In Spain, the school system is set up by the government and it is the job of the "Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia," the Ministry of Education, to keep quality high. There are also laws associated with this.

In some countries, as a Dutchman, you can get very confused by the school system. The years are divided differently or the level is not comparable. Spain's school system is similar to that of the Netherlands. However, there are some differences.

• Secondary education, Educación Segundaria Obligatoria (ESO), in Spain is similar to high school in the Netherlands. Only they don't have different levels at the schools in Spain.
• In Spain, as in France, they have the baccalaureate, a diploma that you obtain to gain entrance to university/higher education.
• The regulations regarding higher education and university are the same as in the Netherlands.

Education in Spain

Education in Spain does not differ much from the Dutch education system. The first layer is: nursery and primary education. In which we distinguish educación infantil and educación primaria. Educación infantil covers the first six years of the child's life in which the child is not required to attend school. From the age of 3 months until the third year, the child can attend la guardería, the nursery. This must be paid per month and working mothers receive financial assistance from the government. In addition, there is escuela infantil, the kindergarten. After the crèche, the child can attend kindergarten until it reaches the age of 6. From the age of 6 it is compulsory to attend school. Thus, all children must begin primary education, educación primaria. Primary education consists of three cycles of two years each. El primer cyclo begins when the child is 6 years old. With sufficient development, after two years he may proceed to el segundo cyclo and after another two years to el tercer cyclo. In the third cycle, the child is prepared for secondary education. They are taught Castellano (Spanish) as well as any autonomous language and literature.

Secondary education lasts four years and is given to children as young as 12 years old. All children are taught at the same level during these four years. In the second and final cycle, the student does choose a profile to prepare for the Baccalaureate or technical education and after four years of study and satisfactory completion of all subjects, the student receives a diploma: Graduado en Educación Secundaria. This diploma gives access to the Baccalaureate and technical training, depending on what the child's level is.

Higher secondary education is what children go to when they have successfully completed secondary education. This includes two levels: 'Bachillerato' and formación profesional. The 'Bachillerato' takes two years and is comparable in level to the havo in the Netherlands. The profile chosen by students in the second cycle of secondary education is continued as a specialization in an industry in addition to the compulsory, general subjects. The diploma you get after completing the Baccalaureate is a requirement for university admission. There is also formación profesional, which are classes and practical classes. It is training for a practical profession and gives access to further courses, a job and the Baccalaureate.

Higher education and university has been the same as in the Netherlands since 2006. As of 2006, Spain now also works with a Bachelor-Master structure. Before you can enter college or university, you must first take an entrance exam in Spain, "la Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad," better known as the selectividad. This tests the knowledge you learned at the Baccalaureate. The Bachelor in the Netherlands is called 'los Estudios de Grado' in Spain and lasts four years. To graduate, a graduation project must be done that eventually gives you el Titulo de Graduado. The next step is 'Máster Universitario' and takes two years. For this too you have to submit a report, better known as the thesis. For the real go-getters, there is 'Doctorado,' which involves independent research in preparation for writing the dissertation to get the highest title.

"In a place in La Mancha, whose name I do not remember, lived a knight not long ago..." The famous first sentence of the Spanish novel "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. Translated into Dutch, it means "The ingenious nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. A book about an old gray-haired man who, by reading many books about knights, thinks he is a knight himself.

• The author of Don Quixote, Cervantes, started writing the novel when he was in prison for unpaid debts. In addition, he was called el manco de Lepanto (the flawed one of Lepanto) when, in a battle against the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), he so injured his left hand that it remained permanently paralyzed.
• The brave knight Don Quixote was actually named Alonso Quijano, but the knight didn't think that sounded heroic so he went on an adventure with his new name.

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares on Sept. 29, 1547, and died in Madrid on April 23, 1616. He was one of the most important novelists/playwrights in Spanish literature. Cervantes did not have an easy life, for although he was Catholic, his partly Jewish ancestry did not make things easy for him in the Spain of the Catholic Reformation. He left for Italy where he published some elegies and fought with the Spanish army against the Ottoman Empire. When he wanted to return to Spain in 1575, he was captured for 5 years by privateers from Algiers. As if one time in captivity was not enough, he was captured again in 1597, but this time for unpaid debts. He decided to write a story during his imprisonment: thus, the book about Don Quixote and the Windmills was written in a prison! He released the first part of the book ("The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha") in 1605. Although this book was successful, Cervantes died in poverty after he released the second part of the book in 1615.

Alonso Quijano, an old, gray-haired man who loved books and stories about knights immensely. He read so many that one day he felt like being a knight himself. Accompanied by Sancho Panza, a small, fat, illiterate peasant whose main interest was food and lured along by the attractive promise of an island, Alonso, under the name Don Quixote of La Mancha, set out on a wander through rural Spain. His goal? To right all kinds of wrongs and become famous through his good deeds. Don Quixote on his horse Rosinante and Sancho Panza on a donkey too small for this fat peasant. The adventure had begun! Of course, the most famous part of the book is the part where the brave knight battles the giants. While Sancho Panza is still loudly shouting that they are windmills and that fighting them will be futile, Don Quixote heads full of courage and full speed toward the giants. "Do not flee, blode and low creatures! It is a single knight who attacks you." He thrusts his lance into a blade and is immediately swept away. Swinging heavily, the knight rolled into the field. This time he had lost, but next time he will defeat them. And they continued on their way to Puerto Lápice, for there they would encounter many and varied adventures.

2-Euro coins

Nice to know that on July 30, 2005, a coin was issued to commemorate "400 years of Don Quixote". In fact, member countries of the European Union are allowed to issue special 2-euro coins to mark special events. The circulation was 8,000,000 coins, so who knows, you might come across one.

Spanish outside of Spain and the Americas

Equatoguinean Spanish

Spanish is one of the official languages of the small African country of Equatorial Guinea (interestingly Spanish is not defined as an official language in two of the countries with the largest populations of Spanish speakers, Mexico and the United States). Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish territory from 1778 to 1968. Today, although Spanish is generally not used as a first language here, it is still spoken by an estimated 87.7% of the people. This unique variety of Spanish is influenced by local native languages such as Fang. The Association of Spanish Language Academies has proposed creating an Equatorial Guinea Spanish Language Academy.

Notable Spanish language literary works by writers from Equatorial Guinea include the novels Cuando los combes luchaban (When the Kombes Fought, 1953) by Leoncio Evita Enoy, Una Lanza por el Boabí (A Spear for the Boabi) by Daniel Jones Mathama, Ekomo (1985) by María Nsué Angüe, and El reencuentro. El retorno del exiliado (The Reunion. The return of the Exiled, 1985).  

Books of poetry include Voces de espuma (1987) by Ciriaco Bokesa and Sueños en mi selva (Dreams in my Forest, 1987). 

Ladino

Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, is listed by UNESCO as a seriously endangered language. It began to spread in 1492 when Spain’s Jewish community was expelled from the country. Exiled Jewish people from Spain settled in areas such as Holland, Morocco, England, and different parts of the Ottoman Empire, bringing 15^th century Castilian Spanish with them. Local languages in those areas heavily influenced regional varieties of Ladino (particularly Turkish and Greek) in much the same way Yiddish has adopted local linguistic influences. Despite the heavy outside influences and declining numbers of speakers over the centuries, Ladino is surprisingly similar to modern Spanish. A number of efforts and projects are being made to preserve Ladino including The Maale-Adumim Institute for Ladino and the cultural magazine Aki Yerushalayim which is written entirely in Ladino.

Estimates suggest that between 160,000 to 300,000 people speak Ladino today, most of them in Israel.     

Spanish Judeo writers include Sara Benveniste who published a complete anthology of her literary works in 1995 entitled Espertando el Djudeo Espanyol,  and the writer Margalit Matityahu (Curtijo Quemado, 1998, Vagabondo Eternal & Bozes en la Shara, 2001).

Spanish in the Philippines

According to the Cervantes Institute of Manila, as of 2010 there were some 3 million Spanish speakers in the Philippines. An estimated 440,000 speakers have native knowledge of the language. It was an official language of the Philippines from the 16^th century, throughout Spanish rule, the American administration, and all the way up to 1973 when a new constitution declared English and Filipino as official languages.  

Spanish was widely spoken in the Philippines and used in media and literature in the beginning of the 20^th century. The language began to decline here however when the US administration began pressuring newspapers to use English and English was adopted by school systems. Spanish language literature written by Filipinos also thrived during the first half of the 20^th century. Notable Filipino writers from the period who wrote in Spanish include Francisco Alonso Liongson (he wrote El Unico Cliente, Mi mujer es Candidata, among many other plays) and poet-playwright-politician Claro Mayo Recto (Bajo los Cocoteros, Solo entre las sombras).

The Tagalog language also has an estimated 4,000 spanish words. Chavacano is a Spanish-based language spoken in parts of the southern area of the Philippines.

The radio program Filipinas Ahora Mismo is aired nationally in the Philippines in Spanish every day.

The Philippines also has an Academy of the Spanish language which is part of the Association of Spanish Language Academies.

• Spain is the land of excellent public transportation. The extensive network of trains in, to and from Spain is one of the main modes of transportation.
• The capital of Spain has a great subway network and many cabs that will take you anywhere for a good price.
• The second largest city, Barcelona, has numerous transportation options. From metros to buses and streetcars to cabs.

Travel in Spain: Public transportation throughout the country

If you think things are well organized in the Netherlands, you haven't been to Spain yet. First, there are multiple ways to travel throughout the country and second, they are not nearly as expensive as in the Netherlands. It is well arranged, reliable and convenient. Train transportation consists not only of a simple rail network, Spain also has a good number of lines of high-speed trains that race throughout the country at over 300 km/h. The most famous company is 'AVE' (Alta Velocidad Española). In addition, 'Media Distancia' trains from 'RENFE' are the most obvious trains to travel on. The buses in Spain are, in a word, luxury. When you travel with the so-called 'autocars,' you find yourself in a bus with air conditioning, a TV screen and access to electricity. Then, of course, there are the scheduled buses as you find in every country.

Public transportation in Madrid

Madrid is a large city, it therefore has a large network with many options for getting around. Public transportation in Madrid is subsidized by the government and this makes it pleasantly cheap to travel on. The subways in Madrid go everywhere. It is an extensive network that is still expanding daily. Waiting is almost non-existent, as a metro leaves about every 3 minutes. Madrid has about 185 bus lines throughout the city. Buses struggle in Madrid as they have to compete with the extensive metro network. Nevertheless, they manage to distinguish themselves by offering night services (frequency: every 30 minutes) that get everyone back home safely after going out. White cars with a red diagonal stripe on the sides, you see them all over the city. They are the cabs of Madrid. You can pull them over, but there are also a huge number of cab stands and parking lots. Cabs are cheaper than in the Netherlands, which makes it attractive to travel by cab.

Public transport in Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, and it also offers numerous options for getting around by public transportation at a good price. The most obvious option for getting around is the metro. It is fast, safe and cheap and with 9 metro lines, all hot spots are easily accessible. Barcelona's metro network is operated by two companies: 'TMB' and 'FGC,' but the integrated ticketing system allows you to travel with both companies on one ticket. On Saturdays, the subways run all night.

The bus is not the fastest mode of transportation since the city is a big fan of one-way streets. As a result, buses often have to detour. That said, it is a good mode of transportation. Like a real city, Barcelona also has streetcars. These streetcars mainly take you to the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. As in Madrid and countless other cities, there are more than a thousand cabs in Barcelona. They can be recognized by their black color with yellow doors.

Film viewing gives us the chance to experience the lives of others from the comfort of our own living room. Putting together a top ten movie list is not an easy task, because a list like this will inevitably be incomplete, and it won’t satisfy everyone’s tastes –it probably won’t completely satisfy anybody’s tastes.

In any case, we’ve tried to include films that learners can enjoy without needing too high of a Spanish level, and titles that Spanish teachers will find appropriate to show in class.

We hope you like our selection, and we apologize for those movies which we have unavoidably missed.

Madrid is the cultural, economic and political heart of Spain. It is the largest city in Spain, so there are many attractions in Madrid. The Retiro Park in Madrid is like the Vondelpark in Amsterdam.

Vacations in Madrid

The Retiro Park in Madrid is the largest and most popular park in the city. The park has and area of 1.4 km². The official name of the park is El Retiro. In the past, "Jardin del Buen Retiro" was the name of the park. The park is located on the east side of the center of Madrid. The Golden Triangle of Madrid (Museo del Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía museum) is also located in the immediate vicinity of the park.

In 1632, King Philip IV's palace was built in the park. This palace was a kind of refuge for the royal family, hence the name Retiro which means refuge. The park was a private park for the royal family until 1869. From 1869, the park was opened to the public.
The Retiro park has a large pond where people can rent boats and escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Therefore, on weekends and holidays, the park is very popular with Madrileños. Due to the huge size of the park, the park is never too crowded. In addition to renting boats, it is also possible to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the park. Street musicians, street vendors and living statues are also not lacking in the park.

Palacio de Cristal

Besides the beautiful nature, there are also some buildings. In the south of the park is a smaller pond with the Palacio de Cristal adjacent to it. This palace was built in 1887 by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco using the Crystal Palace in London as an example. This palace houses exotic plants and temporary exhibitions. However, the Palacio de Cristal is not the only building designed by Velázquez. In 1884, he designed another building in the park, the Palacio de Velázquez. This palace used to be used for exhibitions of the mining, metal, glass and ceramic industries. Today, it houses art exhibitions.

Another impressive work in the park is the Galápagos Fountain. It was created in 1832 by José de Mariategui in honor of the birth of Isabel II. Four small angels, with dolphins and a snail adorn the top of the fountain. The structure of the fountain symbolizes the various allegories of long life, fertility and the upholding of traditional values such as wisdom and rectitude.

Part of the park is set up as a rose garden, "Roseleda. During a trip to Madrid, a visit to the Retiro Park should definitely not be missed.

The 2013 Word of the Year: ESCRACHE

A number of new and curious words have made interesting appearances on the Spanish linguistic landscape in recent years including wasapear (to send text messages using the cell phone app WhatsApp) and auto-foto. These terms made the candidate short list, but Fundeu BBVA ended up selecting escrache  as their 2013 word of the year. 

The Fundeu BBVA is an organization that works together with the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and whose main mission is to promote what they deem as proper Spanish usage in the media. The group was looking for a word that had recently come into the mainstream and was relevant in terms of its usage to describe recent current events. Escrache, in reference to an organized demonstration in front of the homes of politicians and other public figures, seemed to meet those qualifications.

The Argentine and Uruguayan media used the word frequently in the 1990s to describe many demonstrations held to protest crimes committed by dictatorships. Escrache has recently found its way across the Atlantic and into Spain’s popular media, which makes use of the word to describe protests organized by Spain’s Mortgage Victims Platform, a social group that fights against home evictions.  

Escrache’s origins in Argentina likely come from the Genovese scraccâ meaning to spit, or the Italian schiacciare meaning to smash or crush. English speakers however will immediately associate escrache with the word scratch, and Spanish speakers in places with heavy English language influences (like the US) use escrache to describe a scratch. It’s a completely different usage of the word, which makes it even more interesting and added value to its candidacy as Fundeu BBVA’s word of the year.

 Although the RAE’s dictionary does not include the word, it does provide an entry of the verb escrachar as a colloquial Argentine word that can mean either to break, destroy, smash, or oddly enough, to take a photograph of somebody.

This is the first year that the Fundeu BBVA has selected a word of the year, and it’s not the only organization to do it. The American Dialect Society has been announcing words of the year in English since 1991. Not! meaning “just kidding” was 92’s woty. Both Webster and Oxford dictionaries have them too. This year, “selfie” beat out “twerk” and “bitcoin” to become Oxford’s word of the year.

The “most beautiful Spanish word” survey

The Cervantes Institute has launched several online surveys in recent years in search of the most beautiful word in Spanish. The surveys, which coincide with el Día del Español celebrations (which happen in mid June), are open to anyone who wants to participate, and thousands of internet users from around the world compete.

“Amor” won in 2006 but had stiff competition from words with appealing meanings like paz or libertad, and words that sounded attractive such as libélula, albahaca and susurro. In 2011, a word nominated by the celebrated actor Gael García Bernal was elected over other nominations such as sueño, flamenco and alegría: his word was Querétaro, a word with indigenous origins and likely means either “island of the blue salamanders” or “place of reptiles”.

So what do you think is the most beautiful word in Spanish? Which do you think should be the word of the year?

The Spanish flag

The Spanish flag is probably one of the most distinctive flags of European countries. The Spanish flag has caused the colors yellow and red to be seen as the national colors of Spain.

The current Spanish flag went into use on Dec. 19, 1981. The flag consists of two red strips and one yellow strip. The yellow strip is the same height as the two red strips together. The colors red and yellow have been used on the flag of Spain since 1785 and were chosen because, according to King Charles III, these colors would stand out.

The coat of arms of Spain

The left half of the yellow strip depicts the coat of arms of Spain. This coat of arms has undergone many changes in recent centuries. In fact, until 1981, the coat of arms was adorned by an eagle. The coat of arms of Spain consists of 8 different parts. At the top left of the coat of arms is a yellow tower symbolizing the region of Castile. On the upper right is a crowned lion symbolizing the region of León. The four red stripes in the lower left symbolize Aragon. The gold chain with the emerald in the lower right represents Navarre. The pomegranate in the bottom center represents Granada. The three lilies in the center of the coat of arms symbolize Bourbon, home to the royal house. Finally, the coat of arms is crowned with a crown, reflecting the royal crown.

The pillars on the side of the shield are also called the "Pillars of Hercules," the former name of the Strait of Gibraltar. The red ribbon wrapped around the pillars says "plus ultra" which means, "beyond. With this, the coat of arms of Spain includes the former Spanish territories in the Americas.

The Spanish flag without the coat of arms is also commonly used by Spanish citizens and is also called the civil flag. The flag should not officially be hung out between sunset and sunrise, however, Spanish embassies are an exception to this.

Spanish holidays

Spain has an enormous number of holidays. Most of these Spanish holidays are celebrated according to tradition every year. So is New Year's Eve in Spain. Spain has some pretty distinct traditions, customs and practices that are celebrated during New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is celebrated big and elaborately in Spain, and in Spanish fashion, New Year's Eve celebrations also start relatively late.

New Year's Eve in Spanish is called "Noche Vieja," the old night. On New Year's Eve, most Spaniards stay home with the whole family until noon. In Spain, New Year's Eve begins with a very elaborate dinner with the whole family. After dinner, most Spaniards move to one of the city squares. The most famous square in Spain to celebrate New Year's Eve is Puerto del Sol in Madrid. As such, this is the centerpiece of Spanish New Year's Eve. Around noon, all eyes are on the clock on the Puerta del Sol. This clock is also shown on television so everyone can join in with "Las Uvas de La Suerte" tradition.

Spanish traditions

'Las Uvas de La Suerte' is a Spanish tradition that originated in 1909 when grape growers in Alicante could not get rid of their grapes and shared them out. At noon, grapes are hawked. One grape per chime, for 12 chimes. If you manage to eat twelve grapes before the 12 chimes are over, you will have good luck and prosperity in the coming year. Each grape equals one month of the year.

After the grapes are duly processed, everyone wishes each other a Happy New Year and, as in the Netherlands, champagne is toasted. Increasingly popular is cava, which is a Spanish champagne. Different grapes are used for cava than for champagne. And because it is made domestically, cava is often cheaper than champagne.

Besides "Las Uvas de La Suerte," for women, wearing red underwear such as a bra or socks would also ensure happiness in love in the coming year. However, this underwear must be gifted.

Unlike in the Netherlands, fireworks are not used in Spain as in the Netherlands specifically for New Year's Eve. In Spain, fireworks can be bought all year round, and fireworks are therefore more something for summer celebrations than just for New Year's Eve. After wishing each other a "Feliz Año Nuevo," a happy New Year, the younger generation goes into town. As in the Netherlands, they party until the early hours. And what could be tastier than typical Spanish churros with hot chocolate.

University New Year in Salamanca

Every year on the penultimate Thursday of the academic term, thousands upon thousands of students from all corners of Spain descend on the small Castilian city of Salamanca for the annual Nochevieja Universitaria – translated as University New Year. This impressive celebration was inaugurated in 1999, when students wanted to be able to celebrate New Year with their university friends, before going home for the Christmas holidays. Since then it’s become a highlight in the university calendar, not just in Salamanca, but across the country. People come in busloads from as far as Seville just to be part of this magical night, before heading home early next morning (literally) after a whole night of partying.

A couple of days ago I was lucky to be able to experience Nochevieja first hand, going with some friends from work to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about. We all decided to meet at 10 pm, thinking that the Plaza Mayor – where the ‘countdown’ to the New Year takes place – would already be jammed with people. We were a little surprised to find that at this point it was only half full, if that. Regardless, the atmosphere was extremely jovial, with a raised platform and DJ underneath the famous reloj (clock), playing all our favorite tunes – with Avicii’s Wake Me Up receiving a screaming reception.

Nevertheless, the idea of standing there for the next two hours was not so appealing, so we went to a nearby bar and had a few drinks and some dancing. We stayed there for about an hour, before heading back to the Plaza Mayor for the strike at midnight. On our way there, we bumped into another friend from work who had unfortunately lost her phone, which reminded us all to keep an eye on our belongings, especially since by this point the Plaza Mayor was jam packed. We pushed our way into the center of the square, nestled between a group of Spanish students, and some sweet Americans. There was still about half an hour left before the “big moment”, but it flew by with more club classics from the rather excitable DJ.

Spanish New Year's Traditions

It is a Spanish New Year’s tradition to eat twelve grapes at midnight, one for each time the clock chimes ding dong. On our way into the Plaza Mayor we had each been handed a little box of twelve grapes (for free!) for us to reenact the tradition at “New Year” – or, in our case, when Thursday became Friday… With about five minutes to go, the DJ stopped doing his thing, and was replaced by a spectacle of lights and drumming music. The Plaza Mayor was changing different colors – red and green – and the façade with the clock had a visual show projected onto it. The main theme of this production was a series of dates, but none of us knew what the dates stood for, and my research has so far proved fruitless. Maybe it was key dates in Salamanca’s history, or Spain’s, or of the night’s sponsor, Brugal? Anyway, the point is it was really cool.

The final segment of this 3D mapping show was a 10-second countdown to midnight, at the completion of which we all hurriedly ate our grapes. The task was significantly harder than we’d expected; eventually I found myself with about four grapes in my mouth at once because the clock was dinging faster than I was eating! And then that was it… once midnight had passed it was the end of Plaza Mayor’s turn to host the thirty thousand students, who then went out into the large number of bars and clubs that hug the center of the city – but only after a ten-minute struggle to leave the Plaza Mayor, a difficult task with so many people going in so many opposite directions. We found ourselves at a bar very near to the Plaza Mayor which was playing typical Spanish club songs. I didn’t recognize any of them, but happily danced away for the next few hours.

When we left the club – slightly deafened from having spent all our time next to the speakers – we thought about going to another, but the Englishness in us had work the next morning firmly at the back of our mind, and the thought of partying until 6 am Spanish-style didn’t appeal. But, we were glad we’d experienced one of the highlights of the academic year in Spain, and it will definitely be a great memory for years to come.