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Barcelona promotes Catalan courses for newly arrived young people
Barcelona is strengthening linguistic welcome provision for newly arrived teenagers this summer. A total of 143 secondary-school students are taking free Catalan courses designed to facilitate their integration into the education system and keep them in contact with the language during the holidays.
The initiative is promoted by the Barcelona Education Consortium and the City Council, and is aimed at young people who have recently arrived in the city. The aim is for them to reach September with greater confidence, more vocabulary and a less distant relationship with Catalan.
Classes take place at the Drassanes Official School of Languages, in an intensive format of 45 hours spread over three weeks. Each day includes three hours of language training, in small groups of no more than 20 pupils.
The courses are organised into A2 and B1 levels, to adapt to each student’s starting point. This division makes it possible to work in a more personalised way and prevent newly arrived young people from getting lost in learning that is too fast or too general.
Most participants come from Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, Colombia and Peru. There are also pupils from Morocco, China, Senegal, Pakistan, Ukraine and Myanmar, a diversity that reflects the reality of many Barcelona classrooms.
Learning does not stay inside the classroom. A cultural outing is organised every week so that students can get to know Barcelona better, practise the language in real contexts and link Catalan to everyday life in the city.
The scheme extends into summer the work of the Accelerated Reception Classrooms, a key resource for adolescents who arrive halfway through an educational stage. During the school year, these spaces offer language immersion and support to facilitate adaptation to schools.
The initiative leaves a clear picture of present-day school Barcelona: a diverse city that needs practical tools so that the arrival of new pupils is not merely administrative. Learning Catalan in summer is not only studying a language; it is gaining autonomy, confidence and a kinder gateway to life in the city.