Time to say goodbye!
This is a collection of pictures I've taken over the last week that haven't quite fit into other blog posts. After taking a look at our Debate, and celebrating four birthdays, I've included the final photos from the program, covering today's Language Test and a group photo in the cafeteria. Everyone is at home by now, packing and saying final farewells before tomorrow's trip (at 6am!!) to the airport in Madrid.
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First up, pictures from our linguistics debate. Students argued for and against gender neutral language in Spanish (such as words that don't end in -a or -o). The debate is currently raging in U.S. Spanish, as well as in various parts of South and Central America, as to whether or not this change is even possible. Using their new linguistics knowledge, students had a pretty spirited conversation.
Jennifer arguing her point. Each student had a minute and a half to speak.
Our audience, listening to the argument.
And in the seats below, our investigation team, who helped research and develop the arguments that our speakers ended up using.
One team was ready for a photo.
The other team was congratulating Sofia on her closing argument and ignored me! Can you imagine that?!
And here we have a group photo with everyone sitting together on the stage!
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Next up, birthdays! Within less than six days, Henry, Maddie, Delaney and Elisabeth all celebrated birthdays, so we had occasion for cake and celebration!
First, our joint birthday for Maddie, Delaney and Elisabeth, who had birthdays on two adjacent days:
Aline and Jessica, preparing the cake.
Gabi, with a slice of fudge cake!
Everyone eating and chatting. There was a lot of cake left over!
Next up, Henry's birthday.
For both occasions, the students practiced their singing voices (and the lyrics) of feliz cumpleaños (happy birthday) in Spanish. By the end of the summer, they've gotten pretty good at it.
Gabi, with melon instead of cake. ¡Viva la fruta!
A much smaller cake (which ran out pretty quickly).
Cookies as well to help make up the difference!
Jessica, handing out mini sugar-frosted elephant ears.
COOKIES!
High five!
Cake for the birthday boy.
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A few pictures of us instructors, carrying home gear from the Farewell Show, and headed back to our apartment, just to give you a taste of our daily walk.
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Finally, a look at today's language exam and a group photo!
Students got their smartphones back this afternoon to have them fully charged for the trip home tomorrow. In this picture, Aline looked almost like a street vendor, trying to sell off all these fancy touchscreen phones!
Juan, watching over students to see if anyone had questions about the exam.
We headed off for one final lunch together in the cafeteria. Students were already frantically typing away on phones, or scrolling through group messages, trying to get caught up on all the latest gossip.
We got hamburgers, fries and pudding cups for lunch today, as a kind of farewell meal!
I brought along the flag for one final picture of the group.
Everyone slowly joined together for this picture, knowing it would be the last.
Here's all the students.
Here's all the students plus Aline.
And here's one with Jessica too!
One final look back, toward the cafeteria and sports area.
Farewell, Ciudad Real! It's been an amazing experience.
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Keep an eye out for an update with Ciudad Real videos within the next month! Here's to a safe flight home and a lot of fun in the last days of the summer for all of our students. It's been wonderful, spending the summer with you guys. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
-M