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By júlia verdaguer, on octubre 6th, 2011% Des del dissabte, 1 d’octubre, els Auxiliars de Conversa ja són a casa de les famílies catalanes que els acolliran durant els 9 mesos de la seva estada, i el passat dilluns van començar la seva activitat com a Auxiliars de Conversa a les escoles. Ens han dit que estan molt bé i que poc a poc van coneixent tots els mestres, professors, alumnes i personal de les escoles i adaptant-se als costums i als horaris de les noves famílies que els han obert les portes de casa seva.
Els Auxiliars, però, van aterrar a Barcelona el divendres 30. Carregats amb equipatges de mida considerable, un a un van anar arribant i van ser traslladats per torns a la Residència Salesiana Martí Codolar, on van conèixer-se una mica més entre ells (molts ja s’havien posat en contacte a través del fòrum que l’organització ha creat a aquest efecte, i també a través de Facebook), van sopar i van passar la nit.
 Els auxiliars acabats d'arribar el dia 30 El dissabte 1 al matí, ben aviat, van esmorzar tots junts al menjador de la residència. Entre el grup es respirava nerviosisme, però també molta il·lusió i ganes de fer una bona tasca de suport a les escoles i passar-ho el millor possible amb les famílies acollidores.
 8:00 - Esmorzar a Martí Codolar A dos quarts de deu, els Auxiliars van assistir a la primera sessió de formació del matí, a càrrec de Juanjo Fernández i Júlia Verdaguer, sobre el sistema educatiu català, les nostres escoles i la importància de la seva tasca com a Auxiliars de Conversa per motivar l’alumnat i professorat en l’aprenentatge i ensenyament de l’anglès.
 Juanjo Fernández parlant als Auxiliars sobre el sistema educatiu català Després, Carme Santiago –professora de l’escola Padre Damián Sagrats Cors- va parlar-los sobre com ser el/la millor Auxiliar de Conversa a les escoles, i Sonia Jalle –cap del Dept. Multilingüe i professora d’anglès de l’escola Jesus Maria de St. Andreu- sobre com ser el millor hoste possible a casa de les famílies acollidores.
 Sonia Jalle durant la xerrada  Carme Santiago explica com ser el millor Auxiliar de Conversa a les escoles Un cop acabades les sessions de formació, es va lliurar als Auxiliars de Conversa un kit de benvinguda amb documentació legal, informació turística, els materials del curs a distància de llengua castellana que seguiran aquests mesos i uns magnífics diccionaris de català-anglès i castellà-anglès per gentilesa de Cambridge University Press i Oxford University Press, que contribueixen així a l’adaptació i formació dels Auxiliars de Conversa que es repartiran per més de 90 escoles cristianes de tot Catalunya, i també amb ajuden amb la comunicació entre els auxiliars i les més de 100 famílies acollidores.
 Diccionaris per gentilesa de Cambridge University Press i Oxford University Press  Els Auxiliars recollint els llibres del curs de castellà i els diccionaris Després, sota un sol esplèndid, van anar-se produint les trobades amb les famílies d’acollida, que van arribar segons l’horari previst (excepte les famílies gironines que es van veure atrapades en un monumental embús a l’autopista, i no van deixar de patir perquè arribaven amb retard!). Moltes de les famílies venien acompanyades de representants de les escoles, per facilitar el primer contacte amb els auxiliars: nervis, presentacions, encaixades de mans, petons i abraçades de benvinguda!
 Un Auxiliar es presenta a la seva família acollidora  Foto de família Després, un a un i carregats amb equipatges voluminosos (i curiosos, com un saxo o un taula de surf!), els Auxiliars van anar marxant amb les seves famílies d’acollida.
Tot plegat, doncs, va concloure molt satisfactòriament, gràcies a la tasca conjunta de Home to Home i Fundació Escola Cristiana de Catalunya, que tornen a tirar endavant aquesta iniciativa pionera a tot l’Estat, i que segueix el seu procés de consolidació i creixement, esperant poder arribar a aconseguir que els 250.000 alumnes de les escoles cristianes puguin viure i conviure l’anglès a les escoles.
En aquest enllaç trobareu totes les fotografies de l’arribada dels Auxiliars.
By júlia verdaguer, on setembre 22nd, 2011% 
Per als qui no heu pogut assistir a les sessions informatives -o als que sí que hi heu pogut assistir i voleu tenir els materials- us facilitem els nous materials:
– Temes pràctics que hauríeu de tractar amb l’auxiliar de conversa: document bilingüe en català i anglès, amb una sèrie de preguntes sobre temes bàsics de convivència i exemples de respostes en els dos idiomes.
> Cliqueu aquí per descarregar-vos el document.
– Presentació de Powerpoint “Ser família acollidora d’un auxiliar de conversa”.
> Cliqueu aquí per descarregar-vos la presentació.
Us recordem que a la pestanya Information for Schools hi trobareu la Guia per a les Famílies Acollidores i la Guia per als tutors i tutores de l’Auxiliar de Conversa.
By júlia verdaguer, on setembre 21st, 2011% Els Auxiliars de Conversa són a punt d’arribar a Catalunya, a les vostres escoles i les vostres cases.
La data oficial de la trobada amb les famílies d’acollida és el dissabte, 28 de setembre.
QUAN? Dissabte, 28 de setembre al migdia. Si us plau, consulteu l’horari exacte amb la persona de contacte de la vostra escola.
QUI? Ha de venir a recollir l’auxiliar la família acollidora (no cal que sigui sencera!) i algun representant de l’escola.
ON? Residència Salesiana Martí Codolar. Av. Cardenal Vidal i Barraquer, 15. Barcelona.
Cliqueu aquí per accedir al mapa de Google Maps i cerqueu el recorregut des de casa vostra.
By júlia verdaguer, on setembre 14th, 2011%
S’acosta l’arribada dels auxiliars de conversa a les escoles que participen al Programa Auxiliars de Conversa (PAC) i a les cases de les famílies que, generosament, s’han ofert a acollir-los.
Des de l’organtizació del PAC hem convocat tres sessions informa-tives obertes a tothom: famílies acollidores, famílies interessades, direccions i mestres d’escola, etc. En aquestes reunions parlarem de què suposa acollir un auxiliar de conversa a casa, com podem facilitar la seva integració a la família i al nostre país i, és clar, donarem resposta a totes les preguntes que pugueu plantejar-nos.
- Demarcació de Lleida – Dimarts, 20 de setembre, 18:00h
Lloc: Escola Lestonnac L’Ensenyança. Av. Prat de la Riba, 38. Lleida
- Demarcació de Girona – Dimecres, 21 de setembre, 18:00h
Lloc: Escola Vedruna Girona. Carrer Barcelona, 21. Girona.
- Demarcació de Barcelona – Dijous, 22 de setembre – 18:00h
Lloc. Escola Pia Balmes. Carrer Balmes, 208. Barcelona
Podeu descarregar-vos un model de circular i un cartell per a promocionar les sessions en els següents enllaços:
> Model circular PDF
> Model circular word
> Cartell PDF
> Cartell word
Si us plau, en cas que vingueu a alguna de les sessions, confirmeu la vostra assistència al correu pac@escolacristiana.org, indicant a quina de les tres sessions assistireu, i quantes persones vindreu.
By júlia verdaguer, on juny 8th, 2011%  La segona edició del Programa Auxiliars de Conversa és a punt d’acabar. A final de curs, els més de 50 nois i noies de parla anglesa que han estat durant tot l’any a més de 60 escoles de tot Catalunya, tornen a casa seva. El període de sol·licitud d’Auxiliar de Conversa per al curs vinent ja s’ha tancat, amb un total de 110 sol·licituds de 90 escoles de tot Catalunya!
Per poder valorar i millorar el Programa, hem elaborat una enquesta online per a les escoles i les famílies acollidores dels Auxiliars de Conversa que hem fet arribar directament a les escoles participants. Podeu veure el contingut de les enquestes en aquests enllaços:
Enquesta per a les escoles
Enquesta per a les famílies acollidores
Si us plau, si formeu part de les escoles participants al PAC 2010-2011 i per algun motiu no us han arribat les enquestes, escriviu-nos a pac@escolacristiana.org i us farem arribar els enllaços per a que pugueu respondre-les.
Les respostes, sumades a les experiències d’aquest curs, seran molt útils per a la millora constant del Programa Auxiliars de Conversa, que volem que sigui una proposta fonamental i accessible per a totes les Escoles Cristianes que vulguin donar una empenta de qualitat al seu Projecte d’Escola Multilingüe.
By júlia verdaguer, on maig 31st, 2011% Now that the end of the school year is coming, it will be time for the Conversation Assistants to say goodbye to their schools and their host families. Without all these generous volunteer host families that open their homes and their lives to the Conversation Assistants, this Program would not be possible, so we want to thank all of them.
It is never easy at first to live with a stranger in one’s house. But the willingness to integrate the Conversation Assistant into the family has made it easy for most of the host families and Assistants. Host families are eager to learn about a new culture and improve their English, while trying to be the best possible hosts and make the Conversation Assistant feel at home and get used to our culture and way of life.
You can read the small Guide for Host Families that we have written to get an idea of what hosting a Conversation Assistant implies.
Here’s a text written by a host family of Escola Infant Jesús, in Barcelona, extracted from the school’s magazine Clar i Net. With a 3-year-old child and a toddler, they decided to become a host family for Molly, the Irish Conversation Assistant in their children’s school. After reading the text, it is clear that they are sure it was a great decision to make!
 Click on the image to read the text!
By júlia verdaguer, on maig 6th, 2011% 
Next monday, May 9th, is Europe Day, a celebration of the coming together of European nations. Do you know why it is celebrated on May 9th? You can find out clicking here, and explain it to your students.
It is also a good day to ask your students how much they know about Europe. You can use this European Test, and then work together and find out more information on the correct answers.
By júlia verdaguer, on abril 26th, 2011% April was a Conversation Assistant last year (2009-2010). She enjoyed it so much, that she decided to return this year, and she’s staying in La Garriga, working as a Conversation Assistant at Escola Sant Lluís Gonçaga. She is enjoying the experience, and so are all the students!
Here’s what they have to say:
April is here since October, we are really happy to share our classes with her, some of the students say:
- “We think that’s great April is here because we’re learning a lot”.
- “April is an active and funny person”.
- “We practice our speaking and listening, it’s great”.
- “We play some games, this helps our pronunciation”.
- “When we are with April, we have a good time and learn a lot.”
- “It’s an easy way to learn English”.
- “She explains us some interesting stories about her life”.
THANK YOU APRIL!!!
And now it’s April’s turn to explain us what she does in the school, with her classes that range from P3 to 4th of ESO, and what living in La Garriga is like for her.
¡Hola!
My name is April and I am working as a conversation assistant in Escola Sant Lluís Gonçaga in la Garriga, Barcelona.
This is my second experience working with the Home to Home program and both experiences have been really different! I have really enjoyed learning about the Spanish and Catalan cultures, seeing different teaching styles, exploring areas of Catalunya and of course eating food like fuete, pan con tomate, coca and La Mona!
This year I am living and working in la Garriga. It is a small beautiful village in the Vallés Oriental area of Barcelona. The town is small and very catalan, I always see parents and children from school in the center and love taking walks down the beautiful Passeig. My favourite thing of the town is that is is filled with amazing Modernist houses designed the modernist architect Manuel Raspall. This week I have taken two school trips with P5 to explore the architecture around the town and make our own modernistdecorations with clay.
The school is also small. There is one class for every age group from P3 – 4 ESO which is great as I can spend more time with each class and get to know the kids better. I spend most of my time with the ESO classes. I take small groups of 4-5 kids and we spend the classes doing a lot of talking, playing games, listening to music and sometimes watching films in English. I try to keep the lessons fun as I think it helps everyone learn a language if they are enjoying it! So we do different activites like filming our own mini movies.
Teaching ESO isn’t always easy though. Some days if I haven’t planned enough it is hard to get them excited, and the students have a very varied level of English. Some can talk all day, and some barely speak at all. It has taught me a lot about gaining and keeping interest, in preparing lessons and thinking on my feet!
I stay with the teacher in the Primary and Parvulari classes. We work from the books, sing songs and read stories. My favourite class is P5. The class is a little crazy! They love to talk, to move and to hear me speak in my really bad catalan! The class I help with is art based and I am there to assist the teacher, while speaking English of course, but end up spending my time joining the kids in whatever messy art activity they are doing. Thankfully, the teacher doesn’t mind and I have a lot of fun in these classes!
The different holidays have been fun, I especially enjoyed Carnaval when I dressed up as Bob Esponja, and making Panellets on Castanyada. I also love going on excursions. It is a more relaxed atmosphere and I have seen a lot of Catalunya. I am still hoping the school takes a trip to PortAventura, but I think this is unlikely!
 April dressed as Bob Esponja (Spongebob) in Carnaval!
Unlike some of the other conversation assistants, I am only staying with one family for the entire 9 months. This has good benefits as I really feel like part of the family now, I have been able to know the kids really well and don’t have to pack and unpack every month. But I also think it would be a good experience to see different families and get to know more people. My family have 3 small girls, age 2, 4 and 6. This is an adjustment for me as I haven’t been around small children since I was 10. But it is also fun, we play a lot and I am always watching Bob Esponja with them. I speak to them in English and Spanish and they are very helpful as we can have very simple conversations. At the weekends I normally have lunch with the family, the uncles, the grandparents and we have traditional Catalan food and very good coffee.
The hardest thing for me is learning Spanish in Catalunya. In my village I never hear Spanish on the streets and while the teachers in school make an effort to speak to me in Spanish, 90% of the time I am surrounded by Catalan. I can understand simple conversations now in Catalan, especially when the teachers are explaining in class. But I am glad I am in Catalunya, it has been a really good experience to learn about another culture, they have everything here, the beach, the beautiful cities, the mountains and tasty food!
By júlia verdaguer, on abril 15th, 2011% If you go back home for the Easter Holidays, try to take photos of the Easter Egg Hunt and bring them to your school when you return, to show them to your students. The colorful egg hunt is an unknown tradition here and they will surely enjoy your explanation!
 Happy Easter Holidays!
By júlia verdaguer, on març 29th, 2011% Molly Crane is a Conversation Assistant at Escola Infant Jesús (Barcelona). She is helping teachers in both primary and secondary school, and doing really well so far.
We thank her and her tutor Núria for writing to us about Molly’s experience!
 My name is Molly Crane-Newman and I am 19 years old, I was born in San Francisco California and have lived in Dublin since I was 2 years old. I finished school 2 years ago and then went on to study Journalism in college.
I came to Barcelona on Sunday the 26th of September this year to start working as an English teacher the following day in Infant Jesús. It was my first time in Barcelona, I didn’t speak Catalan or Spanish and did not know one person upon arrival, so as you can imagine I was very nervous!
I am staying with three families over the course of nine months. I left my first family at the end of the first term. I was living a stone’s throw from the school and living with a three year old and a ten month old. As the little boy was so young we didn’t practise English during ‘homework time’ as he is in P3 and isn’t given any homework, so we would play games etc. and myself and his parents would speak in English (as I don’t speak Catalan!) and he began to pick up a little vocabulary. I now collect him once a week from school and stay for a few hours playing and talking in English!
Up until this term I had been working with children 5-12 years old. With the smaller ones (so up until 3rd grade) I took groups of 4-5 out of class and we practised role plays in English (Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs) and they absolutely loved it. Their scripts were tiny and it took a few classes to get some pronunciation but it’s a really lovely activity and I’ve even over heard them practising in the playground! With 3rd and 4th grade I also took them out in groups and most days we did little side activities related to what they were doing in class at the time. So one week for instance it was numbers, and a few weeks before it was the alphabet. With the 5th and 6th graders (who I still have this term) I have divided them into groups based on their level of English as a few of the children are practising English outside of school and their communication skills are amazing whereas some of the children will not speak a word. I have ‘The Badgers’ ‘The Monkey’s’ and ‘The Wolves’ and then at the beginning of class I’ll take one group for a half an hour and then another for the last half hour. I come up with different ideas of what to do with each group and I can then use the same activity with the rest of the classes.
This term I started with 1st and 2nd of ESO. They are very enthusiastic and I haven’t had any problem with bad behaviour (which I was nervous about!), the only problems I’ve had is the occasional shy pupil but after a few classes they open up a bit! The teachers I work with from ESO have helped me with my materials and basically what we’re doing is conversation related to what they’re studying in class at the moment. This week for 1st of ESO it is school (so favourite subjects/sports activities etc) and with 2nd of ESO, sports (teams they support, sports they play themselves etc.) I start off with a few questions, and then they complete a role-play activity related to the topic and the activity is finished with a picture description (again all related to the topic we’re discussing). They seem comfortable with the activity and I think it’s a great way to get them talking!
Working in Infant Jesús is amazing. Everybody has been so welcoming and friendly and I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity. Moving to a different country for the first time is terrifying but I really could not be less scared at this point.. Of course it’s still difficult meeting new people and learning the language but everyday it gets a little bit easier and I’m meeting some really lovely people who I know I will remain in contact with. I have fallen in love with the city and intend to stay here for a few years. I would absolutely recommend this to anybody who has an interest in teaching it is a fantastic experience.
Molly Crane Newman
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