Spanish

Spanish was introduced into the Eltham College school curriculum in 2000 and has flourished with spectacular public examination results year on year. Pupils in Year 9 receive the opportunity to start this successful and very highly regarded versatile language. With over 500 million Spanish speaking peoples in the emerging Central and South American markets, it is the official language in more than twenty countries, and it is predicted that by 2050 the USA will be a bi-lingual country. Spanish is an important language in Europe, where it is an official language of the EU. Overall, in the business world it is second in importance after English.

The aim of the Spanish department is to ensure that every pupil benefits from a broad spectrum of Spanish culture, supporting their development and greater understanding of Spain's place in European history and legacy in the "New World".  After Spain's conquest of the new world, Spanish began to take hold in America, and the language today reflects the contribution made by Latin Americans as well as Spaniards.

The Spanish department regularly organises language study visits to important cultural destinations including Barcelona, Valencia,  Madrid & Salamanca and Jerez. Pupils receive intensive language tuition (conversation and grammar revision) in order to hone their skills in preparation to taking public examinations. Cultural visits to Mexico and Cuba have brought students a rich and varied insight into the political, economic and social dimensions of these very diverse but equally dynamic Spanish speaking countries. Cultural visits to the Americas bring the language alive and make its learning that more tangible!

The Spanish department is proud of its achievements to date and is committed to keeping the learning of Spanish vivid and real. To this end future projects to South America including Costa Rica and possibly Argentina are currently being explored with cultural visits planned for the near future. In the short term however, we are hoping to establish a reciprocal exchange programme with a school in Cordoba.