Official EOS Blog

This is from our friends at Speekee - Spanish for kids

A new sign has gone up in my kids' school. It says: Centro Bilingüe. Bilingual Centre.

Here in Andalucía there is a campaign to convert monolingual schools into bilingual schools, and that second language is, as we might expect, English. Well, it wasn't going to be Swaheli was it?!

A question for you: what is your definition of 'bilingual'? I ask because it looks like the government here is using the word loosely; you do not walk into this particular school to hear English and Spanish being spoken in equal measure. Indeed, you would be hard pushed to hear any English being spoken at all.

But whatever definition we choose to give it, the bilingual schools campaign looks here to stay. So if the teachers don't yet have the high level of our language they need to be able to teach Science in English - and they are trying to do just that at the moment! - it is only a matter of time, evidenced by the fact that students enrolled on a new 'bilingual' teacher training course in Granada are already being sought after by schools.

The Andalucian bilingual schools campaign may not be perfect but it's a big step in the right direction because, as I am sure you are well aware, children retain new language very easily. And they can only benefit from knowing two languages rather than one.

I moved to Spain in 2005 when my daughter was eight months of age and my son three. They sure had some adapting to do, especially Joe who was thrown in 'at the deep end' - straight into school. What a joy it has been to witness them soak up Spanish like proverbial sponges.

Based on experience, I would say it takes young children around two years to become bilingual if immersed in this way. On the other hand, for we adults it may take many many years before the word bilingual can apply. More likely, bilingualism will escape us completely. Speaking Spanish for me is an automatic process now, after years of stopping to think, 'Am I saying this right?' But I wouldn't describe myself as bilingual. No, for me, to speak two languages perfectly, as my kids do, is to be truly bilingual.

Immersion is the key which unlocks the door to a bilingual world. And the sooner children get started, the better. So why wait?

By Jim Porter

Jim is one of the co founders of Speekee, a Spanish immersion course for young children. Visit www.speekee.co.uk

Just a quick message to let you know that we are doing some major system upgrades to the forums this evening so certain parts of the site will not be accessible for no more than an hour.

If tomorrow you come across anything not working as it should we would appreciate it if you could leave a comment here on the blog for us

Thanks

EOS Team

It seems we've got a little bug in the system which means that some people will keep getting emails in duplicate from us.

A BIG SORRY to all those affected by this.  We have now had some terribly harsh words with the person responsible and he is now stuck in finding the bug and exterminating it.

We should be bug-free very shortly.

Here's to a bug-free life.

Thanks

EOS Team

We are making some changes to the blog system on EOS over the next couple of days and you may notice that certain facilities become unavailable during this time.

However, If you encounter anything strange then please do let us know by leaving a comment here on the blog.

Thanks

EOS Team

SORRY if you received the email about this twice. We messed up somewhere!!

Well, we've nearly reached the end of 2011 and before we start stuffing grapes and cava down our throats to welcome in the New Year, we thought we'd share with you some statistics about the site during 2011.

It's been another year of growth for Eye on Spain and this is how it translates into numbers:

5,214 new people joined the site in 2011.

This brings the total number of registered users up to 54,259.

2,743,141 people visited the website in 2011.

They managed to make their way through a total of 9,139,165 pages.

56% of visitors came from the UK, 20% from Spain, 5% from USA, 4% from Ireland and the remaining 15% from many other parts of the world.

2,888 new threads were started on the Spain discussions forums in 2011.

This yielded a total of 17,784 posts being made to the forum.

4,238 new threads were added to the community forums in 2011.

This yielded a total of 15,627 posts being made in the community forums overall.

As well as typing away, community forum users also uploaded a total of 1,152 photos.

237 new blogs were started on the site in 2011.

And EOS bloggers wrote a total of 1,797 new blog posts.

Whilst EOS blog readers posted a total of 2,625 comments across the various blog posts.

The rentals listings on the site generated a total of 6,752 enquiries for their owners in 2011.

Whilst the property for sale listings generated a total of 2,621 enquiries.

A clear sign of the current way the market is today!

Here's one for the geeks out there

2011 saw a big jump in people accessing the website via mobile devices and tablets, such as the iPad.

7% of visitors are now coming to the site via a mobile device.

An astonishing 318% more people were using mobile devices at the end of the year compared to the beginning.

The trend looks set to continue in 2012.

It doesn't get much better than this!

Add your business to our increasingly popular Business Directory and only pay €9 per month.

No long-term contracts, no big up front payments...just €9 per month.

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Find out more and feature your business today for just €9.

It's got to be worth a try!

Actually Victor....it's true

Well, we'd planned a few things for today but in the end we decided to make it a low key affair, but yes, today EOS is officially seven years old.

Most people are very familiary with the story of how EOS came to be and how tough it was in the early days, but today the site continues to go from strength to strength and whilst people use it we will do our best to keep developing it.

Seeing as Seven is considered to be a lucky number I hope that during our seventh year we have more positive news and stories to report. 

It's tough in Spain at the moment. We are in mid July and still many bars and restaurants aremaking less than half of what they were taking this time last year.

Let's hope that year seven becomes the turning point not just for businesses here but also for those who have had some seriously bad luck in buying property in Spain.

That just leaves me to thank all of our members and visitors who without yourcontinued interest and interaction with EOS there wouldn't be a website at all.  You all make the website what it is.

So thanks to you all and we look forward to giving you a better and more fun online experience with us over the next 12 months.

Thanks!

Justin and Team.

Coming soon....

WriteScript Productions are providing an exciting opportunity for aspiring writers this spring. Writing for Stage and Screen is a four day course led by professional theatre and television writer Philip Meeks aimed to give a practical insight into the world of script writing

Open to writers of any experience, the course to be held in the MANILVA area April 7th-10th, will consist of a series of workshops, lectures and group sessions opening the doors on trade secrets including how to tell a story, how to develop characters and how to write sparkling dialogue. It will provide a relaxed informal and friendly atmosphere for group members to hone their skills, learn something new and support and share with each other along the way. The aim is that every one attending will leave with the start of an exciting idea they will have been given the confidence to continue working on after the course has ended.

WriteScript Productions is the brain child of journalist and business woman Francine Cohen who says.

“Having made Costa del Sol my second home I know how popular writing is as an activity in the area. My aim is to provide a unique experience by bringing over an accomplished writer who is currently in much demand in the UK. Philip is also an experienced teacher and any course will be pitched to appeal to everyone regardless of their level of experience. However places will be limited because we want to give each student individual advice and attention”

Philip Meeks spent several years as a core writer on Emmerdale where his episodes included the 35th anniversary hour special and the dramatic exit of iconic character Steph Stokes, for which he was nominated for a British Soap Award. Other credits include Heartbeat, Doctors and the development of his own series Mother Truckers for ITV.

On stage his acclaimed one man play Twinkle Little Star is about to start its third tour produced by the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. His supernatural thriller I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There has also tours this summer starring Philip Madoc and Catherine Shipton and he recently complete Elsewhere…, a dark comedy commissioned by York Theatre Royal as part of his tenure as Playwright in Residence at Leeds University. He regularly teaches at several leading universities in the North of England and recently saw the publication of his first prose, a ghost novella in The Obverse Book of Ghosts and a modern fairy tale published by Duality Press.

Francine Cohen has been a leading entertainment journalist for almost two decades being one of Hello’s key correspondents in the North of England and writing extensively for the Daily Express, Daily Mail and countless women’s and television periodicals.

Anyone interested in the course should e mail for more information and an application form to:   writingcourses@showbizz.demon.co.uk

We've just made a very significant change behind the scenes of EOS.

We have tested the site following the changes but if you come across anything that isn't working, and was working before, we would really appreciate it if you let us know by leaving a comment below.

Thanks

Justin