Imagine relaxing in a café, chatting in Spanish over a drink and some nibbles on a warm, sunny day.

Does this sound like something that only happens on holiday in Spain, Spanish Caribbean , Central America or Mexico…….?

Not any more.

At   Language Cafe* we meet in cafes and bars around Toronto and chat in Spanish. We have groups with different levels of fluency in all our cafes so you can join a Spanish conversation group at your level – and each group has a fluent tutor to make sure you get what you want out of each session with us.

The only thing we can’t provide is the weather – sorry!

We know that it can be difficult to commit to a set time every week, so if you would like to learn to speak Spanish better, you can drop in to any of our sessions around Toronto, whenever it is convenient for you.

Conversation

We focus on conversation. Not just because we like talking, but also because conversation will improve your listening, your vocabulary, your grammar and your confidence. And as each group will have no more than 6 people, plus a tutor, there will be ample opportunity to learn to speak Spanish better.

As well as improving your Spanish conversation, you’ll learn a bit about the culture of Spanish speaking countries and meet people with similar interests.

Of course, you may already be a fluent speaker and feel that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it – so come and join a group of fluent speakers.

MEMBERSHIP FEES (effective September 5, 2012)  YOUR FIRST TIME IS FREE!

One-Time Session, $10 CDN

• 10-Session Card, $75 (valid 3 months)
• 20-Session Card, $145 (valid 6 months)
• 6-Month Membership $185
• Checks and credit cards not accepted.

Unfortunately these sessions are not suitable for complete beginners.  You should be able to say a few sentences before you come to make sure you benefit from Spanish Language Cafe.  If you are not sure about your level, please phone us before you come along.

Check our main website  http://spanishimmersionlounge.com/   or just contact us @ 647.448.2052

 

Immersion

Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language would agree that immersion is, by far the best way to accelerate your language learning.

Multiple language exchange partners

I have language-exchange partners. They practice Spanish with me in exchange for practicing Other language with them. This not only helps me learn non-textbook speech, but is an easy way to make friends in a foreign country.

Flashcards and vocabulary lists

A set of small index cards with words or phrases of your new language on one side, and English on the other to drill for speed; vocabulary lists for review. Memorize sentences, not just individual words.

Learn songs and poems

This helps both with pronunciation and learning new words. It also means I can go with my Spanish Latino friends to karaoke.

Read books

A good place to start is reading favorite Spanish books is here  or  in foreign-language translations.

Watch favorite Spanish ( Latin America or Spain)  movies dubbed into foreign language

This way I can practice my listening comprehension without trying to understand what is going on.

Write every day

I keep a journal in my new language and write letters to my Spanish speaking friends.

It’s one thing for a US manufacturer to package, label and offer instructions for its products in Spanish as well as English. It’s quite another, however, to offer fully Spanish versions of those products, particularly when they’re relatively big-ticket items such as computers. Sure enough though, that’s just what Dell is doing in Florida, with a laptop in its Inspiron line that’s customized for Spanish-speaking users.

Offered through South Florida retailer BrandsMart USA, Dell’s Inspiron M5030 is now available with a Spanish-configurable edition of Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium as well as a Spanish language keyboard. Designed exclusively for the US market, the device also offers a 15.6-inch widescreen LCD, AMD Athlon II dual-core processor, 320GB hard drive and built-in webcam and microphone. Pricing is USD 498.88 — the same as it charges for its English-speaking version. “BrandsMart caters to about 45 percent of the Hispanic market, [so] it’s a pretty easy partner to test the grounds with,” Dell account executive Gerald Zapata told the Miami Herald. “We’re seeing good results so far. It’s starting to sell as well as the English product.” Assuming that trend continues, Dell will likely extend the offering to other stores as well, the Herald reported.

Hispanic Americans now account for about 16 percent of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau. How long before manufacturers large and small begin to offer language-specific versions of their products there — and around the world? (Related: Translation cards for travellers with allergies.)

Website here or   Contact: www.brandsmartusa.com/ContactUs.aspx

Spotted by: Judy McRae in  Springwise

The trouble is, it seems that after a course like this, people may learn Spanish
to a degree without ever learning how to hold up their end of a conversation.
Speaking in an informal setting is very different from speaking in a formal
class.

For this reason, many people who give courses for people to learn
Spanish have changed. They now give what are called “conversational Spanish
classes.” These classes, by their nature, must be taught by someone who is
extremely fluent in conversational Spanish.

Purists would have you dive
right into a conversational setting, stumbling as you find your way. Generally,
though, you will learn Spanish words that are necessary parts of a conversation
first. These can be small words like “and, or, she, what,” and so on.

After you have that basis, you will usually be given a thin volume of
conversational topics. These have about two short pages for each topic. Words
related to that topic are given. Then, some questions are given as conversation
starters.

When you use topics like this, you use the book as a starting
point to learn Spanish rather than as the point of the class. You might, for
example, have a topic about going on a trip in a car. There will be words that
denote different parts of the car, such as the trunk. Then there will be words
about stops you make along the way, like gas station.

You use the
conversation starters to get you going. In this instance, a question might say,
“How did you get your car ready for your last trip?” The students can all use
the topic words, along with the small words they know, to answer the question
and learn Spanish.

Everyone will get a chance to answer the question
eventually, but the conversation should be a lively interchange of ideas if the
facilitator is any good at all. As you learn Spanish more, you will have even
more to say about each topic. You can draw on words you have learned in other
lessons.

Once you have a few lessons under your belt, the facilitator
might have you set aside the book for some lessons. During these times, you can
talk about yourselves. You can get to know each other. As you learn Spanish, you
will also find out what your classmates do and what they like.

Of course
the topic words will not give you all the words you need to carry on a normal
conversation. They are just a starting point after all. This is where the
facilitator comes in. You try to use Spanish words that you do know to describe
what you mean. When you get your point across, the facilitator will supply the
word.

In conversational classes, the facilitator helps you out, but
classmates also help each other. It’s a group effort to begin and sustain a
conversation. As you learn Spanish, you will find that it’s less effort than
pleasure.

Register for Conversational Spanish here

Want to expand your Spanish vocabulary beyond: hola, por favor, and gracias? …keep up with your kids who are learning Spanish faster than you? …become an expert in Latino culture in minutes?

Come and hang out with us at our

Spanish Latino Cafe

A good place to start is the traditional Latino Coffee Ceremony.

Master only 3 words: cafe (coffee), leche (milk), and azucar (sugar) — maybe 4: cafe con pan (coffeebread), if you want something to snack on — and you will be able to hold your own in any Latino Spanish social situation, day or night.

Watch as one of our skilled instructors shows how traditional Latino drink their coffee through sugar cubes held in the mouth. This is to aid you in positioning your tongue and teeth for proper pronunciation of Spanish. When you have mastered this manoeuvre, you will be shown the ancient technique of drinking your coffee from the saucer. This aids you in positioning your lips for speaking Spanish.

Painlessly (without doing any homework), you’ll find that you have learned the partitive case of the noun — which means you’ll have mastered 80% of Spanish grammar in one swoop.

The Latino conversational Cafe was invented by the people who run Spanish Dynamics classes. We wanted a place where a few grown-ups at a time could learn Spanish, too, using some of the ideas we’ve tried out with children, and some new ideas we’ve discovered that work better with adults.

For example, we package the material to be learned into short “courses” of a very small number of sessions each (like 3), and aim at thoroughly learning a limited number of words and usages in these few hours.

We find that adults can commit to such short bursts, and can maintain their enthusiasm for the whole time, when they know exactly what they’ll learn.

The Spanish Conversational Cafe is held here in Toronto, at times that are agreeable to the people in each session. The small size of each group makes this type of scheduling more flexible.

We try to run each session with two real Spanish-speakers, so we get exposed to the different ways the language actually sounds. Often, this mix of Spanish/Latino accents and the different reasons for wanting to learn Spanish, cause each conversational Cafe get-together to take on a life of its own. And, of course, we discuss everything over a fair amount of coffee–it wouldn’t be Spanish, otherwise.

 

For other events in the Hispanic  community in Toronto, click here:

Time:

• First Level third week of January 2013
• Second level on  Feb 14, 2012 from 7pm to 9pm

Location: Toronto

Website or Map:

Event Type: Conversational, Spanish, classes, for, adults, in, Toronto                  

Organized By:  http://spanishimmersionlounge.com   

Event Description

Do you know a few words of Spanish already and would like to learn more?

Join us for Spanish Conversational Cafe Level 2 starting

Wednesday, March 14th, 7pm.

Contact Satu at 647. 448.2052  email here

Visit our website at 

Te esperamos!

This course aims to improve your conversation and speaking skills. It builds your confidence by providing opportunities to discuss, debate and exchange ideas, through communicative activities and tasks.   During the classes you will develop oral communication skills in a number of different areas including daily lives and the work place. The course will focus on improving fluency, and will also incorporate the vocabulary and functional language that you need to become a ‘natural Spanish’ speaker.

The classes are one academic hour long and can be taken in addition to the core 15 hour courses.   The course will cover a number of areas:

 ■Functional language used in everyday situations

■Vocabulary specific to particular topics and contexts

■Using conversational devices such as fillers and sentences markers

■Building confidence with both speaking and listening

■Improving the communication in terms of message and meaning

■Developing fluency and clarity of speech.

■Pronunciation work  

    By the end of the course you will be able to:  

■Converse with greater confidence and ability

■Recognise and use different conversational devices

■Use functional language in a variety of contexts.

■Communicate orally with greater success.

■Understand and improve some of your own pronunciation issues.

Join here

 

The Spanish Language Cafe – Teach or learn another language (including English)

• Spanish Language Cafe: Weekly on Sundays between 1.00 and 3.00pm at Barbara Frum Central Library.

A fun and informal way to learn new languages, practice your teaching skills and meet people from all over the world. No formal qualifications are needed to teach, just a knowledge of another language and a desire to help others learn.

Anyone with an enthusiasm for language is welcome, whether you want to surprise your neighbours by greeting them in their mother tongue, or improve your conversation skills.

Meeting times may vary during holiday periods. Please contact  here   or phone check here on for details and other further information.

Join us at the Habla Cafe Conversation Group in Toronto for casual form conversation with native Spanish and English speakers.

Practice speaking 45 minutes in Spanish, 45 minutes in English. Make friends, discuss interesting topics, learn about other cultures, progress in understanding and speaking, naturally and easily, in groups of 6 to 8, each in its own acoustically sound private room.

When you arrive, someone on our team will direct you into a group that suits your needs. Your membership with Habla Cafe entitles you to come as often as you like and there is no need to call or sign-up in advance of coming, but we do ask that you be on time! How many nationalities are represented at Habla Cafe? Three, or Five, more than 10? Find out by reading A Metro Microcosm of Toronto

Habla Cafe TIMES — 3 TIMES A WEEK IN TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

LOCATIONS AND TIMES

Mondays 6:30 to 8 p.m. At George Harvey Collegiate Institute, which is a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada located at 1700 Keele Street.

Thursday  3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Barbara Frum, 20 Covington Road, Toronto, M6A 3C1, ON, 416-395-5440.

Sundays 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. AT , a  1897 Eglinton Ave   west, toronto ON M6E 2J5 ( http://tortillerialamexicana.ca/ )

CLOSINGS

Habla Cafe is open all year long except for national and religious holidays, the week between Christmas and New Year’s and August.

Special Note:  Habla Cafe will be closed from  Sept  1st and reopening October 10th. During that period, open house style meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 3 PM .

Rentrée party: October  15th after the session at  http://tortillerialamexicana.ca .  Special offer that day: 12 sessions for the price of 10 and 24 sessions for the price of $20. Light lunch and drinks provided,  free if registration that day otherwise $10 CND. Have a nice summer!

INFORMATION

Email:hineniois_inquiries (at) mail (dot) com

MEMBERSHIP FEES (effective September 5, 2012)  YOUR FIRST TIME IS FREE!

One-Time, $10 CDN

• 10-Session Card, $75 (valid 3 months)
• 20-Session Card, $145 (valid 6 months)
• 6-Month Membership $185
•  Checks and credit cards not accepted.

BE SURE TO READ ABOUT OUR SPECIAL EVENTS!

Homestays/Spanish Immersion

The best way of learning languages We have Dominican Republic homestays available in Puerto Plata  and the small villages around.  Our homestays give you the chance to  really learn Spanish.

• We arrange homestays including breakfast and lunch.
• Students of all ages and all levels can enjoy our Spanish language immersion with local families.
• The families allow you to practice your new language skills by socializing with them.
• Our homestays provide private rooms.
• Fun and affordable while enjoying this unique and beautiful part of the country.
• You will discover a new way of traveling and learning the local language.

To reserve a homestay, a $20 US deposit is required and it’s applicable to your lodging.

Students attending the classes usually prefer to stay with a selected host family, near to our partner Language School. This  is the most popular, economic and linguistically most effective form of accommodation, offered by our school. However,  other options are available:

or check in some these Hostels
Hostal Salome:  

• Calle Salome Urena No. 56 | Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Zona Colonial)
•   It’s a simple set up: bed, bathroom, TV, fridge, night stand, writing table all you need and more. The location is excellent right by “El Conde.” And a few other tourist sites like the home of Christopher Columbus. The service was among the best.

Boutique Hotel Palacio

• Calle Duarte 106 | Colonial City, Santo Domingo 10211, Dominican Republic
•  Hotel website 
• 1 (809) 682-4730

Half block from Conde Street, the popular pedestrian mall, this nice hotel has a perfect location. It is walking distance to all those main attractions you will probably visit in Zona Colonial.  Check-in was quick & easy by a very friendly staff. My room was clean & comfortable, furnished with a double bed, a TV, a desk, a small closet with a safe, and a nice bathroom.   The breakfast  is superb: all you can wish for breakfast they got it! the staff, like everyone in the DR, were friendly & nice.
At night the front door is locked but there is doorman that will open it for you anytime during the night.
There is a supermarket on the same street so you can get anything you might need.  The Meson D’Bari, a very good restaurant that serves dominican food is a block away. Try the empanadas: I went there for more every night. It’s a little pricey but it’s worthy.

The colourful and varied nature of the Dominican Republic reflects its colourful history. Amerindian, French, Spanish and African influences all come together to spectacular effect.   Learn Spanish in the Dominican Republic, and appreciate its rich culture and the amazing diversity of the land itself. Dramatic mountain ranges and wild rainforests give way to stunning beaches as you reach the shore.

Learn Spanish in The Dominican Republic

Sosua, on the Dominican Republic’s northern Atlantic coast, boasts beautiful white-sand beaches. The conditions are perfect for watersports, and our Sosua school has combined Spanish and Windsurfing/Kitesurfing courses for you watersports addicts!   You can choose to have either 20 or 30 Spanish lessons a week at the school. Stay in an on-site studio apartment, or in one of the school’s nearby private apartments.   When Spanish lessons are finished for the day, relax at the beach, only a few minutes walk away. Become hypnotized by the beautiful contrast of pure white sands, turquoise waters, perfectly blue skies and lush green rain forest.   If you want to explore some more of the country as you learn Spanish in the Dominican Republic, our Sosua school offers a unique ‘Travelling Classroom’ option. For 2 weeks, your Spanish lessons will move to different locations in the Dominican Republic. The tour will take you to the mountains of Jarabacoa, the capital, Santo Domingo and the beaches of Las Terrenas before returning to Sosua.   We also have an excellent school in the capital. Santo Domingo was the first place that Christopher Columbus settled in the ‘New World’. You’ll find that it’s full of history and great local cuisine too!

Spanish study programs in The Dominican Republic

Only 30 minutes away is Boca Chica, Santo Domingo’s own superb beach, where you can unwind following Spanish lessons. In the evenings, join us and your fellow students at the bar, on walking tours, or at dance shows.   Living with one of our host families in Santo Domingo is a great way to learn Spanish quickly. But you might prefer to socialize with other students in shared student apartments, or the privacy and comfort of your own hotel room.   At both Sosua and Santo Domingo, we have a great selection of Spanish courses. All of our local teachers are experienced in teaching Spanish as a foreign language. So follow in the footsteps of Christopher Colombus and discover this tropical haven for yourself with one of our great Spanish courses!

 

Spanish Immersion Trips