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Methodology : How Spanish is taught in Salamanca

Let's get you speaking Spanish in Salamanca!

>  Spanish ability / Rate of Progress
>  Spanish teaching method
>  DELE Exam Preparation
>  First Day
>  Timetable for Standard Course
>  Salamanca School teachers
>  Salamanca School students 

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Spanish ability / Rate of Progress

No. of wks from "0"		Student ability description  Number of weeks from total beginner
One / Two   weeks		You can get by with your survival Spanish expressing basic feelings, asking for things in shops, restaurants, asking for bus or train timetables, giving "profile" information about yourself and asking someone else the same and understanding their replies if they speak slowly.
Three / Four   weeks		Your 1500 vocab words and past, present and future tense mean that you have the building blocks to talk about something that happened or a plan that you have. How easily the sentences come will depend on how much you practise them.
Five / Eight  weeks		You are now using your past tenses with more accuracy and competence which means your speaking is more elegant and understandable. Your vocab count is up to 3000 words which means apart from your making for better sentences also improves your understanding of native speakers.
Nine / Twelve  weeks		You have started to learn about concepts such as the conditional and the subjunctive which means that your Spanish sounds more Spanish and less translated. You can watch the news and summarize stories, and so understand Spanish spoken at a moderate pace.
Thirteen /      Sixteen   weeks		You are incorporating the subjunctive mood and its nuances fairly successfully into your speech, even if sometimes hesitantly and can pick up a lot of what is said directly to you, even if speech is at native speed. You can write short letters and memos in passably correct Spanish, take telephone messages and are thus employable.
Seventeen /    Twenty-Four     weeks		Your Spanish comes out naturally now, you can speak fast, use advanced structures and argot (careful with your swearing!) and understand almost everything that is said to you, and about half of overheard conversations. The challenge now is to "clean your Spanish up".
Twenty-Five /   Thirty weeks		Your Spanish is very good now. All the grammar you will have learnt will have fallen into place so your speech will be accurate and peppered with appropriate expressions and rich vocabulary. You have had enough exposure to Spanish to understand it without needing to concentrate.
Thirty-One /   Thirty-Six    weeks		Definitive fluency. You can speak at the speed of a native, making few mistakes of gender, tense or voice (indicative vs subjunctive). Your writing is elegant and expressive and you have no difficulty in understanding Spanish of all registers, accents or countries even when not being directly spoken to.

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Spanish teaching methods in Salamanca

Classes at the Spanish school in Salamanca combine grammar with practise of the 4 skills - reading, writing, listening and, of course, speaking. We understand that the word "grammar" doesnt' appeal to everyone!  But the basics have to be covered, as they offer a way of building knowledge and retaining it, not just for the duration of your course, but in the years to come. Your power of recall will be so much better if you understand the tools that pull the Spanish language together.  However the Spanish school works at ensuring that classes are not filled with drills and gap-filling work sheets. Traditional exercises are usually left for homework and students enjoy "task-led" learning at the language school, so that they see practical results, quickly.  The school's teachers know a lot about classroom dynamics and are careful to create an inclusive atmosphere in which students have the confidence to talk Spanish.  Of course confidence and plenty of practise are the keys to success.

As well as being fun, the learning process has to be well structured.  Students are provided with a multi-lingual glossary organized by level so they can check their progress for themselves.  The school favours using a text book, as copies from lots of different books have little sequence ...  and in the final lesson of the day the Spanish teachers encourage a more free approach, with dynamic spoken activities which build on the work covered that day.

GRAMMAR SKILLS & VOCAB
This is the core part of the course in which students study the grammar, vocab and skills corresponding to each level as set out in the above syllabus. Course material is closely controlled so learning is organized and varied too.

CONVERSATION
As for most people this is both the most challenging and the most desirable skill, most of the courses contain this module which gives students the chance to train accessing new knowledge for active incorporation into their own speech.

SPANISH OR LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE
The Culture module offers an overview of Spanish and Latin American literature, art, music, history and popular culture. Lessons are built around debates, with question and answer time. Students with little or no Spanish can also follow this course as they study in a separate group with cultural material appropriate to their level.

PRIVATE TUITION
Participants can decide on the content of their private tuition themselves or ask their teacher to devise a programme most suited to their needs. All students taking private tuition are requested to fill out the Specific Needs questionnaire in advance of arrival so their lessons may be planned accordingly.

Class Materials
Study Materials for levels A1, A2, B1 include a student work book, an exercise book, a multilingual glossary in the following languages (Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Chinese) and additional photocopied materials. For the levels B2, C1, C2 the materials include a student work book, an exercise book with a monolingual dictionary, an audio CD and an interactive CD-Rom. For the DELE preparation and the A/AS Level courses we work with in house photocopied materials and past examinations, the cost of which is included in the course price. Students on a one week course can opt to get photocopies instead of our complete study materials and thus are not charged for the latter. Students on longer term courses need to purchase books, see CESA Course Finder for price per level for books (approx EUR 30.00).

End of Course Certificate
Certificates are awarded to students who have attended classes on a consistent basis (90%), actively participated in class and completed required class examinations and homework. They state the amount of hours studied and the grade attained based on the weekly exam results (50%) and student's course work (25%) and oral competence (25%).

Levels and groups
To guarantee adequate progress, it is vitally important that students are placed in a group that corresponds with their knowledge of Spanish. This is only possible if the language school guarantees groups of all levels of learning. After making a careful initial evaluation of each student's ability, the Salamanca School follows up their placement with regular control testing.

Class Size
The smaller your learning group, the more personalized your course will be. The maximum amount of students per group is nine, except Culture which is open-class style. The average number of students per group is five in low season and seven in high season, with a maximum of 9 students per class.

Class Duration
We are quite strict about classes starting punctually so no class time is lost. At the school in Salamanca, lessons run from Monday to Friday and are 50 minutes long.

Two free services: “Intercambio” and “Tutorias”
An “intercambio” is a Spanish conversation partner arranged through the school for you. This gives the student an introduction to a group of Spanish friends.

If there is something you haven't quite understood in class, the Spanish school will arrange a “tutoria”, free extra attention from one of your teachers.   

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DELE Exam preparation

Students whose dates fit can opt to do a preparation course for the official DELE exams (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) which test students' level of competence in Spanish, granted by the Instituto Cervantes in name of the Ministry of Education and Science, which are recognized world-wide. These are organized according to the European Framework of Languages (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). The school in Salamanca enables students to prepare for the DELE Intermedio (B2) and Superior (c2) level exams (three times a year; May, August and November).  There is a specific 6 or 4 week DELE preparation course offered leading up to the exams.

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First Day

Arrival at school for Beginners: 09.45hrs
Arrival at school for all other levels: 08.45hrs
Language level tests are held first thing to determine your class placement.

You'll then meet the school team, receive your course file and get shown around the school.
Lessons for everyone start on Monday : 10.00hrs
Classes follow - time to meet your teachers and class-mates.

You'll also have an orientation meeting - in English for beginners and Spanish for everyone else.
We'll explain who is in charge of which part of your language stay and give you a few basic school rules and pieces of advice. We'll explain the diploma system including an explanation of the school policy regarding grading, levels and attendance. Finally, we'll take you through the programme of activities arranged for the duration of your stay.

Welcome Drink arranged at the school : 21.00hrs

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Sample Timetable for Standard Course

Sunday		Arrival in Salamanca
Monday	Tests/ Lessons	Welcome Drink : 21.00hrs
Tuesday	Lessons 10.00 to 13.50hrs	Student get together
Wednesday	Lessons 10.00 to 13.50hrs	City Tour
Thursday	Lessons 10.00 to 13.50hrs	Film Club
Friday	Lessons 10.00 to 13.50hrs	Spanish culture talk *
Saturday	Day Trip *
Sunday	Free Day

* Friday evenings (either every other week or every week in the summer) the school arranges a Tapas night out or a Student Dinner.  Very highly recommended - sociable and great fun!

* Day Trip: Takes place on Saturday or Sunday, every 2 or 3 weeks during the year, and once, every weekend during the really busy summer months.

Please note: In the busy summer high season, Intensive Courses also run from 16.00 to 19.50hrs
Choice of timetable determined by School Staff according to student language levels, rather than student choice.

Timetable for Intensive Course : 09.00 to 13.50hrs
Timetable for DELE Course : 10.00 to 13.50hrs

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Salamanca School Teachers

All of the teachers are native Spaniards and they are all full time Spanish teachers (generally 25 to 45yrs of age).  There are 10 teachers in the school, all trained to teach Spanish as a foreign language. They use the Spanish school syllabus, a tried and tested method developed based on personal experience and the vision of the school's own teaching experts. 

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Salamanca School Students

Students come from all over the world, predominantly Europe, but also from as far afield as Australia, China, Japan and the USA.  Fundamentally, if you want to learn Spanish - you're welcome.  Age wise there a lot of younger students (16yrs to 25yrs of age), but the oldest student to date was in their 80's and some 17%+ of the student body last year were over 30yrs of age, again everyone is welcome.

There are students that stay for one or two weeks and others who stay for 12 to 36 weeks.  The longer you stay the better your Spanish language skills will be! 

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