Today I want to begin a series of posts on the week that we had last week at Howell’s School Denbigh , north Wales. So there we were four teachers from school with a total of 41 secondary school students.
The mini-program consists of classes stays in the morning, sports in the afternoon and evening leisure activities. During this series of posts will realize each of these areas, because they all go far.

The location of the stay was like a film. One of those great British schools, old, solemn children now relate the saga of Harry Potter and larger children associate with The Dead Poets Society . A place with over two hundred years of history, shields on all sides, in which up to the rooms of the homes, instead of numbers, have the name of an illustrious professor of the history of the institution.

Howell’s , that’s the name of the school is a boarding school for girls of all ages in which we arrived to find from three students Spanish quinceañeras a princess Nigeria about nine years which followed him everywhere an entourage of no less of three.

During our stay, we had the chance to make two trips, a half-day to the historic town of Chester making the Roman past very present, and another full day to Liverpool , which included visiting the Beatles Museum and the legendary The Cavern , where it was mandatory to get into the environment and have a beer. We who are football fans stayed with the thorn to visit Anfield , but a bit of shopping made ​​us take it a little better and think that, perhaps, on another visit we happen to know one of the most legendary stadiums in the world.

Great discoveries that both our students and we could do over a fantastic week though, for me, which made ​​it memorable was the opportunity to meet teachers, monitors, leisure and sports leaders of Stars Group , the company, along with UKLC   develop these programs in Howell’s and other parts of the UK. A group of people who enjoy their work and who are true geniuses, each in his field. Always watching, polite, friendly, willing … and led by a true group of management and development of educational programs.

The experience was wonderful and highly recommended, and share the details in later posts. Today I leave the pictures that accompany this introduction to whet your appetite.

Mini-stay in Denbigh (Wales). 2. – Classes.

The main reason for organizing the stay with our students in the United Kingdom was to provide the possibility of a language immersion in English-speaking environment. To do this, one of the most important things is that the program that we chose had the opportunity to attend some classes with native teachers, as this they would be exposed to real communication more comprehensive than those typically have in your classroom usual, the absence of the resource to be understood in Spanish.

The fact coincides with another group of students Russians throughout the week was a good addition to this theory, as the English language was the means of communication. They also agreed number of days with students in English schools environment near Denbigh, so that the enrichment was even greater. 

The first day our students were divided into groups where students mingled with Russian and English, with whom he developed a project team where his mission was to invent a product and create a marketing plan to sell it.
That afternoon I did a placement test for, from the next day, arrange them in groups as homogeneous as possible for lessons to suit their communication skills. 

The classes themselves were based on activities that were of value to students in different aspects of oral communication and its application in real environments , with approaches such as field trips to make during the week at Chester and Liverpool . All tasks were focused on their use in real communication, and from them, worked indirectly, grammar and vocabulary.  

The indications and corrections were always aimed at improving communication skills

In short, dynamic away much of what we used to be our school.

The last day of class students Spanish and Russian re-mixed in the groups for another project . This time, they had to create a newspaper with different sections. Even some of the groups came with their teachers and other monitors accompanying the people of Denbigh to interview local people and make a total immersion.

Teachers had the opportunity to witness the final minutes of any meetings and we get an excellent impression of what we saw there, both the methodology used, which could learn a lot, and the performance of children in our college.

Mini-stay in Denbigh 3 – Activities

One of the aspects that attracted our attention before we go to the trip was that of the sports that take place in the afternoon. On the photos page UKLC and Stars Group, Howell’s School had many good facilities for sports.

 Every day after lunch, around 2 pm and until 4.30 began sporting activities. The sports leaders, all graduates, were controlled to the smallest detail. The first day our students divided, the Russians and the English who had gone to spend the day in six groups differentiated by the letters A through F. Each group had to go through three of the six activities proposed in shifts of 45 minutes, time enough to enjoy on each activity.

That was Tuesday. On Thursday, the same groups performed three activities for which the first day had not passed. 

Neither that, nor the perfect organization and timing of team work Stars Group that whenever a rotating shift ended, came promptly to a meeting point from which they returned to take his group to the activity that corresponded to below.

Our students had the opportunity of TEAMBUILDING, a battery of games in which the organization was critical equipment as required to reason, empathize and act together; TEAM CHALLENGE, a circuit test of skill, coordination, balance and work equipment, CLIMBING, a climbing wall in the pavilion, caving in a facility with an artificial cave, ARCHERY , which aim to demonstrate archery, and the great feeling, AEROBALL a great game, but much wear, which should put a ball in a kind of basket of the opponent while jumping on a trampoline. 

In each of the activities are explained to students what it was and safety standards required to perform them correctly. At all times in each group were with two monitors, one of which the holder belongs to Stars Group and the other, a monitor supporting practices.

After those two hours, continued physical activity. Students should choose the activity they would take next. They must choose between playing football, which was not so in demand as it seemed at first, more AEROBALL , as I said before, was the star activity for students (and teachers) , DRAMA , workshop in which body language were linked to the theatre or dance , or CHEERLEADING, in acrobatic choreography that were prepared in the style of American cheerleading groups with stunts of all kinds.

At night, after dinner, they also had fun activities. From these activities we have just the information you had on the previous day’s meeting and told us that after the students, as it was the time that teachers who had accompanied them free all day, and that because those responsible for there we “invited” to not be present. That time we took advantage of, usually, to send to school photos for publication on the school website.

These activities “night” (they were from 7.30 to 9.30) were from Trashion Show , a parade of models made ​​from recyclable materials, the PAPARAZZI NIGHT , which had to find places of Howell’s where they had been taken some photographs that they spent , the MINI-OLYMPICS , a series of sports activities that took place the day we made ​​a visit to Chester, the day was the least tired of all and that’s why they put this activity (it was all planned), a session SINGSTAR in which allowed one voice to a good season and the last night session LIIGHT DISC.

In short, a vast array of different activities, all entertaining and with which our students were exhausted every day before going to bed that was obviously one of the main objectives.

Tuesday April 17, 2012

Mini-stay in Denbigh 4 – Teachers

In what will be the last post about the stay that began three weeks ago in Wales (how time flies) I will talk about how we  the teachers who went up there with the students.

If I had to describe in one word the experience we had during the week that we were in the United Kingdom, it would be quite impossible to choose between the many adjectives that come to mind. Wonderful, spectacular, memorable, fun … and many more.

To go to parties, I will say that there were four teachers of the school and a girl who accompanied us Nubra, the company which had hired the trip and can only have good things, because it was integrated from the start as most of us and always had an immediate response to questions or potential problems that could arise.

We went to Asturias with 41 high school students who, at first we thought would surely take advantage of the fact of being away from home to build one, not sleeping … such things as typical of their age. What we did not experience this in any way, and had exemplary behaviour at all times.

Our week in Denbigh was very quiet. After breakfast, students had two sessions and morning language class. We could only go to meetings a few times to see the results of two projects carried out side by Russian students the first day, and one day themselves before going to Liverpool. For this reason, we had a few spare moments before and after the break between classes in the mornings.

After lessons it was time for lunch and then the sporting activities began, for which we were going to check the skill (of some more than others) of our students in the various posts that I discussed in my previous post.

A couple of days we went into town to meet the catering business and testing the Welsh flavour of beer, plus a billarín. The rest is dedicated to find a computer to send photos to school to get into the web and families could see what their children were enjoying.

If we add this trip to Chester, a beautiful English City with lots of Roman presence in antiquity and today still retains much of its walls, amphitheatres and ruin some of the time, and the long-awaited visit to Liverpool by all, where we could see the Beatles Museum, a brand-new shows on the Titanic, just as these days it has completed the centenary of its sinking, The Cavern, the legendary bar where the Beatles became famous, and some shopping by a large commercial area of ​​the city, we can conclude with the feeling of having spent a great week.

I would like thank the Director for giving us the opportunity to go, to my colleagues for the great week we had, to students, so well behaved and good vibes we had by all and, finally, to organisation skills of Stars Group and UKLC, we received a wonderful stay.

In the press release Beta stated that:

“This study draws together the relevant material to better understand and present the travellers’ behaviour and attributes to a wider audience. “Investment in the international education of the young, whether for formal education or experiential travel, is felt over a lifetime – through inward investment, global trade, employment, tourism and in the overall competitiveness of Britain in the world.” said Chairman Dick Porter
Mr Porter went on to say “It’s time that we together identified the significance and characteristics of this dynamic market and planned accordingly”.
Youth travel is still the fastest growing and one of the most dynamic travel sectors. Youth travellers are knowledgeable, fun, eager, educated, focussed, ambitious and demanding. We must continue to engage these travellers, to encourage the growth of their knowledge of the world and Britain’s unique strengths.”

！yi lu shun feng (Bon Voyage) Laura