Colegio Orvalle, Madrid Spain / Oakcrest School , Mclean, Virginia, USA

This month we have welcomed five students from  Oakcrest School in Virginia, USA, to Orvalle. The girls from 1ºESO through to 4ºESO arrived at the end of August, guests of five families from Orvalle.   They were to be in Spain for three weeks. The first two weeks, still being the school holidays, meant that they were shown not only many parts of Madrid and surrounding areas but also some went as far as Barcelona and Alicante.

Then the 10^th September, they arrived at school with their Spanish friends, Ana Fernandez de Prada, 1º ESO, Marta Hidalgo, 2º ESO, Ana Gonzalez,  3º ESO, Maria Chiva, 4ºESO and Blanca Bueno, 4ºESO. They attended class and took part in all the activities just like any Orvalle student and we were so happy to have them with us until last Friday when we said farewell. However, we also wished our five girls “Bon Voyage” as they went off to the USA with their American friends for their American school adventure and experience  also for three weeks.

We look forward to hearing all about their educational and cultural experience when they return in October.

The Multicultural Student Exchange Programme is a new initiative for Orvalle by which all our students are given the opportunity to get to know a different culture, make everlasting friendships and of course improve their foreign language skills at the same time, all within a low budget, just the price of an airfare!  Two of our students, Sonsoles Miquel and Carlota Zapata both in 1ºBach have just returned from ten weeks in  a school in Sydney, Australia, I must say with slight Australian accents!! Next spring/summer three Orvalle students will make the exchange with the Laurels School in London, while we continue to make contact with more schools in the USA, Australia, Canada, France and Germany. So watch this space!!

Felicity Renshaw, Coordinator of the Orvalle Multicultural Student Exchange Programme.