Prouty to Spain!: A Second School Visit!

We visited a school called The Gaudem School. This school is a tri-lingual, PK-12 school for hearing and non-hearing students. The school began about a decade ago as a small school for the deaf. The staff had a vision for an inclusion model school, went to the government to plead their case and share their vision, and the government supplied them with a building. This school model is one that is close to the charter schools of our country. They're partially government funded and partially tuition funded.

We were not allowed to take close up pictures of student faces, so student photos were difficult to attain. The head of the English Department welcomed us with open arms. She explained that the school was tri-lingual, meaning that ALL students become fluent in Spanish sign language, Spanish, and English.

Any class that has deaf or hearing impaired students has a full time signer. The teacher of this 7th grade class is in the red shirt on the right. The signer is in the center, signing for 3 students.

These students were talking in English about stereotypes for Spanish people and for American people, as well as differences in our schools.

We were all able to join a group to discuss these topics with these 7th graders. This was my group.

We talked about racism, foods, school start and end times, homework, uniforms for school, etc. when I asked them what is the first negative thing they think of when I say "American", they one of them said, "racism". They know about our black/white issues and about our nation's talk about not accepting Syrian refugees. We had a nice discussion about this. I was clear to them that I'm not racist, and either are my family members or my friends. They were concerned that Americans see them as lazy. We told them this is not so. The best way to understand each other is to visit each others' country. This makes the world more open to issues. Here is what they see in their city of Madrid:

Home to school and back to home communication is crucial in the younger grades and the teachers communicate daily in the preschool, just like at our school!