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Intensive Spanish courses and accommodation: the options available
The decision has been taken, and you are set on spending one week, one month or perhaps even a semester on a language program in Barcelona. Once you have past this hurdle, the next important decision relates to accommodation for your intensive Spanish course. There are many options available for you to choose from: for a start, many of the language programs in Barcelona offer different accommodation possibilities. These may range from a private room with a local family, sharing a rented flat with a group of students studying Spanish at the same school, or finally staying at one of the many three, four or even five star hotels the city has to offer. You can also consider finding your own lodgings, and you will soon find out that as far as intensive Spanish courses and accommodation are concerned, the possibilities are limitless. One possible choice is to study Spanish in Barcelona and stay with a local family. In theory, on the positive side you will have more possibilities to practices the language you have learnt during your intensive Spanish course. Your host family will be providing you with breakfast and dinner, and these are excellent moments for interaction with native speakers of the tongue you are trying so hard to practice. On the negative side, you will have to abide by many of the common sense rules of any family unit or group: not staying out late, not making noise at night, meals at a pre determined time, little flexibility in menu preferences, and so on. Many students choose an intensive Spanish course and accommodation in a shared apartment. This option gives many young people the freedom they are accustomed to in food choices and meal times, as well as being able to come and go at different times as they please. There is also a great atmosphere created with the other students who study Spanish in Barcelona at the same time. One main inconvenience of this sort of arrangement is that the language of communication with flat mates can often turn to other mother tongue languages. A great deal of language discipline is required from students of intensive Spanish courses in Spain in these flat sharing cases. Intensive spanish courses and accommodation Staying at a hotel is a popular choice for those on an intensive Spanish course for business purposes. These language programs in Barcelona are most often chosen by mature business people who wish to find the creature comforts of the large hotel chains they are used to. The big disadvantage of intensive Spanish courses and accommodation of this nature is the lack of interaction with other Spanish speakers once classes have finished. As we know, the personnel in hotels tend to automatically speak languages such as English with foreign guests rather than Spanish. The international satellite TV channels and films in one’s mother tongue might seem more tempting to watch rather than studying the Spanish texts, grammar or video homework given as part of the Spanish programs for business people. As you can see, there are many intensive Spanish courses and accommodation options available. Before deciding on which is most suitable for you, review your reasons for wanting to study intensive Spanish in Spain, consider the time you have available, and think carefully about your own personality. Intensive spanish courses and accommodation Intensive Spanish courses and accommodation: the options available...... Intensive spanish courses for adults Choosing an intensive Spanish course if you are a mature adult...... Intensive spanish in Barcelona Barcelona: One of your options for an intensive Spanish program...... |