Summer courses in Spain

McNuggy

Hey dudes. Doing spanish in college next september when i go back into 2nd year.. in the middle of repeating.
im teaching myself spanish from a book at the moment. which is goin well.. but i want to do a immersion course in spain next summer for a few weeks so i can get a better grasp of it in the natural environment where its spoken every day ..
just wondering does anybody know a good place to do this ?
or how much it would cost?
or has anyone done it before.??
thanks !!

RosieRo

Hey McNuggy,

I just got back from a Spanish course in Alicante. It was amazing, Alicante for me was the perfect city to go to. There's loads of cheap flights with aer lingus and ryanair flying direct to Alicante and to Murcia. It's a really cool city which is really easy to get to grips with because it's still fairly small.

There's Valencia and Murcia quite near by, another two really cool cities.

The school I went to was called Enforex, I'm sure they have a website, they're centrally located and will set up accom with either a host family or a student apartment. They were cheaper than Don Quijote so don't book through them and of course their rates are that little bit pricier during the summer months.

If you have any more questions at all just pm me, i'm only too willing to talk about how great a time I had there.

Good luck!

McNuggy

hey rosie Ro ..
thanks 4 the info ..
im checking out enforex on the web.. looks cool..
what were classes like?? where you a total beginner ?
and where people in your class the same age group as you??

thanks again!!!

RosieRo

Hey McNuggy,

No, I knew a bit already but on the first day they do an entrance exam and an oral test so they'll be able to determine your level.

The classes were a real mix. My class was very young, all 18 and 19 year olds and alot of Nordics (awfully good looking bunch too, I felt like a minger). Generally everyone was pretty friendly because you're all in the same boat, looking for people to practice with and socialise etc.

I'm really excited that you're seriously thinking about it, you can say hi to my teachers for me. I'm actually seriously considering going back for a further 12 weeks at the end of next summer, it's kind of addictive. You have been warned. In the mean time however I'm looking to practice what I've learnt but I have no takers as of yet. Eek!

Ok well, any more questions send them my way. G'luck!

peanuthead

Hey there

I did a course in Kingsbrook college in Barcelona. Very good. There were people of all ages there, but mainly young students 17-22.

I was only there for 2 weeks, but the norm was to be there for two months or so at least.

And it is Spanish they teach, not catalan. However you wouldn't find much opportunity to use your espanol outside of college as I always found the locals would rather speak english to you than castellian.

pepsicokeacola

hi can you tell me more about this course? it sounds terrific. id love to do it.

i plan on going to the gaeltacht as well during the summer but also want to do something like this in spain.

peanuthead

The Kingsbrook course?

Yeah well I did the intensive one as I was only there for 2 weeks.

So in the morning I had one hour of one-2-one. We focused on my weak points, which they figured out from the assessment test I did on day one.

After that I did a 2 hour class, where we had a mix of all 4 skills, reading, writing, listening, speaking. With speech, the emphasis here was accuracy and the teachers corrected you here, as the aim of this class was to improve the accuracy of what you were saying, and improve your grammar. There were between ten and 15 people in that room.

After a short break, I then went to a one hour conversation class. The emphasis here then switched to fluency, and there was no real teaching involved here, just free speech, which revolved around a certain topic. This was great as it really built your confidence. And with it being around one particular topic, the amount of vocab you would learn from the teacher/other students on one particular topic, say for example, the environment was amazing. I would come out of that class knowing exactly how to hold a conversation on that topic.

Take a new topic every day, and can you imagine how many topics you would be able to ramble about by the end of 2 weeks!!

I should add that it was an intermediate course I took.

pepsicokeacola

so what kind of people were at it? just irish people or other europeans?

thanks

peanuthead

no I was the only Irish person there. Actually there was a northern Irish girl there, but she was living and working in barcelona. She was just trying to learn while she was living there.

The people in my class were from all over, german, canadian, austrian, finnish, japanese, and there were two icelandic girls too. Alot of different nationalities. Alot more than what I have mentioned, but thats all I can remember. Its great, because, take for example the conversation class, you are learning spanish, but from everyones experiences/opinions, you are also learning about different cultures.

Its not the first time Ive done a spanish course abroad, and each time I find that Im always pretty much the only irish person there. Never seen any english either.

pepsicokeacola

it sounds epic tbh. thank you.

how much would it cost? im 19 is this ok?

peanuthead

yeah your age is fine. There will be people there younger and older than you. People of all ages there.

It can be pretty expensive to be honest. When you include accomodation and all,

to be totally honest, I cant remember the exact cost, and they dont appear to have a website, but this is the guy I emailled about wanting to do the course, he will give you all the info you need.

[EMAIL="marc.ubach@kingsbrookbcn.com?subject=Program Inquiry from IIEPassport"]Contact: marc.ubach@kingsbrookbcn.com[/EMAIL]

peanuthead

No wait, I just copped on that that email address has their website address on it too!! haha, how dumb!!

so the website then is www.kingsbrookbcn.com

IrishinDublin

Check out www.ef-ireland.ie they do Spanish in Malaga and Barcelona

EmmaMulligan

Hey guys,

I went on a Spanish immersion course last summer to Nerja. I went with Stein Study Abroad and I had the best time ever! I learned so much Spanish and the night life was amazing as well. We had classes in the morning and then had the rest of the day to explore Spain. I would really recommend Stein Study Abroad as they offer great deals. I have so many connections in Spain now, so I'll always be able to go back! Check out their website www.steinstudyabroad.ie

Emma