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SCHOOL

School days: The Spanish vocab parents need to face ‘la vuelta al cole’

The start of the school year is here but are you ready to be hit by concepts and words particular to Spanish school life? Lisa Sadlier provides the survival guide for parents with kids in school in Spain.

Published: 3 September 2020 09:13 CEST
Updated: 12 September 2020 10:54 CEST
School days: The Spanish vocab parents need to face 'la vuelta al cole'
Photos: AFP

This year the “vuelta al cole” (back to school in Spain) will be very different, as precautionary measures are being put in place in a bid to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Some children will be obliged to wear a face mask (la mascarilla): inside the classroom (el aula), in common areas (zonas comunes) and in the playground (el patio).

Hand gel (gel de manos) will be used frequently as well as soap and water (jabón y agua) for regular hand washing (lavarse las manos con frecuencia).

There will be arrows (flechas) on the floor to guide children around the school and in an attempt to maintain social distancing (mantener la distancia social).

Older pupils will work in bubbles (burbujas) to reduce the number of people they have contact with.

If all goes to plan, students will continue to attend classes (educación presencial), in some cases there will be a mixture of physical and online classes (una combinación de educación presencial y a distancia).

The Spanish school system can seem complicated if you do not understand the language.

It doesn’t need to be. In this article Lisa Sadlier, mother of two and a relocation expert based in southern Spain, provides a simple guide to the Spanish education system and provides all the essential vocabulary you need.

READ ALSO:  Back to school in Spain: When do classes resume in the different regions?


An Introduction to the Spanish State School System

State Schools in Spain: The Spanish Education System – (for ages 3 to 16) 

Every village and town in Spain, of any size, will have a primary school. The schools may vary considerably in size and sophistication, but they are known to provide a caring and friendly environment for small children. Most will take children in the year that they turn three.

Some state schools in certain areas of Spain only teach in the official language of the given region, as opposed to in Spanish. So, in Catalonia, Galicia, Valencia or the Basque country subjects are taught in respectively Catalan, Gallego, Valencian or Basque.

This is not always the case but is something to investigate carefully, as it will mean that your child will be taught in the regional dialect before learning Spanish. That said, most children master both the local language and Castellano (Spanish) as part of their general schooling.

Exposing children to several languages at an early age can be very beneficial.

The initial State School system is split into:

• Pre-school (Educación Infantil) for ages 3 to 6 years

• Primary School (Colegio): First Cycle for ages 6 to 8 years, and Second Cycle for ages 8 to 10 years.

Pre-school in Spain (Educación Infantil)

This is a non compulsory option available for children aged 3 to 6 years. Children enter pre-school in the autumn of the year in which they turn 3 years old, hence why pre-school classes are often referred to as the class of: 3 años, 4 años and 5 años.

Although not obligatory, pre-school is considered an integral part of a child ́s education. Even though there are no rigid targets, the children are introduced to subject matters that they go on to study in more detail in Primary School, they learn to interact with others and learn to adapt to routines. This is also the age at which children subconsciously absorb new language.

Primary School (Colegio) – ages 6 to 12 years

In the calendar year a child turns six, the obligatory educational phase begins.

The children study subjects such as Spanish language (Lengua), mathematics (mates), nature and environment (conocimiento del medio), religion (based on your choice), English language (inglés), music (música) and physical education(educación física). 

There are tests (controles) every few months. Failure to pass these tests throughout the year may result in your child having to repeat the year.

The following items are usually required at the start of each school year in state run  primary schools. The school will provide you with a list. If you have a local stationary shop, it is a good idea to hand the list over to them and they will prepare all the materials for you. But if you fancy touring the shops, these words will help you …

Backpack – la mochila 

Pencil case – el portalápiz / el estuche

Diary – la agenda

Pen – el bolígrafo (boli)

Pencil – el lapíz

Pencil sharpener – el sacapuntas

Felt tip pens – los rotuladores

Crayons – las ceras

Paper – el papel 

Sheet of A4 – hoja A4

Notebook – el cuaderno

Text Book – el libro

Reading book – el libro de lectura

Ruler – la regla

Rubber – la goma

Scissors – las tijeras

Glue – el pegamento 

Tape – la cinta adhesiva 

Card – la cartulina 

Tissues – pañuelos

Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) : State secondary schools (ages 12 to 16 years) Bachillerato (ages 16 to 19 years)

This secondary stage of education is compulsory and also free.

It comprises of 4 courses divided into 2 cycles of 2 years each. The first cycle is for pupils from 12 to 14 years and the second from 14 to 16 years.

On successfully completing this education stage, pupils are awarded the certificate of Secondary Education Graduate giving access to Bachillerato and medium-grade training cycles in Spanish schools.

All towns and cities have secondary schools which are generally known as Institutos.

Like primary schools, some secondary schools teach subjects in the regional dialect rather than in Spanish.

Entry to a secondary school also depends upon the catchment area in which you live.

(Not all schools depend on a catchment area, living in the same municipality as the school gives you more points on the points system they use to award places, but they also take into account if you work in the same town as the school. So you can still apply to a school in another area.)

At the age of 16 a child should attain a Certificate of Completion of Secondary Education (Título de Graduado en Educación Secundaria) if they have successfully passed their examinations (examen or control). If they have not been successful then they will leave school with a Certificado de Escolarización. 

If a child has achieved their Titulo de Graduado en Educación Secundaria then they can decide to:

• Leave school

• Continue their education by studying for the Bachillerato (essential for university)

• Continue to attend their school by taking a vocational course (Ciclo Formativo)


Here are some useful words to make the “vuelta al cole 2020” ( back to school 2020) more understandable:

School – la escuela / el colegio / el instituto (secondary)

Classroom – el aula

Dining hall – el comedor

Library – la biblioteca

The playground – el patio

Sports hall – el gimnasio

Teacher – el profesor/ la profesora, or el profe (masculin) la seño (feminine)

Teaching assistant – el ayudante

Student – el alumno / la alumna

Headmaster – el director / la directora

Parents meeting – reunion de padres

PTA ( parent – teacher association) – el AMP (asociación de madres y padres de alumnos) 

 

Desk – la mesa

Chair – la silla 

Blackboard – la pizarra

 

Lesson – la clase

Support lessons- los clases de apoyo/refuerzo

Morning club – el aula matinal

After school activities – las actividades extraescolares

Homework – los deberes

Essay – la redacción

Story – el cuento

Test – el control

Exam – el examen

 

School subject – la asignatura

Spanish – el castellano or Lenga Castellana y Literatura

History – la historia

Mathematics – las matemáticas / el mates

Science – la ciencia

Biology – la biología

Chemistry – la química

Physics – la física

Computer science – la informática

Art – el arte

Religion – la religión

 

At the end of the term you will receive the grades “las notas” for each subject (asignatura):

 

Excellent – Sobresaliente (SB)

Very Good – Notable (N)

Satisfactory – Aprobado (A)

Fail – Suspenso (S)

 

Lisa Sadleir is a mum to 2 bilingual children. She works as a relocation consultant and property finder in southern Spain.  For more information about moving to Spain, the school system in Spain and how to plan your relocation, visit her website HERE. 

For a fun way to learn Spanish with your children, check out her family language project 

READ MORE: 

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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Le Havre rules: How to talk about French towns beginning with Le, La or Les

If you're into car racing, French politics or visits to seaside resorts you are likely at some point to need to talk about French towns with a 'Le' in the title. But how you talk about these places involves a slightly unexpected French grammar rule. Here's how it works.

Published: 30 November 2021 13:04 CET
Updated: 4 December 2021 17:47 CET
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre.
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre. It can be difficult to know what prepositions to use for places like this - so we have explained it for you. (Photo by AFP)

If you’re listening to French chat about any of those topics, at some point you’re likely to hear the names of Mans, Havre and Touquet bandied about.

And this is because French towns that have a ‘Le’ ‘La’ or ‘Les’ in the title lose them when you begin constructing sentences. 

As a general rule, French town, commune and city names do not carry a gender. 

So if you wanted to describe Paris as beautiful, you could write: Paris est belle or Paris est beau. It doesn’t matter what adjectival agreement you use. 

For most towns and cities, you would use à to evoke movement to the place or explain that you are already there, and de to explain that you come from/are coming from that location:

Je vais à Marseille – I am going to Marseille

Je suis à Marseille – I am in Marseille 

Je viens de Marseille – I come from Marseille 

But a select few settlements in France do carry a ‘Le’, a ‘La’ or a ‘Les’ as part of their name. 

In this case the preposition disappears when you begin formulating most sentences, and you structure the sentence as you would any other phrase with a ‘le’, ‘la’ or ‘les’ in it.

Masculine

Le is the most common preposition for two names (probably something to do with the patriarchy) with Le Havre, La Mans, Le Touquet and the town of Le Tampon on the French overseas territory of La Réunion (more on that later)

A good example of this is Le Havre, a city in northern France where former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who is tipped to one day run for the French presidency, serves as mayor. 

Edouard Philippe’s twitter profile describes him as the ‘Maire du Havre’, using a masculine preposition

Here we can see that his location is Le Havre, and his Twitter handle is Philippe_LH (for Le Havre) but when he comes to describe his job the Le disappears.

Because Le Havre is masculine, he describes himself as the Maire du Havre rather than the Maire de Havre (Anne Hidalgo, for example would describe herself as the Maire de Paris). 

For place names with ‘Le’ in front of them, you should use prepositions like this:

Ja vais au Touquet – I am going to Le Touquet

Je suis au Touquet – I am in Le Touquet 

Je viens du Touquet – I am from Le Touquet 

Je parle du Touquet – I am talking about Le Touquet

Le Traité du Touquet – the Le Touquet Treaty

Feminine

Some towns carry ‘La’ as part of their name. La Rochelle, the scenic town on the west coast of France known for its great seafood and rugby team, is one such example.

In French ‘à la‘ or ‘de la‘ is allowed, while ‘à le‘ becomes au and ‘de le’ becomes du. So for ‘feminine’ towns such as this, you should use the following prepositions:

Je vais à La Rochelle – I am going to La Rochelle

Je viens de La Rochelle – I am coming from La Rochelle 

Plural

And some places have ‘Les’ in front of their name, like Les Lilas, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The name of this commune literally translates as ‘The Lilacs’ and was made famous by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, about a ticket puncher at the Metro station there. 

When talking about a place with ‘Les’ as part of the name, you must use a plural preposition like so:

Je suis le poinçonneur des Lilas – I am the ticket puncher of Lilas 

Je vais aux Lilas – I am going to Les Lilas

Il est né aux Lilas – He was born in Les Lilas  

Islands 

Islands follow more complicated rules. 

If you are talking about going to one island in particular, you would use à or en. This has nothing to do with gender and is entirely randomised. For example:

Je vais à La Réunion – I am going to La Réunion 

Je vais en Corse – I am going to Corsica 

Generally speaking, when talking about one of the en islands, you would use the following structure to suggest movement from the place: 

Je viens de Corse – I am coming from Corsica 

For the à Islands, you would say:

Je viens de La Réunion – I am coming from La Réunion 

When talking about territories composed of multiple islands, you should use aux.

Je vais aux Maldives – I am going to the Maldives. 

No preposition needed 

There are some phrases in French which don’t require any a preposition at all. This doesn’t change when dealing with ‘Le’ places, such as Le Mans – which is famous for its car-racing track and Motorcycle Grand Prix. Phrases that don’t need a preposition include: 

Je visite Le Mans – I am visiting Le Mans

J’aime Le Mans – I like Le Mans

But for a preposition phrase, the town becomes simply Mans, as in Je vais au Mans.

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