Spanish Beginners - Year 1 Short Courses
Taught mostly in Spanish, this is a course for total beginners, running once a week in London. Spanish Beginners Course is an introduction to the language and way of life for the purpose of practical communication. Whether you are studying for travelling, working abroad or with foreign companies, or broadening your horizons, the Spanish Beginners course will enable you to communicate confidently, socialise and not feel out of place in the country you are visiting.
If you missed an October enrolment you can either join a Spanish Accelerated course in January and cover Module 1 (Term 1) and Module 2 (Term 2) within one term, you can then do Module 3 in Term 3; alternatively, if you already have some knowledge of Spanish, you can join the Spanish Beginners class in Term 2 or 3 but you will need to have your level assessed. You can either do this by contacting us on 020 7040 8268 or by checking your level using our online guidelines.
Course Information
| Start Date | Start Time | Duration | Cost | Course Code | Apply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 4 October 2011 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 1) | CE1810 | Course Full |
| Tuesday 17 January 2012 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 2) | CE1810 | Apply Now |
| Tuesday 24 April 2012 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 3) | CE1810 | Apply Now |
| Tuesday 4 October 2011 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 30 classes over 3 terms | £500.00 (All Modules) | CE1810 | Apply Now |
| Thursday 6 October 2011 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 1) | CE1810 | Apply Now |
| Thursday 19 January 2012 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 2) | CE1810 | Course Cancelled |
| Thursday 26 April 2012 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 10 classes over 1 term | £195.00 (Module 3) | CE1810 | Course Cancelled |
| Thursday 6 October 2011 | 18:20 - 20:20 | 30 classes over 3 terms | £500.00 (All Modules) | CE1810 | Apply Now |
Tutor Info
Ana Belen Rivas Vilar has a BA in English Philology (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and trained at the International House London to teach Spanish to adults (September 2001). She has been working as a Spanish tutor for City University since September 2002 and has taught in various institutions such as the North Hillingdon Adult Education, the International House, The City Lit Institute and Instituto Cervantes since 2004.
Eligibility
No prior knowledge required for a September start.
If you wish to join this Spanish Beginners course in January, please check your level before enrolling.
What will I learn?
Module 1
Module 1 will cover topics including: greetings; introducing yourself and others (job, age etc.) ; ser, estar and tener; number and gender; demonstratives (this, that one…); there is (hay…); prepositions of place; countries and nationalities; the alphabet; formal v informal; numbers 0-100; talking about your family; describing yourself and others (colours, physical features, characters etc); drinks and snacks; the date; articles; shopping; talking about places; where you live; the house and furniture; finding a property; booking into a hotel; places in a town; transport; telling the time; asking for opening times; asking how much something is.
Module 2
Module 2 will cover topics including: finding your way; expressing likes and dislikes; expressing an opinion (agreeing and disagreeing); daily routine and weekends; parts of the body and health making suggestions; telephone conversations; entertainment and events; arranging appointments and making invitations; talking about the past; present tense: regular verbs in -ar, -ir and irregular verbs ; interrogative pronouns; adjectives; reflexive pronouns (me, te, se etc); expressions of frequency (a veces, una vez al mes, a menudo etc); muy vs much; exclamative sentences; querer + infinitive; poder + infinitive; introducing the past tense (préterito indefinido); introducing the future tense.
Module 3
Module 3 will cover topics including: talking about future plans and projects (Ir a + Infinitivo); the present perfect (pretérito perfecto); ordering food in a restaurant and giving and asking for instructions to cook a meal (imperative); talking about a journey in the past and talking about your life, the past tense (pretérito indefinido); describing a city and comparing it with others (comparatives); expressing opinions and priorities; showing agreement and disagreement.
The following grammar points will be revised: the present tense (regular and irregular verbs).
Teaching and Assessment
Classroom activities will include: drilling, role-playing, listening comprehension, note-taking, gap-filling exercises, writing, reading comprehension, matching exercises, work on pronunciation and intonation and grammar taught in context.
Recommended Reading
Units 1-15 are covered in the textbook Nuevo Ele inicial 1, Libro del alumno, Virgilio Borobio, Ediciones SM (ISBN 84-348-9075-5).
Students are advised to purchase their own copy of the book, either from the University bookshop (Northampton Square) or from most major bookshops.
Leads To...
Having successfully completed the Spanish Beginners (Year 1) course, you can progress to Spanish Lower Intermediate (Year 2).
Career Outcome
At the end of the course students are expected to be able to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. They should be able to introduce themselves, people they know and things they have. They are able to interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.