The first week of July at the Institute
The week begins and with it the Urban Camp in English, "Summer in the City" with students from five to sixteen years old. The atmosphere of the Institute is radically transformed from 9 in the morning when the earliest risers begin to arrive. All the students and also parents, gather in the Paraninfo to participate in the presentation of the program for this summer 2014 of Summer in the City. The teachers are also introduced: Alisha, Alicia, Christine, Alex, Ellen and Jocelyn. The Camp is organized around thematic weeks and this week will focus on rock stars. At the end of the week the students will have made their own music video that they will present on Friday in the Paraninfo.
In another part of the building, high school students in the process of applying to a US university work on preparing for their exam SAT with Jean Choi in the morning and with Jesse Schneider, the group in the afternoon. Some of them are members of the Competitive College Club of EducationUSA that meets every Wednesday afternoon. Two groups of teachers from bilingual concerted schools in Madrid prepare the language qualification test with Andrew or Barbara.
In the afternoon there is an act of homage to Marga Lobo, who was, until a few months ago, responsible for relations with foreign researchers at the National Film Library. Under the title "Reflections on Spanish cinema and the archive. A tribute to Marga Lobo” and organized by New York University Professor Jo Labany together with Eva Woods from Vassar College and Katy Vernon from SUNY Stony Brook, brings together twenty film researchers from universities in the US and the UK.
On Tuesday, July 1, the intensive courses for adults begin and we also receive a group of thirty students from Sycamore High School in California visiting Madrid. The teachers of the Urban Camp organize an exchange day between the students of this Californian school and the Spaniards who participate in the Camp.
Wednesday the Competitive College Club resumes weekly sessions, now that its members have more free time. It is time to emphasize the importance for American universities of volunteer work, of readings in the book club, of practicing oral and written presentations, debates and small speeches. American university students will participate in these meetings and will talk about university life. There will also be sessions dedicated to practicing the TOEFL exam.
On Thursday Ellen Comis offers a workshop in English on BrainPOP, educational content on line to support the curricular needs of students and facilitate the understanding of topics of interest. This is a workshop of special interest for primary school teachers on the bilingual equation system. Ellen Comis, visiting the Institute's English Program this month, is an elementary school teacher in public schools in Los Angeles, California, and a specialist in bilingual education. She has developed curricular content applicable throughout the Los Angeles school system. In the afternoon, Independence Day celebration with the jazz recital of The John Egizi Iberian Quartet. All the members of the quartet, on tour in Spain and Portugal these days, are or have been students at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The week ends and so do the summer sessions of the Boston University, Syracuse and Cornell University Programs. This summer session, which has been particularly numerous, will end on August 7 when more than XNUMX University of California students return to the US.
