Nuestra Historia
Canadian Group was founded in 1985, but our story begins long before
CANADA
The Mantecón López family settled in Canada in 1957. Over the course of four decades, the family has grown and spread throughout various parts of the country.
SPAIN
Victoria, segunda generación de la Familia Mantecón López, viaja en varias ocasiones a Andalucía donde nació y vivió muchos años el Poeta Nobel Juan Ramon Jiménez Mantecón, pariente de la familia. En 1984 deciden instalarse en Sevilla, dejando gran parte de su familia en Canadá.
CANADIAN GROUP IS BORN
Victoria Mantecón and her husband Pedro Díaz Perez de Obanos, after several years trying to adapt to the Spanish education system, decided in 1985 to each pursue their own specialization by founding the Canadian Language Institute as an English academy and Formación y Medios as a vocational training school.
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón
The Mantecón surname, in some way, continues the legacy of dedication and commitment to education left by Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón during the Spanish Civil War, when he converted his home into a nursery school for orphaned children in 1936. To finance the project, the couple pawned various valuable objects at the Monte de Piedad (Plough and Pawn Shop).
PIONEERS IN EUROPE
After several years of researching and implementing different methodological techniques for teaching languages in the classroom, the Canadian Language Institute created its own Pedagogical System. This innovation made us the first private center in Europe to implement the TPR and TPRS methodologies in 2001.
NATURAL FLUENCY LOG
The results of the new teaching system are astonishing, so much so that they are recognized in the Official Journal of McMaster University. In 2012, we officially registered the Natural Fluency® Teaching System.
McMASTER UNIVERSITY
Victoria, closely associated with McMaster University in Canada, where she graduated in linguistics and received recognition in its official journal for her proprietary pedagogical system, is being trained in the new Problem-Based Learning Methodology, created by McMaster University.
Her passion for education has always driven her to discover other methodologies that can be implemented in school education.
GROUP CONSOLIDATION
In 2018, the third generation of the Mantecón López family appointed Alain Díaz, a Marketing graduate and Executive MBA, as the group's new CEO. The company's main objective, which includes more than 20 employees, is to focus on consolidating service quality, standardizing processes and establishing leadership roles, standardizing the delegation of responsibilities, and improving talent acquisition.
FAMILY DREAM
In 2023, once the company was consolidated and structured, work began on a new project, a dream the family had held for more than two decades: bringing Canadian school education to Spain. After several trips to Canada, the Canadian International School of Seville project began, the first international school inspired by the Canadian educational model in Andalusia.