Spanish - English Exchange

Do you have a teenaged son or daughter studying Spanish? Would they welcome the opportunity to improve their Spanish conversation while experiencing authentic Spanish culture in a beautiful corner of Spain? Well, my students are looking for an English pen pal and exchange partner who they can stay with in England, and then welcome into their homes here in Spain.

It is well known that a “total immersion” experience is by far the best way to learn a language (I am living proof; when I moved here I spoke next to no Spanish and now I’m fluent!). An exchange is a mutually beneficial venture that not only improves participants’ language skills and understanding of another culture, but also increases their personal confidence and broadens their horizons.

Every summer I visit my home town, Tunbridge Wells, and have been trying to organise a Spanish-English exchange for my students with schools in the area. This has proved difficult for various reasons. Some schools already have a link to a Spanish secondary school and others do a trip to Spain but not an exchange. Others offer exchanges for their French or German students but not for Spanish. As I have just a small school and am only looking to bring around ten students per year to England, it hasn’t been possible to set up a link with a school. So I’m trying to contact families directly to explain what I can offer to students of Spanish in the Tunbridge Wells area.

I teach English to children between the ages of 5 and 17 for two hours a week. These are private classes outside of school hours so by the time they are 13–14, most students have a very good grasp of vocabulary and grammar. What they really need at this point is to improve their listening comprehension, conversational fluency and pronunciation and the best way to achieve this is to spend some intensive time with a native speaker in an English-speaking country. The same goes for English students of Spanish. Through the use of an exchange form I will attempt to pair students with common interests. They will get to know each other as “e-pals”, before spending a week to ten days in each other’s houses, accompanied on all the trips either by me or by my husband, Pedro.

Frequently asked questions

Where’s Don Benito?

                              
 

It is a town similar in size to Tunbridge Wells, located in Extremadura, in the south-west of Spain. It is roughly equidistant between Madrid and Lisbon. It has all the amenities of a good-sized town and is within easy distance of some beautiful old cities, National Parks and important Roman ruins.

When will the exchange take place?

During the summer holidays. Ideally the Spanish group would visit England in July and the English group would visit Spain in August but dates are flexible and will depend on flight prices. Once I have a group of English students to pair with my Spanish students I will work closely with the families to organise the best dates for everyone involved.

What will the exchange partners do?

The students will spend a week to ten days staying with their exchange partner, spending time with their families and friends. Many of my students have a flat in town and a country house outside the town where they spend the holidays. The families will be expected to take the students on some days out to the local places of interest. Similarly, while the Spanish students are staying with you they will expect to spend the time in and around Tunbridge Wells with a couple of visits to local attractions and perhaps a day in London. I will accompany the students on their flights and I will also be as an immediate point of contact for anything the English students might need while they are in Spain, as for the Spanish students while they’re in England.

How much will it cost?

It’s difficult to state a price before we can reserve the flights, but you will need to pay your child’s travel costs plus a contribution of £50 to my travel expenses. Additionally, I would recommend that the students take around 100€ with them as pocket money. By organising the trips privately, I aim to keep the costs as low as possible.

Are the participants and their homes “vetted”?

As their teacher of many years, I can personally vouch for my students and their families. On the exchange form participants will be asked to provide details of their homes, including who lives with them and where their exchange partner will sleep. The students will also be able to specify if they prefer an exchange partner of the same gender. In the UK, either I or my colleague based in Tunbridge Wells will check the suitability of the exchange participants and their homes.  

If you or your son or daughter would be interested in participating in this exchange, please contact me at emmaschool@movistar.es