Group of Italian students at Imsol

Last week Imsol had the pleasure to receive a group of 19 students from the north of Italy.
We organized an interesting week for them full of activities and nice things to enjoy in Granada!!
As accommodation, they chose to stay in a Hostel and have the lunch included, so we looked for a comfortable place at only 5 minutes walking from school, where we were sure they'd be feel like at home.
Every morning they received their Spanish intensive course, divided in 2 groups, according to their Spanish level assessed through an online level test done before their arrival. The timetable was from 9 to 12.30.
Then, in the afternoon they took part to a cultural program that includes:
guided tours discovering Granada (Albayzín, center and Sacromonte), a funny activity in San Agustín Market, a tour to the Alhambra and Generalife gardens and a practical lesson of cooking paella in a Cooking school in Granada that was their dinner at the end :) .
At Instituto Mediterráneo Sol we can organize a personalized stay for groups of adults or teenagers, according to their special needs. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you have to live! What's the best way to practice Spanish with your friends in the charming city of Granada?

Cooking Gazpacho and Spanish omelette at Imsol

At Instituto Mediterráneo Sol you can daily take part to varied activities that will make you get closer to the Spanish culture in a pleasant way.
Last week the program was:

• Monday: guided tour through Albayzin
• Tuesday: Seminar about colloquial expressions
• Wednesday: Extra grammar lesson
• Thursday: Cooking lesson and recipe of gazpacho and Spanish omelette
• Friday: Movie at school
• Saturday: Trip to Alpujarras

One of the activity that mostly student liked has been the Cooking lesson.
After buying the ingredients, students met Odile (the teacher) at school and following her advices all together they prepared the famous Andalusian gazpacho and the Spanish omelette.
And of course the had lunch at school!!!
Here some pictures:

European scholarships for non native teachers of Spanish

Teachers of a training at Imsol

If you are a teacher of Spanish as a second language and you'd like to come to Spain to take a teacher training course, you have to know that you have the chance to get a scholarship from the European Union!!
At Instituto Mediterráneo Sol you can take a Teacher course that is recognized as a Grundtvig activity; this means that this scholarship is for those who teach to adults.


Details of this course:

• REFERENCE CODE:  ES-2014-385-001
• 4 hours of 60 minutes/day
• Maximum number of students per class: 8
• Price includes: Classes, certificate, activity program, Alhambra ticket entrance.
• Price: 730 euros
• Date for the next Spring session: March 10th, 2014
• Deadline for applying to the National Agency of every country: SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2013 

Preparation
The Training Course for teachers of Spanish as a foreign language is for those teachers who have a Spanish level between intermediate and advanced. According to this level, the student can choose between 3 options:
Option A:
For teachers with an independent use of the language (B1- Threshold), who wish to improve their
grammatical and cultural skills aiming at Spanish teaching.
Option B:
For teachers with an independent use of the language (B1-Threshold and B2 - Advanced), who wish to improve their grammatical, teaching and cultural skills for the Spanish teaching. It's also directed to all those who wish to get into knowledges, skills, techniques and instruments to start the professional Spanish teaching.
Option C:
For teachers with an independent use of the language (C1- Total Control), who wish to know about or
improve all aspects of applied didactics and extend their knowledge about culture and traditions in Spain.

Before starting the course, the student will receive:

• Daily course sequencing according to the option chose
• Contents of the didactic and culture of the course 
• More detailed Level Test in order to know the exact grammatical level of the student 
• Form requirements, in order to know the needs and worries of the student learning Spanish

Aims:
It's a General Training Course for:

• Non-native Spanish teachers with professional experience and a skill level from B1. 
• Non-native people, who wish to become familiar with the didactics of Spanish as a Second Language with professional goals. 

Therefore, the aims of this course are:
-Improve the knowledge of the Spanish language
-Become familiar with basic conceptual and methodological aspects for the Spanish teaching
-Analyze the roles of teachers and students in the process of teaching/learning
-Identify the general objectives and the contents of learning
-Offer a forum for debate on current issues of Spain
-Deepening socio-cultural aspects of Spain
 
So, what do you have to do to get the scholarship? Just visit your national agency website or contact them and you'll get all the necessary documents.

Don't lose this chance and come to take a teacher training course at Imsol!!

Sacromonte

Every week a teacher of the school Inmsol visits with the students one of the most characteristic place of Granada.Yesterday we have been in Sacromonte accompanied by Susanna. We have walked, chatted (obviously in Spanish!) and finally got on the top of this beautiful hill! Granada is full of enchanting places and this is absolutely one of them.

The Sacromonte is situated in Valparaíso Valley facing the Alhambra. These emblematic places are located one on each side of the Darro River, whose name seems to come from the Latin expression "D'auro" (meaning of gold), due to the famous gold sediments found there. It is a lovely place with its banks and its beautiful Mediterranean forest. We are talking about an enchanting place, made by Mediterranean wood and coastline, and decorated by chumberas (prickly pear) and pitas.

Sacromonte is the traditional suburb of the Grenadian gypsies, big and enigmatic but especially free community. They speak their language: the calí, and people think they arrived in Spain in the XV century, after having walked through Europe and Africa. In their tradition there is a special celebration: the zambra sacromontana, which has always enchanted the tourists with its charm and the flutter skirt.

The caves are the usual home in Sacromonte. Even though their origin is not so clear the first one were built in the XVI century, when the Muslims and the Jews were banished from the city. Later the gypsies joined them. The caves were born for the excluded people.

These architectonical elements, together with the lanes, ravines, the little squares, the facades white painted amount to a unique landscape. The view and the traditions of the inhabitants make this place and this way of life enchanting. 

D.E.L.E. exams at Imsol

Instituto Cervantes logo

D.E.L.E. exams are very close and we’ll be, also for this date, the D.E.L.E. exam center in Granada.

These diplomas are the most important accreditation of a student’s Spanish level and many Spanish universities ask for it in order to accept foreigners who wish to study there. They are internationally recognized not only among educational institutions, but also in the business world.

Students can take 6 levels:

• Diploma in Spanish Level A1: Breakthrough
• Diploma in Spanish Level A2: Waystage
• Diploma in Spanish Level B1: Threshold
• Diploma in Spanish Level B1 for Schools
• Diploma in Spanish Level B2: Vantage
• Diploma in Spanish Level C1: Effective Operational Proficiency
• Diploma in Spanish Level C2: Mastery

D.E.L.E. exams can be held three times per year: in May, August and November. At this moment you can enroll in the August session by following this link. Remember that you have time only until July 26^th!

Instituto Mediterráneo Sol offers courses leading to this exam. They are specific and based on the 5 tests of the exam where these fields are trained: oral expression, reading comprehension, use of language and writing. Here you can download sample examination papers.

You can start a course any Monday and you’ll get always a 10% discount on the course price if you take the D.E.L.E. course with 4 classes per day.

Activity program at Imsol

At our Spanish school in Granada, Imsol, not only students take Spanish courses to learn and improve their Spanish. Actually we organize daily activities so that students can follow their learning in a more relaxing way.

This week we proposed this program:

 "Niño de las Pinturas"'s Painting

Monday: Guided tour discovering the Graffiti area in Granada. The most known Graffiti painter in Granada is the so called "Niño de las Pinturas", whose paintings decor many walls of the city. His style is unmistakable as well as his details: children, aged people, wheels...

Tuesday: Guided tour to Alhambra with our professional guide, Juan, who every student loves.

Wednesday: Extra lesson of grammar, very useful to review some topics. This week the teacher focused on verbs that need prepositions and adjectives that complete their meanings.

Thursday: Extra lesson about Spanish short movies. This week the teacher prepared a class on two short movies, “Éramos pocos” and “El número”. After watching them students talks about them on the basis of some questions and exercises.

Friday: Movie at school. This week we showed “Los abrazos Rotos” (Broken Embraces, Almodóvar, 2009). Almodóvar is maybe the most known Spanish filmmaker and here at Imsol we almost have all his movies!!

Tomorrow, Saturday, we propose a tour to the Tropical Coast with our guide Juan. In this trip students can visit Almuñécar, Nerja (with the caves) and Frigiliana and have time for a bath and relaxing on the beach.

See you next week with another cultural program!!

Welcome to Granada!!

Here you have a new space where you'll find useful information to study Spanish in Granada. We'll try to give you interesting posts and suggestions in order to make easier your decision to come and study in Granada.
Our Spanish school is located in the center of the city and Granada is the place where anyone would like to live for a time. Actually here people say that once you leave Granada, then you'll come back in the future... And this is what exactly happened to most people I know :) .
Follow us every week and you'll discover something new about the Spanish culture, Granada and the good quality and atmosphere that people live in our Spanish school.