In February a group of students from Manchester Grammar School visited TANDEM school for a week’s intensive study and cultural visits. Tom Appleby and Ali McCauley, the tutors, tell us their experience below.
We stayed with individual host families and had daily lessons in school from native speakers. When not in lessons we followed a variety of cultural activities including a visit to Toledo with our fabulous guide, Sonia, who was later to accompany us to the Prado Museum where we became instant experts in the art of Goya and Velázquez. We also enjoyed a brief visit to the Reina Sofía Gallery where we learnt about the bombing of Guernica and admired Picasso’s famous painting.
We relaxed by following Real Madrid’s stadium tour at the Bernabeu before seeing Atlético de Madrid beat Eibar 3-1. Amongst our evening highlights was a Ghost tour with Cristina of haunted sites in Madrid – spooky or what! Later we went to Microteatropordinero, where we saw three short plays and actually understood two of them, then made a visit to Clamores Jazz Club where we saw the Madrid debut of the singer Anna Cloch – she looked stunning, which was all that mattered.
Overall we had a most enjoyable stay, improved our Spanish beyond all recognition and can’t wait to go back. Many thanks to all the staff at Tandem for making our stay such a success.
Tom Appleby and Ali McCauley
Our most sincere and friendly gratefulness to all Manchester Grammar School’s students for their visit and to all their team of teachers and staff that made this trip possible. We hope to welcome you back with another group soon.
