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Barcelona, Catalonia.  Through the agreement signed in Barcelona, the Basque club will recieve Help in the amount of 22,000 Euros in order to offer up to 2,100 teaching hours during the 2011-12 school year.  In addition, HABE will support the position by implementing the BOGA program on-line, with which students can learn online along with supplemental material available on CD.  Finally, as part of the Euskara Munduan program, HABE will be in charge teacher training for the center. 

The students at the Euskal Etxea Cultural Center are very diverse.  On the one hand there are students of Basque origin, and on the other there are some with sentimental connections to Basque; but also others who are simply interested by the language’s peculiarities.  Others come to class because they know someone there or because they simply enjoy the experience.

500 students in Barcelona

HABE emphasizes that the number of upper level students at the Euskal Etxea has grown in recent years, “Since accreditation exams have taken place, the number of upper level students has increased because at the Official Language School there is no level C, and those who want to complete the process have to take the third level at the Basque club.”

In Barcelona there are more than 500 Basque students, Split between clases at the Basque club, at the university and also at the Official Language School.  Eighty percent of which are not Basque, even though the majority are Catalan, there are also students of other nationalities like those from Ecuador, Poland, and Great Britain, for example.

Euskara Mundua, 220,000 Euros

As explained by the Vice-minister of Language Policy of the Basque Government has earmarked 220,000 Euros for the Euskara Munduan program that supports Basque classes in Basque clubs all over the world.  Auzmendi noted that the number of students grows with the number of universities that become involved: “Right now there are 2,500 adults and 1,500 youth studying Basque in 65 Basque clubs in 23 different countries.  In addition, you can also learn in 33 universities in several countries.”

After signing the agreement, Auzmendi spoke with several students noting that it was an honor for her: “It is tremendously satisfying to see that there are people outside of Euskal Herria that want to learn Basque,” she told them.  “I encourage you to not give up and to keep going.”