Through our links to the National Consortium for Languages Education, we have had a Spanish Assistant, Maria Gonzalez, this year, working with Spanish classes. The British Council recently came into school to film Maria and her experiences in a school in the UK. They are creating a film to encourage more schools to have a Modern Languages Assistant.
They filmed Maria’s day, including working with pupils, and interviewed staff and pupils about working with Maria.
Year 10 students Gabriella G and Gabriela M, tell us about their experiences of working with Maria and being involved in the filming.
Gabriella G:
‘The language assistant, Ms Gonzalez is very helpful! She’s always there when we need her, especially when our Spanish teacher, Mr Everett, is busy helping other students. Having a native speaker in our lessons helps a lot as we can hear how Spanish should sound and learn more about the culture! It’s also very helpful as we can learn things that might not be taught in textbooks. We learnt so many things with Ms Gonzalez for example, how the school in Spain is like, school trips, the food, her friends, trips like the one where she went to Barcelona with her friends, songs, celebrities and more. She explains things very clearly and is always patient with us. I think having a language assistant is very important and I think everybody deserves to experience how fun and how helpful it is!’
‘About the interview and recording last week – it was so fun! It was such an amazing experience. We first had a “fake” Spanish lesson where they recorded us speaking Spanish with Ms Gonzalez. At first it was a little scary and I was very nervous, but it was fun to practice speaking Spanish, and Ms Gonzalez was just so helpful too, giving me hints on what to say next.’
‘Then Mr Everett selected some students for an interview and Gabriela M and I got chosen! During that interview, we got asked a lot of questions about Ms Gonzalez, what we learnt, what the lessons were like, our favourite word in Spanish and more. The interview felt so natural, like we were having a normal conversation. It was so fun to share the things that we had learnt with others. Recording that interview made me realise how much I’ve learnt and how helpful and amazing having a language assistant is! At the end we also got to record a video with all the students in Year 10 who picked Spanish saying “amamos a Maria” (We love Maria). I had so much fun!’
Gabriela M:
‘During Spanish lessons our language assistance, Ms Gonzalez is very thoughtful and always ready to help. She always corrects us when using wrong terminology and she’s very calm and demure while explaining. With her we learn more about Spain and its culture, which is very helpful when learning the language of the country; for when learning something new we have to be attentive because there’s never too much detail, and we definitely are not ignorant. I think having a language assistant should be an experience felt by everyone, because if you can practise the language (and also listen) you’re learning, and you feel more in touch with different cultures. Ms Gonzalez is very attentive when writing and speaking which is very helpful when she is helping me and other students with the work. It’s very hard to get things incorrect with her as she spots mistakes right away!’
‘Last week during the filming, me and my friends found it very fun and we talked about things such as how our Spanish lessons work and how we find Ms Gonzalez helpful and how Mr Everett is a very good teacher. We were able to use the Spanish skills that we learned, with the makeshift conversation and we got to do an interview in which we had to talk about Spanish words and the subject and the teachers. The interview was very relaxing and I had quite a lot of fun. We got many different opportunities which I’m very grateful for. Overall I really enjoyed it, it was such a great experience!’
