Basketball Experience Abroad

18:23 Unknown 0 Comments

As sport lover, I couldn't lose the possibility of playing basketball during the formative experience in Bradford.

A couple of week before taking the plane to Bradford, I searched a basketball team here and I found the Bradford Dragons club, so I wrote a request explaining my situation before to arrive and suggesting if I could have the possibility of training with them just for having fun.

After a couple of weeks, I had the chance to play a friendly game, playing for the Bradford College against the Bradford University.

It was a really good game, pretty similar as the typical sport derby of the city in any sport competition. 

The court was nearly crowed, and all my formative experience's colleagues were supporting me and cheering all of my baskets, which were dedicated for them encouraging their energetic voices (spanish voices).

After a huge struggled game, my team the Bradford College beat the Bradford University by the result of 84-69, and I was very proud of myself because I did a really good performance, thank of my fans club!

There are here some pictures of the match.

Bradford College vs Bradford University

Team of Bradford College

Another point for Bradford College

Juan scoring

Time out

Starting the match

Juan scoring again
End of the match

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School Facilities

17:18 Unknown 0 Comments

The Belle Vue sport facilities

The centre has a huge amount of facilities. It is really awesome walking for the school’s corridors, taking a look of the ICT preparation of each class, electronic blackboards, one I-Mac for each student, the artistic and musical stages, with expensive and sophisticated tools to develop the performances.

Sport facilities

In particular from my point of view, the sport facilities are quite awesome, but not as important as the quantity is their quality. In Spain it is really complicated to find any school with such level in infrastructures, having in account that we are talking about a public school. 
Sport hall at BVG
For instance, Manu and me, we have been delivering some football lessons using for the first time the new football pitch made of artificial grass.
Football pitch
Classroom with views to the indoor court
Nevertheless the football pitch, is not as impressive as the “Zara” ground, where the school have an indoor  court, a big class to develop the sport lessons. And also they have got a very modern fitness room full of gymnastic machines. Not enough with these facilities, the school also has another indoor court because of the climatic inclements.

View of the indoor court from the classroom in the upper leve
One of the most impressive things as sport teachers, is the stock sport material that the school is taking advantage of. They have a tremendous variety of sport equipments and, which is more important, in a really good preservation and quite news, even with full equipment of minority sports.
Good preservation and new material for PE

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The mystery of the yellow bikes

09:00 adelapc 0 Comments

Do you know where the Tour de France Grand Depart took place a year ago? Well, neither we did until a couple of days ago. However during our trips the last couple of weeks, we started to spot this:

Tour de Yorkshire's symbol
Yellow bikes all around us!
After a brief discussion, we ruled out some conspiracy theories and started, as good researchers, to investigate the issue. So, we google it.

What we found out it is that in 2014 the Tour de France started in Yorkshire and happened to be a big success in the county. As a result of that, Yorkshire people decided to organize their own tour whose symbol is surprise-surprise... a yellow bike! So the Tour de Yorkshire is taking place this very weekend all around us.

Here is the promotional video which will give you a nice picture of the region we are living in:



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Bradford Theatre

10:00 adelapc 0 Comments

Have we ever told you the name of Bradford's theatre which, by the way, is not very far from our residence? Have a go and guess! Or just go to the answer in the picture below!
Alhambra Theatre of Bradford
Alhambra Theatre
That's it! Alhambra Theatre! It's a small but nice building where you can choose a different play to see every week. Remember to bring your student card for concessions (normally £2.5 off). 

This week, the play was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, based of the novel by Mark Haddon. So, some of us decided to go and we really enjoyed it. Tickets cost us £11 each in the upper level, however once there we were resettled in the front row in stalls! Lucky us!

Painting in the street for the play 20th April
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
In case you don't know the plot, we leave you the information available in the leaflet and a video:

'Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain - exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers. When he falls under the suspicion of killing Mrs Shears' dog, it takes him on a journey that upturns his world'. 


We really enjoyed ourselves and recommend the experience to everyone!

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Herdding our puppils. A lightly confusing introduction to pastoral and behaviour management

20:00 Unknown 0 Comments

Dog and a flock of sheeps


I was not the only one who got a bit stunned when reading “meeting with the Pastoral Manager” in our training programme. After leaving my intuitions out to understand the meaning of the term “pastoral”, I did decide to google it. Poor me! I didn't research enough to realise it means more that one thing in English. So automatically I started wondering “what the h*** is a priest doing in a state-funded school?”. Poor me again, with all my secular prejudices!

Nothing further from the truth. The role of a Pastoral manager in an English school is something akin to our “orientador escolar”. And actually, Claire – whom we have the pleasure to meet- was great. Sometimes it is much easier to ask the people what they do in their jobs than to study the official tasks they're suppose to do.  

Pastoral managers in BVG are responsible for any single students' concern that goes besides academic stuff. Just to mention some of them: groups tutoring, avoiding bullying and other forms of violence, integrating new students in the everyday school life, controlling attendance and punctuality and so on and so force.

Something interesting that showed up in the conversation was the organisation model they have built up. Unlike the horizontal system of tutoring we're use to, BVG has adopted a scheme that has become popular in the country during the last few years. The full student body is divided into seven “houses” that are named after a famous female intellectual to encourage them. There are no special criteria for the initial assignment to a house but to spread out the students with special need and to not separate members from the same family. Then, each house is divided again in groups formed by members of every year(vertical system) . This groups are meeting everyday for half an hour. During that time, a bunch of activities are done: from dealing with daily cohabitation  problems to project-based works. It would be interesting to study the advantages and problems of this model by comparing it to the classic horizontal one. But I don't want to get annoying with long reflections.

Besides the meeting I just wrote about, we had a seminar session in college about behaviour management. Two excellent teachers provided us with some techniques for avoiding misbehaviour in class and then, we did some role-playing. Even if nothing too new comes into pitch, it was a clever, humorous synthesis of many strategies we have learnt this year. 

Just to sum up, it's been a week with some very interesting experiences. I would like to thank all the Bradford College's and BVG's staff that are collaborating with us.


Antonio Yuste
Sheeps on the field
My own view on Bradford City

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Next stop...

01:57 Manuel Castillo 0 Comments

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Let's go to class!! Please mom, 5 minutes more...

13:12 Unknown 0 Comments

Hi, fans from facebook, instagram...after some days spent on getting used to Bradford, and its amazing, wonderful "party environment", we were ready for starting our experience as assistant teachers in Belle Vue Girls' School!

The first thing that we had to do was to register our name in a device you could find in the reception hall. Then, we had to take a picture of our face, and stick that picture with our name to us, so everybody could see that actually we were teachers. Otherwise, no one would believe that...
Maybe in other posts we can share with you some of the pictures, which are truly marvelous :)

Anyway, there were some aspects of the highschool which impressed us, first of all, something that you might have guess with the name of the School, is that it is a Highschool for Girls, so the male teachers (specially me) created great expectation when they walked by the corridor. We also started to see a high variety of resources, available for a lot of different subjects, as well equipped labs, digital blackboards and...an impressive music classroom! The teacher (who was very kind to us) invited us to watch one of the acts of a band of student (which were formed by guitar players, drummers...)  they were playing the song "I love Rock 'N' Roll" from Joan Jett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHg0uRAyVs). I have to admit it, THEY ROCKED IT!! The music classroom was also provided by computers with keyboards and microphones, so everybody could release the singer inside of them.

The moment of truth: Let's face the students!!

After crawling around the different buildings of the highschool, the second day we would have the chance to go to the classes from different subjects as observers. We weren't creepy at all, we were just taking notes "on the sly", without being notice. We could say that we looked like this guy...

Sideways glance
From the observations, we could start to realize about the great classroomss equipment: teachers used the digital and interactive blackboards all the time, during different workshops students were provided by laptops from the university, and science labs had all the resources they need to carry on the experiments. By the way, did I say that science teachers teach inside the lab so they can do there the experiments?

Of course not, it was only a nexus to this paragraph, about other thing that surprised us. Each teacher has his/her own classroom, with all the materials they need. "This is my classroom, I have everything I need here, it's something that is mine, so the students go here to carry on the class". Sounds logical, right? This is one of the first differences with Spain that we saw: students have to move from class to class, and the teacher will be waiting in his/her own classroom (music classroom, theater classroom, science classroom...).

We could also attend to other classes that are not typical in Spain, as drama or technology (a special technology, were they learned how to sew, and other very interesting skills), anyway, we will talk about these classes in other post.

Respect to the technology class, we were amazed by the resources that students could use during the classes. In one of them, they had to make cushions with different images, which were designed by them, and the material for doing that were...Sewing machines!! We could see dresses, costumes, and toys made from different materials (wool, fabrics...). In addition, they could use the computers in the class to work on the design they wanted to use. As far as i have seen, they are very competent.

I don't want to bore you, so we will tell you more soon.

See you!!

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Some basic characteristics of the educational system in England

21:05 Unknown 0 Comments

 
Belle Vue Girls
In this entry you can find some basic information related to the educational system in England. We have learnt a great amount of details concerning this topic since we have the chance to enjoy the wonderful lectures offered by Prof. Joanne Courtney at Bradford College every Thursday. Besides, our days at Belle Vue Girls School make us experience the daily routine of a school in our own skin!

As you may know, there exist some differences among the regions that belong to the UK in terms of educational policies. Here, we are going to highlight those aspects that are specifically connected with the English system since Bradford is located in there.

As an introduction, it is useful to know that the majority of schools in England follow the National Curriculum, which was introduced for the first time in 1988. 

Types of Schools
On the one hand, they establish two main groups and divide them into "State Schools" or "Private Schools". In the first group, the State Schools, parents do not have to pay for education.  Here we enumerate some of the most important examples:

  • Community schools: controlled by the local councils. They are not influenced by businesses or religious groups.
  • Foundation schools, with more freedom than in community schools.
  • Academies: run by a governing body, independent from the local council. They can follow a different curriculum. Belle Vue, the site for our school placement, adheres to this subtype of state school.
  • Grammar schools: run by the council or a foundation body. There exists a previous selection of students based on their ability and there is often an exam to get in.

However, when parents decide to pay for education we find Private Schools. They are also called public or independent schools. Then, instead of being funded by the government, they charge fees to attend. Moreover, they do not have to follow the national curriculum that is something compulsory in the rest of schools, although they are inspected regularly as state schools are.

There are also free schools that are funded by the government but aren´t run by the local council. They can use academic selection processes like grammar schools and set their own pay and conditions for staff, change the length of schools terms or school day, and don´t have to follow the national curriculum.


Distribution of Key Stages and Years

The system is divided into Key Stages (KS) and Years. There are 4 Key Stages and 11 Years that are distributed in the way we show in the table below:


Describing the educational system in general terms is sometimes useful. Notwithstanding, it is better to apply theory to real practice and experience the reality of a school in England to fully understand how it works.

Our experience at BVG so far

Our experience here has been interesting because we have been shadowing and observing both the teachers and pupils from different ages in a big range of subjects. We will highlight the most essential characteristics we have focused on during this week:

  • Subjects offered at school: the majority of us have been shadowing in subjects such as English, Maths, Textiles, MFL (Modern Foreign languages), Physical Education, Technology, Science, Drama, Chemistry, Arabic, Sociology, Religious Studies, etc. 
  • Communities or Tutor Groups/Assemblies: One important difference that we have encountered here is that they have created what they call "Communities". The total amount of girls in the high school are divided into different communities whose names are based on famous women who were successful in the past like Marie Curie, Sanderson or Bronte. They meet together everyday to share aspects of life that are of worth, act as a medium for communicating matters of significance from one generation to another in terms of academic life, personal life and other interests. We found this amazing!
  • Ability/Streaming: the classes are classified according to the level of the students or their ability. Thus, we encounter classes that are called "low ability classes" or others that are "high ability". Teacher Assistants play an important role especially in those classes where there are girls with special needs.
  • Regarding classroom organisation, they are distributed in groups in the classes. Triangle tables facilitate this and there are no problems when teams have to be created or dissolved.
  • The access to ICT is wonderful. Every classroom provides an interactive whiteboard, they have visualisers for the teachers to make real documents digital, they have Macs to use them in subjects such as Music or Science, a music studio is ready for them to record their own voices or a great variety of musical instruments is available for them to practice. A 3D printer is also coming soon. 
  • When students are asked if they are happy in their school, they tend to give us positive answers, emphasizing the quality of the education they receive. In fact, ofsted results underline that students respond well to high expectations set by the teachers, have a positive attitude to learning and are keen to do their best (Ofsted, at BVG webpage).
In a nutshell, it is a real pleasure to be part of this brilliant experience. We really expect to continue learning as trainee teachers in this fantastic school and, of course, post the most important details for you all here!






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Visiting York

19:42 Unknown 0 Comments

On our first weekend, some of us decided to visit York. In order to get there, we took a bus from Bradford to Leeds and then from Leeds to York. It took us two hours to get there but it was definitely worth it.
En nuestro primer fin de semana, algunos de nosotros decidimos ir de visita a York. Para llegar hasta allí, cogimos un autobús de Bradford a Leeds y después otro de Leeds hasta York. Nos llevó dos horas llegar, pero definitivamente mereció la pena.

York is a lovely city with a lot of beautiful places to visit - monuments, buildings, etc. And, on top of it all, we could enjoy a super nice day in the English sun!
Es una ciudad encantadora con muchos sitios bonitos que visitar - monumentos, edificios, etc. Y, además de esto, ¡pudimos disfrutar de un día súper agradable y soleado!

York Minster
York

People in York
We even met some locals and made new friends!


My favourite part of York was The Shambles, which is a 14th century street where the butchers used to display their products. It is full of little timber-framed houses and they overhang the street by several metres.
Mi parte favorita de York fueron los Shambles, una calle edificada en el siglo XIV en la que los carniceros solían exponer sus productos. Está llena de casitas con entramados de madera que sobresalen unos cuantos metros por encima de la calle.

The Shambles in York
Some of the Shambles


Shambles crumbling above us
The shambles were crumbling above us!

We also went to see the famous Clifford's Tower. When we saw it, we were actually expecting a proper castle, but instead we got this peculiar and kind of lonely tower which we all liked very much.
También fuimos a ver la famosa Clifford's Tower. Cuando la vimos, en realidad esperábamos encontrarnos con un castillo hecho y derecho, pero nos encontramos con esta peculiar y algo solitaria torre que, aún así, nos gustó mucho a todos.

Clifford's Tower in York
Delia and Laura with the Clifford's Tower
All in all, the six of us enjoyed our trip very much and had a wonderful day!
En resumen, los seis disfrutamos mucho del viaje y pasamos un día genial.

Shortest street with longest name
From left to right: Laura, Manu, Nacho, Delia and Juan at Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, the shortest street with the longest name.

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First week

21:49 adelapc 0 Comments

Hey there!

Friday at least! We have survived our first week in Bradford. We have been doing a lot of things this week and we are trying still to process all that brand-new information to write some good entries for the blog. We leave you a sneak peek of our week below!

Juan, Miguel, Julia, Manuel, Laura, Delia, María and Antonio at Belle Vue.
At Belle Vue.


Thursday lesson at Bradford College.
At Bradford College on our Thursday lesson.


María, Antonio and Delia at the park.
Be aware of the ducks!

Have a nice weekend!! :)


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Where we stay

21:54 adelapc 0 Comments

One of the things that concerned us the most was the accommodation. Sometimes it is not easy to find a place for a short stay. However everything was booked in advance for the coordination of the program. 

easby road signal
Doris Birdsall Hall is in Easby Road
We were offered to stay at Doris Birdsall Hall of Residence in Easby Road, not very far away from the city center. This accommodation consists of flats of five rooms each with a shared kitchen. Charge per week is £81.41 (£11.63 per night). To give you an idea, we are staying here more or less 30 nights which makes around £360. Some days after our arrival, we received the invoice to make the payment. 

What is included in the price? You will have an individual ensuite room with two beds, normally bunks, wifi and bedlinen. Towels are not included though. The kitchen is fully equipped with everything you need to cook and feed yourself during the stay. Also there is a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine and an ironing set per flat. 

Food is not included, there are some supermarkets in the area and you can also use the canteen in the Trinity Green Building, whose cook turns out to be Spanish!

A week before your arrival the accommodation contact will send you an e-mail with all the information you need. We were also assigned flats and rooms before our arrival, so it turned out that five of us are sharing a flat, three of the girls are sharing another flat and two of the boys are living in a boys-only flat. 

Here you can find more information about the residence and below some pictures. If you need further information, do not doubt to leave us a comment!

corridor
Corridor
kitchen
Julia and Antonio in the kitchen


bedroom
Two-beds bedroom

bunks
Bedroom with bunks

bathroom
Ensuite bathroom


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On our way to Bradford! ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈

20:00 María 0 Comments

Today my mates and I are travelling to Bradford where we will stay for 4 weeks serving as student teachers in a school called Belle Vue Girls' School. We are all very excited about the idea and have very high expectations for this experience.

FLIGHT DETAILS

Some of us are flying with Ryanair from Málaga to Manchester and others directly to Bradford. We did not have much time to book our flight as we were not told the precise date until one month before the scolarship. The flight cost us around 200€ round trip and one check-in bags.

Málaga-Manchester

In our case, Adela and I, once in Manchester Airport a bus will drop us at Bradford Interchange (bus station) which takes around two hours (around £10). The bus station in Bradford is not very far away from Doris Birdsall residence hall, only 20 min. away walking.

Málaga-Bradford

The rest of the students flyed directly to Bradford-Leeds Airport from where they booked a taxi which drove them to the Residence Hall. We recomend you to book a taxi in advance and check the prices, as the cost is variable depending on the time. 

What stuff are we carrying? Well, first of all, we have packed a 15-20 kg. luggage plus a 10 kg. handbag, which we hope will be enough for the whole month. We were asked to wear in a formal way when attending the lessons, no jeans are allowed in the school!! Most of us have 2 or 3 formal trousers and shirts to wear when going to school. As for the weather forecast concerns, temperatures will vary between 5° and 16°, so we all are taking along warm and light clothes just in case. We are also carrying some food as we will have a kitchen available for every 5 students at the residence hall.

Here in the map you can see that it takes around 19 min. and you will be using main roads. 

Map from Bradford Interchange Station to our accommodation
Here you can find some photos of the journey, from my family bidding me farewell to our arrival to Bradford. 

Bye bye Guadix!

Bye bye my beloved family!

Our luggage

Adela in Bradford Interchange


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Welcome to our blog!

22:42 María 0 Comments

This is the first blog entry which hopefully on a regular basis will be updated by one of us informing you all about our experience in Bradford and how things are going on.

First of all, let us inform you about the point on coming to Bradford. The Teaching Training Master of the University of Granada offers a scholarship to 10 students, out of the 600 hundred registered in the master, who will have the chance to work as student-teachers for one month in the United Kingdom and learn new teaching methodologies.

It is the first time this program is offered to master students, so we are as guinea pigs and very excited about it.  The first time we heard about it was in the first Master meeting back in October 2014. You can see the call for the scholarship in the following link:

http://internacional.ugr.es/pages/movilidad/estudiantes/salientes/estancias-formativas-1415
Period: from 11th April 2015 to 9th May 2015.
Financial aid: 350 €
School: Belle Vue Girl's School
Selection criteria: academic record mark and certified English level
Application period: from 26th November to 8th December 2014 on paper in International Relations Office of the UGR.
Provisional resolution: 14th January 2015

From the original 10 students selected, two turned it down and another two students from the reserve list joined the final 10 candidates. This is a short summary of the most important aspects of the scholarship. 

 To know more about how things are going on, keep on reading!! 

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