A SPANISH teacher has begun a three month placement at Tavistock College to improve her knowledge of English and sport.

PE teacher Estefanía Sanz is visiting from Tavistock College's Spanish partner school, IES Ramón Areces, in Grado, Asturias. She is working with the PE department to learn about the differences between the Spanish and English PE systems and improve her English.

Señorita Sanz said: 'In England you play different sports like cricket, lacrosse and rugby. In Spain we do handball, volleyball and trekking, but we usually do a lot of theory.

'I'm living with a lovely family here in Tavistock and I've seen the town, Plymouth and the surrounding areas. Tavistock is really pretty; it's a typical English town. Everyone is very kind and really keen to help.'

Bev Mellor, head of languages, said she hoped students would improve their cultural awareness through the visit.

She said: 'It's good having teachers from different cultures working in school, especially in another area of the curriculum rather than teaching languages.

'Hopefully the students will gain from Estefanía's visit and see it is possible to do placements elsewhere. It will be a good sports link for us too following the opening of the outstanding new facilities.'

Students from IES Ramón Areces will visit Tavistock College at the end of April as part of an annual exchange between the schools.