Spanish language course of Eurojumelages in Benidorm from 6th to 10th November 2023

Dear friends of Eurojumelages,
There are so many reasons why it is worth learning Spanish.
Spanish is

• - the official language or important second language in 20 countries,
• - the second most spoken native language,
• - is useful for great trips to many Spanish-speaking countries
• - supposedly easy to learn and pronounce.

Just think of the countries where Spanish is spoken and all the exciting things you could experience.
And that's precisely why Eurojumelages has once again organised an intensive language course in Benidorm/Spain in 2023.

We arrived in Benidorm on 5th November 2023 to participate in a Spanish language course.

In the evening event in the large meeting room and during the dinner that followed, we met up with Jumeleurs-friends; it was such a joy at seeing each other again.

On 6th November, all language course participants met in the hotel lobby and proceeded to the various classrooms together with the course teachers.

 Beginner level

The participants consisted of 5 German participants from the Böblingen/Tübingen, Stuttgart, Munich and Marburg associations and 2 French women from Dax.

Our teacher spoke only Spanish, so we got a feel for the sound of the language. English was used for queries. As we were able to use a language we were more familiar with in this case, it made the lessons much less complicated. We did short interviews and read from the extensive course material we received there. In contrast to a beginners' course in Germany, we were able to familiarize ourselves very intensively with the new language, as our language environment was also Spanish. The Spanish course was therefore an opportunity to completely immerse oneself in the language.

During the coffee break, , we were able to enjoy the Benidorm November sun on the hotel terrace and chat in the local language. The lessons lasted until half past one, after which we fortified ourselves with a varied, delicious lunch. Our teacher Barbara was very keen to introduce us to her beautiful mother tongue. She brought us new course materials for every lesson. We learnt new vocabulary, culture and traditions of the country. It was really very exciting and informative!

We then had the afternoon off. During this time we went on short walks in the area and met the participants from the other language courses. We had the opportunity to take part in an excursion to Valencia with the Mayores from the Spanish Telefonica who were there at the same time. On the long bus ride we were able to practice what we had learned, as our fellow passengers only spoke Spanish.

On the last day we received our diplomas for participating in a Spanish course in Benidorm. We kept our exercise sheets and I can say that I was very motivated to continue looking through them at home and continue working on them.

Anna Nebel Klüh
association Marburg, Germany

 Intermediate level

This year, the intermediate level Spanish course had the lowest number of participants: four French and one German.

Silvia, our teacher had Spanish and French roots and, began by introducing us to Spanish proverbs with the explicit intention to get us talking. The cultural differences between the "proverbs" in the various countries were also discussed intensively during another exercise in a slightly different format.

A variety of vocabulary and grammar exercises ensured that our language skills increased - the question remains whether this will last in the long term.

 Marion Grau
association Bonn, Germany

  

Advanced level

We spent the first day of our language course mainly introducing ourselves to the others in detail, starting with our course leader Caty. She remembered the participants from last year's course very well. Right from the start, there was a very familiar atmosphere, even for those who were there for the first time. There were eleven of us on the course: eight people from France, one person from Italy, one person originally from England and myself from Germany. This congregation alone was great, because during the course we were often able to draw comparisons with situations in the countries mentioned, which further enriched the information content of our discussions. For example, I learnt that the start of compulsory schooling in Germany is no different to Spain and Italy, but in France it starts at the age of three, or that in France the rental of Airbnbs has been restricted by law to protect hotels and the rental market.

On the second day, Caty had placed a few (partly hidden) objects in each individual place, we were all curious to see what these things were all about. There were also three upturned pieces of paper on each square. We uncovered these one by one; they were sayings by famous people and proverbs, which we described and discussed as the course progressed. In this context, we also talked about the famous "El Gordo", the main prize of the Spanish Christmas lottery. In a Spanish restaurant, we later saw a man walking around selling tickets for the Christmas lottery with great success - and we, the course participants, immediately knew what it was...

On the last day, we were finally able to unravel the mystery of the enigmatic objects. For each individual object that Caty had placed in the respective places, we were able to find associations that applied to the specific people.

We also went on a few excursions to the surrounding area together during our time off from the language course or simply went to the beach together and enjoyed the wonderful sunsets.

The only downside of the course was that the rooms in which our course (including the intermediate language course) took place were not ideal: we initially met in a very noisy passageway room, but even this was later no longer available. In the last few days, we were therefore accommodated somewhat provisionally in the large, windowless function room.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the course very much. We were a very harmonious group and at the end we all agreed that we would like to meet up with Caty in exactly the same congregation for another Spanish course next year.

Simone Flach
association Bonn, Germany

On Saturday November 10th it was time for most of us to say goodbye to Benidorm.

Muchas gracias Antonia y Amparo por el buen tiempo en Espana.