Citation
(2003), "Training materials. Espana: Campo y Ciudad", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445aad.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
Training materials. Espana: Campo y Ciudad
Training materials
Espana: Campo y Ciudad
Produced by Flying Pictures for 4Learning, Video, 2001, £19.99
While the excellent Suenos is currently being repeated early in the morning on BBC Two's "Learning Zone", the programme is beginning to show its age and there has recently been a dearth of new Spanish-language programmes for post-GCSE learners of the language.
Channel 4's Espana: Campo y Ciudad is therefore especially welcome. The two 20-minute programmes, originally made for the geography curriculum, have been re-edited to provide interesting and, most importantly, up-to-date material for language students.
The "Ciudad" programme is based in the northern city of Bilbao. The programme charts its rise from declining steel town to cosmopolitan city. The wonderful Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art has, of course, played an important part in the transformation, attracting thousands of tourists from Europe and across the world. But the programme also highlights other important pieces of the jigsaw.
Redevelopment has centred on the city's River Nervion. In the 1970s, this had degenerated into a brown, lifeless sludge. Today, it is clean again, and a magnet for upmarket homes and offices. A modern underground railway – with stations designed by Sir Norman Foster – has been constructed to reduce traffic congestion. A new airport forms a striking point of entry. And a new container port is on target to become one of the most important in Europe.
The "Campo" programme is based in Almeria, southern Spain's sun-baked market garden of Europe. The programme explains how developing technology during the 1970s and 1980s made possible the irrigation of vast tracts of previously dry land. Now it has been covered with polythene to form "greenhouses", which supply fruit and vegetables to the supermarkets of northern Europe. Such famous names as Tesco actually own much of this land and run their own farms.
Almeria, previously one of Spain's poorest regions, is now thriving. But there are also social problems. Much of the farm labour has been imported from neighbouring Morocco. There are some 40,000 legal immigrants, but also large numbers of illegal ones. Immigrants as young as 12 are risking their lives every day to work in what they see as a promised land. The programme recreates the dangerous journey one of them made, tucked under the chassis of a lorry – and the touching kindness of the Spanish driver who eventually discovered his stowaway.
Wealthy Spaniards and desperately poor north Africans live in close proximity in Almeria, and this has inevitably caused tensions. These recently boiled over into riots, which are depicted in the programme.
The subject matter of both programmes, then, is riveting. The narration is clear, carefully written, and easy enough for the post-GCSE student to understand. But, as with Suenos, he or she will struggle with some of the interviews. That hardly detracts from the overall high standard of the offering, which will complement any post-16 Spanish course.
Online programme notes are available. Further information may be obtained from 4Learning, PO Box 400, Wetherby LS23 7LG. Tel: 08701 246444.