Exploring Melilla—Exchange in Seminar on Theory and Practice in Spanish Teaching

29 January 2024

Photo: UHH/Brinkmann

Under the aegis of Lisa Marie Brinkmann and Franziska Gerwers, 13 students studying to become Spanish teachers spent a week in November 2023 in the autonomous Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa, where excursions and talks provided insight into the city’s cultural and linguistic diversity. The program concluded with a visit to a local school. Students report.

Melilla, a Spanish city on the African continent, is full of surprises. The Spanish enclave treasures its cultural and linguistic diversity.

 On our first afternoon in Melilla, we already had a chance to discover some of the city’s haunts, for example Parque Hernandéz, La Plaza de España, and La Plaza de las Cuatro Culturas, a multicultural environment where Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus live together.

 On Monday, we met our exchange partners for the first time. We were warmly greeted to the university campus with coffee, hierba-buena (green mint tea), and a lot of sweet and savory delicacies. Afterwards, we took part in an event to celebrate the patron saint of the Faculty of Education and Sports Science. We were then warmly received by the president and various deputies of the university in the gilded room of Melilla’s parliamentary palace. In the late afternoon, there was a program on the dynamics of changing identities, designed to connect different cultures, and an enlightening talk by Prof. Josh Prada from Groningen University (Netherlands) about native languages and multilingualism in Melilla. The evening concluded in the restaurant 5 Sentidos at the Melilla Maritime Club, where we had Spanish delicacies—from the well-known tapas, ham, and manchego cheese to Moorish kebabs and sweet couscous.

 The following days included more culturally and historically relevant excursions and talks. Together with our teachers Lisa Marie Brinkmann and Franziska Gerwers as well as their Spanish counterparts, we continued our exchange on the second day with a guided tour through Melilla la Vieja. This is where everything began and history was made. It was the seat of the ancient town Rusadir, home to the Romans and Phoenicians and where, throughout history, many battles were fought in the wake of invasions by the Vandals and Arabs or among the Berbers (Amazigh in their own tongue). As a result, Melilla la vieja was destroyed many times over, and then rebuilt again and again. We also learned more about Melilla’s many different cultures. At the end, we reflected upon the trip with our teachers and the teachers from the University of Groningen. We talked about our first impressions of Melilla and its culture. We found significant similarities and differences when compared to our culture(s). In the late afternoon, there were 3 more exciting talks on Melilla’s cultures and languages (Ana M.ª Rico Martín), language as a factor in learning difficulties among the indigenous communities of Brazil (Marcos Formigosa), and the history of 2 generations of Spaniards in Germany (Francisca Ruiz Garzón). The evening concluded with a dinner at Hotel Melilla Puerto.

 On Wednesday, we also had a busy day:

We began with a tour of the city and looked at Melilla’s architecture. We also had a very intensive and interesting glimpse at the Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes, where people live temporarily as they wait to live their lives in peace and freedom in the EU. There were also 3 talks that highlighted different aspects of migration in Melilla.

 Thursday started off with a trip to the Guardia Civil. There we listened to a special talk and afterwards the police drove us to the border. We also had a guided tour there. After that, we visited a primary school and saw how lessons are taught there. Literature such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet were already being taught the primary school class Spanish lessons. The children discussed Hamlet’s actions intensively and enthusiastically. The teacher completely kept out of it and had chosen a pupil as a moderator. This pupil led the class. The school uniform—which is normal for the Spanish—was also new to us.

 Every evening ended with a very generous meal. The excursions and talks revealed many perspectives that we could not have imagined beforehand. We learned a lot and were often surprised. The experiences that we gained through this exchange are unique and they have enriched our education as future teachers. For this reason, we sincerely thank our teacher Lisa Brinkmann and her helper Franziska Gerwers, who organized everything and always accompanied us. It was a lovely, adventurous, and special trip that we will never forget.  

By: Beatriz Fernandes Goncalves, Anastasia Angenendt