The Official School of Languages in Ponferrada

The Official School of Languages (E.O.I.) in Ponferrada was founded in 1987 and it is the only public language school in the region where you can gain an official qualification. This school is part of a vast network of non-universitary public centres nationwide which specialise in languages. In Ponferrada you can study four languages: German, French, Galician, English and Portuguese. The classes are scheduled between 4 pm and 10 pm from Monday to Friday. Presently there are about 1400 students studying one or several languages at the school.

There is a wide range of students not only in age (from 14 years old upwards, without an age limit) but also in academic background (including secondary school students, university students, housewives, professionals, civil servants, etc).

Our school has the following objectives:

1. To prepare our students for the challenges of a multilingual and multicultural Europe, and the challenge of greater international mobility and closer co-operation between countries by helping them develop their communicative skills and overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, and by promoting mutual understanding, tolerance and respect for other peoples and cultures.
2. To advance plurilingualism and multiculturalism, which will enable the individual to enrich their personality and improve their ability to learn languages and enjoy new cultural experiences with an open mind.
3. To reinforce the capacity for lifelong learning based on the understanding and respect of human rights and democracy, which will strengthen independence of thought, judgement and action, equality between women and men and prepare for democratic citizenship.
4. To further develop educational links and exchanges in order to promote interaction with native speakers and the knowledge of their educational systems and their culture.
5. To ensure that our students have access to effective learning by using methods and materials which will enable different types of students to acquire a communicative proficiency appropriate to their specific needs.
6. To exploit the full potential of new communication and information technologies introducing them in the classroom and in other aspects of academic life.
7. To guide students in the process of acquiring techniques and strategies for autonomous learning and self-assessment, with a view to increasing their involvement and commitment to their own learning process.
8. To monitor our students’ progress so that they can identify, analyse and overcome their learning difficulties, thus developing their individual learning skills.

Students can choose between 3 ways of learning:

• “Presencial” - which involves attending classes 4 ½ hours a week).
• “Libre” - aimed at people who only want to do the exams to obtain the official qualifications.
• Distance Learning – only for students of English who follow the “That´s English” method and learn with the aid of TV broadcasts and come to the school for weekly tutorials.

These courses develop along 6 academic years and students can be awarded three official certificates:

1. “Certificado de Nivel Básico” – an elementary level certificate (A2).
2. “Certificado de Nivel Intermedio” – an intermediate level certificate (B1).
3. “Certificado de Nivel Avanzado” – an advanced level certificate. (B2)