Youngsters all over this island are thrilled and excited. The academic year is about to come to an end any moment now. A big sigh of relief has not only been exhaled by some 6,000,000 school children in Spain, but by their families as well – parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. The month of June in Spain is always a time of particular stress to school children in the higher grades, in E. S. O. or in Bachiller, because it means at least four weeks of sometimes quite demanding controls (tests and exams). An estimated 3,000,000 pupils finish school now for good and forever, either by finishing their E. S. O. (roughly equivalent to the British G. C. S. E.), or by finishing their Bachillerato exams (similar to A levels). Selectividad, a kind of university entry exam, was held last week and now, profesores up and down the country are busy doing the corrections and giving notas.

Just before the break-up, I went to Palma to visit the students of 4º de ESO at the IES Ramon Llull last Monday, in my function as the Man with the blog from Felanitx. The pleasure was reciprocal; I enjoyed meeting the youngsters very much indeed, and I was told that they appreciated my visit as well. Their professora in English, the charming Doña María Loredo, introduced my blog to some of her classes as a learning tool for this year’s curriculum. Well, I never.

The photo was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 14th, 2010. The time was 09:52:38.