l Dear Sir,
Once again the Daily Bulletin is advertising that the University of Barcelona is having Spanish Courses over the coming months at the Estudi General Lul-lia situated in a beautiful patio right next to the cathedral in the historic centre of Palma (www.estudigeneral.com) . I can highly recommend them having been twice (I doubt I’ll make the fourth advanced level) but want to point out the time and effort needed to keep motivated.
The course is 2 ½ hours three days a week over 4 months but don’t forget your homework – about the same time again and remember travelling time. My last cost 410€ plus 30€ for text books and CD’s – for 110 hours very reasonable but the parking at the cathedral was almost as expensive so I took the bus and also got some language practise too.
The atmosphere during the courses is laid back with the teachers being very engaging and obviously enjoying the contact with their students whose ages stretch from 20 to 70 and who come from cities as far apart as Paris to Prague. The work during each lesson is varied to keep interest up but never the less my class started at 10 but shrank to 5. Apart from necessary grammar and testing understanding of the spoken Spanish on the CDs, discussion topics range from cooking, through Spanglish to Global Warming and anything you can think of in between. During the course visits are organised to such delights as the Museo March and the Almudaina (where you can also see the skeletal hand of Jesus’s Grandmother) – all of course in Spanish which by then you will understand much more comprehensibly!
At the end of the studies recognised examinations for language qualifications are optional. Now if trilingual teaching ever comes to Scotland (English, Gaelic, Spanish) I passed at EU level B.2 so I could teach science subjects to the students in Spanish but not teaching them Spanish itself as B.2 is not sufficiently up to scratch. Confused? Me too but at least I can order a pint of Watney’s fluently if ever the Spanish bars ditch San Miguel and stock Red Barrel instead.
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma
Your views
01/10/2014 00:00
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