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Conde Naste Traveller Q I'm trying to arrange a two-week Spanish course in Andalucia. Do you know how I can find one with reasonably small class sizes? I would like to stay with a local family so I can practise outside the classroom, too. The Internet's a bit of a minefield. Any ideas?
R J Cheshire
A
Picking a language school is a risky business, especially if you want local accommodation as well. I would try contacting CESA Languages (www.cesalanguages.com) which is one of the most reputable and offers courses in Granada and Seville with a maximum class size of 10. There is a wide range of courses available, depending on how intensively you want to work. Tuition fees start at about £200.00 a week (with 20 hours' class time). Full-board accommodation in a single room in a private house costs from about £220.00 a week.
LawCareers.Net
Rather like starting high school when your elder brother or sister tells you tales of bullies flushing your head down the toilet or teachers who make you stand on one leg for an hour for talking in class, starting a traineeship or a seat at a firm can invoke a certain sense of trepidation.
Phrases such as 'entering the big, bad world', 'chained to your desk' and 'they'll get their pound of flesh out of you' don't exactly accentuate the positive points of training and working as a lawyer. And whilst the career is undoubtedly rewarding, there are bound to be some fairly steep speed-bumps on the road to success. An option increasing numbers of lawyers and trainees are taking to prepare themselves for what lies ahead is to have a few months - or more - away from the world of clients and courts pursuing other interests.
This so-called 'gap year' used to be solely the territory of the post-school student who went to 'find themselves' in Laos, Cambodia or Malaysia before drinking and fruit-picking their way around Australia and then returning home to finally wash. However, sick of leaving all the fun to those who can't afford it, a whole new market has materialised for those either in - or training to qualify for - a career.
Employers are also starting to see the benefits of their staff taking breaks and most law firms now have a well-established work/life policy, which has seen a number of firms listed in The Times 'Top 100 Companies to Work For' - an unthinkable concept even 10 years ago.
While voluntary work in needy parts of the world can be a route to self-development on an intrinsically personal level, time out can also be used to gain skills that are immediately apparent in helping your career. For example, CESA Languages Abroad offer a wide range of eight to 20 week language courses based in a country where the language you are learning is used in everyday speech. This gives you the opportunity to learn Italian in Florence, Arabic in Fez, Chinese in Beijing, German in Vienna, and Spanish in Barcelona, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mexico. The organisation has also recently added Buenos Aries and the Chilean capital, Santiago, to its portfolio, and those mentioned above are only a taster of the options available. CESA director Katherine Brand says the courses offer "an opportunity to experience the world before entering into the rat-race that is your career by doing something you can use as part of your career".
Brand explains: "There are two points of view when learning a language to benefit your career. First, you can say 'I want to be able to talk in a social fashion, to get my point across in a meeting and to know what people are saying when I go to the Madrid office'. Alternatively, you can take it a step further and learn it at a whole different level for translation purposes."
When CESA was established in 1980, Brand says everyone was simply interested in learning French, but the expansion of the business world and the greater propensity for people to travel and experience different cultures means the company has expended to the degree it has. And while there are now opportunities to see the Aztec temples while learning Spanish, the quality of your spoken language will benefit from the location as well. "You learn so much quicker and it is so much better for your self confidence to be located in a country that speaks the language," says Brand. "Frankly, learning a language is about communication and making contact with someone from a different nationality and way of life - you could never do that by listening to a tape at home. You can make so much progress by immersing yourself in the environment and throwing yourself in the deep end. As a law student, this kind of experience shouldn't be that shocking and is good preparation."
Brand says the experiences on offer are for anyone "whether you are 22 or 65" and the range of companies offering gap years and the range of products on offer mean age, sex, finances, interests and expectations should not be a barrier to finding a suitable 'project'.
