Language Assistant´s Best Friend Visits Maestra Isabel Álvarez

English Language Assistant, Rachel´s best friend from the United States visited the school for one day last week. Her name is Grace. Grace lives in Michigan, where she studies at the university for her Masters degree. Grace and Rachel grew up in the same area in the countryside of Pennsylvania and went to the same high school. 

Grace accompanied Rachel to the bilingual classes of the 2nd, 4th and 5th courses. The children asked Grace a lot of questions about her life, hobbies, work and Michigan where she lives. Grace also showed the children photos of Jamaca. Grace visited Jamaca various times to explore and do volunteer service work. Here are some of Grace´s photos from Jamaca!

a classroom at a primary school in Jamaca:

 some primary school students:

a primary school:

 the Jamacan flag and a sunset:

  the nature:

Visting the Town Hall.

On Wednesday, June 6th The students of the 6th course went on an excursion to the Sevilla´s town hall (Ayuntamiento) that is located in between Plaza San Fransisco and Plaza Nueva! The town hall is where the mayor (alcalde) and many other government people work. Sevilla´s town hall is very beautiful and has a lot of interesting history.

A guide led the students around the inside of the building and explained many things about the history, architecture, paintings and sculptures, and functions of the many rooms. The students took notes aout the history of the different parts of the building. They learned that the town hall was first built in the 16th century. Since then, there have been many changes to the building.

The students visited rooms where ceremonies take place and where government officials have meetings. The students even had the opportunity to sit in the seats of one of the grand meeting rooms where there are huge paintings of past monarchs and the current king, Filipe IV. The town hall is also very famous because it has many beautiful and important paintings inside. Most of the paintings show important Spanish leaders or show religious scenes and figures.


The most exciting part of the tour was visiting the mayor´s office! The students entered the office and could see all of the mayor´s things. They also had the opportunity to stand on the mayor´s terrace. It is very lovely and looks out onto Plaza San Fransisco and Avenida de la Constitución.

Learning the Vertebrates and Invertebrates

In the 4th year science classes the children are learning about vertebrate and invertebrate animals. They have learned the characteristics and examples of both. Each student chose an animal and had to identify the type of animal it is and it´s characteristics. They had to create a poster of this animal in English and draw a picture of it.  Here are some examples of the students´s posters!

A New York City Teacher Comes to Maestra Isabel Álvarez!

One of language assistant Rachel's best friends from the USA is a primary school teacher in New York City. Her name is Hannah and she teaches at a public school in Harlem. Hannah visited Rachel for a week and while she was in Sevilla she visited our school! She told the children about herself and her school in New York City. The children had a lot of fun asking Hannah about her life, her students and her school.

We looked at pictures from her school and talked about the differences between her school in NYC and our school in Seville. Some of the differences we talked about are that the students enter class earlier each day (8 a.m.!) and have lunch earlier (about 12). There are also two teachers in each classroom at Hannah's school. Typically, the students eat foods like pizza or pasta for lunch at Hannah's school. There is also an auditorium and a cafeteria at Hannah's school. Here are some of the pictures that Hannah showed us of her school and her students.

Hannah was very impressed with the English of the children at our school! She enjoyed talking with the students and says good luck for the future!

Dear President Obama...

Did you know that anyone can write a letter to the president of the United States? It's true! Anyone can write a letter or an email and send it to the White House! Look at this link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call

Presidents Day was on February 16th in the United States so the students of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th courses at our school wrote letters to the president. In the letter the students asked President Barack Obama questions and told him their comments. Every letter started with "Dear President Obama." Next, the students introduced themselves, then they asked their questions and gave their commentary. Lastly, they ended the letters with "Thank you for reading my letter" and "Sincerely, [student's name]"

Some of the students asked President Obama very good questions! Here are photos of a few of the students' letters:

The Presidents and American Money

In the United States of February 16th we celebrate Presidents Day. Presidents Day is a day to celebrate and appreciate the current and past presidents of the United States. Presidents Day happens every year on February 16th because it is near George Washington´s birthday. George Washington was the first president of the United States. The American conversation assistant, Rachel brought US notes and coins for the children to see and examine.

The students and Rachel reviewed the most famous US presidents and why they are famous. Here is a list¨

1. George Washington: He was the 1st president and was the general of the Revolutionary Army that won independence from England. 

2. Abraham Lincoln: he was the 16th president. He is most famous because he helped free the slaves after the Civil War. He was also assasinated while watching a theatre.

3. John F. Kennedy: He was very popular with the American people. He was also assasinated while participating in a parade.

4. Barack Obama: He is the current president and also the first black president.

George Washington appears on the US 1 dollar note and the quarter dollar coin:

Abraham Lincoln appears on the US 5 dollar note and the US penny (1 cent):

The White House appears on the US 20 dollar note:

Love is in the Air!

Valentine´s Day (El Dia de San Valentin) was on February 14th. At the school we did a few different activities to celebrate this day in English. First we talked about what Valentine´s Day is about. It is about love. Then we talked about the different people in our lives whom we love (Our friends, mums, dads, brothers and sisters, teachers...).
In the United States, Valentine´s day is popular and celebrated by a lot of people, not only the people who are in romantic relationships. It is a tradition to give a Valentine´s Day card to friends, family members or other people you love. So in the classroom, each student had to make 4 Valentine´s Day cards. In each card the student had to write a special message in English. We brainstormed different nice things you could say in English in the Valentine´s Day cards. Here is an example of some of the things we thought of to write in our cards.