Spain Group Visit: ZAFRA

      Our last pen pal destination was in Zafra, which is about thirty minutes away from Burguillos del Cerro.
Thursday late afternoon: March 19, 2015

      Before we arrived, Antonio gave us important information of the town's history, and the heritage of the Dukes of Feria. Zafra was captured twice during the reconquest by Christian forces, under two kings of Spain. The Dukedom began to take change during the reign of King Henry lll when it was granted to Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa; his second son, Gomez Suarez de Figueroa became the first Duke of Feria. Gomez Suarez de Figueroa is buried in Zafra.
      Some of the important places in Zafra include the Alcazar fortress, and the Convent of Santa Clara.
   
     Another important place is the Plaza Grande, that was built around the 16th century. Along with the Plaza Chica, they were one of the first constructions built in the city and the place where merchants stopped to sell their goods.

      Our group walked towards the Plaza Grande where we met with the teacher from CEIP Germán CID,  Marian Moriche Boza and some of her students.
Germán CID was the second school we partnered with and some students have been corresponding since last year.
      Within minutes, more of the Zafra students joined us at the plaza. My students got to meet their pals and even met new students. They were all so happy and the conversations were non-stop! The students then began forming a circle, singing and playing. Many friendships were made and students continue to exchange emails and messages.
     It was such a joyous event, but time was not on our side. We hope to continue our relationships with the school and students in Zafra and build a longer program for future visits.

Below our some pictures of our momentous gathering.

Introductions.

Meeting with Pen Pal

Playing around.

New Pals:

Walking us towards the bus.

      After our visits with our pen pals, we continued our tour and headed towards Sevilla, Spain. Two days later we made our way to our last stop -Málaga via a stop at Cordoba and the Mezquita. 

     Our tour was exciting and memorable. We will never forget it and some of the students are already talking about returning to Extremadura and Spain, one day soon!

    

R. Aguilar

Around the World In 80 Days

Aouda and Phileas Fogg

     Last week our pals in Zafra, Spain celebrated Carnival by dressing up as characters from the Jules Verne novel, Around the World in 80 Days.
     The boys dressed up as Phileas Fogg, the rich Englishman who saves Aouda, the Indian Princess, during his adventure around the world. Naturally, the girls dressed up as Auoda the princess he rescues.

There are the two classes of students from Germán Cid in Zafra, writing to their pals in Houston, Texas:

R. Aguilar