IGCSE Spanish at BHS: Curriculum and Projects During Lockdown

By: Esperanza Breydy Abraham

We have been making real progress in our Spanish online classes. Certainly online teaching has become the new way of teaching during this crisis and we had to quickly learn new teaching methods through new applications in a way we never thought we would have to resort to.

The Spanish Department which I lead, like all Brummana High School teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic, had to adapt and so did our students who found these new methods a little overwhelming sometimes as well as difficult due to multiple technical and economical obstacles. The technical and economic obstacles in Lebanon are very prevalent, with internet communications infrastructure not sufficient and the financial situation in the country being very challenging with the local currency devaluing and general prices rising.

Honestly, I personally did not encounter so many of these problems during my classes. My students had their ups and downs like everyone else, however, normally they were able to attend classes on time and participate fairly well.

Some resourceful students’ improvised solutions to the technical issues: One resolved her WiFi issues by going to her aunt’s house in order to continue the online class. Fun fact! Her little cousins were nagging her the whole time while watching her online in class. They were amused by her Spanish accent! Another student was able to resolve the early morning class difficulty by attending class in bed!

As I said, we are making good progress but we hope to be able to return to campus and real, physical classrooms after the summer.

Note: The digital campus at BHS, the British school in Lebanon, has been developed to ensure the provision of the Lebanese and international education programmes, including the Cambridge Assessment’s IGCSEs and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), for all grade levels, from KG1 to Grade 12. This comprehensive provision includes online classes via Microsoft Teams and Moodle and there is even an online counselling service available for students and other members of the community. The school is hopeful of returning to its stunning, nature-rich 16-acre campus after summer with historic buildings dating back to 1873, but if that doesn’t prove possible due to the Coronavirus then BHS’ complete digital campus is very much available for all students.

To take a look at some of the work that was done, click HERE and HERE.