Operación Inglés is an intensive three-week Spanish and English language camp held on the expansive grounds of a Jesuit secondary school in a village in Western Spain. Most of the participants are Spanish secondary school students looking to improve their English language skills in an American-style camp environment run by faculty and student monitors from the Madrid Campus of Saint Louis University. Each year we invite a few select native English speakers from secondary schools in the U.S. and Europe to join us. In place of English classes, these students take intensive Spanish classes and then participate in the same activities as our native Spanish speakers. It is an unparalleled service opportunity, full of fun and adventure, for native English speakers looking for an immersion experience in Spain.

The Beginning

Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus (http://spain.slu.edu) and Colegio San José (http://www.sanjosecolegio.org) in the southwest of Spain joined together to create a summer language camp, Operación Inglés. It was originally intended for Spanish students who want to learn English. Last year, we opened the camp to American and British students who want to learn Spanish.

Teachers and Students

Saint Louis University provides the experience of its English department and the enthusiasm of its undergraduates, who act as camp monitors and teachers, while San José provides its breathtaking facilities and dedicated support staff. Not including the cooks, lifeguards, porters, night-watch men, and coordinators provided by Colegio San José, our camp boasts one monitor for every seven students. All English classes are taught by native English speakers and all Spanish classes are taught by native Castilian speakers.

The camp has room for approximately 100 students aged between 12 and 17 years: 80 of the students are Spanish speakers learning English; the other 20 are English speakers learning Spanish.

A Typical Day

Students take four language classes every morning, taught by different teachers who concentrate especially on conversation skills and cultural integration.

In the cool of the midmorning, students take a break from studying to participate in sports that vary from day to day, and may include soccer, American football, baseball, badminton, handball, cricket, basketball, ultimate Frisbee, and archery.

Each day’s siesta is a chance is a chance for students to relax – or watch television, play board games, or chat with their friends.

After the siesta, students can choose among the many afternoon workshops: music, art, singing, puppet-making, newspaper-writing, dance, theater, or photography. We also schedule time off to go for a swim.

And before dinner, students take a moment to reflect and to write in their diaries.

Outside of the language classes in the morning, Spanish-speakers and English-speakers mix together in all the activities throughout the day. Communication becomes a necessity, and a lot of fun!

Sample Weekday Schedule

08.20 – 08.50              Breakfast

09.00 – 11.00              Spanish Classes

11.00 – 12.30              Sports

12.30 – 14.30              Spanish Classes

14.30 – 15.00              Lunch

15.00 – 16.00              Siesta

16.30 – 20.30              Workshops + swimming

20.30 – 21.00              Diary Writing

21.00 – 21.30              Dinner

21.30 – 23.00              Relax

23:30                           Lights out

Weekends

Students explore the region surrounding Villafranca de los Barros. They spend one weekend near Plasenzuela practicing climbing, paintball, cycling, swimming and archery; on the other, they visit a reservoir in Zújar in what’s called the Siberia de Extremadura, where they can canoe, swim, and just hang out.

For more information:

Webpage        -           http://spain.slu.edu/operacioningles

E-mail                        -           operacioningles@madrid.slu.edu   

Tel.                 -           (00 34) 91 554 5858

Fax.                 -           (00 34) 91 554 6202

Colegio San José

Colegio San José in Villafranca de los Barros, Badajoz, was founded more than one hundred years ago by the Jesuit Community and is still run by this same religious institution. It is one of the most prestigious mixed boarding schools in Spain, famous for its high level of education and for its care for students. The school boasts grounds of over more than 70,000 square meters and possesses numerous facilities, such as swimming pools, gymnasiums, an auditorium, a chapel, sports fields, and computer labs – in short, everything that permits the student to develop in the fields of academia, sports and culture. There is even a small mosque in the school grounds built for the wounded Moroccan troops who were sent there to convalesce during the Spanish Civil War.

Villafranca de los Barros

Villafranca de los Barros is a small town of 12,000 inhabitants in Extremadura in the southwest of Spain. It is situated on the ancient Ruta de la Plata (the Roman road that linked the Spanish silver mines) and is famed for its gastronomy – especially its cheese, ham and red wine. In the past it was an important market town, and agriculture still forms the basis of Villafranca’s economy. Architecturally, the town boasts the Colegio San José, a fifteenth-century church and a restored eighteenth-century flour mill, now a cultural center and music school: Villafranca is known as “the city of music.”