I came across an interesting article on the Spanish government's plans to increase English fluency among Spanish students here .

Here are some excerpts:

" Recent surveys have highlighted the economic opportunities being lost because of Spain's English-language deficiencies and its failure to compete with other EU countries that are more proficient in English.

"According to a survey by Employment and Global Media Consultants, only 1.4% of Spanish university students graduate with the second-language levels (almost always English) necessary to find employment in multinationals. Yet, according to the Department of Philology at the University of Salamanca, 90% of companies in Spain want graduates to be fluent in English as a basic requirement of employment."

I have long been concerned that many of the teachers who teach English in Spain's schools actually have every weak English skills. Some have great difficulty carrying on a conversation in English, and their accents... well.... I find the proposals including international programs, teacher exchanges and overseas stays, as well as using native English speakers in the classrooms encouraging.

There will be a debate on Clil (the program under consideration for state schools) in Cardiff this April, described at the end of the article. Sounds interesting.