A Language Immersion experience

A week in Natur-Alcalá

Arriving to Natur-Alcala Camp

The reason I am writing this post is that I have been one week away with some 2 ESO students in Alcalá de Henares, a village in the outskirts of Madrid, and I'd like to tell some of the impressions I have after this experience.

To begin with, I would like to mention that I am an English teacher in a high school in Motril, consequently I am aware of the many difficulties that students face when learning a foreign language, especially kids. Because of that, I didn't hesitate when they offered me the opportunity to go with some of my students to a Language Immersion we had been awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, since I was really curious about the method teachers and monitors would follow during the week they would be in charge of the students.

The thing I liked the most is that, from the moment we arrived, students were required to hand over their mobile phone to the monitors, and they would let them use it half and hour a day to contact their families (after some complaints, all of them agreed). Another thing I was delighted with, was that another school was involved in the immersion, in this case, a high school from Navarra, and students would be mixed in the same dorm, which would force them to meet and talk (no matter if in Spanish or English) to different people apart from the group they daily feel comfortable with.

We were four teachers in total, and from the very beginning we were told that we only had to teach a 90 minutes lesson every evening... What about the rest of the day? We were free to do whatever we considered appropriate, which included attending lessons, wander around the farm we were living in, or even visiting Alcala de Henares or Madrid.

The first day we chose to stay in class with the monitors, who didn't use a word in Spanish, and looking at the faces of my students I though "Well, they couldn't care less", but later I realised that my presence there was distracting for them, so I decided to leave. As the day advanced, I noticed how monitors were giving students orders, making them play games or simply organizing lunch and dinner using a very simple English, so that most of them could easily follow the instructions.

The thing is that, to my surprise, by the end of the week, some of my students that normally don't say a word in English in my lessons, were eager to talk to their monitors, and to tell them more things in English apart from "good morning" or "can I go to the toilet?" However, the final proof that showed me that at least one of my students had used his time in the Language Immersion was that during our visit to Alcala de Henares Medieval Fair, he approached two German girls and, using English, convinced them to exchange emails and mobile phones.

In conclusion, I believe that the fact that native monitors became their family for 6 days was the  perfect method to make students realise the importance of learning English. As some of them said to me the last day "Now I know why I have to learn another language, to survive". I don't know it this motivation will last for very long, but by now, I am quite happy that they have lived this experience being so young.