Looking back on our trip with the benefit of a week 'back in school', it was certainly a positive experience and we seem to have achieved the objectives we planned at that first meeting in Dryden.

Best read with a glass of red wine (Spanish of course) and Iberian ham and cheese.

TIPD report 2008.pdf

http://www.regiondigital.com/modulos/mod_periodico/pub/mostrar_noticia.php?id=74592

http://castuera.dip-badajoz.es/index.php/mod.noticias/mem.detalle/idnoticia.429/relcategoria.430/chk.9baeaf80e0ba9cdcb03cc75d1f2fd1b5.html

http://www.extremadura24horas.com/actualidad/un_grupo_de_profesores_ingleses_visita_extremadura_para_conocer_la_implantacion_de_las_tics_en_centros_educativos-1623.html

http://www.extremaduraaldia.com/tecnologia/profesores-ingles-visitan-los-centros-educativos-extremenos-para-conocer-la-implantacion-de-las-tics/55626.html

http://www.linex.org/joomlaex/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=423&Itemid=72

Time to brush up on your Spanish!

Final lot of photos have finally arrived from David, so watch this space for the full works!

We've over 400 photos to sort out.  The plan is to make them into a video for display at Dryden or on the blog - last attempt halfway through the trip, it was running at 14 mins long)

I plan to add to the blog as we finally collect in all the photos, so please keep reading and commenting.  When I have changed things, I'll post where the changes are.

Hopefully a return visit... who knows!

http://www.hoy.es/20080412/prov-badajoz/profesores-ingleses-estudian-nuevas-20080412.html

http://www.educarex.es/montador/noticias_usu.php?op=ver&id=458

http://www2.extremadura.com/general/noticias/ver_pagina_noticia.vhtml/14731

http://www.radiointerior.net/index.php?op=noticia&id=3868

http://www.softwarelibre.net/profesores_ingleses_en_extremadura

Haven't found anything on film so if anyone comes across anything, please let us know via the comments.

We arrived in Madrid slightly ahead of schedule and, at least, this time we knew the way to our hotel.  Most of us were on the same floor and as the hotel didn't have a restaurant and we were feeling slightly peckish we went round the corner to the local tapas.  This was far more cosmopolitan that the one in Badajoz - no bull fighting on the TV for starters and had a good range of sandwiches and nibbles (where did we put all the food).

Several of the group tried out a local club (very expensive 18 euros and a bit seedy) whilst a couple of others went to chat to some local kids who were gathered near the station - obviously a regular hang out.

Saturday 12 April

Not the crisp start of previous days but there again, there was no need.  It was a cse of be ready to go by 11.00am. 

Although check in wasn't until 12.50 pm, Liz felt that plenty of time was needed to get to the airport via the metro then face the long walk to terminal 1.

We managed to go wrong at the first hurdle - correct train, wrong direction.  However, as it just comes back on itself we stayed put and changed trains for the airport.

As remembered the walk from the metro to the terminal was a long one and there were lots of queues for Easyjet but none indicating Edinburgh - or anywhere else for that matter.  It was just a free for all so we stayed put in our queue.  As we got nearer the chck in people were deciding what they would do if we were charged for excess weight.  However, no worries as no one was despite a few being over the 20kg limit.  We decided that between us all we averaged 20kg.

A quick bite to eat and it was time to board for a fairly uneventful flight back to Edinburgh.  The weather was atrocious and you could here the rain bouncing down on the plane.  Being 20 mins early meant we had to stay in the taxi area until our gate became free.

Passport cleared, luggage quickly picked up, nothing to declare and we were on our way to Edinburgh on the bus.

Our early arrival meant we had time to spare at the station so Burger King it was - Colin was finally getting the burger he'd wanted the night before in Madrid.  Some of the girls couldn't resist a quick trip into M&S Simply food for further supplies for the journey south.

Thankfully we had our seats reserved and the carriage was very noisy.  Full of loud Scotsmen and one rather foul mouthed Frenchman pretending he was Scottish (ever heard 'flower of Scotland' in French before).  We rather hoped they were getting off north of the brder but were stuck with them to Newcastle.  Again we arrived ahead of schedule.

This time we left Colin on the train as he was getting off in Durham.  We all said our farewells in the traditional Spanish way.

So that was it ... our little trip to Badajoz, Spain.

What next?  

After breakfast, and lugging our cases into the minibus we set off for our final trip to Merida.  Liz and I finished the presentation about ICT in Gateshead just as we were going through the gates of the car park.  Talk about cutting it fine!

Merida is the main city for the southern area of Extremadura and has some fantastic Roman ruins.  We had planned to visit these ruins but due to the recent wet weather and as time was short, these had to be cancelled.

Instead we were invited into the TRC and met up again with a number of people we had met during the week.  We were all now getting very good at the traditional Spanish greeting of a kiss on either cheek (not sure if this was how two men greeted each other but Colin was giving it a go)! 

Prior to coffee, we were given a talk about the Glen Doman Method.

Visit 1 - Merida Teacher's Resource Centre (Rachel Heaney)

The Glenn Doman programme is used to introduce and develop reading skills in young children.

This method of teaching is introduced to children at 18 months old and continued throughout the childhood development stages.  The programme involves using a series of vocabulary flashcards to familiarise children with word recognition. The cards must be shown to the child at a fast speed and the vocabulary read clearly.  This is rehearsed 3 times a day, 5 times a week.  Repetition is a key factor in this process for it to be delivered correctly and successfully.  The following stages include an increase in the vocabulary lists and then the introduction to short simple sentences.  Parents and carers are also encouraged to continue the process at home with their children.

The Children's Resource Centre in Merida has researched this programme and have created and adapted a programme application to show the flashcards on an interactive whiteboard with audio resources for use in primary schools.  A support website for this programme can be viewed at www.cprmerida.juntaextremadura.net.  There is a forum available to read and write comments concerning the Doman Method.

The Children's Resource Centre has worked on this programme for 3 years and are continually adding new resources to develop it further.  For example, adding picture books, poems, short stories, videos etc.  Adaptations of the programme have also been developed for the introduction to reading a modern foreign language using a word flashcard accompanied with a picture flashcard for complete comprehension.

More information on the Glenn Doman process can be found through a websearch on www.google.com and videos showing the process in use can be found on www.youtube.com.

For once, coffee was not in a local cafe/bar but just across in another buidling in the TRC.  Here, we had a range of local cakes and biscuits along with coffee and fruit juice.  During this time, we ran through our presentation and the plans for the rest of the morning wihich included the press and TV!

At 9.30 pm on the Thursday evening we all met up in the hotel foyer for the farewell dinner hosted by the Badajoz TRC.

All the Gateshead teachers had taken this as an opportunity to prove that we did in fact scrub up quite well.

The meal was held in the same room as before and the table settings looked sumptuous - all set for a banquet.

Liz was guest of honour at the top table with the key people from the TRC including Antonio (how could we manage without him).

The meal started with a range of fish canapes (Liz tried to explain that we called them blini).  This was followed by more canapes that were delicious.  The next course was crepes stuffed with pork in a cream sauce and the crepes were topped with a sweet pepper and tomato sauce.  The main course was fish on a bed of mushrooms and onions.  Not being a fish eater, I was given steak with julienne of carrots and courgettes.  Dessert was layers of pastry with creme anglais and a caramel sauce.  All this was rounded off with coffee.

When the waiters came round with liqueurs (including a lovely local one made from acorns) it was the sign for speeches to begin.

Antonio continued to be an excellent translator for those not confident enough to give their speech in English.  However, he must have been tiring as a number of times he translated Spanish into Spanish.

After everyone, including Liz had made all the official thank yous and presentation of gifts, she had the chance to pass on all of our thanks to Antonio.  He had seen us passing the gifts out to different people during the week and was now the recipient of one of each including gifts from individual schools and the Millennium Bridge glass paperweight.  However, there were a few personal gifts - David gave a large bar of Cadbury's Chocolate stating these were his emergency rations that he hadn't needed and didn't want the excess weight on the way home.  Colin, (a softie underneath) gave his Sunderland tie.  This wasn't just any tie but one of only 500 made as gifts.  Definitely something money can't buy.

After everything was fiished and despite our very good intentions of a not too late night, we were whisked off in a variety of cars to a local bar just over the river.  Guess what ... it was of a slight Irish theme and sold Guiness.

Most stayed for just one drink then took offers of lifts to return to the hotel.  It was going to be along couple of days travel back to the UK 

We're all feeling a little under the weather today.  Guess the long journeys, huge meals and partaking of the local alcoholic hospitality has taken their toll.

Colin's breakfast consumption at the begiining of the week was cereal, fruit juice, few slices of toast and coffee.  Today he was down to one slice of toast and a cup of coffee.

Note to Ken - we need some professional development time to get some exercise to get rid of the excess weight we've all put on!! 

We're also worrying about excess baggage weight (everyone has been SO generous with their gifts), however, since we have hardly spent any money it shouldn't be too much of a hardship!

Again, we were picked up at 8.00 am and taken via a very scenic route to Burguillos del Cerro - 84 km south east of Badajoz.  A number of  us were feeling decidedly fragile by the time we arrived.  Lee  had  given out an emergency request for a plastic bag.  Fortunately, it wasn't needed.  Antonio promised that we would return by a more direct and straight route!

The countryside around here is more like the  north of England  with rolling hills and lots of trees.  There are more animals such as sheep in this area.  However, the trees are olive  rather than our native species.

Visit  1  -  IES Matias Ramon Martinez (Colin Carr)

The school which opened in 2002 is in very rural area and provides education to 122 12-16 age range only due to the socio-economic background of the area.  Students wishing to proceed past compulsory education have to travel to other towns.  The head teacher explained that due to the type of students in this rural part of the country their education is focused on vocational rather than academic education.

After a wonderful reception in the staff room (this was the first one that closely resembled a UK staff room) we were given a full description by the head teacher about the use of GNULinex 2006. 

This software allows the teacher to have full control of individual computers within a room from a cemtralised PC.  An upgrade is due shortly that will enable even greater coverage/access including the Internet.

The school is working very closely with the local council to establish a WiFi link with the community so that pupils who have or borrow a computer can access their school folders enabling them to carry out their set work and it will also give parents the opportunity to view the results and be able to have contact with the teachers.

This whole project is available through Moodle and will greatly enhance the distance learning programs available to students.

We finished the visit with a very detailed discussion comparing the Gateshead schools systems and the systems available to schools in Spain.

The headteacher was very interested in the ICT facilities available in Whickham School, the software used, the access to the system via Ranger and the VLE.

As with all the schools, the teacher's were very interested in the Ees PC, it's cost and software.  Their next step is to provide a pupil:computer ratio of 1:1 but current plans indicate that this will be achieved by attaching two keyboards and two mice to each CPU unit rather than each student having a computer to themselves.

Our final visit was to an SEN school for children aged between 6 and 21 years.

The school is a light and airy two storey building holding 56 pupils, 15 teachers, 13 assistants and many physiotherapists and other specialists.   

The facilities included a high-tech multi-sensory room, a library, ICT suite, vegetable garden, gym and a transition room where children learn life skills to encourage independent living, as well as a number of ordinary classrooms.

Between the ages of 6 and 16 the children's learning is dictated by the curriculum.  Older students spend the last 5 years at school developing skills for independent living and inclusion within society.  Once a week children enjoy the facilities of the local swimming pool to improve their fine and gross motor skills as well as their posture.  It also gives student the opportunity to mix with people outside their school life.

In the ICT suite we were shown a presentation of poetry by a student, using Open Office, a tool used to improve reading, writing and communication skills.  Presentations were also shown displaying the skills of the physiotherapists, communication technologies and interactions between the special school and other local schools.

The Linex run computer system is adapted for the children's abilities and levels ie large, colourful icons and appropriate literature. JClic was also demonstrated indicating the use of icons to assist children's phonics, reading, writing and typing skills.

We finally had experience of a 'Spanish school dinner'.  The traditional fish and pasta soup, roast pork and potatoes followed by strawberries and cream.

The school had a very child-centred and family orientated ethos with all staff working as a team towards a common goal - including the kitchen staff!

After our return from Burguillos del Cerro, we were given the opportunity to take a quick trip into Portugal.  As a number of the group were in need of a siesta ahead of this evening's farewell meal the remainder (David, Susan T and Liz, Rachel and Emma) accompanied Antonio and Imam (apologies if this is incorrect - please use comment to show me correct spelling) to Elvas in Portugal.

The border is only 5km from Badajoz and very like the Scotland/England border - blink and you'll miss it!

Elvas was amazing and well worth visiting.  It is a 17th century heavily fortified frontier town and surrounded by star-shaped fortifications with gates, curtain walls, moats and bastions, along with two fortresses.  All roads lead to the top (well some of them did because we managed to get lost).  If this town was in the UK, there'd be no cars allowed within the walls at all.  You could see where the cobbled streets had been damaged (Antonio did suggest taking one of the cobbles with us as a souvenir). 

There was a beautiful and large square surrounded by 16th and 17 century churches and buildings (photos to follow when we get them off our cameras).  There was also a smaller square with a pillory with four metal hooks supposedly used to shackle prisoners during the Spanish Inquisition (cue Monty Python take offs from everyone).

The icing on the cake was a huge aqueduct (Amoreira Aqueduct) which 7km (4.5miles) in length and took over 100 years to complete. With a total of 843 arches, and at places rising to over 30m (100ft), it still brings water to town.

We were only in the twon for about 40 mins but it certainly made its mark on us.

A quick trip back to the hotel to prepare for our farewell dinner and to start packing.

We were taken to the Teachers Resource Centre to meet the local adv isors then onto our first visit.

Visit 1 - CP Pedro de Valdivia (Lee Connor)

Our first visit of the day was to a primary school which was built after the Spanish civil war.  Castuera was basically flattened as it formed the boundary between two conflicting factions. Set in a town with a population of 7000, the school had approximately 200 children on its roll, with 61 in the Nursery section and 130 in the Primary range.  Within the town itself there were several other schools, with a pre-Primary, two Primaries, two Secondary schools, an adult school, and one SEN school.

This school was involved in a European project with schools from Denmark, Romania and Italy and they were very interested and keen on establishing links with as many foreign schools as possible.  We also discussed their environmental project with them, which had been ongoing within the school for the previous 6 years and focuses on such things as pollution and recycling around the world. 

Our first visit was to a class of 5 year olds who had been learning English since they were 3 years old.  They had very enthusiastic teachers and we were treated to renditions of English nursery rhymes.  They stared in wonder when we broke into 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes".  Kelly and Katherine also performed a song they use with their early years classes.

In terms of ICT use within the school, we observed a Year 6 English lesson which used ICT throughout.  The class consisted of 12 children, and had 19 computers, with a portable Interactive Whiteboard also in use.  The teacher was using the JClic program, focusing on irregular verbs in English, and learning about the Geographical aspects of the

Children were invited to the front of the class to highlight particular rivers, lakes, and countries on the IWB, which was closely followed by independent work on their individual computers (word searches and labelling maps).  There seemed to be a much more structured lesson in place today, with similar features such as oral starters and a plenary recognisable. 

 We then observed a PE lesson using ICT.  The beginning of it was based on the previous day's lesson and focused on the children's jumping technique, using the video recording the teacher had made. He went through several jumps and highlighted good aspects and areas for improvement, through pausing and whole class discussion.

The teacher then introduced a new unit of work to the children - Basketball.  Using the IWB, he presented a basketball court to the children and also a list of the rules and how to play it properly. 

 He went through the zones of the court with the children, and invited children to the front to label it on the IWB.  All the children were very engaged and on task, with no problems in terms of behaviour and discipline.

The children were motivated by the use of the IWB and it was put to effective use throughout the lesson. 

A very productive morning for all! 

We returned to the Teachers Resource Centre and had a demonstration of their VLE with various fre e software packages and completed resources.  The teachers make very good use of this to find out about available training, sign up for courses and any government (local and national) initiatives.

There followed a shared discussion explaining how ICT was used in schools across all keystages in Gateshead.  This will form the main article for their next ICT publication.  The blog is promoting a lot of significant discussion and interest.  Antonio is keen for all teachers we meet to have the address and they have all have been invited to comment - especially in Spanish.  It is hoped that the teachers will share the blog with students to motivate and enrich their language skills

By now it was 14.30 and time for lunch so we adjourned to a nearby restaurant.

We had yet another fantastic three course banquet (except the first course was 3 courses in itself) for lunch.  We started with the local cheese (La Serena) along with a range of local Iberian cooked meats.  This was followed by a Portuguese fish delicacy - cod cooked with eggs and grated potatoes.  The main course was a choice of fish (bream or halibut) or meat (pork fillet in a cheese sauce or lamb chops).  Dessert choices included custard, rice pudding, crème caramel, ice cream or fruit.  All this was accompanied by homemade rolls, bottles of red wine (excellent quality) and water.  The meal was rounded off with coffee.

Two hours later we set off for our final visit of the day in Zalmea de la Serena - 10 km from Castuera.  No rest for the wicked!

Visit 2 - IES Antonio de Nebrija (Colin Carr)

After lunch we visited the Antonio de Nebrija Secondary school at Zalmea de la Serena.

The age range of the pupils is 12-16 and 16-18 (600 in total) the school was completed in 2006 with European funding and covers a large country area with pupils travelling by bus from all parts of the district.  Pupils have the option of weekly booster classes and we were invited to view an ICT Design lesson.

The teacher controls the class computers using gnulinex and set an appropriate task in computer design using a QCAD on Windows and Linex.  This is a multifunction program which enabled pupils to design in layers and included line, shape, space, colour and measurement.

The pupils were set an appropriate task and worked in pairs to complete.

The second part of the visit included a school pupil and teacher ICT video production. The subject was the local region over the last 2000 years and was excellent both in content and production.

Finally we were all given a school produced calendar which was the latest ICT led multi subject production. Once again the final product was excellent.

Unfortunately our visit to the Roman ruins had to be cancelled as it was too muddy underfoot.

However, we were invited to have coffee and cream puffs in their cafeteria.  This facility is unusual in the school and came complete with a proper espresso machine.

International relations were enhanced when the female students spotted Lee from afar.  As he walked passed there were cries of "Lee we like you!" and within 20 mins he left to a chorus of "Lee we love you!". 

An early rise for breakfast and Antonio met us outside the hotel at 8.00 am.  Today's programme consisted of a two hour mini bus drive to Azuaga for five school visits, lunch, a guided visit of Azuaga and a two hour return journey.

Azuaga has about 8,000 inhabitants.  Their school system consists of one nursery school, one primary school, two secondary schools, one adult education and one special school.

Visit 1 - Aprosuba 10 Special School (Colin Carr)

Aprosuba 10 is a very small all age generic special school who use different commercial and teacher written programs to enhance learning and encourage development.  Multi sensory disabilities are leveled through ICT to develop language and speech.

In one example a hyper active pupil was able to use the computer to link specific icons which enabled her to keep on task and make progress.  A second pupil who was only able to communicate through eye movement was, with the support of a teacher, able to select  colours to answer the questions posed by the computer programme.

After our coffee break in a nearby café - trying out the local sweet delicacies - we walked down the street to our next school.

Visit 2 - IES Miguel Durán (Susan Turton)

IES Miguel Durán a12-18 secondary school with just over 500 students and our focus was on the use of ICT to teach maths and English.

In the maths lesson, the year 13 students were again sitting two students per computer but the room only had a blackboard for the teacher to write instructions on.  However, he was able to control and demonstrate on the students' computers using gnulinex.  The teacher had also set up a web site that was password protected in lycos and this was used by students to submit digital work.  He demonstrated how students could use two software programs to help solve equations and manipulate data.  The first program was on their computers - WX-Maxima and was used by the students in school.  The second piece of software was online - WIVIS and used by the students at home.

The English lesson proved a big hit with the younger Gateshead teachers.  The teacher demonstrated an innovative use of the projector as she had no white board.  Instead, a large patch of plain wall solved the problem.

The first activity was a revision of a previous lesson where students were given a series of photographs and were asked to give a title and uses sentences (in English) to describe the photos.  Mind mapping software was used to build a bank of adjectives for each photo.

Her main task was based around a scene from 'Sex in the City' and demonstrated the importance of intonation in language.  Students were allocated characters and had to read from the script (displayed on the improvised white board - the wall) in preparation for dubbing the actual scene on the DVD.  After a number of run throughs (and a few mishaps with the technology), the students had a number of opportunities to read aloud the text whilst the scene was being played.  Each time they did this, their language improved.

One of the main problems with using technology in this school was that the students stayed in their room and the teacher did the moving around.  This meant time was lost at the beginning of every lesson setting up and distributing resources.  However, the teacher always prepared a short starter to ensure pupil learning was continuous throughout.

Our final visit before lunch was to IES Bembazar.

Visit 3 - IES Bembazar (S Turton)

Here we saw how ICT was used for the teaching of Art and an actual ICT lesson.

The art/ICT teacher has three main focus areas:-

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1        Language improvement through films and industry - students had to produce their own short movie<!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2        Photography - students took and prepared an exhibition of black and white photographs using the school's developing lab<!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3        Publicity and marketing - using office software (mainly presentation) to produce marketing for a business.<!--[endif]-->

The ICT lesson proved to be very interesting with two activities going on.

The majority of the class were using Audacity to independently produce and develop their own mobile ring tones.  This allowed creativity on the part of the pupils.

The remaining students were manipulating their own digital images again allowing creativity and independent learning to take place.  These images were combined to produce a digital collage that was used as a background for marketing material.

The ICT teacher later gave an overview of the changes that were taking place and variety of open source resources available on various websites. 

After this visit, we were taken to a local, and highly recommended, restaurant for what we thought was a school dinner.  Big mistake!  It was a Michelin standard 3 course meal with wine, water and beer.  It even managed to surpass the excellent lunch in Badajoz!

After a two hour lunch break we continued with our next two visits.

Visit 4 - CP El Parque (Kelly Lewis and Katherine Calvert)

We visited a preschool for 3-6 year olds, the only one in the area of Azuaga.

It is not compulsory education but 450 children in this town attend. There is one computer in every class and a small ICT suite. This is used to teach the ICT curriculum and for ICT after school clubs.

We observed the ICT after school activities for a small group of five to six year old children. Children used a program called JClick to enhance learning in ICT as well as English vocabulary and memory. The school is very keen to involve parents and invite them to use the ICT suite two mornings a week so they can see what programs their children use at school.  All the students were confident in their use of technology including logging onto the machines and selecting the appropriate software.  They were not in the least bit distracted by our presence unlike the older students earlier in the day.

From here we moved to our final visit of the day.

Visit 5 - CP Miramontes (Kelly Lewis and Katherine Calvert)

This is the only primary school in the town of Azuaga and has 570 pupils (more than twice the size of our average primary school in Gateshead). 

We were welcomed with a regional
dance display performed by 10 pupils (10 year olds) as part of their extra-curricular activities.

There are 3 ICT suites in the school and one interactive whiteboard.  

We observed an after school ICT club and saw children working on a program called Squeak which combines paint skills and animation.  

The students were eager to complete the tasks and there were definite signs of differentiation through outcome. 

Following this lesson we moved to another group who were using the programme JClick. This program is used to teach 3 units; English, PE and Spanish. The teacher uses this programme to moderate and set tasks relating to the current unit of work.  The children worked through the tasks independently and obviously enjoyed them.

A number of teachers at this school are part of a working party developing resources with JClick and if the Junta is happy with the outcome, the resources will be made available to other schools via the region's website.  As in the UK, the major developmental problem is a lack of time within the working day to meet, plan and prepare the resources.  The group tended to meet after school and work late.  However, they had a positive view of the software and the benefits to the students were obvious and worth the effort.

After our final school visit, we had a very personal (the only visitors) tour of the town folk museum then a walk up to the 16^th century church. 

We had a fabulous day in Azuaga and left absolutely laden with gifts and mementoes of our visits. A number of them have been specially made for us on an individual basis and also included a selection of students' work.  The teaching staff were very enthusiastic and keen to keep in touch.  Ideas passed around included emails between students to develop language skills and writing for a purpose.

The journey home gave us an opportunity to review the day, prepare our reports and look at how we could make best use of all the excellent photos that David has been taking.  We're hoping to produce a video that can be displayed in Dryden and also given to the teachers here as a memento of our visit.

The crowning glory for Lee was Liverpool winning 4-2 over Arsenal!  But even he retired to bed early tonight.  Another long day tomorrow but only two schools.

The Centre is housed in an old school and next door to a primary school.  A secondary school is nearby.

After a brief tour of the CPR and introductions to the advisors we were given a brief introduction to the education system in the region we were taken to a local taverna for 'breakfast'.  We had the opportunity to try a number of local dishes and have a caffeine fix.  This seems to be the norm in Badajoz for all the advisory team (it's not like that in Dryden says Liz) and a considerable number of school children!

We were met by the media on our return to the TRC and LIz gave a brief (very) off the cuff interview for the press - the printed newspaper was in our hands within an hour!

When the photographer had finally finished, the advisors gave us an insight to the language curriculum in schools and their proposals for the future - including a possible return exchange to Gateshead.  It amazed us to learn that 95% of children begin learning English at the age of 3 and most continue up to the age of 18.  A recent initiative has a number of students learning at least one other language (mainly French) with others adding a third.  Very few take up Portuguese despite being 5km from the border.  This is mainly due to teacher expertise.  Student have at least 2 hours extracurricular lessons delivered in a language other than Spanish.  These tend to be in science or humanities. 

Teachers are in the process of developing an online course for all ages to  encourage further language learning  (including 18-30 group!)

Our final talk at the TRC was about the ICT structure and resources within the region.  They currently have 70,000 computers in school (1 per 2 pupils) with plans to extend this to one computer per child in the next two years.  To make more effective use of financial budget, all software used is open source. 

Staff are encouraged to develop their own resources and can be awarded grants of up to 18.000 euros to do so.  Every teacher is provided with a computer and they are planning to provide free home internet access for all teachers.  All schools have a IWB with plans to increase this further.

Our first school visit was to the primary school attached to the TRC.  They said this was a very old school - all of 50 years!

Visit 1 - CP Arias Montano (Emma Pickering)

A Whole School Approach to Support and Encourage Reading Using ICT

During our first Primary School visit we found out about a whole school project developed to promote reading for the pupils aged 3-12. 

The annual project which runs from Christmas to the end of April, begins with the selection of a book which is appropriate for the whole age range, is of interest to the pupils and has a film version which the school requests Santa Claus delivers to the pupils.  The book is studied at both school and home, books are bought for the school library based on the story theme and a carnival is held during which all pupils and staff dress as characters from the book. 

The project is supported throughout by the use of NeoBook, a presentation program from Linex.  The program is used to present texts, which may be unavailable, to support younger pupil and pupils with SEN, songs, activities,  poetry and is also used for the hugely anticipated a top secret final contest for all pupils aged 6-12 (with differentiated support) at the end of the project.  Mosca, the reading fly, presents questions which use the pupils' audio, visual and kinaesthetic skills, practised throughout the project. 

The pupils thoroughly enjoy the project and each receives a diploma for their hard work.

Lunch was provided by the TRC  in our hotel - certainly nothing like this at Dryden!  Not a sausage roll or spring roll in sight.  Three courses, beer by the jug, a few bottles of wine and four bottles of water later we retired for a siesta.  At this point the rain was tropical so no wandering off to a local taverna (again!).  If this was how things were looking foodwise, we'd need new clothes by the end of the trip.

Later that evening, Antonio gave us a guided tour of the old town of Badajoz.  It is only recently that the preservation of the old buildings has become important and there is certainly potential to exploit the history of the city both with its buildings and streets. It has bridges dating from Roman times and castles from the time of the moors.  No mention was made, however, of the seige in 1812!

The city gates to the right form the emblem for Badajoz and are known as the Puerto de Palmas and was built in the 16th century.

The Alcazaba (citadel) was built by the Arabs and is one of the best conserved walled castles in Spain.  A number of its towers are still intact.  The area now forms part of the university.

We finished our evening in a tapas bar near the centre of the old town.  Just to prove how far from the UK we were and that 'sports' other than football exist and are shown in bars, the plasma screen was showing a series of bullfights!  The walls of the bar were adorned with signed photos of matadors along with numerous tickets and posters advertising fights from days gone by.

Yet again, David is missing from the photographs - well... he was chief photographer! 

It was tine to have our second experience of the Madrid metro and navigate our way to our station.  There was obviously a run on somewhere as a large number of our fellow passengers were in running gear and had numbers pinned to their chests.  Running seemed a bit of a mad idea - it was 8.30 am and already almost 20°C.  News from the UK was it was 4°C but not how much snow.

12.15pm

We are halfway through our train journey to Badajoz.  Some people are sleeping and others are filling the time with name games and 'Guess the Celeb'.  Temperature currently displaying 23°C and rising.  It might drop to 17°C tomorrow and rain.  What a hardship!

The scenery is very interesting - mountain range in the distance with rolling hills near the track.  There are a lot of trees that look a bit like olive trees but David thinks they are cork trees.  Buildings are rustic - large stones, solid window and door frames (bars at the windows) with tiled areas for decoration.  Lots of red tiled roofs.

Our fellow passengers are very friendly and attempting to have conversations with us.  I've just managed to explain to my neighbour whereabouts in the UK with him speaking in French; me mixing broken French and English and a very rough map showing football teams.  He says Sunderland is a very poor team (sorry Colin)!  Fortunately a number of our group are pretty fluent French and Spanish speakers.

This is very odd - the train has just started to go backwards to continue its journey to Badajoz!

The scenery is amazing.  We're getting higher into the mountains and looks a geologist/geographers delight.  Definite signs of glacier activity - limestone pavements and lots of very large boulders looking like they've just been dropped.  There are lots of white storks flying around.  Numbers of these birds are soaring and they live in very close association with man.

The highest temperature reached was a final 29°C and it was just under that when we reached Badajoz.

We were met by Antonio Guillén, our local contact, and two others who drove us to our hotel.

After unpacking, we had a wander around Badajoz then spent a pleasant hour or so with the locals.  Perfect time to practise our Espaňol!

Avenida de Huelva shows how much further on their flowers are - wisteria in full bloom!

As it was a Sunday and everywhere was closed, we elected to have dinner en masse in the hotel restaurant.  €15 for a four course meal including wine and water went down a treat and certainly made up for the five hour famine on the train.

Liz informed us breakfast was up to us but we had to be in the lobby by 8.55am.

Peace restored when we discovered a TV en route to the gate as can be seen in the photo.  Comply or Die won and our winner wasn't even watching!  David was the lucky recipient - drinks on him tonight!

Our Easy-Jet plane had a very quick turn around - all of 10 mins - but there were plenty of seats to go round.  Ronnie the rabbit who is accompanying Lee even managed to have his own seat.  Colin was determined to be the last on board but he was pipped at the post by a late arrival.  His argument for being last - you tend to get a good aisle seat near the front.

We had a Spanish crew including the delightful Carlos who had a fit of the giggles during the safety demonstration.  Surely that's not part of the training.  Confusion arose during the visit of the drinks trolley - new price and product list but they were working on old stock.  Carlos struggled with the maths and tried to give Liz more change.  He thought she was very honest when the £5 note was returned.

Liz and I are convinced we had a near miss about halfway through the journey.  A plane was nearby and its exhaust fumes were not fluffy and white but very dark and sinister looking (if it was a car it looked like a major oil problem).  The suspect plane was approaching rapidly from our left and our plane was continuing on course.  Both of us expected our pilot to begin to ascend very rapidly - nothing happened so we held our breaths.  The other plane passed very closely below us and there seemed to be some slight turbulence.  Nothing was said or done - maybe we were the only people who had spotted it.  Maybe we'll find out in a couple of months when there's a news story about a near miss that happened 3 months ago!

Brilliant sunset as we landed at Madrid airport and we had bags collected and through customs in less than half an hour.  It took us almost half an hour to get to the metro station and about 45 mins to get to our hotel for the night.  Google Maps indicated we had to cross a roundabout and a busy dual carriageway.  Yes, Google can get it wrong - it was a simple 2 min walk across a back road that looked like it was the station's staff car parking area.

The hotel was impressive - lots of marble and steps.  Rooms were very good although it was slightly spooky to have the TV on and welcoming you by name as you walked in the room.

Quick 15 mins turn around and it was down to the bar for much needed refreshments.  This was our first lesson in Spanish but at least we know grande means large and pointing works wonders.  Midnight saw us off to bed for an 8.00 am breakfast ready to leave at 8.30 am.

Team Gateshead met at 11.30 am on Newcastle Station - suppposedly under the clock but Liz had hidden herself around the corner on Platform 2.

Everyone looked incredibly perky considering it was just the first day of the holiday!!

13.30

We're about 5 mins from Edinburgh and so far we've organised our sweep for the Grand National.