From the Head of Languages, Suzanne Richards
Last Thursday we farewelled Bruno Cazzuli who was a visiting teacher from Uruguay. Bruno is a teacher at the Stella Maris Christian Brothers school in Montevideo. He was taking part in a study tour of two Edmund Rice schools in Australia.
Over the course of the three weeks that he spent with us, he engaged with all of our Spanish classes from Years 8 to 12. For our senior boys it was an excellent opportunity for them to have access to a native speaker and put their speaking skills to the test! Fortunately, they rose to the occasion. Since our new Spanish teacher, Katia Iturrieta, is originally from Chile, her Year 10 class were able to try ‘Mate’, a popular herbal drink in quite a few Latin American countries. Que rico!
With the other year groups, he gave two captivating presentations about life in Uruguay and the history of his school. The former afforded our students to develop their intercultural understanding and gain insight into a Spanish speaking country. This is a key component of any language course. The latter involved the story of the tragic plane crash of 1972 as they were students of the school. This provided our boys with a relevant experience as it is very much an example of resilience and human strength, something that is often a discussion point with the boys.
Bruno engaged fully with all aspects of school life and was amazed at the opportunities and resources that are available to the boys. The boys, in turn, did us proud in being extremely respectful and showing genuine interest in his culture by asking insightful questions after each presentation. Bruno’s school does wonderful work with various outreach projects and it is therefore hoped that, now that we have built a positive relationship with the school, it will provide future opportunities for the boys. In the meantime, we are going to set up a penpal system so the boys can further their Spanish skills.
Muchisimas gracias Bruno y te vamos a echar de menos!
