In Barcelona, Catalan is the primary language.  Spanish is secondary.  The law requires that all children between 6 and 16 attend school – no homeschooling allowed! – and that the children also learn Catalan.  In fact, public school is instructed only in Catalan at the primary level!  Private schools generally comply with this concept but also teach in Spanish.  Therefore, the school that Allita attends teaches her lessons in multiple languages.  She’s learning in Catalan and Spanish as required by law.  She’s learning in English as they are teaching the rest of the class to speak English.  She’s learning French in French because that is the foreign language she chose to learn.  One foreign language is required.  Catalan and Spanish don’t count as foreign languages since this is a Catalonian school even though they are as foreign as French is to her.  

Primary school starts at 9:30 in the morning.  ESO (7 – 10 tenth grade) and Baccalaureate (11-12 grade) start at 10am daily.  Around 10:30am, Allita has her first break for 30 mins.  This coincides with “second breakfast” (see post Meals in Spain).  The children eat a small meal of bocadillo (simple sandwich on a mini-baguette), a pastry purchased at a local bakery, or some fruit and cheese.  Whatever they eat, if they eat, it is food that is provided from home and not by the school.  They also have sufficient time during this break to enjoy some sports – such as soccer or basketball.  

Allita has math every day.  Her class is taught in Spanish and the book and workbook are written in Spanish.  This doesn’t usually present a problem since math is a language entirely its own – unless, of course, the work involves word problems.  She has art, music, drama, debate team, chess and yoga at least once per week.  These classes are provided to develop the social and interactive skills of the children.  For example, chess teaches strategic thinking and yoga teaches relaxation and stress management.  Allita already excels in debate team and anyone who knows her well is likely not surprised at this observation.   These classes are all taught in Catalan; however, the teacher allows students to respond in English or Spanish as well as Catalan.  

She has an English lesson at some point during each day; however, the level of English instruction is lower than her own level of competency so she usually spends this time practicing her Spanish or Catalan.  She has formal Catalan and French instruction 2-3 days a week -alternating weeks so that in a 2-week period, she has 5 full days of lessons.  She also has Science and Social Studies in this same manner: every other day – alternating days – so that she has 5 full days every 2 weeks.  She has a class called “reading comprehension” which is taught in both Spanish and Catalan but the written work for reading aloud is in Spanish.  This class is one day per week.  Twice per week, Allita takes individual piano lessons with a teacher from South America.  She loves this teacher and is delighted to have one-on-one instruction as she had in the U.S.  I believe this one commonality is somewhat reassuring for her since her routine is already so different and hectic.

One day per week, the 4th, 5th, and 6th level classes board a bus and head to a local gymnasium.  There they learn tennis, paddle ball, fitness, swimming and other organized sports.  They stay at this gymnasium for 3.5 hours.  Two days during the week, Allita has physical education class at the actual school – they play many sports and games and are generally very active.  This is a small school (Allita’s class is only 8 kids!) so all three grade levels are combined during sports in order for there to be sufficient players to staff a team.  

Every day around 1:15 in the afternoon, the children have a hot lunch that is cooked from scratch in the kitchen at the school by a licensed chef.  I discovered that this licensed school chef has a degree in nutrition as well as the necessary training and certification to be a Chef.  She attended school for 6 years and then apprenticed.  WOW! The meal is based on a Mediterranean diet.  Allita eats soups, salads, fish (all types!), potato omelettes, yogurt, chicken, ham, pork, rice, beef, lentils, fresh fruit and a variety of other dishes.  I’m delighted with this arrangement as she has tasted and, even eaten!, many foods that she would normally distain simply because she is hungry and surrounded by her observant peer group.  Additionally, her meals are served in courses (plate 1 then plate 2) as is common with here (Meals in Spain), so she has to finish one plate before she can have the other. If plate 2 is something she likes, then she forces herself to eat plate 1 in order to get it. Since she’s been a picky eater her whole life, the new lunch hot meal process is great for us! We have been able to add new dishes to our family meals as a result of her involuntary diet diversification. 

Soon, Allita will begin chess team and drama club after school.  Since normal classes end at 4:45 in the afternoon, the after school activities last until 5:30 pm.  We will have a 30-minute or so walk home from school, which means we will arrive around 6:15 pm or later every day.  With two hours of daily homework and dinner to eat, it makes for a long evening.  Thankfully, classes don’t start again until 9:30 the next morning, so we can shift our hours a little to be up longer but sleep later.  Now, with the influence of school, we are becoming more like the locals than ever before – awake and active late into the evenings.  Life is all about adaptation!