Earlier this year, we proudly announced that two Compass International School Doha students, Jay Toet and Mattie Peschel, had won a scholarship to study and live in Spain in July 2019.
As well as winning the competition, three other students from Compass, Owen Cardiff, Noureldin Hassabou and Loujain Al Badi, were selected as finalists, winning accommodation and board during the two-week intensive summer programme. All students are studying the International Baccalaureate Ab-Initio Spanish programme which teaches the language from scratch.
Owen has shared his experience and some wonderful photos with us from the trip of a lifetime.
Owen said:
“Overall the whole trip was a really good experience and we did some things that we have never done before. Each day we would take the bus to school and then have classes from 9:30am to 1:30pm.
The lessons were really good and interactive and the teacher would often construct the lessons specifically for the class.
After school Jay and I would go for lunch in the city at a new place every day. We then would meet the class and the teacher at 4pm to go on an activity. The activities were pretty good and were all in Spanish to continue our learning.
After the activities, Jay and I would go out for dinner or go home to have dinner. The food was really good and the host family made sure that we would like the food before they cooked it.
The best part of the trip however, is definitely our free time on the weekend and Friday afternoon. We were able to hang out with one of our classmates and her host “sister”.
The trip was a lot of fun and I’m happy that I went.”
True Spanish Experience (TSE), who launched the competition, started in 2002 and receives over 600 students annually from all over the world. Students come to study at their two bases in A Coruña and Cuenca. The competition included 100 international schools from around the world. TSE’s emphasis is on offering students a global immersion experience in Spain. This complete immersion is accomplished by living in host families. The programme also includes leisure, cultural and sport activities. The students learn through experiences such as language, gastronomy, art or Spanish history.
Her Highness Sheikha Moza, UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate and Chairperson of Education Above All, is behind Qatar’s initiative to tackle education barriers. Goal 4 of the SDG is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The experience that these students will gain from taking part in this programme is a life-long learning opportunity that they will be able to promote as residents of Qatar.
Language learning in our school is of paramount importance as we become a more globalised world. It is through initiatives and partnerships with organisations like TSE that schools can offer more fulfilling language learning experiences and promote intercultural understanding.
At Compass International School Doha we offer a variety of language options across our four campuses. Our main teaching language is English. We also offer Arabic for native speakers, an English/French Bilingual Programme at Rayyan Campus, a Dutch Language and Culture Programme for native Dutch speakers at Gharaffa as well as Arabic, French and Spanish as foreign languages.
Read more about the power of a bilingual education.
