10 June is graduation season for schools. I attend two each year, as I teach Geography and History to 4th year ESO students and History of Spain to 2nd year Baccalaureate students at IES Alcúdia. In Alcúdia, we're fortunate to have access to the municipal auditorium, which the City Council lends us for the graduation party. The space is very attractive, and when you give the students the choice of whether they'd rather have the party at the school or the auditorium, they always choose the auditorium.

]]> June has left me with two discoveries: the verb "to graduate" and the Yankee ESO graduations. They are related. A couple of weeks ago, teenagers announced that they "graduated" or "did not graduate" to indicate whether or not they had completed Compulsory Secondary Education. Before, we simply said we had passed. Or finished whatever. Even a university degree. "Graduate" sounds more important, even if we're talking about the minimum requirements of the educational system. I've seen several photos of boys decked out in jackets, ties, and broccoli-style hair, tousled and styled to perfection. The girls, in evening gowns, even though the graduation is in full sun and the humidity is still suffocating. They set up a stage with a sign that says "Class of 2025," and then they throw their mortarboards in the air.

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