Extracurricular activities 29.06.2015 - 5.07.2015

Big week ahead of us. Check out all the activities we have in store for you:

Monday 29, 5:30 pm: Quiz and games around the city - Follow the clues with your team, answer the questions and fulfill the challenges. A great way to get to know the city better, practise your Spanish and have fun. Plus, there is a price for the winning team. A former student wrote about this activity in this article.
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Tuesday 30, 4:30 pm: Film – Don't miss out. Watching films is an effective way to perfect your listening skills and broaden your vocabulary.

Wednesday 1, 6:30 pm: Games in the park - Come play some card games in the shade of the trees by the river Tormes. 
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Thursday 2, 3:40 pm: Zumba – Teacher Lourdes will introduce us to the zumba world. Read more about it and warm up with some zumba songs in this article.
Approximate duration: 1 h.

Friday 3, 9:30 h: Storyteller – Here is our recommendation for today: enjoy storyteller Maricuela de Teruel's show at Casa de las Conchas. No entrance free.

Saturday 4, Sunday 5: Excursions – Segovia, Toledo, Aveiro, Lisboa-Fátima-Coimbra... Several destinations available for one-day trips and weekend trips. Further information at the reception desk.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.

15 Beatles covers in Spanish

They were among the first ones, alongside with Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, to bring together thousands of fans at their concerts, even when that meant queueing for long hours, full of excitement -some fans even ended up fainting. The Beatles (in Spain, 'Los Beatles'), started the fan phenomenon, and theirs was granted its own name: beatlemania.In Spain, despite Franco's regime tried to prevent it from happening until the very last minute, The Beatles performed for the first time in 1965. Just a sign of the enormous success they have since had in our country. Numerous Spanish and Latin American artists have released or performed covers of songs by The Beatles. Here is a Youtube playlist with 15 of those, some better than others (a few are quite surreal):

And here are the artists featured on the playlist, the name of their covers and the name of the corresponding original songs by The Beatles:


Celia Cruz - 'Obladi Oblada'

Los Mustang - 'Please please me'

Los Buitres - 'Love me do'

Los Shippy's - 'Señor Cartero' ('Mr Postman')

Laredo - 'Mirlo' ('Blackbird')

Tin-Tan (Germán Valdés) - 'Quiero rascarme aquí' ('I want to hold your hand')

Los Ángeles - 'La ayuda de la amistad' ('With a little help from my friends')

The Sandpipers - 'Ayer' ('Yesterday')

El Príncipe Gitano - 'Obladi Oblada'

Carmen Sevilla - 'Yellow submarine' 

Juan y los Matemáticos - 'Cuando tenga 64' ('When I'm 64')

Camilo Sesto y Dhario Primero - 'Creo en ti' ('Let it be')

Cuatro Apriori - 'La verdad' ('No reply')

Los Ángeles Azules - 'La vi allá' ('I saw her standing there')

Los Temerarios - 'Voy a perder a esa chica' ('You're gonna lose that girl')

Los Rockets - 'Abrázame' ('Hold me tight')

Alejandra Guzmán - 'Twist y gritos' ('Twist and shout')

Extracurricular activities 22.06.2015 - 27.06.2015

Summer is here! 

Yesterday, 22nd of June, we welcomed it at 6:30 pm. We will enjoy this season until 23rd of September.

Moving on, we will show you all the extracurricular activities waiting for you this week.

You can find information in more detail below. It will be great fun!

Monday 22, 6:00 pm: Dramatised tours – We’ll discover some of the most beautiful corners of Salamanca through an exciting dramatized tours.

Approximate duration: 2h.

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Tuesday 23, 6:45 pm: Basketball – Come along and spend an afternoon with us playing basketball. Are you in?

Approximate duration: 1h 30min.

Wednesday 24, 7:30 pm: Cookery class – At this week’s cookery class we will learn how to make a refreshing gazpacho soup as well as mouth-watering croquetas.

Thursday 25. 6:00 pm: Billiards – We will do some cue sports with our Spanish teacher Alicia. May the best win!

Approximate duration: 1h.

Friday 26, 4:30 pm: Film – At the end of the week we will have an excellent opportunity to practice Spanish with an exciting film.

Saturday 27: Excursion – Aveiro, La Alberca, Lisboa, Sintra and Cascais are the destinations available for this week. Further information at the reception desk.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.

Pinchos and Tapas: the Spanish taste

Spanish people love going to tapear, one of the most common activity in Spain and well known all over the world. Just for few euros you can have tapas or pinchos, little portions served with a caña of beer or a glass of wine.

Their name originated from a curious custom. Tapas are so named because they used to literally plug (spanish: tapar) glasses of beer or wine with a piece of bread and a slice of ham. In this way they avoided that dust or flies dropped in the glasses. While pinchos are so named because they are served thrusted (spanish: pinchados) by a stick and are very common in the north of Spain.

But where can we taste some of these little but precious dishes in Salamanca? Follow this short guide to know 5 places to eat well and save money ;)

Getting started from the centre, you can really eat in Plaza Mayor at Café Real, where you can have the Salamanca typical tapas without spend a fortune.

One of the cheapest place is 100 Montaditos, in Calle Concejo nearby Plaza Mayor. On mondays there is a special offer so that you can have everything you want just for 0,50€.

Tiempo de Vinos, in Calle Doctrinos, a short step from Calle Compañia, deserve you stop off here in order to sip an excellent wine combined with tradicional tapas and jamón serrano, a typical kind of Spanish ham. So good!

Turning a corner in Rúa Mayor you can go to Tapas 2.0, whose name says everything. Here tradition and modernity are combined in a successful way. Maybe less cheap than other places in this list, but you should really try it for the quality of its dishes and their original look. 

Lizarran, in Gran Vía, is known for its unusual style. You just have to take a drink and then get something from a variety of just done tapas and pinchos which waiters bring from the kitchen. Then you pay just depending on how many sticks you collected and their dimensions, so you eat whatever you want with a fixed price.

And if you don't still have enough to eat and want to try something good, the Van Dyck area is what you are looking for.

¡Que aproveche!

Ester - student at Tía Tula

Extracurricular activities 15.06.2015 - 20.06.2015

Summer is fast approaching! Meanwhile, we say goodbye to the spring and its rainy days enjoying all the extracurricular activities for this week.

You can see below what we have planned for each day:

Monday 15, 5:50 pm: DIY postcards workshop – We are heading to a very special stationary shop (www.atentamentepapeleria.com) where we`ll craft our own postcard to welcome the summer and where we’ll see that 'imperfection is beauty’ :)
Approximate duration: 1 h.

Tuesday 16, 5:30 pm: Theatre workshop – At Espacio Almargen we’ll attend a theatre workshop where we will learn a variety of theatre exercises in Spanish.
Approximate duration: 2 h.

Wednesday 17, 5:30 pm: Horse riding – We’ll enjoy a spectacular horse riding along the Ribera del Duero. An experience you shouldn’t miss!
Approximate duration: 2:30 h (round trip transportation plus 1:30 h riding).

Thursday 18, 3:40 pm: Zumba class – Do you feel like doing some zumba? Our Spanish teacher, Lourdes, will give us a class and we’ll have a good time with her.
Until such time, at the link bellow you can find a playlist with some recommended songs so we can practice: Zumba playlist
Approximate duration: 1h.

Friday 19, 7:30 pm: Tapas tour – We put the icing on the cake at the end of this week tasting some excellent tapas at some of the best bars of the city centre.
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Saturday 20: Excursions – We have some great destinations for this week-end’s excursion!
Aveiro, La Alberca, Arribes del Duero and Ledesma.
Further information at the reception desk.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.

Short films festival in Barrio del Oeste

Cartel del festival, diseño de Elena Gómez

The Festival de cine corto de Salamanca is back. Organized by Bar Granero and Javier Díez, is held in Barrio del Oeste and shows short films by Spanish and international film directors, outdoors if possible as you can see in these pictures. The best part is you can keep practising Spanish outside the classroom, plus there is no entrance fee.

Here are the short films to be shown in this edition:

May 28th - 10:00 pm
. La propina, de Esteban Crespo (10')
. Namnala, de Nacho Solana (15')
. Casitas, de Javier Marco (9')
. Reizigers in de Nacht, de Eva Sendijarevic (10')
. Flash, de Alberto Ruiz Rojo (7')
. Mío, de Rodrigo Canet (4')

June 4th - 10:00 pm
. J et le poisson, de Cécile Paysant (9')
. Safari, de Gerardo Herrero (15')
. Valentina, de Marisa Crespo y Moisés Romera (9')
. Caradecaballo, de Marc Martínez Jordán (7')
. Help point, de Andrew Margetson (12')
. Tuck me in, de Ignacio F. Rodo (1')

June 18th - 10:00 pm
. Os meninos do rio, de Javier Macipe Costa (14')
. Solo sabes follar, de Manu Bueno (5')
. Bendito Machine V, de Jossie Malis (11')
. Seiscientos, de Rebeca Díaz (9')
. El buen mal, de Jokin Urruticoechea (10')
. Trato preferente, de Carlos Polo (3')

June 25th - 10:00 pm
. La valse mechanique, de Julien Dykmans (5')

. En directo, de Wenceslao Scyzoryk (14')
. Otsoko, de Ander Iriarte (13')
. Los cachorros, de Guillermo Magariños (8')
. Magic, de Carlos Rodríguez (9')
. Un lugar mejor, de Marina Crespo y Moisés Romera (4')

July 2nd - 10:00 pm
. Absolutamente personal, de Julián Merino Díaz (14')
. Los vaqueros, de Jaime Verdú (5')
. Si tuvieran ojos, de Carlos Polo (15')
. Viaje a la Luna, de Asier Andueza (5')
. El mal amor, de Julio de la Rosa (5')
. Tu p*** banco, de José Luis Santos (11')

Extracurricular activities 8.06.2015 - 14.06.2015

About to welcome summer, here are the extracurricular activities we have in store for this week. Also, don't forget that the Fàcyl festival is still running (find the programme and a playlist with the music of the festival in this article).

Have fun!

Monday 8, 6:45 pm: Scala Coeli – We're climbing the towers of La Clerecía to enjoy some of the most spectacular views of Salamanca. Our student Debra wrote about her experience in this activity here.
Approximate duration: 40 min.

Tuesday 9, 7:30 pm: We are taking advantage of two of the scheduled activities of the Fàcyl festival: a traveling show (Fadunito) and a flea market (mostly about creative illustration) at La Malhablada. 
Approximate duration: 1 h.

Wednesday 10, 8:20 pm: Concert by Bye Bye Lullaby – This a unique opportunity to watch Salmantinian band Bye Bye Lullaby perform from the terrace of La Malhablada! If you feel like it, you can do so while you enjoy a refreshing drink. 
Bye Bye Lullaby are featured on our Fàcyl 2015 playlist on Youtube and Spotify: http://blog.tiatula.com/2015/06/facyl-2015.html 
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Thursday 11, 6:00 pm: Exhibition – We are heading to DA2 contemporary arte museum to visit the exhibition "Con la boca abierta".

Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Friday 12, holiday: Today we are celebrating the saint patron of Salamanca, San Juan de Sahagún. Check out the festivities program (in Spanish): Fiestas de San Juan de Sahagún. Our suggestion: watch the fireworks from the Roman bridge at 10:30 pm on June 11th.  

Friday 12, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14, Excursions – Plenty of destinations to choose from for a one-day or long weekend trip: Madrid; Santiago de Compostela; Lisboa, Coimbra y Fátima; Aveiro; Santander; La Alberca; Sevilla; and Granada. Further information at the reception desk.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.

Two cities, a unique immersion experience

Making up your mind when choosing a destination for a language course may be difficult. So many cities with so much to offer... The double Spanish Summer Experience allows you to enjoy your summer in Spain to the maximum: it combines two locations, the magnificent cities of Salamanca and Santander, but you will be able to discover even more of Spain with the excursions included in the program. The best part? Your study plan won't be affected: your first lesson in Santander will pick up from where you left it in your last lesson in Salamanca. But there's more:

 

A complete program so you don't have to worry about a thing

The double Spanish Summer Experience is a linguistic and cultural program for students aged 18 and older (or below that age, too, if they are accompanied by an adult) with an intermediate level of Spanish (A2 or B1 following the Common European Framework). We designed it with a goal in mind: to make it as convenient as possible. The Spanish language and culture course, registration fee, course materials, course completion certificate, accommodation, transport from Salamanca to Santander, after-class cultural and leisure activities and excursions are included in the program.

 

Two excellent schools, one study plan

Colegio Tía Tula are Syllabus are known for the quality of their Spanish for foreigners courses, imparted by teachers who are philologists specialized in ELE teaching, approachable and experienced. In their modern and  comfortable facilities you will enjoy fun, dynamic and effective lessons that will allow you to progress to the advanced level. A study plan designed jointly and a constant communication between the two schools make sure that your course runs smoothly and that you make the most our of it.

 

Two cities with a lot to offer

The double Spanish Summer Experience will take place between July 5th and August 2nd 2015 in two of the most charming cities in Spain: Salamanca and Santander.

The program begins in Salamanca, World Heritage Site and university city par excellence. You will be amazed at the architectural richness, the bustling atmosphere and the delightful gastronomy (you can taste an exquisite jamón with certificate of origin, for example, but you can also find vengan and vegetarian options). Salamanca mixes tradition and vanguard, and not only in tapas (they range between typical and cutting-edge cuisine); cultural initiatives such as the microtheatre and contemporary art space La Malhablada, the open-air urban gallery in Barrio del Oeste or the multidisciplinary cultural centre La Salchichería, among others, are not to be missed. Furthermore, culture takes to the streets in July with concerts, theatre and other activities free of charge.The last two weeks of the program take place in Santander, a lovely city in the Northern coast of Spain. Summer is the perfect time to be there, and not only for its superb beaches and the possibility to practise water sports. It's Santander's festivities and around the city there are culture, music and food stalls where you can savor delicious Spanish tapas. What's more, if you are up for it, you can attend two music festivals: Música en grande (Juanes, Bustamante and Pablo Alborán, among other artists), and Santander Music (Crystal Fighters, Satellite Stories, Supersubmarina and many more). 

Practise your Spanish outside of class whilst having fun

The extracurricular activities included in the program are especially designed for you to keep learning the language, make friends, explore the city, immerse into the Spanish culture and have fun. Cookery, surf, horse riding, dance lessons...; practical workshops; guided and tapas tours; cultural visits to museums and monuments; etc. Besides, there is an excursion included for each part of the program.

 

Further information

It is very important for us that you feel at home, that's why we take great care when selecting your accommodation. You can choose the option that suits you the most (host family, shared flat, residence...). Please, find all the options and further details on The double Spanish Summer Experience here, or download this pdf.

And, should you have any questions, please contact us at info@tiatula.com or info@syllabus.es.

The deadline is June 30th 2015.
See you!

Extracurricular activities 1.06.2015 - 7.06.2015

 Let's welcome June with Tía Tula's extracurricular activities. Ideal to keep practising Spanish. Are you in?

Monday 1, 5:30 pm: Theatre workshop - We are heading to Espacio Almargen to learn some theatre games and exercises -in Spanish, of course!
Approximate duration: 2 h.

Tuesday 2, 7:45 pm: Cookery lesson - This week we will cook a delicious paella and then taste it.
Approximate duration: 1 h.

Wednesday 3, 7:30 pm: Book presentation - Our Chief of Studies, Montse Villar, will present her latest book "Bitácoras de Silencios" at Teatro Liceo. Teacher Carmen L. will go with you. Don't miss out! 
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Thursday 4, 7:45 pm: Urban gallery - Do you know Barrio del Oeste? Its open-air urban gallery is a must-see. They are creating new pieces, so we may even get the chance to talk to the artists!
Approximate duration: 1 h.

Friday 5, 7:20 pm: Exhibition + tapas - Back to Barrio del Oeste, we will visit the exhibition "He cambiado de opinión" (meaning I've changed my mind) at La Salchichería. We will after go have some tapas.
Approximate duration: 1:30 h.

Saturday 6, Excursions – Lisboa-Coimbra-Fátima, Aveiro, Toro, Valencia or Gandía. A great weekend ahead, you choose your destination. Further information at the reception desk.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.