Spanish Students Regroup Online with Lecturer Declan

It was certainly a case of “Bienvenidos”, rather than “Hasta la Vista” for Level 4 Spanish students from Downpatrick Campus who got more than they bargained for as @S_ERC moved online.

Declan McClure, Associate Lecture said, “Many of the students on the Level 4 Spanish class at SERC’s Downpatrick Campus have been coming to the college to study Spanish for a number of years, progressing from Holiday Spanish, through Beginners level right through to the Level 4 programme. We try our best to make the classes fun and enjoyable for everyone and many of the students have become close friends over the years.

“The students won’t mind me telling you that our Spanish is definitely better than our IT skills but with the help of the resident class IT expert Miguel McAleenan, everyone decided it was worth embracing the new technology to make sure our Spanish classes could continue

He added, “I am delighted to say that we will complete the course and student engagement remains high. Sometimes there have even been ‘extra students’, spouses and other family members appearing in the frame to make sure everyone is up to speed using Zoom and we spend a lot of the time just laughing. The perfect medicine for us all in these stressful times.

“Most importantly, we are all delighted that lockdown has not resulted in our classes being cancelled and that we are going to be able to achieve the Level 4 qualification which we have worked so hard for since September. The class is proving another important way for us all to remain connected.”

Audrey Slater, one of several retired teachers in the class said, “I am so glad we have been able to keep our Spanish classes going, even though the College building has been closed, SERC is open online. It is great to see all our classmates online and to hear their voices again. It has been a learning curve for all of us but the only problem is there has been no let-up in the homework! This is so much better than working in isolation.”

Apply now for Level 4 in Modern Languages (Spanish, French or Italian) commencing September 2020