It feels like forever ago that a friend and me decided to do
a spanish language course in Barcelona. At that time we were studying Spanish
as our second foreign language at our college in Munich. We wanted to go to
Spain to deepen our knowledge and we also sneakily kept in mind that students,
who are doing an educational trip, were getting the last two weeks of the
semester off. I’m not gonna lie, that was right up our alley ;)
Where exactly in Spain we wanted to go, was decided very
quickly. Although we also had Malaga and Madrid in mind for our trip, Barcelona
made the race in the end. Barcelona was calling for us and we obeyed ;). We
asked our teachers for help to decide on a language school because there are
soooo many out there, it’s hard to decide. They told us to go with the Tandem
Language School in Spain, who have a small school in Barcelona called Tandem
Metrocultura Barcelona.
http://www.metrocultura.de/index-e.html
Prices
We decided to do a 2-week language course in July. We chose the
option to be accommodated with a spanish hostfamily.
Language Course: 280 € *
Accommodation: 220 € *
Naturally these prices do not include the return flight to
Barcelona. Flying from Munich, you can usually snag a flight for more or less
100€. Of course prices differ depending from where you fly.
*the prices quoted are the amount that we paid back in 2008,
they can vary from the prices you pay today, simply check it out on their
website
Living with a spanish hostfamily
We were accommodated with a very lovely eldery Señora. She had a tiny guest room in her tiny
tiny flat on the first floor of a typically spanish apartment building. Tiny
front door, tiny staircase, tiny balconies. We shared the kitchen and the bathroom
with her. Our hostess didn’t speak English at all, so we were forced to give
our best at speaking Spanish. It was quite challenging since she was very
talkative and we were only spanish beginners at that time. But communicating
somehow worked anyway.
It was at our hostesse’s flat that we learned that in Spain
it is completely normal to visit your neighbours unannounced and just sit down
in front of the TV with them. It was a frequent occourence that a stranger
would sit on the couch in the living room, greeting us very friendly and we
only thought: who the hell is that??? None of the casually visiting neighbours ever wondered who
we were and what we were doing here. The Spanish simply are a very open,
friendly and social people.
If you don’t like to live with a hostfamily though, the
language school also offers the option to accommodate you in a flat that you
share with several other language students. That might be a good option if you
are travelling and studying alone. You automatically meet people who are here
because of the same reason you are. You might make some new friends. We only
chose to live with a hostfamily since it was the cheaper option.
The language course
At the beginning of the course everybody has to take a small
assessment test. Depending on your results the teachers decide on which language
level you are and put you in the according class. There are classes for
Beginners up to classes for Advanced spanish speakers.
Classes are held mondays to fridays from 09:00 am to 12:15
am. At 11:00 am there is a short lunch
break, during which you can test your spanish in the bakery around the corner,
if you didn’t bring a small lunch yourself already. „Un bocadillo con queso por
favor.“ was my go-to sentence everyday at 11:00 am. ;)
The class I we were in had 6 students including us and we
had two alternate teachers. Classes with such a small amount of students are
quite effective because they are so interactive. Everybody gets plenty of
chances to speak. The atmosphere in class is very relaxed and friendly. Learning
spanish in this environment was really fun! We were also given work sheets to work with
and from time to time we were given a little bit of homework. But spanish
homework in Barcelona is best done at the beach with a Caipirinha in hand ;).
Besides having fun in class, we also had a lot of fun with
the fellow students we were in class with. They were about our age and we got
along so well, we even met up with each other after class. Most of the time, we
all lay at the beach together and in the evenings we would go to Bars or go
clubbing. A great possibility to meet new people are the cultural guided tours
through the city, hosted by the staff of the language school once a week. So,
even if you are travelling alone, you always get plenty of chances to meet
people.
My conclusion
Due to the fact that most teachers hardly speak english (some
do speak it very well though), you kind of have to take the leap and jump in at
the deep end and actually speak spanish. Since we weren’t complete beginners
anymore, I kind of liked that challenge! If you are a beginner though, don’t worry,
there is always someone to speak english to if there is something important to
discuss or if you need any help. But nevertheless, in class the main language
is spanish! Even if you only know basic spanish you will discover that you
really are able to communicate and that your language skills improve
considerably over the time oft he course! I noticed that I was getting a lot
more fluent after just one week! I actually would have like to stay longer than
two weeks, but my budget back then didn’t allow it. To really improve your
language skills, I recommend a four-week course. Even longer if you can afford
it!
After two weeks in Barcelona, I was in such a spanish
speaking flow, I even accidentally thanked the cashier at the grocery store
back in Germany with a „Vale, gracias!“ instead of „Danke“.^^
Hasta luego mi amigos!
Did you ever do a language course abroad?
Tell me all about it in the comments :)
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