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Archive for May, 2008

Expanish Student Excursion to Uruguay – Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo

Friday, May 30, 2008 12:16

Categories - Uncategorized - 1 Comment

colonia uruguay.thumbnail Expanish Student Excursion to Uruguay – Colonia del Sacramento and MontevideoExpanish students are traveling to Uruguay this weekend to visit the enchanting town of Colonia del Sacramento and then, optionally, the country’s capital city of Montevideo.The ferry takes off for Colonia at 9 AM on Saturday, giving students the entire day to absorb the history of Uruguay’s oldest town.Upon arrival, we will embark on a historical and cultural tour around the city.Afterwards, students are encouraged to enjoy various optional activities, such as visiting museums, riding bicycles, renting mopeds or golf carts, and walking along the boardwalk.

First founded by the Portuguese in 1680, Colonia spent the next 150 years being juggled between Spain, Portugal, and ultimately Brazil.Colonia finally became a part of the independent country of Uruguay in 1828 as it remains today.This Uruguayan river front town is a hot-destination for Porteños as it makes for an interesting, yet relaxing weekend get-away.

Students itching for more may chose to continue on to Montevideo for an exciting yet non-porteño style Saturday night and culturally intriguing Sunday.What began as a minor settlement in the 18th century is now home to over 1,349,000 Italians, Spaniards, Africans, and more.These modern day “Montevideans” of the world are graced daily by the city’s architectural heritage and impressive art.Students will join a tour of this important and prosperous city to get a taste of the city’s rich history and culture.

Look for pictures of this weekend’s excursion on our new Expanish Facebook Fanpage!

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The Mataderos Fair – A Traditional Celebration of the May Revolution

Friday, May 23, 2008 10:04

Categories - Concerts, Events, Festivals and Holidays - 2 Comments

flag of argentina.thumbnail The Mataderos Fair – A Traditional Celebration of the May RevolutionWe’re meeting up with our friends from the Buenos Aires English House this Sunday, May 25, at the traditional Feria de los Mataderos, the Mataderos Fair.This artisan fair, held every Sunday, showcases and promotes Argentina’s popular traditions.Since its creation in 1986, the Feria de los Mataderos has been known for its traditional handicrafts, artistic exhibits, gaucho displays, traditional games for children and adults, and regional food.You can also take advantage of the free weaving, guitar, and tango workshops.This Sunday’s fair will be especially interesting and traditional as it is a very important national holiday, the Día de la Revolución de Mayo, or the May Revolution.

The May Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Buenos Aires lasting from May 18th to May 25th in 1810. The revolution began when Buenos Aires received news that Napoleon Bonaparte had overthrown the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII.Buenos Aires decided to form its own government rather than to serve the new French King, Joseph Bonaparte.The May Revolution, initially an act of loyalty to the Spanish Crown, eventually acted as a precursor to independence from Spain.May 25 is now an important holiday in Argentina commemorating these significant events in history.

We will be celebrating this triumphant day by visiting the most traditional of Buenos Aires’ fairs, the Feria de los Mataderos.Come have a good time with the gauchos over regional food and drinks while learning about traditional Argentina!

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Expanish Attends Methodological Formation Workshops

Friday, May 16, 2008 12:59

Categories - Expanish News - 1 Comment

taller foto Expanish Attends Methodological Formation WorkshopsToday and Saturday, May 16th and 17th, the Asociación de Centros de Idiomas together with the Librería Voces del Sur are holding the first ever Methodological Formation Workshops (Talleres de Formación Metodológica).The event will include four separate workshops and is dictated by the prestigious Spanish editorial EDELSA, leader in the production of learning materials for teaching Spanish as a foreign language.The workshops will propose an area of reflection on the development of teaching Spanish to non-native speakers and different methodological focuses.Expanish director, Luciana Gallego (shown in photo with workshop lecturer, Pedro Navarro Serrano), along with six language professors – are proud and anxious to be attending the workshops.Luciana Gallego comments on the upcoming events:

Training our teachers is an absolute key necessity for Expanish. We celebrate the opportunity to participate in this conference of pedagogical innovation. It is highly motivating for us to take part in these encounters organized by the publishing houses with which we work on a daily basis.

The titles of the four workshops are the following: 1) “Culture with ñ: the development of intercultural profiles of ‘Spanish as second language’ students”; 2) “Areas, actions and competences: Axis of teaching following European levels of Reference and Frameworks (MCER)”; 3) “Patterns for evaluations in second languages: Materials and activities to prepare for the DELE test”; and 4) “Making grammar less complicated: processing, strengthening, and refinement of grammatical contents”.

The fourth workshop is particularly important and useful to us here at Expanish because it will present the relevance of generative theses about the acquisition of language and its application in Spanish didactics.Attendees will participate in three activities during this workshop.The first will encourage discussion of activities aimed at working form, use, and real life contexts of use.The second will present simple forms of teaching prosodic accentuation by means of induction.The third and final exercise will have attendees analyze the possibility of transformation and use of real texts in controlled grammatical activities.

All of the workshops will be an interactive and valuable experience for our professors. As the city’s culture and excitement never allays, this weekend should be a very fun and educational one for Expanish students and teachers alike!

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Meet Bonnie, USA – Expanish Study Abroad Student at the Universidad de Belgrano

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 13:11

Categories - Expanish News - 0 Comments

The formidable question that haunts us all when deciding to study abroad is WHERE?Reading about destinations and specific universities is of course a great way to get the general feeling of a place.Compliment research and advice from friends, advisors and acquaintances with REAL accounts from REAL people who are themselves studying abroad.As this kind of insider information is always the most valuable, we wanted to take this chance to let you hear from a real Expanish student who is currently studying abroad at the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires.Buenos Aires more than fulfills all of the bewitching descriptions and accounts that you may find online or in books, so now let’s here from Bonnie, a university student in the Expanish Semester Prep program from Texas A&M University in Texas, USA.

bonnie rae schatz Meet Bonnie, USA Expanish Study Abroad Student at the Universidad de Belgrano

“I have really enjoyed going to school at the [Universidad de] Belgrano…The semester long classes have been great. I’m taking them all in Spanish.The level is great for me even though I hardly spoke a word when I got down here. I’m taking Latin American History, Art History of Argentina (which has sent us on a couple of field trips for homework), Open Society in Argentina, Economic History of Argentina, and Cultures and Traditions of Argentina. I feel like I have a much better grasp on the background and culture of porteños and Argentines in general… My note-taking is definitely getting better. I guess it had to since I take all my notes in Spanish and have had to go back and get information from them later… The great thing about taking classes at Belgrano, as compared to other University programs, is that all of my classes are in one building close to home. This cuts down on a lot of travel time that friends in other programs have said is driving them crazy. I have friends with a much more advanced level of Spanish, and taking classes with Argentines at UBA and UCA and other schools is really working out for them, but for me I’m getting great experience using my Spanish while taking classes with other ‘extranjeros’. I personally find it a lot less intimidating for someone who is trying to learn to speak better”.

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Introducing a New Activity – Milonga Night Tour

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 13:57

Categories - Buenos Aires City Attractions - 1 Comment

milonga Introducing a New Activity Milonga Night Tour

Expanish is kicking off our new Milonga Night Tour activity tomorrow, Thursday! We will be joining a tango “specialist” every two weeks at different milongas, or tango dancehalls, to learn about and observe the sultry dance that Argentina is so famous for.Tomorrow, we will meet our Tango “specialist”, Laura, for our first official “Milonga Night” at the milonga “Grises”.

Laura received her degree in Tourism and Hotel Management in 2002 from the Universidad del Salvador.Apart from her studies, tango is her main passion.She has been dancing tango for over 10 years, giving classes for over 4 years, and frequents different milongas during her free time to keep her passion alive.Laura has also been a professional tango dancer for shows in restaurants and theaters.If you’re still not impressed… Laura also participated in the Fifth World Championship of Tango that took place in August of 2007.In short, we are thrilled to be introduced to the mysterious and sultry world of milongas by Laura, our very own tango “specialist”!

Our bi-monthly Milonga Night Tours will take us deep into the world and history of tango and milongas.The origins, evolution and modernity of the dance along with its uses and customs are few of the topics we will get to explore.

Tango is a dance that revolves around passion and love.The only way to truly understand the power and fire that tango embodies is to experience it from the inside… With Laura’s help, we will get to observe locals express themselves on dance floors in a city that lives and breaths tango.

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