Context

Ethnographic Context

The school is located in La Cala de Mijas, a small village in Mijas-Costa located on the Costa del Sol. It is a public school, which I chose for two reasons: it was the school where I studied at as a child and because I do not believe in private education because I do not think it reflects society.

Front part

This is an area where the predominant population is of middle and working class. It is situated on the coast and near the village you can find different places like Calahonda, Riviera ... and other areas where the population is mostly foreign. In school there are a lot of different nationalities and cultures, which I believe is an environment very positive for children to be educated in as they grow up in a none racial environment. Near the school we can find about 300 official protected housing so we can assume that low-income families live there.

The school has about 500 students, 20 classrooms and 30 teachers and it is a bilingual school which is also one of the reasons why I chose this center and as a feature of the center it should be mentioned that they work with a project of learning communities which means that the parents of the students go to classroom and carry out different activities to help students which I think is a very good way of integrating the community into the school.

Regarding the surroundings of the center we can see that it is located in the outskirts of town, so it is a quiet area with little traffic. It is a residential area where we can find a children’s playground and a supermarket about three hundred meters away.

The school has two main entrances, one for students and the other one for teachers and other workers form the centre. It has a big playground divided into three parts for different ages during break time and it also has a canteen for the students that have to stay there in the afternoon. It also has a new gym where children can do PE and a nice library where they go to read.

Library

Regarding the aesthetics of the center we can see on the outside that it is a traditional center with some years, but when we entere we can see that there are many things on the walls and different things that make it a much more cheerful.

Main entrance

There are also many details that promote an environment of fellowship and tolerance, as well as posters that reflect the cultural diversisdad is in the center.

Poster "staff room"

Stairs decoration

Classrooms context

Regarding the classroom, I will begin talking about the structure of the classroom, which I found very interesting. The children are placed in 5 groups of 5 students each, within which they help each other in a very friendly manner and materials are provided. Here you have a photo of one of the classes that I was helping students to complete their tasks and resolve their doubts:

4th year class

If we talk about the decoration of the classroom we can see that there are many things on the walls, most of them are different projects that the students have done during the course, and some posters of subjects, like the one I did about multiples of the metre, which was very useful for children.

The fact that the classroom is cheerfully decorated and created by the students is positive because it makes them feel comfortable in class.

When we arrived in the morning the first thing we do is open the blinds to let in sunlight because it is much better than artificial light as it saves electricity and is also more pleasant.

Among the most relevant teaching resources in the classroom we can highlight the blackboard and whiteboard, which are used a lot, the whiteboard being a very interesting resource which can do lots of different activities.

With regard to the students I should point out that there is a girl who is mentally retarded who is repeating the course (4th) but has the level of 1st year; this student must be given a lot of attention and help. There are also two other students receiving support in subjects such as mathematics and Spanish language because they failed the previous year and there are some students that have problems with the language, such as is the case of two British girls and a student who came from Hungary in September. There are children of many nationalities in the class (English, Romanian, Brazilian, Hungarian, Russian ...) so the children get to learn about different cultures; for example when it is a student's birthday they sing “Happy Birthday” in several languages. There is also a coloured boy and girl with which there has never been a problem regarding the color of the skin.

Outside context

Regarding the area outside the center we can find in front an area of countryside with mountains, which I think would be very positive if children were taken for a walk around and get to know the flora and fauna of the area. They could combine the subjects of PE and science of nature and do some very interesting activities.

Also, a 5 minute walk we arrived at the beach, where you can also do interesting activities.I think that taking the students  out of the school can be a very positive stimulus that if we use 100% we can get very good results.