- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2013, 2017 Camino Frances SJPP-Santiago
2015 St. Olav's Way Oslo-Trondheim
2017 VdlP Seville-Merida
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On my side i did a spanish immersion in Bolivia. I was going at school 4 hours per day and living in a familly for 3 weeks. Each day it was a different teacher, very good to learn. Concerning the school i would suggest you to have a plan from them to underdtand what you will learn. Also if they are following a book wich one. Sometime the school have a special document they are following.
In south america anyone that speak spanish can be a teacher. Make sure that you check their background and references in wich Spain university?
There is an organisation in Spain called the Cervantes Institute or similar, which I believe it government-sponsored, in much the same way as the Goethe Institute and Alliance Francaise. I don't know if they have their own schools or endorse particular private ones but I anticipate they could efficiently and helpfully answer some of your questions.
First, nice to see you again, and second: I have a friend who was employed by Instituto Cervantes. She is a trained teacher, as well as being a teacher of Spanish. I think you will find that all teachers in their institutes are accredited teachers. Whatever that means in practice! Buena suerte.Thank you. I have noticed that some schools are “endorsed by..”. I will check further into what that endorsement means.
First, nice to see you again, and second: I have a friend who was employed by Instituto Cervantes. She is a trained teacher, as well as being a teacher of Spanish. I think you will find that all teachers in their institutes are accredited teachers. Whatever that means in practice! Buena suerte.
@cher99840 I'd start out by deciding where I wanted to be in Spain. Seville is certainly a great city and choice, but you may have a yearning to be elsewhere. At least if you decide on location, you eliminate a few choices. And yes, I'd go with the Instituto Cervantes recognised schools.
Less than a plane ticket to Spain:
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Spend a few hundred dollars on a tutor, and he/she could have some input on entering an immersion program.
Like buying an albergue, it may be worth being a volunteer first (simile ?...).
Has anyone any experience good or bad with any of the immersion language courses in the various schools in Spain? I am planning on returning to Spain in early spring 2020 to complete the Via de la Plata starting from Merida where I left off in 2017. The plan is to go over early for 3 to 4 weeks language study. The number of choices is overwhelming and rather than buy a pig in a poke, I am hoping for some first hand accounts of what to embrace and/or what to avoid.
Consider the official university language schools. I’ve been to both Madrid and Malaga for a month each. Both excellent.
Hello @cher99840
I need to point out that I have had no experience with this school and as such, I can not vouch or recommend it. However, it sounds very interesting to me and I am planning on going out early next year. I heard about it via a Spanish language school here in London, El Camino Espanol, which arranges trips for their students.
TSE, True Spanish Experience, have two locations and they both offer immersion education. However, it is the campus in A Coruna that I find interesting as it offers a Camino journey to practice your Spanish and comes complete with social activities like bread making and fishing with the locals along the way. And of course, you can stay before or after the Camino experience to study immersion style. Check them out at True Spanish Experience. Camino aside, they have a lot to offer
This is the page about Camino study. Might be worth investigating.
True Spanish Experience
True Spanish Experience te ofrece cursos de español personalizados. A través de nuestros cursos, vivirás una completa inmersión lingüística combinando las clases de español con experiencias inolvidables en las ciudades de Cuenca y A Coruña (España).www.truespanishexperience.com
Hope you find something that inspires you.
Both sent accommodation lists. Halls of residence for a couple of weeks, homestay for a week, small hotels otherwise. Cost wasn’t an overriding concern, for which I’m fortunate.Where did you stay while you were taking the courses?
Hi, I spent two weeks in Salamanca last year attending Estudio Sampere. I was very happy with the experience. Generally speaking make sure that the school is registered/approved with Instituto Cervantes and that they have sufficient levels - for example I decided against the university of Salamanca courses as they only did 3 or 4 levels. Bring in the wrong class for your level of knowledge is a waste of time and can be very frustrating. So also check that the school will definitely provide an appropriate class for you (regardless of numbers attending).
I also recommend using a home stay - most schools will arrange this. I opted for half board so had breakfast and lunch provided. But the key benefit of this is that your host will talk to you - forcing you to converse in Spanish. It’s invaluable. With half board then I was free to go out in the evenings etc.
I loved Salamanca and would recommend it in terms of the local Spanish spoken (the accent is quite clear and the general standard of colloquial Spanish there is high).
I’ve also done a course in Sevilla but it was so long ago I can’t remember which school. It was a very enjoyable place to study although the local accent is very difficult!
Buena suerte!
That is certainly interesting. It’s not what I’m looking for at this time as I have my heart set on the VdlP and would just like a few weeks of good instruction before setting off. I do appreciate the link tho as it might fit into another trip one day. Do you plan on doing this next year?
Just did the test, and I see I am B2. Wow! Will that let me sleep easier??? Seriously, as well as any exposure to classes, reading whatever you can get your hands on, watching something like Euronews that is repeated every half hour or so, and finding a native speaker to have an exchange with: these will all contribute to your improvement in your ability to understand and speak. Buena suerte.Most schools have an online ‘check your current level’ self-test using the CEFR basic A1/2, intermediate B1/2, advanced C1/2 system.
(I’m a strong B1, maybe B2 on a good day since you asked ...)
It’s worth doing a few tests to be fairly confident of your level if booking into a smaller school. If you go to the bigger universities which run a rolling programme at multiple levels you can move up or down as reality confronts aspiration.
Just did the test, and I see I am B2. Wow! Will that let me sleep easier??? Seriously, as well as any exposure to classes, reading whatever you can get your hands on, watching something like Euronews that is repeated every half hour or so, and finding a native speaker to have an exchange with: these will all contribute to your improvement in your ability to understand and speak. Buena suerte.
In the past I studied intensive 2 week courses at two schools:Has anyone any experience good or bad with any of the immersion language courses in the various schools in Spain? I am planning on returning to Spain in early spring 2020 to complete the Via de la Plata starting from Merida where I left off in 2017. The plan is to go over early for 3 to 4 weeks language study. The number of choices is overwhelming and rather than buy a pig in a poke, I am hoping for some first hand accounts of what to embrace and/or what to avoid.
Hi Marky, maybe slightly off-topic but it is worth clarifying the Tarifa is a top-class wind-surfing destination, as opposed to a 'surfing' destination. This beautiful town seems perpetually whipped by wind, courtesy of the Pillar of Hercules. I had even read that the suicide rate there is consequently higher than average. Hopefully this latter does not include temporary language students, who might enjoy spending their free time blissfully zipping over the waves.Tarifa, a beautiful surf town on most southern tip of Spain opposite Tanger in Morocco.
Hola. He estudiado en tres escuelas en España - un en Madrid, un en Valencia y un en Salamanca. Me encantaba la cuidad de Salamanca y la escuela ISLA. Si quiere enviarme un mensaje y se hablaré mi razones. Buen camino.
I spent a month attending classes at University of Salamanca. I found it not worth the time. The classes are not vetted well, as a novice I was in a class with students who have previously attended both high school and college classes. I asked to be reassigned and the second class was no better. The class size was twenty plus with no individual instruction. I would not attend again.
Jim Michie
Four weeks! Bravo, becoming fluent in that time is Herculean!I learnt to speak Spanish in 4 weeks as a 15 year old in 1970. I did 5 hours a day, (maybe it was 4??) and lived with a family with 3 kids younger than me....I went in 0 and came out 10, fluent. IN 4 WEEKS! (My Dad learnt Spanish in a more interesting way.....Locked in a Cuban jail in 1958). Living with a family makes all the difference. I have since learnt Italian the same way with the same success (age 49). Spanish is a very easy language. Beware however that there are many dialects, and I learnt in Franco era Barcelona, but despite Catalan being banned, strangely to this day, I have a huge vocab of Catalan words (the grammar is Spanish, with words that can't decide if they are French or Spanish or Latin.)
I suggest you check out Apple languages, they co-ordinate courses and have lots of 'specials' and the price is clearly stated, and here's a real goody....courses for seniors.
Also, there are very good teachers who are not trained teachers, if your teacher speaks 3 or 4 or more languages, then take it from me, she or he knows how to teach you her native language. Learning from a tutor or in your own country 3 hours of an evening is not going to get you far. Language is a communal, immersive activity by it's very nature.
I loved my time in Barcelona at International House Spanish school.I would like to take an intesive course in a Spanish School in Spain, any city would be good before starting my camino de santigo journey. Anyone could give me a tip?.
I know that, but I really wanted to visit Barcelona.They don't speak Spanish in Barcelona. They speak Catalan. leon, Burgos, Castille is where the best Spanish is spoken.
Hi @cher99840 ... did your course ever eventuate (given Covid), and if so how did you get on?Decision made re school. Am in the process of enrolling in hispania schools at Malaga.to start as Absolute Beginner on 9 March and attend four weeks. After that will travel to Merida and walk toward SdC. Hopefully I’ll learn enough to be able to make some sense out of food labels and menus and be able to inquire about private rooms with baths. Thanks for sharing your experiences and all the tips. Much appreciated.
Hi Pacman!Hi @cher99840 ... did your course ever eventuate (given Covid), and if so how did you get on?
One of the things I am very interested in is the age difference you referred to earlier. All the brochures for the various programmes (Don Quixote, Enforex, etc) show heaps of young things having fun (and learning Spanish). I'm in my late 60s - I don't mind attending classes with the young 'uns, but I don't want to find that I'm left behind because the teachers don't make allowance for the older learner. Any thoughts?? Thanks.
I attended Enforex in Alicante for 4 weeks at the age of 62. Mostly young ones, but also some older than me. No problem. I had private half board lodging 10 mins. walk from the school. Highly recommend Enforex. Total cost school+lodging one month: Ca. 1.300 Euros (!).Hi @cher99840 ... did your course ever eventuate (given Covid), and if so how did you get on?
One of the things I am very interested in is the age difference you referred to earlier. All the brochures for the various programmes (Don Quixote, Enforex, etc) show heaps of young things having fun (and learning Spanish). I'm in my late 60s - I don't mind attending classes with the young 'uns, but I don't want to find that I'm left behind because the teachers don't make allowance for the older learner. Any thoughts?? Thanks.
The only thing you might get left out of are the rave parties, late night antics and bar crawl drinking, but that probably would be a good thing ;-)Hi Pacman!
I did something similar about 20 years ago when I was 42, and yes there was a significant age difference, but it was great fun. You can choose what to join in with, nobody will force you, and you can use your newly learned Spanish better by practising in the bars, shops, cinema etc on your own with the locals. The only thing you might get left out of are the rave parties, late night antics and bar crawl drinking, but that probably would be a good thing ;-)
If you are young at heart and don't mind making mistakes and struggling a little bit to understand and be understood (patience and practice will always get you through) then you'll improve dramatically as well as having an enjoyable experience.
Go for it, give the doubt a clout and you won't regret it. Brush up on your listening skills before you by listening to podcasts etc., that might give you a bit of a head start.
Mark
Yes, you're right about it being a "top-class" wind surfing destination, but as the OP was interested in language schools, I didn't emphasise that.Hi Marky, maybe slightly off-topic but it is worth clarifying the Tarifa is a top-class wind-surfing destination, as opposed to a 'surfing' destination. This beautiful town seems perpetually whipped by wind, courtesy of the Pillar of Hercules. I had even read that the suicide rate there is consequently higher than average. Hopefully this latter does not include temporary language students, who might enjoy spending their free time blissfully zipping over the waves.
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