Introduction of the LOMLOE
Like all new education acts in Spain, the LOMLOE has attracted controversy and led to protests and accusations that it is undermining the education system. Although various parts of the LOMLOE have already been introduced, the new curriculum will be implemented from the 2022/23 school year. But what are the most important changes in the LOMLOE, and what does it mean for bilingual education?
Bilingual education in Castile La Mancha
As part of our series of posts on bilingual programmes in different regions of Spain, this week we’ll look at Castile La Mancha. This region is unusual, because instead of continuously expanding, in 2018 more than 100 schools abandoned their bilingual programmes. Nevertheless, in the school year 2019/20 there are still over 500 bilingual schools.
Election idioms
As there are elections taking place shortly in both Spain and the UK, this week we’ll look at idioms related to elections.
Bilingual education in Aragón
This post looks at the bilingual programme in Aragón. It forms part of our series on bilingual programmes in different regions of Spain. In May 2018, Aragón introduced a new framework for bilingual education in schools called the Modelo BRIT-Aragón, which replaced the earlier PIBLEA programme.
Confused by Brexit terminology?
The United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on 31 October, so “everyone” is talking about Brexit. But do you understand all of the funny new words and phrases they’re using? In this post, we explain what some of the most common ones mean.
Workshop at CIEB 2019
In a previous blog post, Benedict Barclay spoke about the talk he’ll be giving at the CIEB bilingual conference in Granada. This post is about the workshop that he’ll be doing at 6 pm on Friday 18 October. The title of the workshop is From lost in translation to cultural cross-pollination. Or how to successfully translate the untranslatable.
Bilingual education in Extremadura
This week, we continue our series of posts on bilingual programmes in different regions of Spain by looking at Extremadura. Bilingual education in Extremadura is governed by legislation published in 2017. As of 2019/20, bilingual schools make up just over half of all secondary schools and about a third of primary schools.
Talk at CIEB 2019
We’ll be participating at this year’s CIEB bilingual conference, which will be held in Granada from 18-20 October. This year Benedict Barclay will be giving a short talk (comunicación) and a workshop (taller) on behalf of LinguaFrame. Below, he gives a brief summary of the talk that he’ll be giving at 7pm on Saturday 19 October.
How to build your vocabulary: part 4
So you’ve written hundreds of flashcards, you’ve read for hours and you’ve watched all 15 series of Grey’s Anatomy in English. You even looked up most of the words you didn’t understand in a dictionary. Now it’s time to actually use the words you’ve learned, by speaking and writing.
Bilingual education in Murcia
Last year, we wrote about some of the differences between the bilingual education programmes in the various parts of Spain. Over the coming months, we’ll look at some of the regional programmes in more detail, starting with Murcia.
Bilingual Education Conference in Granada
Last October we attended the CIEB bilingual conference in Badajoz, which was a very valuable learning experience for us. This year, the conference is being held in our home town of Granada, so naturally we’ll be going. However, this time we’re not just going to listen and learn – we’ll also be giving a short talk and a workshop to share some of our expertise.
Bilingual programme in Castile and Leon
After running a bilingual programme for ten years, the region of Castile and Leon is making significant changes to its model of bilingual education. Change is never popular with everyone, and this case is no exception. But what are the main controversies?
Bilingual education in Andalusia report
A recent report on bilingual education in Andalusia concludes that bilingual programmes improve students’ English skills and Spanish writing skills, without any detrimental impact on their performance in the non-language subjects taught in English. In addition, these programmes tend to reduce differences between pupils from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
How to build your vocabulary: part 3
Most people enjoy watching TV and films, so it’s a very attractive way to learn a language if it works. Many people believe it does: the fact that most programmes in Spain are dubbed is often given as a reason why the Spanish don’t learn better English.
Crazy English spelling: homophones
English spelling and pronunciation are famously difficult. Whoever established the official spelling of English words was either drunk, mad or both. One of the consequences of this is that there are lots of homophones – words with completely different meanings and spellings that sound exactly the same.
How to build your vocabulary: part 2
In our last post about building vocabulary, we talked about flashcards and spaced repetition. This time we’ll look at reading. It may be one of the most obvious ways to expand your vocabulary, but it’s also one of the best.
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…
It’s that time of year again: Christmas parties, shopping for presents, spending time with your family and eating too much food. For most people, it’s a time to have fun and enjoy yourself. For others, it’s above all an important religious festival. And for yet others, it’s all overrated: “Bah! Humbug!” as Scrooge famously says in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Unsurprisingly, most English idioms that refer to Christmas assume it’s a happy time of year.
Crimes against language: who decides what’s right and wrong?
For most crimes, the government decides what we are – and particularly are not – allowed to do. With crimes against language, the situation is a bit different. To begin with, you won’t normally be fined or put in jail for breaking the rules of grammar. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any rules – or does it? The answer is, it depends.
Continue Reading Crimes against language: who decides what’s right and wrong?
How to build your vocabulary: part 1
When learning a language, it’s obviously important to learn grammar and to practice speaking and listening. But without vocabulary, you won’t get anywhere. To be able to communicate effectively and understand what people are saying, you need to know lots of words. For many people, this is the single biggest challenge. In this first post about building vocabulary we’ll look at two of the possible approaches: vocabulary lists and spaced repetition.
How to say Hello
When learning a new language, one of the first things you learn is how to greet people. With English, you’ll be taught “Hello”, “Hi”, “Good morning”, “Good afternoon”, “Good evening” and perhaps “How do you do?” However, when you meet native English speakers, or watch English television programmes, you quickly realise that there are lots of other ways to say hello.
Evaluation of Madrid’s bilingual programme
In June 2018, Madrid’s regional government published its evaluation of Madrid’s bilingual programme. The report presents data about the impacts of the programme on the students’ level of English, as well as their performance in other subjects.
Diversity of bilingual programmes
One problem when discussing bilingual programmes is that most people – whether parents, teachers, politicians or journalists – tend to assume that bilingual schools in the different parts of Spain are very similar to one another. In this post we’ll present some of the key differences between the bilingual programmes at secondary school level.
Inspirational teachers
One of the most inspiring things at the recent conference in Badajoz was having a chance to see all of the great work being done by teachers to make bilingual education successful at their schools. The rules on bilingual programmes vary greatly from region to region, as do the backgrounds of students from school to school, so there is no single “correct” way to provide a bilingual education. Fortunately, dedicated teachers are testing different approaches to find out what works for them, in their schools and with their students, while also meeting the legal requirements of the programmes in their parts of Spain.
Idioms about the weather
We’ve been having some fairly extreme weather lately. Here are some English idioms related to weather with an explanation of what they mean.
Are “bilingual” schools in Spain really bilingual?
Critics often say that bilingual schools in Spain aren’t really bilingual, because students don’t become fully bilingual. By bilingual, they mean able to speak two languages “perfectly” – in terms of grammar, vocabulary and accent. But even people with an exceptionally good grasp of the language will never quite reach the level of a native person with a similar educational background. So if it is unrealistic for Spanish students to become bilingual in this sense, why are Spanish schools called “bilingual”.
Continue Reading Are “bilingual” schools in Spain really bilingual?
How do Europeans learn languages?
A couple of weeks ago we posted about which languages Europeans speak, based on the results of a 2012 Eurobarometer survey. The survey also gives lots of interesting information about how Europeans learn languages. Although many people’s only experience of language learning is through lessons at school, there are lots of other ways to improve your language skills.
Five English idioms involving animals
This week, for some light relief, we have a post on some English idioms. Like all languages, English has thousands of idioms and sayings that can be confusing to foreigners. Even native speakers get some of them mixed up. Here are just a few idioms that involve animals, with an explanation of what they mean.
Is learning English really that important?
In Spain, there is a debate between people who emphasise the need for Spanish people to improve their English, and those who argue that Spain should focus more on promoting Spanish as a world language. After all, more people have Spanish as their first language than English, so why do Spanish people need English?
Which languages do Europeans speak?
Today is the European Day of Languages. The European Union’s objective is for European citizens to be able to communicate in two languages in addition to their mother tongue, but which languages do Europeans actually speak?
Who are we?
LinguaFrame was founded by Benedict Barclay and Rebecca Jégou in 2011, with the specific goal of publishing textbooks in English for bilingual schools in Spain. We embarked on this journey after speaking to teachers at bilingual schools who were enthusiastic about the concept of bilingual education, but who were unhappy with their current textbooks in English for non-language subjects such as geography, science and maths.
Welcome!
Welcome to the LinguaFrame blog. We’ve now been publishing textbooks for bilingual schools* and English language learning materials for 7 years, and here we’ll be blogging about some of the things that we’ve learned during that period. We’ll also post about some of the curiosities of the English language, strategies for language learning, the differences between English and Spanish, and bilingualism in general. Many of our posts will be available in English and Spanish. Comments are welcome, in English or Spanish. If you’re a teacher and you would like to contribute a guest post, please…