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Methodology

The college’s key concern is to get you to speak!

Of course you will cover the four core skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, with plenty of grammar and vocabulary work included in order to develop all the essential Spanish language skills. 

>  Spanish language levels
>  Spanish course syllabus
>  Speaning Spanish from the start

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Spanish language levels

The table (below) gives an idea of how the Spanish language school levels compare to those established by the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF, in Spanish the MCER) and by the Instituto Cervantes for its Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE) examinations.

School system	CEF	DELE descriptions
Principante	A1	Diploma A1
Elemental	A1/A2	Diploma A2
Preintermedio	A2	"
Intermedio I	B1	Diploma B1 (Incial)
Intermedio II	B1	"
Intermedio III	B1	"
Preavanzado	B2	Diploma B2  (Intermedio)
Avanzado I	B2	"
Avanzado I Alto	B2	"
Avanzado II	C1	Diploma C1
Avanzado II Alto	C1	"
Perfeccionamiento	C2	Diploma C2  (Superior)

You will normally need at least 40 hours tuition at any one level before advancing to the next course.

On the first day that you begin a Spanish course, there is both a written and an oral placement test.
Lessons will begin on the following morning (generally speaking Tuesday AM)

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Spanish language course syllabus

Phase 1 - Beginners, Pre-Elementary, Elementary
Students develop basic skills in Spanish grammar, including gender and number nouns, adjective formation, adverbs, adverbial phrases, comparative and superlative, prepositions and the use of ser and estar. Present, simple past and future tenses are presented at the appropriate level. Participants express needs and desires surrounding their daily routine and experience as a student in Palma. They learn to identify and to describe people, places and objects in their environment and to express personal opinions in simple concrete language. Other basic functions of language include: agreeing and disagreeing, asking for help, expressing lack of understanding and asking an interlocutor to repeat or to speak more slowly.
Participants develop comprehension of simple written and spoken messages in a variety of media: signs, news highlights, announcements, personal letters, postcards, etc. Instructors place language in its proper situational context which, at these levels, includes: the classroom, the workplace, the restaurant, the market/supermarket, the travel agency, the bus, a celebration or sporting event, etc.

Phase 2 - Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Post-Intermediate
In the intermediate levels, students develop an increasingly accurate use of Spanish grammar. Building on work in previous levels, students learn more subtle and idiomatic uses of grammatical forms including contrasting uses of the preterit and imperfect tenses. Instructors introduce complex verb forms such as the conditional and subjunctive moods for the first time.
Students develop an understanding of more complex messages and learn to contribute comments and personal opinions to a conversation, turn-taking and other conversational norms. Participants begin to develop a passive understanding of colloquial phrases and slang. Students also learn to describe their personal experience in greater detail and to narrate events in the past with greater accuracy. Situations and topics include: the family, making invitations, describing character or personality, relationships, planning a celebration, the movies, asking for advice from friends, family or others, appreciating art and music and looking for a job or apartment. At this level, instructors begin to introduce more cultural topics and current events in the target language.

Phase 3 - Pre-Advanced, Advanced
The advanced levels provide students with an opportunity to hone their command of Spanish grammar, to develop fluency and to improve pronunciation. Upon completion of Phase 3, students will have covered the core grammatical syllabus.
Students develop greater idiomatic control of the language and begin to understand movies, read literary passages and write advanced texts. Students develop ability with complex linguistic functions including: inferring opinions from a text or dialogue, arguing a point, recommending or giving advice and instructions and making predictions. Themes at this level may include idiomatic expressions, relationships, the newspapers and media, contemporary music, theatre and cultural events, etc. Specific topics vary according to the needs and interests of the class.

Phase 4 - Post-Advanced, Proficiency
These are the most advanced grammar and conversation courses offered and the most individualised. Instructors assess individual needs and design a programme to review complex grammatical forms that students have not fully mastered. As the names suggest, these courses are designed to perfect and polish linguistic ability. Instructors use a range of media and materials to develop the courses around topics of interest to the participants. Students further develop colloquial conversational ability. Students and instructors become co-creators of the course programme and work closely on individualised assignments.

Prerequisites:
None for beginners; other courses are sequential.

Spanish language school faculty
All our Spanish teachers hold a university degree and they have all successfully completed a rigorous training course that prepares them to teach Spanish to foreigners. These teacher training courses combine theoretical input sessions on language acquisition and teaching methodologies and techniques, with extensive teaching practice. At the end of each training course our teacher trainers are able to determine which course participants will be successful Spanish language teachers as they have seen the trainees working with practice students in an authentic classroom environment throughout the course. The quality of all our teaching is guaranteed by this initial training and by the fact that we only recruit those teachers who have demonstrated their ability on the course.
Regular in-service training courses and seminars are held in the schools and these training sessions, combined with frequent visits to and from other schools, help to ensure that our teaching standards - and our reputation - are constantly upheld.
Many of our teachers regularly take part in piloting and developing new teaching materials and methods. Many of them have presented their work at conferences, contributed to publications, and written successful Spanish course books.

The curriculum is structured on ten theoretical language levels, with a natural duration of two weeks at each level. There are classes in grammar, oral and written exercises, practice with video and audio material and conversation on subjects of general, social and cultural interest. The methodology is the result of years of experience in the intensive teaching of Spanish. 

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Speaking Spanish from the start

The main objective of most of our Spanish courses is to improve the students' communicative skills. The emphasis of classroom activities is therefore the development of the students' abilities to speak and understand spoken Spanish.  For this reason, classes are conducted entirely in Spanish and students are given plenty of opportunity to practise the sort of language they are likely to need outside the classroom. We don't just want our students to "know" Spanish, we want them to be able to use it!

Due attention is also paid to grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing skills, and a wide variety of materials is used including published materials from many sources as well as materials which have been written by our own teachers. While the atmosphere in the classroom is generally relaxed and informal, students should be prepared to work hard and participate fully.

Materials
All materials that the students need to work with are provided free of charge. This includes one Spanish coursebook which is given to students at the beginning of their course.

Students who attend private classes will have course materials designed specifically to meet their particular needs.

Course design and supervision
The teaching and the course programme are carefully supervised by the Director of Studies, who is also responsible for ensuring that students are placed in the appropriate levels and that their progress is satisfactory.

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