Jornadas TANDEM 2009 – San Sebastián – España

Encuentro práctico de profesorado E/LE en San Sebastián, España

Encuentro práctico de profesorado E/LE

20 y 21 de noviembre en TANDEM San Sebastián
Inscripción: 80€
Estudiantes y desempleados: 65 €

Plazo máximo de inscripción: 13 de noviembre

Objetivos:

• Dar a conocer la formación TANDEM.
• Crear un espacio para intercambiar experiencias entre el profesorado de español, tanto de las escuelas como de otros centros.
• A través de los talleres prácticos, compartir ideas, propuestas y materiales que puedan servir de una manera inmediata en la clase de ELE.
• Crear un foro de encuentro periódico entre profesores y profesoras de español.

City hopping – Combined courses with TANDEM Spain

City hopping with TANDEM Spain

Having a hard time choosing your destination for your Spanish course in Spain? Don’t worry. TANDEM Spain offers a Spanish language program which appeals to the traveller in you. You may choose from six main cities in the regions of Andalusia, Valencia, Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country and distribute your learning experience among them.

By combining a course among several of these cities, you will both learn Spanish and experience the variety of the Spanish culture.

Enjoy the extraordinary contrast between the Atlantic Sea and the Pyrenees in the city centre itself of San Sebastian. Try the delicious «pintxos» –an original kind of «tapa»- with «txakoli» –local white wine- in the many bars, typical of the Basque Country.

Discover the great architecture of Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, chill out in the endless beaches along the Mediterranean Sea, and close the day with Catalan cuisine.

Autumn Special for German courses in Cologne!

Autumn Special for German courses in Cologne, Germany

TANDEM Cologne has a wonderful autumn offer from 26th October to 29th January.

The Standard Intensive German courses includes 20 lessons of 45 minutes per week and take place from 10.00 am to 1.30 pm. The classes are organized in small groups, usually of five to ten students.

These German courses are appropriate as exam preparation for the DSH or TestDaf (admission requirement for the German universities) and other exams (Zertifikat Deutsch and ZMP).

In addition to regular German classes, TANDEM Köln’s offers a cultural programme (one event per week, transport costs and entrance fees to activities are extra).

Enjoy the discounted prices of TANDEM Cologne’s German courses:

• 3 weeks’ Standard Intensive German Course for the price of 2
• 4 weeks’ Standard Intensive German Course for the price of 3

The discounts apply only to the course fees.

Italian Language Course for Seniors

Italian Language Course for Seniors in Rome

Torre di Babele – TANDEM Rome offers and Italian language vacation for participants of the age of 50 and up. The classes of Italian are conducted in small, same-level groups in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

The groups are international, making it possible to meet people from all over the world who want to combine the study of Italian with an interesting vacation in Rome, Italy.

A rich cultural program organized by the Italian Language School, Torre di Babele, goes along with the course:

European Day of Languages

The TANDEM Network promotes language learning

Today, 26th September, is the European Day of Languages. Thus, in this post I would like to highlight the role of TANDEM International in promoting language learning worldwide.

TANDEM International, a growing association of independent language schools throughout the world, shares with its member schools the purpose of promoting cross-cultural awareness and understanding through in-context language learning.

The TANDEM International member schools are characterized for placing special emphasis on cultural integration as part of the language-learning process. Thus, in order to complement the language courses, they offer language exchange partnerships with local native speakers under the TANDEM® method, extra cultural and social activities, and student support to facilitate cultural immersion. The schools also adopt a communicative approach in the language courses, which facilitates the language acquisition process.

The power of word-of-mouth in language travel

The power of word-of-mouth in language travel

The power of word-of-mouth (recommendation by friends and family) is the most credible for language travellers. (Atme.org)

There are countless research studies, reports and books about the «power of word of mouth» at the moment of choosing a product or service. Well, the reason it’s quite obvious: customers who write reviews base their report on their personal experience, they are on the same side as potential customers. This simple fact makes products or service reviews a reliable source of information.

Personally I seek reviews for anything from office products I need to buy to a movie I may want to watch. I’ve learned from experience that though reviews are an invaluable source of information, caution must be exercised nonetheless. We are all different and we are all biased, and the personal experience from one person may be totally different from that of the next person.

Cultural competence and language learning II

Intercultural language learning

“Culture shapes what we say, when we say it, and how we say it from the simplest language we use to the most complex. It is fundamental to the way we speak, write, listen and read.” Liddicoat (2002:5)

We discussed in the previous post about the importance of cultural competence in learning a new language. Related to the same topic, I’m presenting you here with an article about Intercultural Language Learning (ILL).

Language has a central role in the transmission of cultural codes: language forms and the messages conveyed by them provide cultural knowledge; hence the impossibility of separating language and culture.

Intercultural Language Learning identifies culture as the lived experience of individuals. Interactions between people are context-sensitive, negotiated, mediated and variable. In terms of learning, students engage in developing cultural competence from the beginning of their language learning.

Cultural competence and language learning I

Intercultural language learning

A different language is a different vision of life. Federico Fellini

I definitely agree with Fellini on this, and this is why learning a new language it’s not only acquiring vocabulary and grammar, but also becoming familiar with a new culture, that is, “a different vision of life”. There exists an inextricable link between language and culture. Thus, to fully grasp a foreign language, the learner must have cultural competence.

Achieving cultural competency is a long process which takes lots of time, curiosity and a true desire to widen one’s scope of experiences.

Awareness of the social issues and contexts surrounding another’s cultural history and upbringing is often the first level of cultural competency.

In the Wikipedia article, cultural competence refers to the “ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures”, and it comprises four components:

Feliz cumpleaños, Don Borges

En agosto del 2008 se sancionaba en Argentina la ley que instituye el 24 de agosto como “Día del Lector”, en conmemoración al natalicio de Borges, el escritor argentino más reconocido mundialmente.

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges, quien nació en Buenos Aires el 24 de agosto de 1899 y falleció a los 87 en Ginebra, el 14 de junio de 1986, es uno de los autores más destacados de la literatura del siglo XX. Prolífico, irónico y provocador fue amado y odiado, y recibió multitud e premios, aunque nunca recibió el Premio Nobel de Literatura, hecho ampliamente cuestionado.

Jorge Luis Borges publicó ensayos breves, cuentos y poemas. Su obra ha sido objeto de minuciosos análisis y de múltiples interpretaciones y trasciende cualquier clasificación y excluye cualquier tipo de dogmatismo.

Visit Madrid, learn Spanish and save!

Autumn offers for Spanish courses in Madrid

TANDEM Madrid Spanish language school is always on the move, and it always has a special program or offers to cater for your needs!

This autumn you can enjoy Madrid, keep on working on improving your Spanish skills and save, save, save!

4 weeks Intensive Spanish Course for the price of 3

Book your Spanish course of 4 weeks for September or October and save 170 €. Request the discount at the time of booking. The enrolment fee is not included in this offer.

You may combine your Spanish course with accommodation offers either in a host family with half board or in a Student Residence just 5 minutes walking from the school.