Buenos
Aires is also called the "Paris of the South"
strongly influenced by European culture while retaining Latin
charm. It is one of the most sophisticated cities in Latin-America
renown for its nightlife
and cultural activities. With its countless bars and cafes,
bustling streets and nocturnal population,
Buenos
Aires is a place of infinite movement. It seems hard to
find another city in Latin America with so much passion and
excitement.
Largely because
Buenos
Aires is amazingly still undiscovered by most tourists,
you will quickly be embraced by locals (porteños) happy
to meet foreigners. With high standards of living, very low
crime rates, and an underdeveloped tourism crowd, our students
have found Buenos
Aires an ideal place for learning Spanish.
Whether sitting
at an outdoor cafe watching the beautiful porteños, dancing
Salsa until morning, playing
soccer in the parks, or watching a world famous Tango
show, cosmopolitan Buenos
Aires provides entertainment for everyone. The city is indeed
large (three million residents), however it is very walker-friendly
and public transportation (metro and buses) offers fast and
efficient movement between all of the traditional neighborhoods.
Even with the energy supplied by the porteños and the
nightlife, Buenos Aires is a remarkably safe city at all hours
and students will feel comfortable in our neighborhood. Standards
of living are high, and even drinking the local tap water presents
no problems. South of Buenos Aires lie many beaches, including
the famous resorts of Mar Del Plata (140 km from BA). All of
Argentina's tourist locations are easily accessible from Buenos
Aires, by economical domestic flights, by rail, and by bus.
Surprisingly Affordable
Until a few years ago, Buenos Aires was one of the world's most
expensive cities, but since the peso crashed in 2002, the city
has become a bargain. Students at our Spanish school enjoy some
of the world's best restaurants and entertainment at a fraction
of the former cost.
Access to Argentina's Nature
Buenos
Aires is the travel hub of Argentina. Domestic flights can take
you north to Iguazzu Falls, south to Patagonia, or west to the
Andes mountains. A short ferry ride will get you to Uruguay and
its famous beach resort, Punta Del Este.
Music
and Shows
Buenos Aires has many cinemas and theatres. The Teatro Colón
(Colón Opera House), a monumental coliseum of extraordinary
acoustics, hosts international concerts, opera, and ballet. At
night you can see tango shows in different places.
Visit
our Tango page
for more information on shows and where you can dance it
School
Our partner school is located in Buenos
Aires' most famous and premiere neighborhood,
Recoleta, and provides an
ideal setting:
5 blocks from the
Subte (Metro-Underground) station Pueyrredon
3 blocks from the
famous Recoleta cemetery where Evita is buried
Safest and cleanest
neighborhood of Buenos Aires
Public
transportation (colectivos) at the front door
Many housing options
in neighborhood
Students living in the
very center have an easy 10-15 minute
subway ride AGAINST rush hour traffic
Many stores and
options for culture and entertainment
The school is very spacious and
comfortable, with beautiful decoration from the beginning of
the century including sophisticated marble stairs and handmade
floor mosaics. 3 floors include 20 classrooms, 6 restrooms,
common areas, a kitchen, inside patio, inside and outside
balconies, a large roof terrace (capacity 150) and Internet
connection. The total capacity of the school is 150 students.
Directions from Subte (via metro):
1. Take Green Line Subte (Metro-Underground)
to "Pueyrredon".
2. Exit Subte and walk down Santa Fe five blocks to Junin,
take left onto Junin.
3. The school is located in the Junin street.
"Once again, this
was a great experience for me. All of the teachers I had were
wonderful. I noticed the whole time I was here that everyone
thought his teacher was the best, which tells me that you have
an excellent group of teachers! All of the staff is great -
everyone is very friendly and goes out of their way to make
sure the students are comfortable and happy."
- Carly,
USA
"The structure of the class wasn't collegiate, but we covered
the same material, so I still looked forward to class every day.
I liked that general discussion about social things or the city
was not discouraged during class, because it helped in improving
real-life vocabulary/conversation skills. The tuition was very
reasonable, too, and that not only makes it attractive, but
possible for a lot of people. - Katie, San Francisco, USA
FREE Internet: Use our computers or bring your
own.
FREE Tutorial: The helps sessions are free for
enrolled students.
FREE Drinks & Snacks: Our kitchen "tias" keep you
energized.
Our partner school is recognized by the IALC and for academic
credit by the Universidad de la Marina Mercante.
1 lesson = 50 min. of class teaching "face-to-face"
Spanish Courses
Buenos Aires
Course Type
Lessons per week
Lessons per day
Max # of students
Standard
20
4(group)
6
Intensive
PLUS
25
4 (group) + 1 (indiv.)
6
Super-Intensive
30
4 (group) + 2 (indiv.)
6
One-to-One
10 to 20
2 -4
(indiv.)
Individual
D.E.L.E. Exam Prep.
30
4 (group) + 2 (indiv.)
6
School - Buenos Aires
School's terrace
Courses
1. Standard Course
(20 lessons per week)
Standard Course: 20 lessons per week
The courses are structured
to meet your level and you can choose from either small group
(max. 6 students) or personal one-to-one courses. All
teachers are native speakers, have university degrees, language
teaching qualifications and have prior experience teaching
languages to foreigners. In addition to their professional
credentials, they were carefully selected for their abilities to
keep students interested and respond to intercultural
differences. All materials necessary are provided by the school,
you just have to bring a notebook and a
pocket dictionary.
2. Intensive
PLUS Course (25 lessons per week)
Intensive PLUS Course: 25 lessons per week
Standard Course 20 lessons per week plus an
additional 5 lessons One-to-One*
The course is ideal for students that
want to focus on specific topics in additional one-to-one
lessons
*One-to-One elements can be focused on
Business Spanish or Spanish for Medical/Law purposes (Special focus
for 25% more than the regular one-to-one cost)
Many days include school activities in the afternoon or
the evening
3. Super-Intensive
Course (30 lessons per week)
Super Intensive Course:
30 lessons per week
The course is ideal for short stays with
rapid progress. Recommended for Business purposes.
Standard Course 20 lessons per week plus an
additional 10 lessons One-to-One
*One-to-One elements can be focused on
Business Spanish or Spanish for Medical/Law purposes (Special focus
for 25% more than the regular one-to-one cost)
Many days include school activities in the afternoon or the
evening.
There are two class schedules for group and one-to-one lessons.
The assignment of a student´s shift takes place upon arrival
after completion of the placement test:
Morning: 9am - 1pm
Afternoon: 2pm - 6pm
This is what a typical day looks like (example for morning
shift):
Classes normally begin at 9 am. Students and teachers
generally show up a few minutes early for coffee, tea, etc.
The
first session lasts until 10:30 am. After a short
refreshment break of 20 minutes, there is a second session
until 11:50 am. And the last session is held from 12:10 am
to 1 pm
After class most students have lunch with other students
and/or teachers.
Afternoon classes (2 pm to 6 pm) will take place for
students requesting additional hours.
At night most students enjoy Buenos Aires nightlife or take
part in cultural activities such as cooking
and Tango or Salsa
courses.
Every class is held in the classroom, but for a change of pace, your class may occasionally take place
outside of the school, at a cafe or a park for example,
especially for those taking private lessons.
Teachers use our own course book, developed
by a team of our teachers, for about half of the class, while
the other half of the class is devoted to special class needs
and supplements, such as selected audios, videos, and current
readings.
4. One-to-One Course (min. 5 private lessons per week)
This
private
course is designed for students who would like to focus on
certain subjects following a course adapted to their individual
needs. The personal attention of their teacher allows students
to work at their own rhythm and to specialize in particular
areas of interest, e.g. business Spanish, Spanish for
medical/legal purposes. Students have two options:
One-to-one lessons only
One-to-one lessons combined with group lessons.
5. DELE Exam Preparation Course (30 lessons per week)
The DELE (Diploma de Español
como
Lengua Extranjera), issued by
Spain's
Ministry of Education and administered by the Instituto
Cervantes, is an offical accreditation of Spanish language
abilities. It is recognized by official institutions of
Spanish-speaking countries as well as countries where Spanish is
not the official language. The exam verifies abilities in
reading, writing, speaking, and understanding Spanish with three
levels of certification:
Certificado Inicial beginner
Diploma Basico intermediate
Diploma Superior superior
Apart from gaining Spanish language certification, the exam
preparation course is an excellent way to arrive at a balanced
level of proficiency.
Course Details
In order to prepare for the exam, we have courses devoted
entirely to DELE exam preparation. The sessions are one-to-one
and enable you to focus on your areas needing rapid
improvement. The course is taken as a private course, either
full-time or as the private component of "group + private", 20
hours group plus 10 hours private. Fees are the same as for
standard courses. All exam levels consist of the following:
reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, and vocabulary.
The preparation courses cover all components with particular
emphasis on your areas of more limited capabilities.
DELE Exam Schedule
2007:
May 12 (registration until Apr 6)
Aug 24 (registration until Aug 10)
Nov 17 (registration until Oct 11)
* Registration for the DELE exam is separate from registering
for the language program
Exam Fees
(not incl. in course price)
Inicial: $75
Intermedio: $85
Superior: $100
6. Spanish PLUS Medical Experience Program
The program we have developed for medical
professionals combines the regular Spanish immersion program
with medical-specific Spanish and cultural training. Morning
group classes never have more than six students. After morning
classes, students find themselves engaged in a variety of
medical-oriented activities in the afternoon.
Clinical Shadowing: The main portion of the medical package
is clinical shadowing in either a hospital or health clinic. You
can observe the similarities and differences between these
clinics and those in the US.
Many students also choose supplemental private Spanish lessons,
in addition to the standard group course, to focus on particular
needs or on "Medical Spanish" (such as role-playing).
Price: 95 USD per week for 2 sessions of Clinical Shadowing
7. Spanish PLUS
Tango
Our partner school now offers
to learn Spanish and to learn the Tango. Become a real Porteño
in only a few weeks as you frequent the city's best clubs, learn
to chat with the locals, and experience a truly world-class
culture.
Package:
4 Tango lessons (2 group, 2 private) per week; groups of
max. 6 students (Price: 80 USD per week)
Standard Spanish Immersion course
Your advantages:
We work with many of the city's best teachers.
Free admission to many of the top clubs.
Smooth integration into the city's culture.
Levels
Our program is
divided into
seven
levels of study. The first four are concentrated on grammar,
vocabulary, practical situations, and conversation. The fifth
and sixth level, advanced and superior, are focused mainly on
conversation and advanced reading and writing topics while the
seventh includes Electives courses
(Spanish composition, Literature, Advanced Oral and listening
Skills, Culture) One elective open per week.
A student can expect to advance through each of the first four
levels in three weeks each
while the advanced course can be taken for several months. In
order to get a better idea what level you should take you will
be given a quick Placement Exam upon arrival.
NOTE:
For a printable version of the course curriculum, please click
here.
NOTE: Content descriptions are examples of
topics covered. Discussion topics and themes vary.
Beginner 1:
(No Spanish)
Pronunciation, identifying people and
things, present tense, family members, "ser"
and "estar", interrogative pronouns, indefinite/definite
articles, greetings, demonstative adjectives, present
progressive tense, "hay" and "tener",
days and months, possessive adjectives.
Beginner 2:
Reflexive verbs and pronouns, sports and
activities, future informal ("ir" + ), preferences
and desires, "nunca"/"siempre", imperative
tense, ordinal numbers, "tener que", "haber
que", and "deber que", prepositions of
time and place, imperfect tense.
Intermediate 1:
Relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns,
"para" and "por", past perfect irregulars,
future imperfect, conditional tense, present subjunctive,
uses of subjunctive verbs, "seguir" and "quedar",
preterite perfect "estar" + gerund, irregular
subjunctive verbs.
Intermediate 2:
Preterite perfect subjunctive, passive
voice, uses of "se", verbs with prepositions,
adverbial expressions, diminutives and augmentatives,
idomatic expressions, preterite imperfect subjunctive,
prepositional phrases, synonyms and antonyms.
Advanced:
Passive voice; review of
preterit v/s imperfect; indicative v/s subjunctive;
subjunctive with expressions of emotion, influence, will
and doubt; Greek and Latin prefixes; subjunctive in
subordinate clauses; use of different prepositions,
conjunctions; pronominal complements; Greek and Latin
suffixes; literal orthography.
Advanced
Superior:
Advanced Superior:
Punctuation; common errors of speech; “queismo” and “dequeísmo”;
accents; neologisms, foreign influence and barbarism;
Topics of conversation vary; composition and writing
exercises. Oral practice is the main focus of the course.
There is a variety of elective courses available to
Advanced students: Spanish Composition, Literature, Culture,
Advanced Orals and Listening Skills.
University Credit:
All
students receive a certificate upon completion of the course.
This certificate is signed and stamped by the school Director
and includes the course dates, attendance percentage, level(s)
approved and grades.
For University
credit, we can also provide the student University certification
upon request. This is submitted by Universidad de la
Marina Mercante or
Universidad Abierta Interamericana in Argentina.
For credit
approval, the process goes as follows:
1.- We contact the
student’s Study Abroad
Advisor to get the approval of the course. Most of the
universities have different requirements to approve courses. We
appreciate that the student help us to get the Advisor contact
information.
Then we provide the Advisor any documentation required for the
course acceptance.
2.- We inform the
student, once approval is confirmed.
3.- Student study
abroad at our school(s).
4.- Upon completion of course. We submit transcripts to
university for credit. Transfer credit fee: 200 USD
*
Minimum course length for university
certification= 3 weeks(one level)
Universities that have already approved our courses for
credit
Group sessions begin every second Monday for compete beginners. Students with no Spanish background should
begin on one of the official start dates, while those with prior
Spanish can generally join an existing groupon any Monday. Individual courses may begin any time.
Start dates2007
for COMPLETE BEGINNERS:Jan 2, Jan 15, Jan 29, Feb 12, Feb 26, Mar 12, Mar 26,
Apr 9, Apr 23, May 7, 21, Jun 4, 18, Jul 2, Jul 16, Jul 3,
Jul 30, Aug 13, Aug 27, Sep 10, Sep 24, Oct 8, Oct 22, Nov 5, Nov
19,
Dec 3, Dec 17
OFFICAL HOLIDAYS ARGENTINA (No classes held- classes NOT made up):
Jan 01
New Year’s Day.
Apr06Good Friday.
May 01 Labour Day.
May 25 National Day (Anniversary of the 1810
Revolution).
Dec 25 Christmas Day.
OFFICAL HOLIDAYS ARGENTINA (Classes* heldfrom 9:30am to 1:30pm):
Apr 02 Malvinas Day
Apr05Maundy Thursday.
June 18National Flag Day.
Jul 09 Independence Day.
Aug 20General José de San
Martín Day
Oct 15Day of the Americas (Columbus Day)
*On these days special classes focusing on conversation and
with no maximum number of students will be offered at 5 levels.
Activities
+ Excursions
Many activities and
excursions can be arranged for the students. You can take advantage
of the city's attractions, but also go on excursions to nearby
places or explore the rest of Argentina's incredible beauty. The nightlife of Buenos Aires offers numerous possibilities
to go out and enjoy. Tango and Salsa courses can also be arranged. Spending a weekend on an Estancia watching Gauchos, horseback-riding
and participating in the famous Asado (Argentinean BBQ) is
the highlight of any short trip within the Buenos Aires region.
Every Monday free welcome lunch for new students.
Three activities a week, week days
Two weekend excursions a month
The northern provinces towards Bolivia offers spectacular
trekking and Amerindian villages.
Andean mountains of the west have excellent ski resorts
and sporting activities such as whitewater rafting
South of Buenos Aires lie many beaches, including the
famous resorts of Mar Del Plata (140 km from BA).
Patagonia, the southernmost region, is rich in marine
life as whales, sea lions, and penguin colonies can be witnessed
in this sparsely populated area.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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