Hola, me llamo Norbert Monti y tengo 17 años. Estudio en Hungría, en un instituto bilingüe de español. Me gustan mucho las lenguas y tengo la suerte de hablar varias. Aparte de esto me interesa la historia, la geografía, la literatura y muchas cosas más. Empecé a estudiar el español justamente porque es una lengua difícilmente accesible en mi país, además en ningún lugar te dan una formación tan completa como en un instituto bilingüe. Tengo profesores españoles que me enseñan varias asignaturas en su idioma nativo. De tal manera mis clases de Historia, de Geografía y de Matemáticas son todas en español. Igualmente se puede mencionar que la Embajada de España nos ayuda de varias maneras. Por ejemplo, hay varias becas que se pueden ganar tras haber participado en concursos. Hay una que se llama “mini cuentos” y el objetivo es redactar un relato muy breve sobre un tema bastante amplio. Este año teníamos que escribir sobre la lengua española... Yo tuve la suerte de tener una idea creativ...

This past 31 st of March the Spanish Course for the Legal Profession taught by Cervantes Escuela Internacional was officially presented in Brussels. This presentation was part of the calendar of activities that Cervantes Escuela Internacional has organised with the occasion of its 25 th Anniversary, within which we would also like to mention the meeting with the Professional Training Unit of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. Many people attended the presentation took place in the offices of EXTENDA (Trade Promotion Agency of Andalusia), lawyers from several legal practices with offices in Brussels, personnel form different European Union institutions and students of law in their final years of university. The event was introduced by Alexandra Mateo Bré, Extenda´s Market Analyst at the Trade Promotion Office in Benelux . Ms. Mateo introduced Cervantes Escuela Internacional and stressed the importance or learning Spanish as a foreign language as an excellen...

On the occasion of my attendance to a Communitarian Law seminar at the University if Naples during my experience as a teacher in Italy at the end of the 90’s, I started to ask about the true dimension of Spanish for Specific Purposes, questioning even the usefulness of even considering the teaching of languages for specific purposes. My answer back then was categorical: the teaching of languages for specific purposes is the future. Soon, nobody will learn a language without knowing what they really need it for. The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training for the for the Council of European Communities published an interesting study about the training of languages in the studies of the tourism professionals in 1991. 1 Among the most important and deep reflections present in the aforementioned study, I have chosen a quote which relates to my answer at the University of Naples : If tomorrow’s Europe is going to become a “big marketplace” open to the circulation of...

This last April, Cervantes Escuela Internacional had the pleasure to attend to the   IV International Congreso of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia)   with the title: La enseñanza del español en un mundo intercultural. Jornadas pedagógicas. (The Teaching of Spanish in the Intercultural World. Pedagogical Workshops) We had the opportunity to teach a workshop entitled: RENOVANDO LA CLASE DE ELE: LA INTERCULTURALIDAD EN EL AULA (RENEWING THE SFL LESSON: INTERCULTURALITY IN THE CLASSROOM). This workshop aimed to show teachers that linguistic competence alone is not enough to speak a language. Good language teaching must give a prominent role to the cultural component as an indispensable element in communicative competence. Riley makes some reflections on what Culture is: KNOW THAT political or religious knowledge, education, geography, history… of a given society (CULTURE in capitals) KNOW OF the events, phenomenons and worries of...

Last March, the  XII Encuentro Práctico de Profesorado de ELE  (XII Practical Meeting for Teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language) was held in Madrid. Many renowned specialists in the field of language teaching coming from different parts of the world took part in this event. Cervantes Escuela Internacional had the pleasure to attend and to present a workshop entitled  Aplicaciones lúdicas del PowerPoint: renovando la clase de ELE. (Play-based uses of Power Point: updating the SFL lesson). The aim of this workshop was to highlight the sometimes forgotten play-based approach in the SFL classroom. There are certain topics which due to their complexity or subject matter are generally quite tedious for the students (literature, some cultural subjects, vocabulary practice of certain semantic fields, several areas of grammar). However, through a play-based approach that nevertheless keeps in its didactic weight, it is possible to bring our students closer to t...

This last February Cervantes E.I. hosted the training course for the Accreditation of DELE Examiners, C1 Level, organised by Instituto Cervantes in colaboration with FEDELE. After the recent incorporationf of the DELE C1 Diploma on November 2010, this course was essential for teachers preparing DELE diplomas to be able to standardise the results and solve any questions abou the new tasks related to this new Diploma. With this Diploma, all 6 CEFR levels are now available. This means that candidates now have a better choice of levels instead of having to make do with taking a lower level or taking the risk of failing at the higher diploma. This event enjoyed the invaluable contribution of: · Inmaculada Molina Mediavilla: Técnico del Departamento de Certificación Lingüística del Instituto Cervantes · Ane Muñoz . Unidad de Centros Asociados del Instituto Cervantes Both the participantes and speakers displayed a great deal of participation and enthusiasm during the...

On our 25th Anniversary, Cervantes Escuela Internacional , Accredited Centre of Instituto Cervantes and member of EEA, FEDELE y ACEM, organised its  I National Forum between teachers and publishers of SFL last January.  This Forum, entitled “Renewing Lessons on Spanish as a Foreing Language ”, was born with the intention of pausing to reflect and trying to apply the latest advances of technology to our field of work; the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language. Furthermore, we tried to include in a relevant manner games and play withing our lessons, as we believe that the best way of teaching is by involving our students and asking them to participate in more entertaining lessons.  For this event, we were honoured to enjoy the invaluable contribution of renowned speakers and their publishing companies: · Sara Alonso: Pedagogical Consultant to the  Anaya-ELE Publishing Company. · Carlos Barroso : Coordinator of the SFL depart...