from the Instituto San Fernando. The last weekend was spent in Madrid where the students enjoyed a great dinner at El Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. The last excursion was a visit to El Escorial, and to the city of Segovia. In Segovia, the students admired the beauty of the country-side from the towers of El Alcazár, and marveled at the great Roman engineering that built the over 2,000 year old aqueduct that runs through the city. “The program was successful in that the students returned home with a better knowledge of Spanish and a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Spanish culture,” Carlos Ortega said.
