How It All Began

                                                         

For some years the students of upper secondary education (batxillerat) of our school had been engaged in a collaborative project with students in a Swedish secondary school, Nyköpings Enskilda Gymnasium, studying Spanish as a second foreign language. For the two teachers it was very important that their students got in touch with teenagers their own age but in a different country and could use their target language in a meaningful way. The project consisted of an exchange of emails during the first and second term and the visit to our school by the Swedish group of students and teachers while on their school trip to Barcelona. It was then that our students had the opportunity to do some joint activities and meet their "e-pals" (friends online). The programme was highly successful and motivating so the two schools started to explore the possibility of going a step further and start a real exchange programme. Our intention was to organize two school trips, one in September to Nyköping by Barcelona students and the other one in March to Barcelona by the Nyköping  group.

For us, here in Institut Joan Brossa, the exchange meant having the chance to offer our students the opportunity to travel to Sweden, live with host families, attend classes and do activities with their Swedish partners and, ultimately, enjoy an experience quite different from our everyday life. In return, our students would host their Swedish partners in their trip to Barcelona. The school trip would last for five days (preferably school days) and the language of communication during our stay in Nyköping would be English and Spanish during the their visit to Barcelona. Due to weather conditions and organization issues the school trip to Sweden would be held in the first term (September) and the trip to Barcelona in the second school term (March).

Now that we are in the fifth year of  the exchange programme we can say that we are very proud of the results, that we are very thankful to both schools boards and colleagues for all the help and encouragement they have offered us, and to the students and their families for their trust and cooperation.