在馬德里的700萬居民，其中53萬是外國人。由於越來越多跨國公司正在馬德里建立根據地, 很多的外國人被吸引在馬德里居住，馬德里被譽為“最適合外國人居住的城市” 。自2013年以來，馬德里的經濟每年增長, 失業率與去年比較下降了1.7％（截至3月，失業率為11.7％)
為了解決外籍家庭的教育問題，馬德里有48所國際學校, 為2至18歲的兒童提供教育服務。在香港，一般國際學校的學費每月不少於12000港幣，在馬德里, 這裡的年學費從5300歐元到16000歐元不等， 這意味著在馬德里大多數國際學校讀書, 每月只花費500歐元(4000 港幣）的學費.
就像香港的國際學校一樣，每所學校的教學大綱也有所不同。今天，我想介紹一下阿拉瓦卡新開設的國際學校。學校的首席執行官 Irene Marquez，她曾在西班牙和美國的幾所學校擔任校長，因此 LighthHouse American School 的理念，是要秉承兩全其美的最佳教育實踐。
Lighthouse American School 是一所以歐洲教學大綱為基礎的美國學校。儘管教育成果很重要，但他們認為教育必須包括情感和社會智力的發展，並必要提供一個使學生對學習充滿熱情的教育環境。
注重記憶的傳統教育可能會使學生感到厭煩 。他們相信，在培養學習熱情的同時，他們還必須了解未來社會需要什麼樣的技能，同時，要了解每個學生都是獨一無二的，因此要尋找最佳方法, 探索他們的最佳才能。
創造力，創新力，複雜問題的解決能力和情商是未來的需求 - 基於這些，他們制定了課程提綱，以在這些方面培育學生。
LightHouse American School 歡迎香港學生來參觀和參加免費課程，並提供免費的家長諮詢。https://www.lighthouseamericanschool.com/en/welcome
Out of 7 million habitants in Madrid, 530000 are foreigners. As multinational corporations are expanding their bases in Madrid, increasing number of expats are attracted to live in Madrid, making Madrid being cited as the “best city to live for expats”. As Madrid’s economy is improving year by year since 2013, unemployment rate has decreased a 1.7% as compared to last year (as of March, the unemployment rate in Spain is 11.7%). To cope with the increasing number of expats, and to solve the education matters for the families, there are 48 international schools in Madrid, offering education solutions for childrens of 2 to 18 years old. Whilst monthly school fee for the average international schools in Hong Kong is not less than 12000 HKD, here in Madrid, the yearly school fee ranging from 5300€ to 16000€. Hence, if you study in the international schools in Madrid, very likely you will be only paying 500€ a month (4000 HKD), which is 1/3 of what you are currently paying in Hong Kong.
Just like the international schools in HK, the syllabus of each school differs. Today, I would like to zoom in a newly opened international schools in Aravaca. Irene Marquez, the CEO of the school, who previously headed many schools in Spain and in US, takes up the role and leads LightHouse American School to embrace the best education practices of both worlds.
Lighthouse American School is an American school with European foundation. While education results are important, they believe that they must take one step further to develop the emotional and social intelligence of the students, as well as to provide an education environment that makes the students feel passionate about learning.
Traditional education, which emphases on memorization, may bore students hence hinders their progression. They believe that on top of cultivating students’ passion to study, they must understand the kind of skillsets that are needed for the future generation. As each of the student is unique, it is important to explore the best talent of each student, hence looking at ways to bring the best out of them.
Creativity, innovation, resolution of complex problems and emotional intelligence are what required for the future –based on these we crafted our syllabus to develop our students on these aspects.
Lighthouse American School welcomes Hong Kong students to come visit and attend free classes, as well as to provide free consultations for parent
Interested parties, please register here https://www.lighthouseamericanschool.com/en/welcome
*1 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/madrid-is-the-best-europe_b_13120874
* 2. https://www.kyero.com/data/en/data/spain/community/madrid/population.