Teresa Diller, University of Barcelona, Spain, Mobility for Studies, PHST

Classes

I took the following classes at the UB:

•Cultural Aspects of English-Speaking Countries

•The English Language in Educational Content

•Physical Education

•School Practices

•Spanish

Every class is held in English except P.E. which is held in catalan. I luckily have some students who help me with the translation but since I only attend the practical part, it's much easier to understand and get along with the language well.

Generally speaking, in my opinion most catalan students are hard to talk to, because they always stick to their group (clique), which they've known since they were little children. Fortunetaly not all of them are like this so I've already found very open-minded and helpful people. Also people who want to improve their language skills so we have the possibility to have a language tandem (english- spanish, english- catalan, german- spanish,...), where both benefit from.

Cultural Aspects of English-Speaking Countries

This course is about what defines our culture, what builds our personalities and what shapes us the way we are. We talk about the differences and things we have all in common. Also we get to know more about english-speaking countries (not only the well known ones such as UK or USA). Therefor we have to do a presentation about one aspect of one country and afterwards reflect our presentation in a written assignment. By the end of the semester we will also have to take an in class assessment, which will be the last thing to fullfil our successful completion of the course.

The English Language in Educational Content

This course is about clarification of the vocabulary which are used in educational content, to improve grammar skills, as well as listening, reading and writing in english.

We have to do different tasks like:

•Making an interview with a native english speaking person to ask about the educational system in their country of origin (goes into the portfolio)

•Different personal excercises (-> Portfolio)

•Essays (narrative, descriptive) (-> Portfolio)

•Project work about our ideal school/nursery

•Project work about creating and playing a game in class

•in class assessment at the end of the semester

The lecturer is very nice and always asks me about the educational system in Austria. I get to speak a lot and also get to compare the two systems with each other.