Our school
Our school’s name is IES Cañada de las Fuentes. You can find us at Carretera de Huesa, 25. 23480 Quesada (Jaén), as can be seen in this link. Our telephone number is +34953711941 and our email is 23700426.edu@juntadeandalucia.es
The bilingual project
Currently, we teach students in the four levels of compulsory secondary education (ESO), A-levels (Bachillerato) and vocational formation (FP). The bilingual project begun in September 2020 and it spreads to a new level each year. So, the dates when the ESO levels will join bilingualism are as follows:
- 1º ESO: September 2020
- 2º ESO: September 2021
- 3º ESO: September 2022
- 4º ESO: September 2023
The subjects which participate in the bilingual project so far are P.E., Physics and Chemistry, Maths, Art, French, Spanish and, of course, English.
The bilingual coordinator’s name is Gonzalo López. On top of having been teaching English for more than 20 years, he used to be an assistant himself, so he will understand your worries, needs and expectations quite well. You can contact him by the school’s email. He is also the person in charge of the innovation department at school, so any ideas about new ways to improve language skills will be welcome and fostered!
Quesada
Quesada is a village, with scarcely 5,000 people living in the main nucleus of population (there are some hamlets scattered around). It has a small, but beautiful historical centre of white houses. You can check up what the place looks like in this link (short film) and this promotional tourist video. Most people work on the olive fields and despite being just a village there is quite a lot of social life, as it usually happens in Andalucía: bars and cafés, people on the streets, gym, physiotherapist who offers pilates/yoga classes, and so on. However, if you come from a city, you may find the place somewhat boring. The mountains are quite near the village and there is a bike club whose members (mostly young people) usually take long rides there. In fact, we live next to the largest natural park in Spain, Sierra de Cazorla, Segura y las Villas. You’ll find plenty of opportunities to take sport and learn or improve your Spanish, of course.
Culture is also an important part of our village. Despite the size of the place, there are two museums here: the Zabaleta museum, devoted to a local painter who was a friend of Picasso’s, Miro’s and Dali’s, among others, and the Miguel Hernández museum, devoted to the paramount poet who wrote and fought against the dictatorship in the Civil War. Both museums are in the same building, where a wide range of cultural events takes place around the year, as you can check in their blog. Moreover, there is a flamenco association right in the centre of the village.
There are two really picturesque places near the village: the castle and sanctuary of Tíscar and the neighbouring Cueva del Agua, a massive half-open cave with stalactites and stalagmites which can be accessed through a narrow tunnel. A visit to these two places is a must!
Our students
Our students often have a quite low level of English, but they are curious and affectionate. In fact, we live in one of the less troublesome areas in the country, where conflicts among students or with teachers do not usually take place. Our little angels are a bit tough because of the agricultural environment, but every teacher who leaves our school misses them the moment they arrive in the next one. The students who attended 1º ESO in the first year of the project benefited from the experience of working with our first foreign language assistant, Hannah, who made them speak as much as possible and helped to improve their level of English. On our second year, Patrick helped students in both 1º and 2º ESO. They all loved him!
The weather
The weather here is typically Mediterranean: very hot summers, with little or no rain. Winters are usually cold and rather dry (minimum temperatures are usually around 0-5ºC, with the maximum ones ranging from 10ºC to 15ºC). Of course, climate change is affecting us and it is just from time to time that we get snow or a couple of days reaching -10ºC. Spring and autumn may be lovely or awfully hot, it depends on the year. To sum up, it is quite unpredictable but much drier than anywhere else in central Europe. I’d say the most similar area in the US would be California. We need to adapt to the weather, but usually enjoy it.
Where to stay
It is quite strange to share rooms in Spain, at least in rural environments. However, renting a full flat can be quite inexpensive. Our current assistant got a flat right in the centre of the village (opposite the city hall) for just 250€ a month. Prices rarely go beyond 300€. Anyway, there is always a chance that members of staff who live far from Quesada or who have a part-time job may be happy to share a room – or even vocational formation students, who usually come from other villages and cities. The bilingual coordinator will always be there to help you find a comfy place!
If you are adventurous enough and have got a driving licence and a car, you can choose to live in Cazorla. It is a 25-minute drive from here and you’ll get more social life and more foreign language assistants, on top of a wider range of accomodation. However, roads are treacherous and there is no public transport, so you’ll have to think twice before you choose to move there.
What we expect
Your main task at school will be helping students to improve their English, especially their spoken English. You’ll get just 700€ per month for 12 hours with us (this comes from the Ministry of Education, so we can do nothing about it), plus medical insurance. This is more than enough if you decide to stay in Quesada, as living expenses here are quite low. However, you’ll need money for your first month here, as you won’t be paid until the 1st of November. You’ll also have to attend one or two coordination meetings per week. Your timetable will be ready soon, and we always try to listen to your expectations and give you one free day a week by concentrating your classes in just four. We also expect you to produce materials which we can recycle in the forthcoming years: presentations, audios, videos – whatever you feel like sharing with us. We are especially interested in your culture and how you see us.
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Information for language assistants – this is pretty much the same, but in a standardized format.
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